October 15th, 2015

When's Our Birthday Again?

PBE preparation and planning has been dominating our world down here, so much that we nearly managed to forget our next big milestone.
It was a surprise then, to receive an email from the lovely folk down at Garage Project, letting us know they've brewed us a special beer for our 6th birthday!

"Ohh yeah, it's about that time isn't it?"

It doesn't seem like six years since we first opened our doors. But thinking back to the beer scene in 2009 I can really appreciate how far Wellington has come in just six years. Going from a city with no breweries just a few years back to over ten now. Wellington has now become a world class beer city, not only consuming more good beer but also producing it. Beer bars have popped up all across town, with momentum showing no signs of slowing. Good beer has become expected as standard.

So next Tuesday we're celebrating our sixth birthday with the help of our birthday beer 'Fú Rú Dōng Hǎi' - that's a traditional Chinese birthday wish meaning "May your luck be as immense as the Eastern Sea."

The beer Fú Rú Dōng Hǎi is a pilsner with Chinese influenced adjuncts added, namely Red Rice, Ginger and Szechuan Pepper. It sounds like a beer reminiscent of some of the original 24/24, and should impress.

Fú Rú Dōng Hǎi will be tapped this Tuesday at 5pm.

There will be cake.

Just 9 Sleeps till PBE

Things are really clicking into place for PBE now. Beers are arriving, glasses have arrived, caterers are sorted (see below) and the beer list is finalised after a few late entries.

We've been announcing beers over on the social medias all week, but if you've not seen them yet check out the last week's announcements below (click on each beer for more info):

- Wild & Woolly Goose Dog & Bobby Leach's Mandarin Comeuppance

- Lord Almighty Salsus Ursus Salted Imperial Stout

- Baylands Thai Delaksa

- 8 Wired Hippy Berliner - Cucumber Edition

The full beer list and spreadsheet will be released next week, and I'll include a link in next week's email. That should leave you with plenty of time to plan your PBE day(s).

If you don't have your tickets yet, what the hell? Grab 'em at pbe2015.lilregie.com.

Delicious TeKu

The pallet of PBE glassware arrived this week, fresh from the Rastal factory in Germany.

That's right, GLASSware - thankfully our liquor license didn't force you to drink out of a glorified plastic cup. So at PBE you get treated like an adult, and get to drink out of a glass designed to enhance your beer.

This year we've stuck with the same TeKu glass that proved so popular last year. The TeKus have 100ml and 200ml markings on the back, which are mainly for our volunteers to know where to pour to - but will also come in handy afterwards if you're splitting a bottle into a few of them.

The other PBE milestone this week was finalising the food available. This year the talented Fire Truck crew is looking after catering, and have put together a sizable and delicious looking menu:

This will all be available from the Boatshed kitchen during PBE 2015, so make sure you use up your complimentary $5 of food tokens on something tasty.

The Inclinators Live in the Lounge

The massively talented Inclinators return to our lounge this Saturday.

They'll be dishing out some Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Sonny Terry, James Cotton and Slim Harpo.
Come along by 9.30pm this Saturday to enjoy the blues harp of maestro Terry Casey, guitar of Chris Armour, Richard Te One on drums and Steve Moodie with bass.

And as always, no cover charge!

October 8th, 2015

Mahalo Maui

Maui Brewing Co. have been on my radar for a few years now. They were one of the first breweries to challenge my perceptions of beer cans as an early adopter in the "micro-canning revolution" (as they call it).

Their CoCoNut PorTeR blew my mind back in 2009 when I tasted it stewarding for the BGoNZAs. It must have impressed Chris from Kereru too - I'm fairly sure it's part of the inspiration of For Great Justice.

Later, I picked up a can of Big Swell IPA from Thorndon New World. Despite being mistreated grey market beer (don't tell Dom) it had kept remarkably well in its can. So after tasting what properly treated can of Big Swell tastes like last month, I'm pretty excited to find out what a properly imported keg tastes like tomorrow.

