August 18th, 2016

A Hangover To Enjoy

Woah, that was some Beervana!

Hopefully everyone has recovered from last week's huge week of all things beer. Down here at Hashigo we still have a hangover of a good kind - in the form of leftover beer.

We've managed to get our hands on the leftovers from the much hyped Oregon bar. And hyped for good reason, as we've got beers coming soon from Crux, HUB, Ecliptic and Base Camp.

I visited Crux and HUB on my trip to Oregon, and rated them near the top of all the breweries we visited (it's hard to compete with Cascade and Upright). Crux does amazing mixed fermentation and barrel aged beers, while HUB nails IPAs and classic styles in a big way.

We've got enough goodies to run a 'Best of Oregon' tap for the next wee while, which you can expect to see things like:
- Base Camp Bretta Livin' Apricot (on now)
- Crux Freak Cake Sour
- Crux Flanders Red
- Ecliptic Ultraviolet Blackberry Sour
- Ecliptic Zenith grapefruit gose
- HUB Noggin Floggin'

There's also a fair few IPA kegs from these brewers which will be hitting our import IPA tap soon.

So keep an eye on our apps, website and social media to keep up with what's pouring from Oregon.

NRT From the Steampunk Capital

Craftwork is a tiny brewery down in Oamaru, producing some of the best Belgian style ales in NZ on a 100L brewery.

This tiny size means the majority of their beer is bottled to reach the widest audience possible. But thanks to a certain beer festival we've managed to acquire a rare Craftwork keg, and it's a goodie.

Craftwork brewers Michael O'Brien and Lee-Ann Scotti teamed up with Kerry Gray of Choice Bros to create Autobarn - a strong (9%) Grisette, aged in a Waitaki Valley Gewurztraminer barrel with the 'Dirty Dozen' brettanomyces blend.

"Kerry Gray from Choice Bros came up with an idea for a collaborative beer. He offered us the full blown farmyard of wild yeasts, called the Dirty Dozen.
We poured it into a freshly emptied Waitaki Valley Gewurztraminer barrel, for the secondary fermentation. On top of that we added a strong version of our Grisette farmhouse ale. Then we let it alone for ten months, to fight it out.

More funk than sour, this beer shows off all the farmyard character of a rustic Belgian Saison, done in an American way.

Strong and yet refreshing, dry, yet surprisingly sweet, with a hint of vanilla oak.
Music match to Kraftwerk's Autobahn. As they say in Belgium, Choice Bro! ?"

We tap our only 20L keg of Autobarn at 5pm Tuesday!

Live in the Lounge: Carlos Navae Latin Funk

Carlos Navae is back, funking up the lounge with his band from 9pm this Saturday.

Carlos always gets everyone out of their seats and having a great time.

As usual Carlos comes to you free of charge, with no door fee.

Reality Check: ANZ 'Craft Beer' Report

Our proprieter and dear leader Dominic has been back at blogging after nearly a year on hiatus.

Prompting his return to public writing was the recent release of ANZ's Craft Beer Industy Insights report for 2016.

This report came up with some headline-friendly conclusions, but are they realistic?

Dominic went through the report, and wrote up a great analysis which you can read here.

PBE 2016: Tickets Available Now!

The next major beer festival in Wellington is our very own Pacific Beer Expo!

Planning is in full swing for this year's event, once again at the beautiful waterfront venue(s) of the Boatshed/Rowing Club.
PBE 2016 occurs on the Saturday and Sunday of Labour Weekend, Oct 22nd & 23rd. Monday is a public holiday so don't worry about booking the Sunday session!

Tickets are just $50 and include a beautiful branded TeKu glass (that is actually made of glass!), some beer tokens to get you going and a couple of food tokens so we're all being responsible.

This year's beer line up is still being finalised, but has already had a huge response from local brewers offering up special festive brews. And BwB are of course organising some exciting beers from across the pacific.

We'll be announcing more beer details right here as they become available, and you can also keep an eye on the Facebook page for up-to-date info.

But for now, lock in your ticket! Book here soon, the Saturday session is looking like a guaranteed sell-out so don't delay!