August SOBA Auckland-area meeting - Hallertau

[Martin Bridges]

As previously discussed the August meeting for Auckland-area SOBA members will be held at Hallertau. Exact format is to be confirmed, but I'm hopeful that as well as tasting the Hallertau house brews we might also be able to taste at least one of the West Coast IPA challenge beers and/or the NHC-winning Bock. I'll also try to arrange a chat from Steve the brewer.

As usual the meeting will be held on the second Saturday of the month at 2pm, so that's 2pm on Saturday 9th August.

Since Hallertau is a little more difficult to get to it makes sense to try and co-ordinate transport options. We also need to have a pretty accurate idea of number of attendees. So if you're planning to come along could you please respond (either here or by email to me (martin dot bridges at gmail dot com)) to let me know:
- if you'll be coming
- whereabouts you'll be coming from
- if you need or can offer transport

Depending on the numbers and locations we might be able to organise a bus.

Cheers,

Martin

[Greig McGill]

I will be coming (and promise not to cancel at the last minute this time!)
Coming from Hamilton.
Will probably have a carful of at least 4 people, so can't offer transport, sorry.

[Barry]

I will be coming also.

[beerdrinker]

I'll be coming as well, from Kingsland (near Galbraiths)

[Martin Bridges]

Hey beerdrinker - how are you planning to get there? There are a few people trying to sort out transport so I'm trying to put people together if it's feasible.

Cheers,

Martin

[Tony]

wow, they're coming out of the woodwork now! Good to see. ;)

[Martin Bridges]

I spoke to Steve when I was out at Hallertau today and he has confirmed that he is happy to host us on the 9th August. He expects to have at least 2 of his current special beers (the Maximus Humulus Lupulus, Epic Armageddon and NHC Bock) available then and will give us a tour round the brewery. However, I need to confirm numbers by the end of next week at the latest so if you're planning to come along please either drop me an email or respond here.

Cheers,

Martin

[Tony]

count me in Martin, I'll talk to you closer to the time, about maybe carpooling?

[Doublehoppy]

I'll be coming Martin. Looking forward to it

[Martin Bridges]

Hey Brett - how are you planning to get there? There are a few people trying to sort out transport so I'm trying to put people together if it's feasible.

Cheers,

Martin

[Martin Bridges]

Final call - I'll be speaking to Hallertau tomorrow to confirm numbers, so if you're planning to come along and haven't yet let me know, please do so today.

I'm sure there will be a bit of flexibility on numbers but I'd like to give Steve a pretty accurate indication of how many people to expect.

Cheers,

Martin

[Martin Bridges]

Well, I'm home from a supreme afternoon out at Hallertau. Steve Plowman is a wonderful man! We tasted some superb beers, and Steve was the perfect host, passing on some great nuggets of information and being very generous with the tasting samples!

A more complete report to follow, but I am one happy beery bunny!

Cheers,

Martin

[Barry]

Second that.
Stephen was incredibly generous with information, beer samples, all round hospitality. He was more than happy to share recipe information - grists, hop additions, yeast; and to answer my barrage of technical questions :)
He's a guy who really lives and breaths the SOBA mantra "beer for all the right reasons".
We should all get out there and support him as often as we can.