Because tomorrow from midday we'll be tapping our first ever kegs of both Big Swell IPA and CoCoNut PorTeR - as well as a newbie: Mana Wheat.

Mana Wheat sounds pretty intriguing too, not your normal boring American wheat ale. Mana has Maui Gold Pineapple added for 'extra fruity sweetness'.

We tap all three of these Hawaiian beauties at midday, so pop on down any time tomorrow to try some of Hawaii's best.

16 Sleeps till PBE

Wooooah, that's just over two weeks to go. It's getting reeeal.

We've now finalised the list of brewers to be showcased at PBE 2015, which is now available on the FB event.

Our daily announcements also continue on the FB event/page and twitter.

On Tuesday we announced that renowned Austrailian farmhouse brewer La Sirene will be available on tap for the first time at PBE. We even did a press release.

Four La Sirene beers will be on tap at PBE 2015: Belgian Praline (GABS people's choice), Botanique, Belle-French Ale and Saison Nouveau.

There's also bottles coming over with these kegs, which include their legendary brettanomyces dosed Wild Saison. Bottles of which will be available at the bar following PBE.

We announced plenty of other beers over the last week, check them out below (click on each beer for more info):

- Choice Bros Peanut Slab Stout

- Te Aro Brewing Grapefruit Gulpin' IIPA

- Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin

- Coronado Punk’In Drublic & Ballast Point Pumpkin Down

- Brewcult Milk & Two Sugars Imperial Coffee Milk Stout

We'll be releasing the whole beer list in spreadsheet form, the week of the event. It'll include columns for ABV, country, brewery, which half it'll be on and more. So those of you who like to plan your drinking lineup can rest assured.

If you don't have em yet, grab your tickets at pbe2015.lilregie.com.

Jazz Vocalised

It's not our just instrumentals this Saturday in the lounge, with vocalist Moira Jean joining Reuben Bradley (drums), Tom Callwood (bass) and Ayrton Foote (keys) to form the Reuben Bradley Quartet.

They'll be whipping out a fine assortment of new and old soul, jazz & rock treats that are apparently "for the filthy animal in you."

The Reuben Bradley Quartet kicks off at 9.30pm this Saturday night, and as usual, there's no charge for coming along.

PortlandiaHead

Parrotdog weren't the only ones collaborating in Portland. Panhead brewer Mike Neilson also found time to collaborate with Widmer Brothers Brewing while recently visiting for the Portland Brewer's festival.

Mike & Widmer teamed up to create the Wid Hog xIPA. The 'x' is for experimental, as they used un-named experimental varieties of hops in this 7% IPA.

Kegs of this beer just arrived from the states, so we’re tapping it fresh at 5pm next Tuesday the 13th of October.

Fresh Off The Boat

Last week we announced our 'Fresh Off The Boat' tasting, which occurs next Wednesday the 14th.

We had some weirdness with our online store making it go 'out of stock' whenever anyone booked a spot, so you might have thought you'd missed out.

Fear not! There's still a few places left, and we've fixed the issue with the store, so head over to cultbeerstore.co.nz and lock in your spot for  just $35.

We'll be tasting all the newbies from the latest shipment including:

Modern Times Fortunate Islands With Grapefruit Zest - hoppy wheat ale with grapefruit

Ballast Point Calm Before the Storm - vanilla coffee cream ale

Gigantic SOLID! - hoppy wheat ale

Gigantic/ParrotDog/Het Utilje Sun Never Sets - India wheat lager

Gigantic Ume Umai - plum & black rice ale

Ballast Point Pumpkin Down - spiced pumpkin scotch ale

Coronado Punk'in Drublic - imperial pumpkin ale

October 1st, 2015

Croucher's Four Track IPAs

The Croucher SingleTrack IPA series is a wonderfully geeky sequence of hoppy pale ales, each brewed to the same recipe but with one ingredient varied: the single hop used.

It's a great way of showing what a certain hop does in a beer, and how it presents in terms of bitterness, flavour and aroma.

