Apologies for the month long absence from the blog but I spent three of the last four weeks following the Lions tour around New Zealand. We just did the test matches and the rest of the time Pauline and I were visiting with friends, travelling, going to breweries/bars and vineyards. A further apology for the state of the photos. My main phone (Note 4) died on the way so I was left with the rubbish camera on my iPhone to take pictures.
My first craft beer in New Zealand became a bit of a favourite I have to say. Panhead Super Charger is a beautiful APA. Fresh hops, big bitter hit and plenty of body to back it up. I drank copious amounts of this beer over the course of three weeks.
The first few days in Auckland were not for beer. They were for Rugby and friends. We then started driving south towards Wellington for the 2nd All Blacks test match a week later. We stopped off at Hobbiton on the way and I had a couple of drinks at the Green Dragon Inn. Then to Rotorua for a couple of nights before heading to Napier for the night.
We eventually arrived in Martinborough for some wine tours but of course there's a brewpub in the centre of town so it would be rude not to visit. The beer was pretty good on the tasting board, there wasn't a bad beer among them. Their imperial stout was only available in bottle though so I took a chance and bought two to bring home.
After a truly epic drive over the mountains into Wellington, we headed out for the first brewpub on my list called Fork and Brewer. The beers were all clean and well made but for me, Murder of Crows was the standout. It's an imperial stout. Pitch Fork saison was also excellent with a special mention for Burton Ernie, a cask beer or at least a hand pull. It was colder and more carbonated than traditional cask so perhaps pressurised key keg or something along those lines.
The next night we went to The Garage Project in Aro valley, a very trendy neighbourhood a short 20 minute walk from the main city centre. It reminded me a little of Stoneybatter in Dublin actually. The brewery has a tap room where you can buy bottles/cans to take away or get growler fills. You can also get free samples of their beer while there.
Not far away, near Cuba street was The Third Eye. It's a Tuatara owned brewpub and being a fan of Tuatara beer, I decided to pop in for a few.
I got a sample platter and unfortunately my notes have disappeared but I believe I got hoppy wheat beer, a coffee pale ale, some fruity thing (it was odd) and a delicious milk stout. The beer was good and the odd fruity thing grew on me. All I'll say is that a visit to The Third Eye is worth it. There was a taco truck out back where you could go to get food and bring in to the bar.
The last Brewpub I got to visit in Wellington was The Black Dog Brewery. It was getting late and I was running out of room for beer so we just grabbed a couple of pints. I went for a coffee stout and a golden ale for Pauline.
I can't finish with Wellington without mentioning Hashigo Zake. It's an amazing little cellar bar near the wharf area where you find the museum and the massive Mac's brewbar. Actually Mac's is worth a visit just to see it but they also have good beer like Panhead in cans and bottles.
Hashigo Zake is hard to find by the way. I walked past it because the sign was facing the other direction. To help, this link to Google Streetview will show where it is. It's under the archway to the right. They had two proper beers on cask and they were well conditioned. I would say the rotation was going great with all the Lions drinking Wellington dry!
Next I moved onto the south island via the Picton ferry. The only brewery I visited was Moa while on a Marlborough wine tour. The image above was taken across the road at the Allan Scott winery. They collaborate with Moa to produce a fizzy, hopped Sauvignon Blanc. Josh Scott is Allan's son and he looks after Moa brewery across the road. I haven't tasted Gooseberry Bomb yet but I have a couple of cans I brought home with me to try out.
It was raining that day so the outside area was pretty empty but there were a few people in the corner to the right as I recall. I didn't take a look at the brewery as it was a flying visit to taste some beer. I just bought a couple of bottles of the imperial stout which wasn't on the tasting tray as I figured it would keep better for the journey home.
By the way, if you didn't know, a Moa was a massive bird that was native to New Zealand. It was practically a dinosaur. It stood at 12 ft tall but as with all of New Zealand's birds, it had no land based predators so when the Polynesians arrived, just like the Dodo, the Moa had no fear of humans and were hunted to extinction. Moa were hunted by the also now extinct, Haast's eagle, the largest eagle ever to have existed. Its wingspan was no more and possibly less than some modern eagles but its weight and body size were far superior, perhaps twice the size. For instance, the Haast's eagle had a wingspan of between 2 and 3m and the White Tailed Sea Eagle has a wingspan of 1.78 to 2.45m. The Andean Condor is 3.4m and the Albatross is 3.6m
With the decline of the Moa, the Haast's eagle also went extinct. Anyway, that's enough digressing, back to beer.
