Wellington has a new craft beer precinct. Three new craft beer bars, with more than 100 taps between them, opened recently, all centred around Manners Street and all within a three-minute walk. The Taphaus is on the corner of Victoria and Dixon Streets. The site was a curry joint for years and the decor still […]
Filed under: Around the country, Beer Bars | 8 Comments »
Do not on any account enter a commercial beer just for the craic. That is against the rules. Rule number two to be specific
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SOBA did extremely well out of the decision and won everything it could expect to win
Filed under: Beer Makers, Gushing forth | 11 Comments »
This week has been one of those times. Last Tuesday afternoon I was exchanging e-mails with Craig Bowen from BeerNZ. We were setting up a meeting to discuss promoting New Zealand craft beer to the Rugby World Cup fans. I sent my last message at 12:50 and a minute later the quake hit. Christchurch has […]
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There – it’s in writing and on the internet, so it must be true. This year, 2011, I Martin Craig will endeavour to drink more beer. I admit I may have let the occasional NYResolution wither and die in the past, so I will have to make an extra effort to stick with this one. […]
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When I buy a bottle of fresh orange juice, I can be confident I am getting what I pay for. But when I buy a bottle of pale ale, I can’t be so sure. Product labelling laws here in New Zealand are protected by the Commerce Commission. The Fair Trading Act (FTA) requires manufacturers to […]
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How would commercial beer rate against home brew, in a blind, objective competition? I’ve wondered this for a few years as a home brewer and beer judge. The worst home brews are bad – mine were – and it is easy to see how Uncle Ted’s homemade rotgut earned its notoriety. But the best are […]
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It’s legal to drive drunk in New Zealand. I know this because I was a drink-test dummy for Consumer a few years ago. We were testing cheapo breath testers, and comparing them against an official police breath tester and an ESR tester used to calibrate the police kits. My eighth handle of 4% beer was […]
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Down here in the South Pacific, we have just changed our clocks for daylight saving. Longer, sunnier evenings are on the way, perhaps with a barbecue, and every change of season is a good excuse to explore new beers. This winter has seen many high-hopped, high alcohol monsters set loose from New Zealand’s craft brewers, […]
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Marlborough has been a quiet achiever in the New Zealand craft brew industry. It has an international profile for its grapes and winemakers, but there’s more to Marlborough than wine. One of the pioneers of the current generation of craft brewers was Pink Elephant, with the quirky and challenging Pink Elephant PDA. This was on […]
Filed under: Around the country, Beer Bars, Beer Makers, Reviews | 16 Comments »