Next Auckland area meeting: 12th September (plus other ideas)

[Martin Bridges]

Many thanks to all who came along to our last meeting at my house on Saturday, and thanks for all the interesting homebrews and commercial beers you brought. We had a great afternoon.

The next meeting will be on the regular second Saturday and so will be on Saturday 12th September at 2pm at Galbraiths Alehouse. It's a while since we went along there and interesting things are afoot, so I thought we should pay a visit. I'm in discussions with Keith about a theme for the meeting and we have a couple of ideas up our sleeves which I'll confirm nearer the time. Please let me know if you're planning to come along.

Thinking slightly further ahead I've been having wild notions of a SOBA weekend away. The Wellingtonians organised a successful trip to Nelson in March, and I'm thinking of something along the same lines. My vague plan would be:
Saturday - drive to Rotorua, visit Croucher brewery and UNDERGROUND bar. Stay overnight in Rotorua.
Sunday: drive to Tauranga, visit the brew bar there (whose name eludes me at the moment). Return to Auckland in the evening.
optional Friday addition: drive down to Hamilton, have a few beers at the Ruakura Campus Club. Stay over in Hamilton ready for departure to Rotorua in the morning.

If I'm going to organise this event I'll need to get an early indication of who might be interested. Ideally I'd like to organise something in October but it might take a little longer to get together. I'm envisaging that people would carpool and probably organise their own accommodation, although if we have enough attendees we might be able to coordinate something. Let me know if you'd be interested in coming along.

Cheers & beers,

Martin

[Craig]

Hi Martin,

I dropped into Brewers Bar at the Mount on Friday to pick up some Malt and had a chat to Larry about a guided visit. We'll need to give him some early warning re the proposed date, but otherwise he seemed ok with the whole idea. I am happy to arrange this end if you like, just need to set the date. Also happy to host a BBQ lunch and homebrews at my place if people are keen and want to bring some meat.

I'll be keen to hookup for the Rotorua / Hamilton legs. Count me in as a starter.

Cheers
Craig.

[JoKing]

I had a tour with Larry last year... he's a pretty passionate brewer! And it's an interesting setup to say the least!!!! There are some pretty good beers in his repetoire too. I just wish he'd throw out his D.E filter. Hefeweizen just doesn't taste the same when passed through one of those.

[denimglen]

Keen for Galbraith's.

Probably not keen for the road trip.

Cheers!

[Greig McGill]

Jeez, you Aucklanders. No sense of adventure! ;)

[Stu McKinlay]

I'm overseas in September but if you fancy doing something like this (incl Craig's suggestions) in the early new year then I'm definitely up for it. I reckon a few other Wellingtonians may be keen too.

Hamilton (Fri) - Rotorua (Sat) - Tauranga (Sun)... sounds like a great plan.

I might even cycle it... anyone else keen?

[Nolen Smith]

Stu the radler.

[Greig McGill]

My RSS reader caught your other post. I liked it better... ;)

[Stu McKinlay]

the ghost of Kempicus riefly took over my fingers...

[Greig McGill]

Martin: It could be a good one to hold over until next year, if only to give people time to recover from Beervana, and also more time to plan something epic (or indeed, Epic). What do you think?

[Martin Bridges]

Given the level of response (i.e. not huge) I'm beginning to think it might not happen in October. However, let me explain the reasoning behind me shooting for that date (just to prove that I don't just throw darts at a calendar!).

I think we need to avoid the peak summer months, particularly in Rotovegas, as accommodation will become pricey & hard to find, plus the place will be overrun with families. Thus January & February are out. There's a chance that the Wellingtonians may do something similar to last year's Nelson trip around Marchfest next year, so I was avoiding March. That also makes April a little dodgy too (giving people time to recover), never mind the fact that we could run into Easter holidays. And by May it could be getting a little chilly.

So all that thinking led me to thinking that October might be the best month. However, as mentioned before, the level of response has not been great so it looks like we might need to shift it anyway.

It's not easy, this social event planning lark!

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

I'm definitely keen - but as you said, fitting it in with everything else isn't easy!

[Reviled]

Im keen for tauranga and rotorua, cant say the idea of hamilton entices me tho ;o)

And also, not sure if my budget would allow more than one, so id probably just have to do a day trip as opposed to staying overnight somewhere... But well see - it all depends when it is...