September 22, 2011

A New Tasting... Garage Projecture... More Pacific Beer Expo Info...

A New Tasting

Our own tasting programme has taken a back seat lately with Beervana and a certain event that we can't name confusing things. (In all seriousness we can't name it - we were "inspected" last Friday to make sure we had no signage naming the event that we were showing on our TVs!)

But around the end of this month a pretty special shipment from our favourite Norwegian brewery, Nøgne Ø, arrives and it deserves to be celebrated. Not only that, the event that we can't name has brought to Wellington Tokyo-based beer writer Tim Eustace. Tim was associated with Nøgne Ø long before they became the brewing legend they are now - he even came up with the name Dark Horizon for the brewery's legendary 17% Imperial Stout. So while he's in Wellington we're co-opting him to help present a run through our new supplies.

More details and bookings are at the Cult Beer Store.

And while we're on the subject of tastings, it's time we started dropping hints about an event in November. It will be another single-brewery tasting but the brewery will be a local one. It isn't one we've had a full tasting of before, but it is one of our most regular and popular suppliers.

Garage Projecture

The boys will be back with another experimental beer next week and it's another change of direction after Salt and Pepper Porter and Aro Noir.

Next week's beer is Hazel, Maple Mild. It's described as "a strong mild ale, infused with roast hazel nuts and secondary fermented with pure Maple syrup. The finished beer pours with a dense rich head and has a distinct nutty, toffee character."

We're rapt that the Garage Project continues to give everyone a reason to leave their jobs on a Tuesday evening.

More Pacific Beer Expo Info

It's many months since we first heard rumours that Renaissance Brewery had developed a barley wine. But the interval between the rumour and the fact has been excruciating. We believe this has been caused, at least in part, by a delay in the delivery of the 330ml black bottles that the beer is being packaged in. Luckily a month or so ago the brewery were good enough to let Hashigo Zake's staff sample a little, so we can vouch for the beer's quality.

So the beer that will be known as Tribute Barley Wine 2011 will finally be released on October 21st. While the Pacific Beer Expo won't be the official launch event, we think it's pretty fortuitous for all concerned that we can add it to our lineup the following day.

Since we're announcing the inclusion of a barley wine, maybe this is a good time to announce a beer in an even rarer style - Baird West Coast Wheat Wine 2011. This will be more of a preview of this beer, rather than a launch, as it isn't released in Japan until November.

Here are some of the already announced beers in the lineup:

• 8 Wired Double Brown
• Baird Kiwi Strong Pale Ale
• Feral Barrel Fermented Hop Hog
• Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Vanilla Imperial Porter
• Yeastie Boys His Majesty 2011
• Rogue American Amber Ale
• Feral Boris Imperial Stout

So that's nine exceptional beers announced. There will be around twenty more, all of comparable quality and rarity.

As well as drip-feeding information about the beers available, we've been slow divulging other details about the festival. So here are a few more:

• Every attendee will receive a souvenir festival glass and eight starting tokens. Two of those tokens will only be redeemable for food. All other tokens can be exchanged for food or drinks.
• Drinks will be served in 100ml samples, costing a token each. Extra tokens cost $2.50 each.
• High quality, beer friendly food will be available. Every item on the food menu will cost either two or four tokens.
• Any unused tokens can be redeemed afterwards at Hashigo Zake for 80% of their original value.
• The festival's two sessions will have two halves. At the half way mark (4:30pm) the lineup of beers will change and a number of beers will be taken off and replaced. A few will be available throughout both halves. The programme will make it very clear what beers will be poured at each serving station and at what times.

Note that all beers will cost the same - no distinction is made for strength, style or country of origin. This is because we have faith that the beers being served are of a uniformly high quality.