July 31st, 2014

Mata-whata?

Mata have been revamping their beer offerings over the last couple of years, and I have been consistently impressed.
Their Tumeke! IPA, Hip-Hop Pils and Blondie Wheat are regular residents of our taps, their new Mataccino Coffee Chocolate Vanilla Stout is amazing (and on tap now...), and this Tuesday you'll be able to taste what I believe will be a new regular resident - Matawhaka Imperial IPA.
The brewing of Matawhaka maxed out Mata's equipment, containing easily the most hops they've ever used in a single beer, while the malt filled the mash tun to capacity.

A menagerie of hops were used, sourcing five different varieties from New Zealand (Riwaka), Australia (Galaxy, Summer) and the USA (Amarillo, Palisade).
Weighing in at 8% ABV we're expecting a big mouth filling IPA backed up by massively aromatic and bitter hops.

The only way to find out for sure is to be here on Tuesday at 5pm when it goes on tap for the first time!

Dirty Filthy Blues

A new act to the HZ lounge premieres this Saturday.

The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels are a blues trio consisting of Ben Wilcock, Rick Cranson and Andy Laking. They're promising a night of "Down and dirty if not outright filthy Blues", which sounds pretty great - I think...

The show kicks off at 10pm, with no cover charge as usual.

A Squadron of Pelicans

Turns out the name for a group of pelicans is a "squadron". So that means tomorrow from midday, a squadron of Pelican beers will be taking over the majority of our taps
As mentioned last week, Pelican Brewery's beers are making a return after years of absence from NZ. This is thanks to Beer Without Borders bringing them in all the way from Pacific City, Oregon.
The squadron will consist of:

• Imperial Pelican Ale IIPA 8% (formerly known as India Pelican Ale)
• Kiwanda Cream Ale 5.1% (Gold at World Beer Cup)
• Doryman's Dark Ale 6.2%
• Silverspot IPA 6.5% (Silver at World Beer Cup)
• MacPelican's Scottish Ale 5%
• Tsunami Stout 7.5%

We'll be offering a 'multi trip ticket' of sorts for people wanting to work their way through the range. You'll be able to get four half glasses of any four different pelican tap beers with this ticket, which will only cost you $35.

Providing food as amazing as the beers tomorrow night will be the Fire Truck Food Truck. As the weather has warmed up a bit, they'll be back in the parking lot with the big red truck. You'll still be able to order firetruck food over the bar, and it'll be brought to your table. Food such as:

- Lamb kibbehs (meat ball type things) with spiced aubergine and a garlic aioli.

- BBQ pork with poached taro, cavlo nero and miso

- Tofu, poached taro, cavlo nero and miso (veg)

I asked Kim and Will to try and source some Pelican steaks, but they didn't think that was legal.

Border Post

Remember that guy Dominic who used to write these things? Him and the team at Beer Without Borders have just launched a similar-but-different fortnightly newsletter, Border Post. 

It contains reviews of some of BwB's products and is a great way to keep informed of the latest local and international beers on the market. You'll even get some insider info on beers to look out for in future months. 

Subscribe to Border Post here, then catch up on issues one, two and three.