November 5th, 2015

Meet Modern Matt

Last night's brewer's dinner with Matt Walsh was quite spectacular. I'll spare you the details so I don't trigger all the FOMO, suffice to say we'll be looking to collaborate with Zibibbo more often!

If you didn't make it to the dinner, you can still hang out with Modern Times head brewer Matt Walsh tonight at our 'meet the brewer' event.

We've currently got four Modern Times beers on tap, including PBE 2015 favourites Fruitlands Cherry Gose and Grapefruit Fortunate Islands along with classics Lomaland Saison and Black House Coffee Stout.

Matt is currently doing a collaboration brew with (Deloitte Fast 50 winning) Garage Project, but after that's done he'll be hanging out at the bar ready to meet his adoring fans. Mat'll be here around 5.30pm all going well.

Te Aro Brewing's Obligatory Pale Ale

A couple of weeks ago Te Aro Brewing Company put down their first ever full-sized batch on their 1310L brewery, an Aotearoa Pale Ale.

The hoppy pale ale is the cornerstone of a good beer lineup, and Te Aro's APA sounds like a solid foundation. All NZ Gladfield malt combine wtih all NZ (Cascade, Nelson Sauvin and Motueka) hops, to create an easy drinking but still interesting 4.9% pale ale.

Celebrate with the brewers and be among the first to try Te Aro's first big batch when we tap it at 5pm Tuesday.

JB3 Funk

This Saturday JB3 bring the Boogaloo and New Orleans Funk with Jake Baxendale, Shaun Anderson & Daniel Hayles.

They kick off at 9.30pm this Saturday, and of course won’t cost you at thing to enjoy.

Santa Session 2015

The 2015 Hashigo Zake Santa Session takes place at 6.30pm on Tuesday, December 1. 

This will be the sixth time we hold this "opening of our cellar", where stock that's outstayed its welcome gets the boot.

For first-timers, the process is pretty simple. We set up a pouring station away from the main bar and stockpile a wide variety of bottled beer that we rotate through as the evening goes on. Ticket holders are welcome to come back to our pouring station over and over again and get their glass refilled with whichever beer we're pouring at the minute.

This year will feature beers from the likes of Left Coast, Pelican, Bear Republic, Baird, Rogue and more.

Some of the beer may be slightly past its best, some of it you may not have heard of and some will be absolute gems that we simply have too much of.

This tasting is open to the public but is also our way of celebrating the end of 2015 with the Wellington members of the Society of Beer Advocates, so we offer a $10 discount to SOBA members.

The Santa Session takes place at 6:30pm on Tuesday, December 1st.

Make your booking on cultbeerstore.co.nz then turn up on December 1 at 6:30pm.

Is Fresh Always Best?

While most beer is designed to be drunk fresh, there are a few styles that actually benefit from a little age.

Traditionally beers that age well are strong and malty, but recently this wisdom has been challenged by a few members of the beer community who claim other styles age just as well.

At this tasting we'll be trying aged examples of both, in a quest to answer the age old question: "is fresh best?"

Beer Without Borders has a back catalogue of beers ranging from a few years to almost a decade old, and spanning styles from IPA and golden ale to imperial stout and barley wine.

We'll be seeing what happens to an IPA after years, how a barley wine evolves over time and learn about how things like oxidation and autolysis affect the flavour of beer. 

Expect beers from Rogue, Moon Dog, Green Flash, Bear Republic, Southern Tier, Dieu du Ciel and more. 

We're only charging $20 for this tasting, which takes place at 6pm on Wednesday the 25th of November. Book your spot over at cultbeerstore.co.nz!