A few weeks back we had a New Release Tuesday featuring two of these IPAs side by side... But we thought we'd take the geekiness to the next level.

So we asked the brewery to hold onto a keg of each of the four most recent SingleTracks; Citra, Amarillo, Centennial & Riwaka - for a special event....

This Saturday the 3rd of October we'll be tapping all four of these kegs, and offering 150ml tasting flights featuring each of the four most recent SingleTrack IPAs.

Not only will you be able to go full geek and compare Citra, Amarillo, Centennial & Riwaka hops, we'll give you a voting token with your flight to vote for your favourite by popping it in the corresponding hop's box. If you're not happy with the four voting options on offer, make sure to start a social media campaign for a fifth. This hop referendum is just a distraction from the real issues anyway.

These flights will only be available on Saturday the 3rd of October, so don't miss out.

23 Sleeps till PBE

That's right, just 23 sleeps till the Wellington's coolest little beer festival!

We've been busily announcing the beers as they become confirmed, feeding out info on the FB event/page & twitter.

If you need any more convincing, here's what we announced over the past week (click on each beer for more info):

- Modern Times Fruitlands Cherry Gose

- Modern Times Fortunate Islands with Grapefruit Zest

- North End 'Become the Ocean' Gose

- Tiamana Gerda Gruit

- Craftwork/Choice Bros Autobarn

- Renaissance Barrel Aged 2013 Tribute Barley Wine

There's still a plethora of amazing beers to reveal, so keep an eye on the social medias.

Next week you'll even start seeing posters about town, so don't forget to exclaim loudly to everyone in earshot how great PBE is whenever you see one.

If for some reason you haven't got your ticket yet, quick being a slacker grab one for you and all your friends at pbe2015.lilregie.com.

Doublenecks + Big Wednesday

This Saturday the dynamic duo Doublenecks are back. Local legends Nick Granville (guitar & bass) and Lance Philip (drums & loops)  will be creating masterpieces mixing funky-improv & groove-classics.

The Doublenecks kick off in the lounge this Saturday at 9.30pm, and as usual, no cover fee.

But that's not the only gig we've got over the next week. On Wednesday the 7th we have a special guest gig, featuring local greats Nick Granville, Rodger Fox, Tom Warrington, Lance Phillip... and a secret surprise international guest!

It's a bit of a secret who the international guest is, but perhaps those who can look slightly to the left can figure it out.
All I can say is that this U.S. based blues guitar legend is in town for a short time, and this is your chance to watch him perform up close and personal for free. 

Being a school night this one kicks off a little earlier at 8.30pm, this coming Wednesday.

PortlandiaDog

Back in July a bunch of Kiwi brewers went to Portland for the Oregon Brewer's Festival, the idea being a bunch of Portland brewers reciprocate for Beervana.

Among these brewers was Matt Warnerdog of ParrotDog.

While in the beer mecca that is Portland, Matt teamed up with local Portlandian brewer Gigantic and Netherlands brewer Het Uiltje to make a unique 7.3% "India Wheat Lager" - The Sun Never Sets.

It seems such an international beer caused a stir in Oregon's beer capital, with the three guys making the local news (that video is also handy if you want to know how to pronounce 'Uiltje').

The latest Beer Without Borders shipment (which arrived today), contains both kegs and bottles of this beer. So we're rushing it on tap for the next New Release Tuesday to get it drunk as fresh as possible.

Gigantic describes the beer thusly:

"A 3 way collabo with our friends from ParrotDog in New Zealand and Brouwerij Het Uiltje in the Netherlands. Much like in an empire of old, the day never ends for the brewers who made this beer - an India Wheat Lager, brewed with New Zealand Hops for tropical and melony goodness."

Luckily it's the off season for Tuesday night basketball, so we should see a few of the ParrotDog Matts down for the first NZ tapping of Sun Never Sets at 5pm this coming Tuesday.

