March 26th, 2015

Happy Birthday MJ

Michael Jackson was one of the most prominent figures in both the whisky and beer worlds. He had a passion and knowledge of malt beverages that infected thousands and helped launch the worldwide beer explosion that we're seeing today.

Sadly, Michael passed away in 2007 after privately suffering from Parkinson's disease for more than a decade.

Tomorrow is Michael Jackson's birthday, which since 2009 has been celebrated as International Whisk(e)y day - a day to remember Michael Jackson by raising a dram and money to fight the disease that took him.

Tomorrow, we'll be donating $2 for every dram of whisk(ey) purchased to Parkinson's New Zealand - along with all tips from the night.

We'll also be showing the recent doco on Michael's beery travels Beer Hunter: The Movie on our screens.

It's great reason for a post-work boiler maker.

8 Wired's First Sour

8 Wired’s first foray into sour beers was Grand Cru, a sour Quadrupel.
Soren took his ‘Sultan’ Quadrupel and aged it for a few years with some interesting bugs:

“Brewed in March 2011 and then laid to rest in used Pinot Noir, French Oak barrels from Grove Mill Winery. Brettanomyces and Pediococcus were added for extra funk.”

Luckily we had the foresight to buy some cellar stock of this impressive beer, which has been aging beautifully.

We're going to show it off this Saturday when we serve 150ml bottle pour for $7, so you can see where it all began.

The Doublenecks

This Saturday funky Improv meets Groove Classics from local legends Nick Granville (guitar & bass) and Lance Philip (drums & loops).
The music kicks off at 9.30pm and won't cost you a thing.

GKBF

Our buddies over at Beer Without Borders are once again heading down to what is probably New Zealand's biggest beer festival, the Great Kiwi Beer Festival in Christchurch.

I'll be there as well, helping them serve some of the 12,000 odd punters the greatest hits from the BwB catalogue.On the off-chance that you're heading to Chch for a reason other than GKBF this weekend, I highly recommend heading along. It's a great, chilled out day of delicious beer and food in the beautiful Hagley Park. If you're going, make sure to come and see us at the World of Beer Marquee.

Devil's Brew

In 2014 Coronado Brewing Company was named Champion Mid-Sized Brewing Co. and Brewmaster at the World Beer Cup and Devils Backbone Brewing Company capturing Mid-Sized Brewery of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival.
The pair of breweries decided to celebrate together, and in this industry collaborations are how it's done. This unholy coupling spawned the Devil’s Tale IPA.
Devil's Tale features Centennial and Mosaic hops, plus "a burst of woody rusticity" (whatever that means) from Northern Brewer hops.

You can get a sneak preview of this beer in bottles, but 5pm Tuesday we'll tap the very first keg of this beer at Hashigo.

Cricket!

If your heart has stopped pounding from Tuesday's tight semi-final by this Sunday, Hashigo will be a great place to (hopefully) see the Black Caps win their first world cup.

We'll be showing the big final live with commentary from 3.30pm, it's also a good day to exercise your 15% SOBA discount.