This year I once again had the privilege of attending the Beer festival in my capacity as Craccum’s resident beer writer. Previous years have always made for a good day, so it was with some excitement that I made my way to the Ellerslie Racecourse to join the other punters for a day of good beer.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival was that they were using a slightly different part of the racecourse to hold the event, providing more space inside for everyone involved. This was a welcome change, especially given that the weather was a tad damp.

Upon entering the facilities various promo girls forced deals for some of the more mainstream beers into my hands, but I eschewed them and began my afternoon with the pilsner from the Wigram Brewing Company, a Hokitika based brewery that has been going for about 10 years. It was a nice smooth Pilsner to start the day with, 8/10. They also told me an interesting story about why the pilot on their label was doing the fingers in their earlier bottles, but I won’t go into details lest I get someone in trouble.

From Wigram I moved on to the Sale St. stall, where I tried their chilli beer. It was quite nice with caramel flavours and a building level of chilli, 7.5/10. They also informed me that they’re trying to get into different, inventive beers and they’re working on a spiced wheat beer, which should be nice.

I worked my way around to Mata, where I tried their Taniwha Hangi beer. This was a beer brewed as a festive brew for beervana last year, and it captured the hangi flavour quite well. Very smokey, with enough of a bacon flavour that my vegetarian friend Matt foisted the remainder of his glass off to me. Tasty enough for an 8.5/10.

Next up was Harringtons, a Christchurch based brewery which is actually quite keen to get their beer available at the University of Auckland. They were also kind enough to recently send me some beer to sample, so you can look forward to a more in depth review about these guys in a week or two. At the festival I enjoyed their Classy Red, an ESB with copper colour, caramel malt and a nice bitterness, 8/10.

Following this I moved on to have a good chat with Luke, from Epic. Epic is doing quite well for itself at the moment, with significant export growth to a number of countries, including Sweden, Italy, Canada and our neighbours across the ditch. Luke’s also been involved in organizing a collaborative brew with several of New Zealand’s craft brewers which should be a good one to try. Fortunately for me, Epic was generous with their beer, so I sampled both their Armageddon and their Portamarillo. The Armageddon was very hoppy and tasty, 8.5/10. The Portamarillo was malty with a touch of fruit and spice, a delicious 9/10.

At this point I took some time to explore the full extent of the festival, checking out the VIP area that was largely stocked with Monteith’s, the stage where musicians played to small crowds while the majority present ignored them in favour of beer, and I eventually made my way into a a bar section where they were to be playing coverage of the rugby game later on in the day. This bar had a range of beers from different brewers, but the one that caught my eye was the Emerson’s Brewers Reserve. It had a floral aroma and was quite dry with hints of bubblegum, 9/10.

I also managed to get some friends to write down their impressions of the event so far. While one friend simply wrote ridiculous fictitious stories about me being disorderly and evading security staff before proceeding to eat a litter of kittens, others were a little more appropriate to the environs. For example, “The beer festival is full of rowdy drunken people yet the atmosphere is positive. Breasts are rubbing on my back as I write this making it an even more excellent experience. The Mexican beer was probably the best I’ve had, the only thing I expect at this point is someone to break into a fight and kick someone’s butt, thus I could say that this has been a complete beer festival experience – and to add I am an American and believe that this culture is much more laid back than back in New York.” One female friend of mine lamented the excess of munters at the festival, while another exclaimed that the
boys toilets were better than the girls – “I hate my Vagina.”

I decided to go say hi to Paul from Croucher, and he discussed some of the ups and downs of brewing. Their growth has been such that they’ve started outsourcing to the steam brewing company in order to match demand, but he also discussed the worldwide shortage of simco hops. The hop shortage doesn’t seem to have adversely affected their Pilsner or their Winter Ale. The Pilsner was still in last year’s trophy winning form with well balanced sweetness, passionfruit aroma and nice bitterness to finish, 9/ 10. The Winter ale, a spiced fruity scotch ale, was also very good with a smooth, almost smoky taste, 8.5/10.

Next up was Tuatara, a Waikanae based brewery who have built up quite a following over the last 10 years. I quickly sampled the 4 brews they had on offer. The Helles, a German style lager, had a nice malty flavour to it, 8/10. Their Pilsner was quite smooth, with a bit more hops in the mix, 7/10. The IPA was not too hopped and had a bit more flavour, 8/10, while the APA had more hops and great aroma, 9/10.

Following this I paid a visit to one of the imported beer stands, Bath Ales. They were having a very busy day, exclaiming that people are not afraid of flavour. I took a break from beer here, and tried their “proper” cider, noting their insistence that people don’t grow proper cider apples in New Zealand. I don’t know whether that statement is true, but I can confirm that their cider was very tasty, 8.5/10.

Last up on the reviewing front was Mike’s where I tried their Imperial Porter and their Double IPA, which were both quite fantastic. The Imperial Porter had chocolate aroma matched with complex malt flavours and a nice sweetness, probably the best beer of the day, 9.5/10 (Disclaimer – it was also the closest example of my favourite style of beer, which probably contributes to my high opinion). The Double IPA
had a floral aroma and flavour, a big taste but also quite sweet, 9/10. I should also note that it goes down a lot easier than you’d expect for its 9% alcohol.

So all up it was a great day. I enjoyed many nice beers and had a good time with my friends. It’s a hard life being a beer journalist.

– Stephen
  18 APRIL 2011