Taste 'em Fresh Off The Boat

As mentioned above, a brand new shipment has arrived from the U.S. - which always means new goodies from the best brewers in the West.

This shipment contains seven new beers in bottles from various West Coast brewers, so what better way to check them all out by holding a tasting?

We want to make sure you taste 'em fresh, so in just under two weeks on Wednesday the 14th of October we'll be tasting the following beers:

Modern Times Fortunate Islands With Grapefruit Zest - hoppy wheat ale with grapefruit

Ballast Point Calm Before the Storm - vanilla coffee cream ale

Gigantic SOLID! - hoppy wheat ale

Gigantic/ParrotDog/Het Utilje Sun Never Sets - India wheat lager

Gigantic Ume Umai - plum & black rice ale

Ballast Point Pumpkin Down - spiced pumpkin scotch ale

Coronado Punk'in Drublic - imperial pumpkin ale

A place in this tasting costs just $35, a mere fraction of what it would cost to taste all of these astounding beers on your own.

It'll be a pretty relaxed couple of hours, I'll take you through all seven beers and provide a little bit of extra info and discussion around each beer. The customary vote for the favourite at the end always creates some friction.

So come along with friends, or come alone and make friends - book your spot(s) at cultbeerstore.co.nz.

September 24th, 2015

30 Sleeps till PBE

It is now just a month till the fifth Pacific Beer Expo, and things are really starting to fall into place.

The beer list is growing by the day, with local brewers being incredibly supportive and pulling no punches with their festive brews.
For example, today Baylands and Te Aro Brewing made their PBE beers - involving Thai curry paste and grapefruit respectively...

After only a couple of days the confirmed beer list has grown to 37, with even more yet to be confirmed including some gems from across the ditch.

Because we have more beers to announce than there are days in a month, we're going to be announcing at least one PBE beer every day until the 24th over on the Facebook Page and Event, and Twitter account.

If those newfangled social medias aren't your thing, don't fret! I'll be doing a roundup every week here in the old fashioned weekly email, so you can peruse the lineup at your leisure.

So without further ado, the beers announced so far:

Hawaii joins PBE for the first time, with Maui Brewing Co on tap at PBE 2015. We've secured three beers that are usually only available at their brewpub:

Pau Hana Pilsner, Hualeakala Sunryes Rye IPA and Kihei Kolsch!



Two new beers from Portland's Gigantic Brewing Company will be in attendance, Ume Umai Plum & Black Rice Beer along with  SOLID! Hoppy American Wheat Beer.

We'll have more announcements over the next week which I'll round up here next Thursday.

At the moment ticket sales for the Saturday session are surging ahead and seem sure to sell out. So if you're planning on going to that session book your spot now at pbe2015.lilregie.com

Batch 18 vs Batch 2.18

It's Blenheim vs Warkworth, aged vs fresh, Batch 18 vs Batch 2.18.
For their 18th batch ever, 8 Wired brewed a massive 12.5% stout with jaggery sugar & cocoa nibs - and then barrel aged it for 6 months. It was the first of its kind in NZ, and caused waves in the early beer geek community.

Following tradition, the 18th batch brewed at 8 Wired's new Warkworth brewery was made to the same recipe, but this time instead of barrels was aged in two of their new foeders. A foeder is essentially a really, really big barrel and makes oak aged beers far easier (and cheaper) to produce.

That was 6 months ago, so bottles of 2.18 have just come out. It weight in slightly lighter than its older sibling at only 11%ABV.

After a bit of begging, the lovely people at 8 Wired have released to us a single case of cellar stock of the original 2010 Batch 18 - presenting us with a unique geeky opportunity so see how a beer of this magnitude ages.

To do this on your own would be a pricey endeavor - so we're making it easy for you.

This Saturday the 26th we'll be serving up 100ml tasting glasses of Batch 18 & 2.18 side by side, so you can geek out without breaking the bank.

Surfin' Saturday

This Saturday the Vincent Vega Trio are belting out their hot blend of surf, funk, soul and blues in the lounge.
With Chris Armour on guitar, Andy Russell drums and Nick Lissette on the bass.

