March 16, 2017

New Release Extravaganza

Next week we take New Release Tuesday to new levels, with an unprecedented three beer, in-person homage to San Diego’s Modern Times. Confused?

Modern Times head brewer Matt Walsh is back in New Zealand. In fact, as this is being written, he’s visiting a certain much-loved Nelson brewery to collaborate on a beer. On Tuesday we’ll have him on the premises and we hope he’ll give his seal of approval to no fewer than three beers, made specially at The Occasional Brewer by our very own staff, and based on versions of their own recipes that Modern Times make available.

 

Saturday Bottle Pour

On Saturday we’re continuing the theme of this week’s not so new release, in that we’re seeing off the dwindling supply of beer from Rogue. There are still a few cases around of Rogue’s Honey Kölsch and there’s the odd bottle of their Oregon Single Malt Whisky (ocean aged for an extravagant three months). We thought this combo would be ideal for a boilermaker. So this week’s bottle pour is a first for us, in that customers will walk away with two glasses, one of which won’t contain beer.

For those who don’t know, Rogue’s Honey Kölsch is one of their ‘Rogue Farms” beers, which means that most or all of the ingredients, including the honey, come from their own farms. Plus the beer is in one of Rogue’s beloved painted 750ml bottles, meaning it’s destined to become a collector’s item.

On Tap Now

• Modern Times City of the Sun IPA
• Eagle Brewing Coalface Stout
• North End E.S.B (Handpump)
• NOMAD Freshie Salt & Pepper Gose
• Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yella Pils
• Mike's One More Pale Ale
• 8 Wired Milou
• Graphic Origin Story Citrus APA
• Rogue XS Imperial Stout 2014
• North End Yellow Eye Anglo IPA (Handpump)
• North End Yellow Eye Anglo IPA

St Patricks Day

We could scramble to find a stout to offer tomorrow, St Patrick’s Day, but that would be kind of pointless. At the time of writing we have both Eagle Coalface Stout and Rogue Imperial Stout on tap, and they’re likely to still be going tomorrow. And Coalface will be replaced by 8 Wired Big Smoke. Oh and we have 20 bottled beers that are either stouts or imperial stouts. Not to mention a few porters.

What we will be offering is a food special in the form of an Irish Beef Stew, made with Northend Iron Sands Stout.

Coming Soon

Look out for :-

• Te Aro Seven of Diamonds. Here's what the brewery say about their latest release: "4.3% NZ Pale Ale. Clean, refreshing and sessionable. Perfect for this extended summer we have been having." Everyone's a comedian.
• Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale. Second chance time! Oskar Blues' flagship beer returns soon.

 Prohibition

“the act of forbidding something”
 

Last weekend some news emerged that shocked and concerned us here at Hashigo Zake and even more so at our importing arm Beer Without Borders. It was announced that production at one of our favourite overseas breweries – Speakeasy - was stopping immediately, while the bank that loaned Speakeasy a ton of money to expand decides what to do. It looks as though the chances of saving the brand and the brewery aren’t quite as low as zero, but to have got this far things must be pretty desperate.

So like Rogue, New Zealand’s supply of Speakeasy beer is dwindling. (It’s just as well Oskar Blues have emerged to fill the gap.) And one of Speakeasy’s best is their amber ale Prohibition. We’ll be putting one of the last kegs in the country on tap shortly.

Live in the Lounge

Live music takes this Saturday off but Vincent Vega Trio will bring surf rock on Saturday the 25th.