September 27, 2018

Misty Miyagi

"In Okinawa, all Miyagi know three things: fish, Karate and Hazy IPAs"

A wise man once said that.

Clearly the crew up at Deep Creek have been bingeing on the teachings of Mr. Miyagi, Daniel LaRusso, Takahama Kyoshi and others to draw inspiration for their new series of Hazy IPAs, for the uninitiated these beers are designed to be drunk as fresh as possible to show case the literally absurd amount of late hop additions, contributing to the trade mark pungent fruity aroma of the style. Follow this link for some in depth geekery about the style.

We have teamed up with Deep Creek to launch the first in this new series of seasonal releases, Misty Miyagi, Which we will be tapping TONIGHT at 5pm. You too can channel your inner Mitsuhashi Takajo, and try your hand at writing a Haiku.

To complement the Haze and the focus on seasonality we also welcome Plant Blazed to Hashigo tonight, they will be cooking up a storm of plant based deliciousness in the kitchen from 5pm

Eagle vs Shark Pies

 

No, it's not that film that everybody you know claims to have been in. It's the Australian Football League Grand Final. West Coast Eagles will be facing off against Collingwood Magpies. Nobody really knows the rules, it's just some guys wearing tank tops and questionable facial hair peacocking around a cricket oval as a few men in fluorescent green throw the ball back  into play in the most elaborate fashion imaginable, apparently there are actual rules which can be found here and a more simple over view can be found here. 

It's bound to be a highly entertaining game, even for non fans. 100,024 'strayans can't be wrong, can they?

Kick-off is 4:30 pm NZ time, we will be screening it in the Red Room, with sound, and as usual we will be serving Aussie Mince Stadium pies (with or without needles).

Rock The Cash Bar VII

It's just been, but we have already locked in a date for Wellingtons favourite music quiz, October 29th, be sure to book a table over the bar, It will be frightfully good fun. Costumes are always encouraged. 

An Update From The Woods

Brought to you from the same team behind The Pacific Beer Expo, this one off festival is designed to showcase beers that have spent some time in contact with wood.

The team has cast the net far and wide, beyond the usual reach of the Pacific rim to bring you some truly spectacular Barrel Aged beers from foreign shores.

The curating of the beer list has begun and we are about ready to launch ticket sales. Check here from Saturday morning, when sales go live.

This is one festival you DO NOT want to miss.

On Tap Now

• SouthCider  - Crisp Apple - Apple Cider
• Brewaucracy - Tax Evasion  - Table Beer
• Hallertau - Porter Noir 2018 - Pinot Noir Barrel Aged Porter
• Brew Moon- Czech Please - Pilsner
• Fitzpatricks - American Brown Ale  - American Brown Ale
• Brewaucracy  - Smoko - Bamberg Style Rauchbier
• Hallertau  - Lemon Curd - Lemon Sour Ale w/Lactose *NITRO*
• Kereru - For Great Justice - Coconut Porter
• Fitpatricks - Pale Ale - NZ Pale Ale
• Hallertau - Maximus - IPA
• Kereru - Moonless - Dry Stout  (handpull)

For those of you unaware we can now download our custom designed app from the Windows,  Google Play and  App store

New Release Tuesday

 
Something of a double whammy this week, not only is it a new beer, but it's also the first time this brewery has been on tap here at Hashigo Zake.
Based in Karori, Bassline Brewing is about combining a love & passion for music with a love & passion for beer.

After deciding that their core range APA, Banned in DC, didn't have enough of a punch to live up to the album it's named after they have remixed it - adding a delicious amount of Calypso Hop Oil to the brite tank. Calypso has a crazy-cool unique flavour & aroma that adds a massive punch of stone fruit and pear, backed with a touch of tropical fruit

 

Like a Goth Mumford and Sons

Fortunately not, we wouldn't do that to you, this weeks musical offering comes in the form of dark-country-infused indie rockers Muscle Man

Muscle Man plays slacker-rock to goth-hearted indie kids, Muscle Man writes songs about violent tenderness, Muscle Man sleeps in empty bedrooms, listening to Beefheart, The Fall, The Replacements and The Wedding Present.

Good dudes, even better tunes. 10pm Free Entry, what could be better?

Pumas Vs All Blacks

If you happen to find yourself up and about on Sunday morning, we will be opening from 11:30am in time to screen the Argentina vs All Blacks game, which, if the test in Nelson is anything to go by, should be decent game. With Argentina hoping to build on a over Australia and the All Blacks hoping to get back to winning ways after a narrow defeat to South Africa.

Cult Film Basement

 
1972, '73 and ;'74 were great years for William Friedkin, Bagging himself an Oscar for Best Director an one more nomination (The French Connection and The Exorcist) an Outstanding Directorial Achievement award from the Directors Guild Of America and a BAFTA nomination too.

The '80's rolled around and his form took a wee dip, earning himself 2 Razzie Nominations for 1980's Cruising. So old William was due a comeback, and comeback he did.

1985's To Live and Die In L.A. was that comeback, garnering a Festival du Film Policier de Cognac Audience award and wide praise.

"The movie is also first-rate. The direction is the key. Friedkin has made some good movies ... and some bad ones. This is his comeback, showing the depth and skill of the early pictures".

The Digital Fix called the film "A sun-bleached study in corruption and soul-destroying brutality, this film by the notoriously erratic but sometimes brilliant William Friedkin is nasty, cynical and incredibly good."