It kicks off at 9.30pm, with no cover charge - as usual.

Staffie Series Number Five

Our duty manager Dylan likes basketball. Quite a bit. So it makes sense that his Staffie Brew - Fuggsy Bogues - is named for one of the most well known NBA players - Muggsy Bogues.
Muggsy Bogues was the shortest NBA player of all time ( at just 160cm), but more importantly starred in the cinematic masterpiece that was Space Jam. How great was Space Jam?!

Fuggsy Bogues is a 100% NZ Fuggles hopped pale ale, with a dash of Shepherd's Delight malt to give it some body and colour. Some people might call it IPA, some people might not.

Dylan Brewed just 100L of Fuggsy Bogues at the new Te Aro Brewing Company (out the back of Brewtopia on Tory st).

We're tapping the first keg of Fuggsy Bogues at 5pm on Tuesday the 29th of September. Get ready to jam.

September 17th, 2015

Beer's Biggest Bash

This Saturday is the New Zealand beer industry's night to celebrate. The Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards (BGoNZAs) is our brewers chance to look inwards and celebrate out own achievements, and those of our many mates within the industry.

Historically the BGoNZAs have been held in Wellington, the day before Beervana. The Brewers Guild found that this timing meant that all the good news from the awards was swallowed up by the excitement surrounding Beervana.

To make the BGoNZAs its own event, the guild moved the date to September, and the venue to Auckland.

Of course this means unless you're in it, there's not as much motivation to fly to Auckland to attend the awards dinner. We usually send a contingent from the bar, and we scrub up pretty well as you can see.

So it looked like us non-brewer Wellingtonians were going to miss out... until the Brewers Guild announced that this year they're streaming the awards night live on the interewebs!

So to try and bring a slice of the party back to Wellington this Saturday (barring technical difficulties on the guild end) we're showing the live stream on the tele, with sound in the red room. 

We'll reserve the whole room for those of you who want to cheer on the awesome people in our industry, and be among the first to find out who get the golds, who gets the trophies, who is named NZ's best beer writer, and who is crowned this year's champion brewer.

The stream should start sometime around 6pm, and will most likely continue till 9-10pm if previous years format is followed. Just like at the real BGoNZA's; formal dress is encouraged

Dancing & Drinking

Around the end of the BGoNZAs, at 9.30pm the Dancing and Drinking Society should be kicking off.

They'll be playing "a mix of old time standards and originals, that make a toast to the intoxicating old world mélange of New Orleans Swing/Blues that will get fingers clicking and feet stomping!"
So if you'd like to add some dancing to your drinking this Saturday, pop on down around 9.30pm to enjoy the show. We even won't charge you for the dancing, but you will have to pay for the drinking.

Beer Book & Book Beer

Last year ex-Hashigo beertender Jules van Cruysen launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his goal of creating a "comprehensive guide book to New Zealand beer and breweries of New Zealand, focusing on the craft brewing industry."
Cynics declared the day of the beer book over - with new beers being released almost every day, they said it would be out of date as soon as it was printed.

However supporters of the book didn't want to see the historical record of this era of growth in the beer industry reduced to a few Untappd check-ins and RateBeer reviews.

The supporters won out, when the Kickstarter campaign raised $20,063, ensuring "BREWED - A Guide to the Craft Beer of New Zealand" would become reality.

I'm looking forward to a book about  written by someone who knows the people, beers and breweries of our industry - and tell the stories behind them. Instead of reducing our entire industry to Monteith's and a few others, and tacking on a bizarre blurb on the popularity of ice distilled beers in NZ....

Jules is holding the Wellington launch of his book at Hashigo Zake this coming Tuesday, followed by a nationwide launch tour. He'll be selling and signing copies of BREWED (there's even a SOBA discount), and might even buy you a glass of the accompanying book beer if you're lucky...

