Craft Beer | Postcards From Here and There

Wellington Craft Beer

It seem that everywhere you go in Wellington there is either a craft brewery or a cafe/bar/restaurant with an exceptional range of craft beers. With only 36 hours in Wellington this post probably only touches the tip of the iceberg of the craft beer scene in the city.

Mac’s Green Beret IPA 5.4% Amber/Gold, clear, light head, citrus, grapefruit, touch of caramel. Very drinkable.

Mac’s Interstate APA 5.0% Amber,clear with little or no head.Low/medium bitterness. Full flavour and refreshing.

Mac’s Great White 5% Wheatbeer. Yellow, cloudy, good head. Lovely flavours of tropical fruit, banana and bubblegum. Nice texture. A nice drink.

Mac’s Hoprocker 5% Yellow/gold in appearance, refreshing pilsner style beer.

Mac’s Sassy Red 4.5% Dark amber in colour, nice malty, caramel flavour, low bitterness.

Parrotdog Bitterbitch IPA 5.8% Named after the problems associated with controlling the bitterness one early brews this is an amber beer, slight haze, light head. yeasty, malty, nice bitterness, hoppy, full flavoured. very nice.

The Garage Project. The Pernicious Weed 8% Golden, slight haze, light head, full flavourIntensely hoppy but balanced with a nice touch of caramel. A fine beer.

Fortune Favours The Nine Nine APA 5% Pale amber, slight haze, crisp, clean, low bitterness. Nice easy drinking style.

Fortune Favours The Adventurer 5% Pilsner, yellow/gold, low bitterness, touch of caramel. Refreshing, you could drink a lot of this. Very good.

Te Aro. Pilsner 5.1% Golden, clear, good head. Lemon, quite rich in style, smokey, full flavour.

Brewmoon. Hophead Pale Ale 5% Amber,clear, no head at all. Low bitterness, caramel/malty. easy drinking style.

Nelson and Mapua

From the Picton ferry there is a choice of two routes to the city of Nelson. The first follows State Highways all of the way and is very much the long way round. The second route is to take the minor road almost straight after the ferry. It starts to climb immediately to give fantastic views of the bays and inlets of Picton harbour and beyond. The road twists, turns, climbs and descends until it eventually joins with State highway 6 just before the town of Havelock. In doing so you have passed the most gorgeous scenery. It might be slower but it is an absolute pleasure. From Havelock the route to Nelson is the same.

Havelock is a small town and you might be tempted to pass on through if it wasn’t for the fact that it is the Greenshell Mussel capital of the world. Greenshell Mussels are farmed in the waters of the Marlborough Sounds and are unique to New Zealand. They are huge, about 4 inches in length, and have a vivid green rim around the shell. Sadly I didn’t take a photograph but they are available in all their glory at The Mussel Pot (73 Main Road) where they have been seeing them for 20 years and are well worth a stop for lunch.

Nelson is a small city by British standards with a population of around 50000. It is the oldest city in the South Island, which may be hard to believe as it appears thoroughly modern today and is one of New Zealand’s most liveable cities.

The city was named after Horatio Nelson and this can also be seen in the the names of streets such as Trafalgar and Hardy. The city has a good range of restaurants and bars selling craft beer. It seems that you don’t need to travel very far in New Zealand to find a craft beer brewery! A personal favourite was The Free House ( I think I will do the beer reviews in a separate post). To show just how small the world actually is I met an ex work colleague, in the beer garden, that I hadn’t seen for several years.

About 20 miles west of Nelson, on the shore of the Tasman Bay, is the small town of Mapua. Mapua is the gateway to the vineyards of the Nelson wine region and from here it is possible to hire a bike and explore the wineries. Be warned however, the region around the Moutere Hills does, not surprisingly, present one or two challenges.

The town of Mapua itself is an absolute delight with an excellent selection os shops, bars, restaurants and, you guessed, a craft brewery

From Mapua you can catch the ferry to Rabbit island which is the largest island in the Tasman Bay. It runs once an hour on the hour and costs 12 NZD return. It gives access to cycle routes if you have hired bikes from nearby trail journeys and want a flatter route than the Moutere Hills. You can also drive to the island near the town of Richmond but that does take away some of the fun.

Auckland – sampling craft beers

The craft beer movement is strong in New Zealand with many breweries producing many different beers. It would be nigh on impossible to taste them all in a month but when the opportunity arises a little sampling is in order. A few hours in Auckland’s Harbourside and Wynyard Quarter gave us two bars to visit.

First up Jack Tar (34-37 Jellicoe Street). Located in the Wynyard Quarter amongst many other bars and restaurants it was relatively quiet when we visited. Located in what resembles a wharfside warehouse,. its a good place to start the evening and if you feel like staying there is an extensive menu to choose from.

Mac’s Gold. 4%. Yellow/gold in appearance, crystal clear, light head, low bitterness. Flavours of caramel and sweetcorn! Has a lovely richness. Very drinkable.
Panhead Supercharger APA. 5.7%. Wellington. A great name for a beer. Amber/gold, slight haze, well formed head. Pronounced flavours of lemon, grapefruit. Nice level of bitterness.
Speights Gold. 4%. Dunedin. Deep amber in colour, clear, good head to the beer. Caramel, malty with nice sweetness.

Research had indicated a bar by the name of The Tyler Street Garage might be well worth a visit but unfortunately it closed in January. It has, however, been replaced by a gastropub called Chamberlains (120 Quay Street). When we arrived late afternoon the place was buzzing. New Zealand, England and Australia were playing a tri T20 cricket tournament and New Zealand were about to play Australia. Supporters of all sides were lubricating the vocal chords for the supporting that was about to begin. It made for an excellent place to settle down for a beer or two.

Hallertau No2. Pale Ale. 5.3%. Auckland. Light amber in colour, low bitter, hoppy, caramel, lovely balance to the beer. Very drinkable.
Disco King. IPA. Choice Bros. 6.5%. Amber in appearance, hazy, light froth at the rim. Medium bitterness, lemon, coriander, topic of malt.
L’Hop. Epic Brewery. APA. 4.4%. Golden, clear, light in style but with lovely flavour and subtlety. This is a beer that demands to be drunk and the relatively low ABV means thats perfectly possible.
Epic Lager. 5%. Yellow gold, clear and bright. Crisp, charters and full flavoured. Very nice.
Ma Is White. Whitbier. Fork and Brewer. 5.4%. Named after the first line of a well known primary school song. Yellow, hazy. A very nice beer with flavours of fruit salad sweets ( who remembers those?) with a hint of orange. Almost creamy. Beer showing real complexity of flavour. An absolute star.