The south island was all about wine and scenery after that. so we next head back to Auckland for the third test.
Back in Auckland, the day after the Lions drew the test series with the All Blacks, we headed to a brewpub called Dr Rudi's. It has a large open terrace overlooking the harbour and is very upmarket looking. There's some serious money behind this place I would reckon as Auckland is not cheap. They even have a two lane bowling alley at the far end of the pub.
We arrived early, perhaps 5pm or so. That was lucky because as it turns out, the Lions team had made it their post match party destination. Most of them were there. I got my picture taken with Alun Wyn Jones above as well as Irish players Tadhg Furlong and Rory Best. I'm taller than those two but Alun towered above me. The bouncers were refusing people entry from about 7pm so only the rugby players were allowed in. We were lucky to already be inside.
To be honest, I wasn't really feeling Dr Rudi's as a beer destination at first. The beer was decent but they didn't care much for it. It really is a superpub type place that happens to have a brewery. No tasting trays/flights for instance though they will give you a small sample if you ask. I discovered that pitchers were the way to go. $50 got you a pitcher with about 4 beers worth. It's essentially $12.40 per pint (about 400ml). That's actually not bad value for Auckland.
We went for Vienna lager (not one of theirs). I think it was called Brick Lane but I can't find a New Zealand brewery with that name so unless it was an import.
As the night wore on though, I started to enjoy it but I suspect if the Lions hadn't turned up, we would have moved on.
On our last full day in Auckland, we got the ferry to Waiheke Island. We knew there were some vineyards there and even a brewery though Pauline was a little unsure and reckoned the wine wasn't very good there. That's probably because of one in particular we don't think much of on the far eastern side of the island. We jumped on the bus to the middle of the island where there are a few vineyards and the brewery located in a small cluster.
Waiheke Island Brewery is located on the same site as Wild Estate Vineyards. Their tasting room covers both the beer and wine. We settled on a tasting platter of both the beer and wine. I of course went for the beer and Pauline did the wine but we shared them. The two porters were the best with the Kumara Porter being the most impressive. I had asked for the cider but I received the non alcoholic ginger beer instead. I had thought about having them swap it but decided to keep it as I was getting a little heartburn anyway and the ginger would help. I found the ginger beer a little too sweet for my taste but otherwise it was nice enough.
On the ferry back that evening, I shook hands with Neil deGrasse Tyson who was with his family. I didn't take a selfie with him as it was clearly a family holiday. I simply walked up to him and shook his hand after saying hello and then walked to the back of the ferry to take a picture.
Our last day was a full day since our flight wasn't until just before midnight so we tried to fit in as many brewpubs as we could. We started off with Brother beer which has the highest ratebeer rating. It's actually in a sort of shopping/industrial complex called City Works Depot.
There's a small brewkit onsite and they serve pizza. I was told the main brewery is a little outside of the city centre. It was a little soulless at the time because it was a weekday afternoon so there were only a few other people inside. We sat outside on some comfy chairs with our flights.
We ordered every beer that Brothers had on tap that was their own. They had 9 of their own beers on tap and since two flights included 10 beers, I gave the bar man dealer's choice and pick something he likes to drink.
I don't recall the guest beer he picked but it was a hoppy lager and it was fantastic, perhaps the best beer on the tray. Brothers Black was also fantastic, I think it was my favourite from the range along with Wayfarer IPA and Brown ale. Unfortunately my crappy iPhone doesn't appear to have kept the receipt from the top flight in focus so I can't tell what they were called. The bottom flight was from left to right, an amber, lager, black, fresh hop ale and then pale ale.
After this we headed to The Brewers Co-Operative which is the number one Auckland bar on ratebeer apparently. It was actually pretty good but I just ordered a couple of beers. I think I had a Sparks Outlander stout and Pauline had a New Zealand Pilsner most likely.
The last thing before we left the city centre was to head to Shakespeare Tavern which doubles as a hotel reception. Unfortunately they only had two of their beers on tap so I went for the stout and Pauline had the pale ale. They were both solid beers though there seemed to be little interest from the staff.
After this, we headed back to our friends' house in the suburbs to buy some beer in order to fill our suitcases before we headed to the airport. We managed to fill four suitcases and a backpack with beer and wine. All of which made it up to Dublin without incident so I'll have some New Zealand beer to write about over the coming weeks.
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