To coincide with the book launch of BREWED, we will have on tap a brand new collab beer from Yeastie Boys and author of BREWED Jules van Cruysen - I AM.

Author Jules describes the beer succinctly:

"I AM is a collaboration between the Yeastie Boys and BREWED author Jules van Cruysen to celebrate the release of BREWED: A Guide to the Craft Beers of New Zealand. It is a hybrid Pilsner / Pale Ale brewed with an eye to the creativity, ingenuity and diversity of the New Zealand craft beer industry."

 While the Yeastie Boys shows their penchant for waxing lyrical in their less-edited description:

"When tasked with the enviable (yet nerve racking) task of creating a beer that represents New Zealand craft beer, we immediately thought of the things that have shaped where we are today. The great brewers both at home and in commercial sites; the inviting bars and their publicans who really opened up the scene in the last 6 years; the growers and suppliers that helped us get to where we are; the hybrid styles of beers that seem (to outsiders) to have metamorphosed from nowhere.

I AM, like the beer industry it is brewed in honour of, is hard to define. It is from nowhere, yet everywhere. It sits somewhere between a New Zealand Pilsner and a Pale Ale. It showcases a combination of local hops and the American ones which helped shape our industry. It's bold enough for the hardened beer geek, yet beguiling and delicate enough to attract the attention of the intrigued craft beer novice."

The books and beers start flowing this Tuesday at 5pm, come along a grab a beer - and maybe even a book.

September 10th, 2015

A Slice of San Francisco

The next in our series of weekend showcases from BwB's latest shipment features some super exciting beers from San Francisco's Almanac.

We've been having great fun serving up tasting flights when we have a few bigger beers to show off, so this weekend we're serving up almanac flights of four with two big new beers from Almanac supplemented by two classics from Almanac's year-round range.

Emperor Norton is part of Almanac's new 'Fresh Beer' limited series. Beers in this series are strong Belgian styles featuring "even bigger flavors, bolder yeast characters and more intense hop aromas, reflecting our rich Californian agricultural bounty."

Emperor Norton is a 9% Belgian Tripel, but with California-grown summer apricots thrown in and dry-hopped generously with Citra and Hallertau Blanc hops. Sounds pretty damn interesting.

Another first from this shipment is kegs of one of Almanac's most celebrated sours, Dogpatch Sour Cherry. 

A Flanders red style, Dogpatch is fermented with a variety of bugs including wild yeasts, bacteria and SF sourdough yeast. It spends time with these bugs in red wine barrels with California Rainier cherries. The result rivals some of the classic Krieks from Belgium, tart and acidic with plenty of body and cherry flavour to back it up.

After having Dogpatch in bottles, I'm excited to have this amazing beer on tap - but it won't come cheap. So we're including it in Saturdays flights to make sure everyone gets a go at this delicious beer.

Rounding off the tasting flight of four along with Dogpatch and Norton will be the amazing Golden Gate Gose - a tart, savoury wheat beer brewed with sea salt and lemon verbena - and Almanac India Pale Ale - one of the best west coast IPA's I've ever had featuring Apollo, El Dorado, Simcoe and Mosaic hops.

This Saturday only, you'll be able to grab a tasting flight consisting of a 150ml pour of each of these great San Franciscan beers from midday.

Darren's Back

The legendary blues singer, songwriter and guitarist Darren Watson returns to the Hashigo Zake lounge this Saturday.
Darren will be playing solo, a mixture of blues classics and his own creations - such as the controversial "Planet Key".

Darren's blues kick off at 9.30pm this Saturday, and even better it won't cost you a thing to come and see this blues legend up close and personal.

Made in Wellington City

The Maiden label is the brainchild of Adam Laird. You've probably had some excellent beer brewed by him before - under the Baylands name.

