Report from gathering at NZ Beer Festival in Auckland

[Martin Bridges]

A surprisingly excellent day yesterday! A number of SOBA members and soon-to-be SOBA members (c'mon guys, you know you want to!) met up at the NZ Beer Festival in Ellerslie. Although the megaswill vendors were present it was good to see that there was a good range of craft breweries and all were busy. We spent most of our time in an oasis of calm and quality beer between the Tuatara and Croucher stands.

Beer of the day for me was the Tuatara Porter, with Yeastie Boys Kid Chocolate not far behind. Croucher Pale and Epic Mayhem were having a little argument about third place for me, unresolved by the end of the day. Oh, and not to forget the gorgeous Wild Thing that Nathan brought over from Murrays in Oz - good to meet you Nathan and I hope your liver enjoys its trip around NZ!

So good to see so may friendly faces - SOBA members, forum members, brewers, publicans....

Highlight of the day for me had to be seeing the "dead zone" of empty space around the Carlsberg stand, while the rest of the place was rammed! Even their slinky bar steff in their little red dresses couldn't save them! The Epic crowd next door must have been loving it!

[Stu McKinlay]

I got a few text reports during the day. Wish I could have been there. You've all tried Kid Choc on tap before me - I've only had it on handpump and from the bottle...

Tuatara Porter is a spectacular beer on a good day (and it's very rare for it to be off form). I always kick myself for not drinking it more when I have some.

[Martin Bridges]

To be fair, I initially found Kid Choc to be a bit too cold and overcarbonated, but by the time it got part-way down the glass it had opened up beautifully. Just layers and layers of flavour and subtlety.

[denimglen]

Same here, was a little thin and spritzy straight from the tap. A little swirling and handwarming on the glass got it to it's sweet spot.

Agree on the 'dead zone' as well.

Started the day with an Epic Mayhem, was much better than the bottle I got from Vic Park.

Had a range of beers from then on, spent over $70 on tasting serves haha. So must have tasted around 20 different beers and everything I tasted was good, no duds which was nice. The only one I had that wasn't too flash was the Belgian Blonde and Croucher's, was pretty ripped by that point so not really in any place to make a fair comment.

Was nice to meet a few of you there. Awesome day overall.

[Alasdair]

I've always found Tuatara Porter a bit astringent until the last inch of the glass (whether on tap, hand pump, or bottled), by which time it's warm enough for the sweetness to balance the roast and it tastes great.

I think next time I have one, I'll order something else at the same time - by the time I've finished it I reckon the porter will be at its best.

[Stu McKinlay]

I was just thinking that this is the way to order Kid Choc - two pints. The first one to cleanse the palate and the second one to enjoy the subtle characteristics of the beer. Better still, find it on handpump.

[that was meant to be a sell job, or a thread jack ;-)]

[Mike Neilson]

Hmmmmm!!! Mild on hand pump pure yum!!!!!

[vdog]

Good to meet a few of the realbeer guys on Saturday - thanks for being so recognisable Martin! Was a pretty good event I thought, really enjoyed the opportunity to taste a few beers I've not seen before and catch up on a few I always enjoy. Beer of the day for me would be Epic Mayhem - just brilliant. Closely followed by the Tuatara pale ale. I'd like to agree with Martin on Kid Choc but I don't think I gave it enough time - it was served really cold and a bit bubbly, but since it was my first beer of the day it never got a chance to warm up. So I missed all those subtleties...

Great to have a chat to Sam 'Grandmaster' Posseneskie too, and get a bit more of the Yeastie Boys story. Inspirational stuff for all the rest of us wannabe commercial brewers!

[Reviled]

Was most definately an awesome day! So many good beers, managed to get around and taste alot of them, but I would have liked to have tried more.. :oP

Stand out for me was definately the Murrays Imperial Stout, quickly followed by Croucher PA, and Tuatara Ardennes was just absolutely lovely!! Definately glad I managed to taste kid chocolate, I personally much preferred it over the mr g's I was drinking the night before..

The other brewery that keeps to mind was that random Russian one??? Cant remember the name, but they had some pretty tasty beer with Rye in it, and their Porter wasnt bad either!

Nicoles stand out was Harringtons alcoholic ginger beer which was in fact awesome! Quickly followed by Crouchers Hef and Crouchers Pilsner.. She also loved how passionate Paul was about his brewing ;o)

Was good to meet some new people as allways ;o)

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

Personally, I thought it was a bit disappointing the two of the better craft brewers were stuck int he worst spot. Though that did mean I could enjoy great beer and a good chat without the hustle and bustle of the drunken mass. Not so could for Karl, Paul and Nigel though.

And for the life of me, I still can't work out why any one would spend $25/$35 on a ticket, only to come and drink expensive Smirnoff Ice or Jaegermeister!

The Murrays Imperial Stout was certainly a treat, Tuatara was serving their beer the best of any one (perfect temp), and the Croucher Pale Ale was in good form. The one off note (literally), was an infected Strawberry Blonde from Whitecliffs.

And yeah, there was some other beer there that I thought was quite good ;-)

[JoKing]

Infected? Please elaborate. Did anybody else find this?

[Reviled]

lol, the elusive strawberry beer, I saw some tart drinking some and asked where she got it but she couldnt tell me.. Guess now im glad I didnt find it and waste a precious beer token :oP lol

[Martin Bridges]

I stuck my nose in Sam's glass and it smelt of BandAids. I didn't go any further than that. It was rank.