The film was voted as the 19th best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list"

Pretty good come back I'd say, the only slightly troubling thing is that last review "some inherent truth about the L.A. experience".... A handy Synopsis describes the movie as

"Two cops in Los Angeles try to track down the vicious criminal Eric Masters . Then, one of them is killed by Masters and the other one swears revenge no matter what the cost. After that, the hunt becomes an obsession and the law he once swore to uphold becomes meaningless to him."

If that's the inherent truth about the L.A. experience I'm staying in Wellington. Unless the L.A. Experience is meeting Willem Defoe, That would be rad.

Come and find out if Wellington is better than L.A.

There will be the usual free Hop Salted Popcorn, just to lighten the mood a bit. See you at 7pm.

September 6, 2018

Tax Evasion

Hamilton’s Brewaucracy continue to come up with on-brand beer names. And we think that the beer lives up to the hype too, which is just as well given how outspoken Greig and Phil have  been as beer judges and critics over  the years.

Tax Evasion is their new 2.5% table beer. It goes on tap at 5pm on Tuesday.

Ozploitation

On Sunday our the Cult Movie Basement screens a classic of the movement that has become known as Ozploitation. (Apparently Quentin Tarantino is a big Ozploitation fan.)

The film is 1986’s Fortress. It features Rachel Ward, who has had her share of notable roles, but may be best remembered for adjusting Steve Martin’s willy in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.

Fortress is described here as “a strange and sometimes sinister antidote to US thrillers of the same period.”

Be warned that if you go searching for an Australian movie called Fortress you might end up with a US/Australian action/sci-fi flick of the same name. Don’t settle for imitation Ozploitation.

Fortress screens at the customary time of 7pm on Sunday.

On Tap Now

• Abandoned IIPA
• Kereru Big Pigeon Pilsner
• Deep Creek Black Doris Berliner
• Deep Creek Double IPA
• Kereru Imperial Nibs
• Iwate Kura Japanese Herb Ale Sansho
• Far Yeast Brewing Company Kagua Citrus Saison
• Kereru Moonless Stout (handpump)
• Graphic My City is on Fire
• Boneface Shake Your Blood

We acquired a few kegs that were brought over from Japan for the recent Beervana festival. Two are on tap now and highly recommended. There’s a delicate, yuzu-infused Saison by Far Yeast, called Kagua Citrus Saison.

Another is, or was, something of a mystery beer. It certainly isn’t the Nasu Kohgen Scottish Ale that we were expecting and seeing “Sansho” written in kanji on the keg cap (plus the spicy character) has convinced us that it’s Iwate Kura’s Japanese Herb Ale Sansho.

Still to come from these festival overstayers are a couple of IPAs by the new rock stars of Japanese brewing – TDM 1874 - and another from Iwate Kura that is called Takata No Yume. Apparently the name refers to a variety of rice that is used in the beer, but there are strong hints out there that it has yuzu and ume in it.

Meanwhile...

By some accident, there's a quartet of beers on tap right now that have (or should have) Imperial in their names. Specifically:

• Abandoned IIPA (this week’s new release)
• Deep Creek IIPA
• Kereru Imperial Nibs
• Boneface Shake Your Blood Red IPA

Averaging a touch over 8% ABV, a flight of these four would make a fantastic antidote to today’s weather. However 300mls, or even 200mls, of each would lead to customers being classified binge drinkers and we couldn't have that, so this evening we’ll offer a flight of 100mls of each for $16. At least one of these four kegs should run out tonight, so this is a while-stocks-last offer.

Live Music and a Mutually Beneficial Proposition

 

We have live music every Saturday this month and the full schedule is below.

This Saturday Chocolate Thunder return. When Chocolate Thunder first played here it was a bit weird, as they had somehow settled on a name that was also a nickname of a very popular member of our staff. But we’ve got over that and been won over by their sensuous jazz, funk, soul and fusion maelstrom. Their words, not ours. They play from 10pm.

Now many of the subscribers to this email probably signed up because you care about beer as much as we do, or perhaps because you toil at one of the prestigious workplaces in our neighbourhood. No doubt a few of you have some interest in our live music programme. But here at Hashigo Zake HQ it worries us that the readers of this email and those looking for great live music on a Saturday night might only be slightly intersecting groups. So we have a cunning plan to reach other potential fans of our gigs.

We invite readers of this email to look around your workplaces for communal areas with places where you’re free to put up notices. If you see such a location and have an employer that doesn’t mind, we invite you to print the gig guide below, pin it up at your place of work, bring in a photo of it in situ and have a beer on us!

To make things easier, we will have a stash of printed copies here, but a late change to the lineup means they aren't ready yet.

As this is something of an experiment and we can’t give away all the beer, this offer is open to the first ten willing collaborators.

Speaking of Saturday Entertainment...

 

The team known as the All Blacks have two more home games this year, over the next two Saturdays. Which means we have two more opportunities to put our luxurious screening room to good use.

This Saturday the All Blacks are attempting to inject some tension into the contest with Argentina by resting a disconcerting number of first choice players. Plus it's in Nelson where the All Blacks have never beaten the Pumas.

We deliver an immersive viewing experience from 7:30. First in gets the sofa.

Rock The Cash Bar VII

It's just been, but we have already locked in a date for Wellingtons favourite music quiz, October 29th, be sure to book a table over the bar or at Rock The Cash Bar's very own facebook page, It will be frightfully good fun. Costumes are always encouraged.