After beertending around Wellington for some years, Adam landed an assitant brewer job at Petone's Baylands where he has been honing his brewing skills. To express these under his own label Adam has created Maiden Brewing Co.
This Tuesday's new release is a beer brewed small-scale by Adam at the new Te Aro brewing (out the back of Brewtopia on Tory St).
This beer started out as a collab with the band 'Richter City Rebels' so gained the name 'Maiden Richter City' (get it?!). Adam flexed his creative muscles with this one, brewing a 5.8% toffee and biscuit brown ale and threw in some cranberries for good measure.

I'm really looking forward to tasting this beer, as brown ale is a sorely neglected style these days - and it's not often you get a cranberry beer. We tap our single keg of Maiden Richter City at 5pm Tuesday, and we expect it to run out on the night so get there early.

Septermber 3rd, 2015

Speakeasy's New 50L Cans

Cans are emerging as the next evolution in the packaging of many of our smaller brewers. They have quickly shrugged off their negative connotations created by the bland beer of the duopoly, with striking packaging and education on the advantages of cans over bottles.

This same revolution happened a few years back in the U.S. with most major "craft brewers" (whatever that means) releasing their main brands in the handy little mini-kegs.


The latest of our U.S. brewers to get into cans is San Francisco's Speakeasy.

Instead of shifting their core range beers to cans, Speakeasy has opted to create a new series of beers released exclusively in cans (and kegs, but kegs are just big cans) - The Session 47 Series.

The first beer in the Session 47 Series is a lower-alcohol or 'session' version of their flagship beer - Baby Daddy.

In can form Baby Daddy comes in what is possibly the best piece of beer packaging I've seen. It's great design all around, but the kicker is the pitch black top complete with speakeasy eyes on the pull tab.

Thankfully the beer inside is great as well, conveying the distinct hop character of Big Daddy in a lighter bodied pale ale.

The next two beers in the Session 47 Series - Suds Session Ale & Pop Gun Pilsner - will be arriving in subsequent shipments.

For now though these beauties are in the fridge, and tomorrow we'll be putting one of a few 50L cans (also known as a keg) of Baby Daddy on tap with a couple of its buddies.

Also making its tap debut tomorrow is Speakeasy's Tallulah XPA. A light and super-fruity pale ale featuring the new El Dorado & Calypso hop varieties weighing in at 5.4%. We've had this in bottles before but it'll be great to try this fresh on tap.

Also on tap tomorrow is Untouchable, an IPA featuring our very own Nelson Sauvin hop. A lot of U.S. brewers struggle to use NZ hops, because if you use them like US hops you risk getting some pretty nasty flavours.

Speakeasy have nailed using Nelson Sauvin here, they even get the name of the hop right - in their marketing they name it "Nelson Sauvin" instead of most US brewers who opt for the lazy truncation "Nelson". Nelson is the CITY and Nelson Sauvin is the HOP American brewers! Jeez.

The upshot is from midday tomorrow all three of Baby Daddy Session IPA, Tallulah XPA and Untouchable IPA will be on tap.

Spitfire Live

If you went to last year's PBE wrap party you'll know how much fun Spitfire is.

With their funked-up covers ranging from Britney Spears and Katy Perry to Ernest Ranglin and The Shadows, Zuccollo, Manzanza & Clarke always show the lounge a good time.
The fun kicks off at 9.30pm, with no admission fee as per usual.

Über Berliner

Tiamana and Wild & Woolly have shared a brewery in Mt Cook for months, but are yet to collaborate on a beer.

That's going to change on Tuesday with the launch of Über Berliner.
Über Berliner came about almost by chance. After sharing a stand at Beervana both Tiamana and Wild & Woolly had partially full kegs of their respective Berliner Weiss'.

Llew and Annika had a brainwave, and tried a blend of Tiamana's Meister Wald Woodruff Berliner Weisse with Wild & Woolly's Basilisk Thai Basil Berliner Weisse. The result was greater than the sum of its parts - so a larger scale blend was done with the two partial kegs to create the Über Berliner.

Funnily enough, I've never had a woodruff and Thai basil sour wheat beer... So I'm very much looking forward to this being tapped at 5pm Tuesday so we can all find out.