August 26, 2010

In this Newsletter

Immediately below...

• Beervana
• Life After Beervana
• Our 1st Birthday

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Beervana

We're now about half way through the exhausting calendar of events of which tomorrow's Beervana is the culmination. There are already plenty of bloodshot eyes and dopey, tired faces appearing as trade people, brewers and even one or two of our own staff wander down our stairs in the mid-afternoon.

We've been rapt to have the likes of Søren Erikson, Brian Thiel and Ron Trigg put in personal appearances to promote their fine beers. As well there's been a steady flow of beer judges, brewers (often the same people), old friends, celebrities and even a Discovery Channel film crew.

If the presence of the industry's rock stars disturb the serenity of your drinking experience, please bear with us - it will be over in a few days.

Remember if you are attending Beervana we'll be there with probably the strongest menu of beers in the Town Hall. In terms of ABV that is. Specifically:

• Meantime IPA
• Rogue XS Old Crustacean Barley Wine
• Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
• Rogue XS Imperial Stout
• Jamieson’s The Beast IPA
• Liberty Brewing Summit Imperial IPA

Note that we have more beers than taps, so at any point in time only four of these will be available.

Life After Beervana

We're doing our best to keep our ordering and planning ticking over as if Beervana wasn't happening. And we can guarantee that all this weekend the lineup on tap here at HZHQ will be as good as ever. What's more there's every chance we'll strike deals with some of the breweries at Beervana and have some surprises in store early next week.

Look out for these fist timers:

• The Sprig and Fern's new IPA
• Golden Bear's new Hop Toad
• Bridge Road Chestnut Pilsner
• Mike's Whisky Porter

And there will be the following returning favourites:

• Renaissance Voyager
• Twisted Hop IPA
• Bridge Road Bling IPA
• Tuatara APA
• Sprig and Fern's Three Berry Cider

Our 1st Birthday

A year ago, almost to the day, we tentatively opened for the first time, in what we called "preview" mode, while simultaneously preparing for Beervana 2009, which we were sponsoring and attending. Those first days and nights of trading were such an effort that it was another week or two before we formerly declared ourselves open on September 10. So on September the 9th and 10th this year we will commemorate our first birthday.

At the moment we have promises of sponsorship from a couple of breweries, which will ensure that we can show some generosity to all visitors to the bar on those nights. That's not to say we won't welcome any more offers if suppliers of interesting beverages want the chance to promote themselves and win our undying gratitude.

We'll do our best to make those evenings particularly memorable, while sticking to our policy of always remaining open to the public. So anyone who wants to join in the celebrations will be free to. We will announce more details soon.