Food & Beverage

Stories

• Three Matts, a new brewery, and a new beer

  THREE YOUNG MEN men with confidence in their brewing are planning a brand new brewery right in the heart of Wellington. They’re certainly young.  Matt Warner (23) and Matt Kristofski (25) have recently finished studies at university, and Matt Stevens… Continue

• Locals says no to liquor

  CONCERNED Newtown residents have objected in record numbers to a bottle store planning to open opposite Newtown School and are now expected to wait months for a hearing to resolve the dispute. The Wellington District Licensing Agency received 110 objections to… Continue

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  Dress up, cash in

  IF you’re headed to the Sevens rugby tournament in early February there’s now a tasty temptation to spend time on a cool outfit. Museum Art Hotel owner Chris Parkin is donating $25,000 in prize money for the best costumes, which will be paraded along… Continue

• Time for detox

  WE ‘VE all had those moments. You wake up on a dreary Sunday morning, and you say something like “ I am never drinking again,” but then, lo and behold it’s the work Christmas party, your best friends birthday, and then new years…and… Continue

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  Beer Necessities 2011

  Pale Ale City FOR the past 20 years Wellington has been at the forefront of New Zealand craft beer culture. In the early 1990’s we were one of the first New Zealand communities to embrace independently brewed beers and in the early 2000’s we… Continue

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  Wellington to Melbourne’s taste

  FIVE of the region’s top chefs have returned home after creating a flavour-filled fortnight for the people of Melbourne. More than 2,000 Melburnians were treated to the Wellington region’s best cuisine at the WLG pop up restaurant in Melbourne’s… Continue

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  Restaurants in trouble – who knows?

  STREET TALK among the cafes of Wellington indicates there could be an après Christmas restaurant shake-out. A Wellington food wholesaler suggests the rumours may be true. The wholesaler said there was a feeling  that quite a number of restaurants… Continue

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  Strudel in Roseneath

  It’s a long way from an enormous restaurant in Bavaria to the tiny Roseneath Coffee Shop and Delicatessen. Anja and Martin Wagner used to run the Landgasthof-Schoenau in Munich complete with its stage which catered for functions for up to 300 people, says… Continue

• Tight dining

  KIWI diners are becoming more price conscious when choosing where to eat. It’s now more important to consumers to have access to an affordable menu than quality food and service, according to an American Express survey of New Zealanders who eat out. Continue

• Friendly food

  WE’LL let you in on a little secret. You can enjoy good food and drink for Koha or at reduced prices at four gathering places in the Hutt Valley on weekday mornings. A Koha Café operates on Tuesdays at the Alicetown Community centre, and the Grassroots… Continue

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  Maori warriors to battle the bulge

  THE Heart Foundation is bringing back an old game played by the Maori Battalion to stop New Zealanders getting slower and fatter. Ki o Rahi is a ball game used by the quick, agile Maoris of yesteryear to settle differences without going to war. These days, New… Continue

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  Public to pick the fruit of edible designs

  MASSEY UNIVERSITY is helping students fill Wellington stomachs the natural way.  As the idea for an ‘edible city’ with numerous community gardens gathers strength, university researchers are setting up grow-your-own-food pilot projects based on… Continue

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  Happy birthday to us

  Capital Times celebrates 37 years as Wellington’s independent newspaper. In the midst of the RWC buzz we begin another year of giving you the Best of Wellington. Our annual Best of Wellington poll, results published last week, (a 16% increase in responses,… Continue

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  Wellingtonians are the best - 2011 poll results

  WELLINGTONIANS are eclectic, busy and a little bit nuts and live in a city where the breeze keeps the air clean and the Aucklanders away. Just some of your verdicts about the city we all call home revealed by readers in the Capital Times’ Best of Wellington… Continue

• Happy police

  CROWDS of rugby fans who turned out to watch the Scotland versus Argentina game at the Westpac Trust stadium on September 25 were well-behaved, say Wellington Police. “With only five arrests and 11 evictions, we were very pleased with crowd behaviour,”… Continue

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  Flavours of the world

  AS a child growing up in Gambia, West Africa, Barika Darboe learnt to cook from his mother. Now he’s bringing the tastes of Africa to Wellington as part of the Flavours World Food Fair being held at the Town Hall on Saturday. “It’s food from… Continue

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  All hands to the Gin

  A tiny distillery in the Wairarapa has been internationally recognized as among the best in the world.  It’s owned by a cheerful band of country folk who got together on a whim and they’re already making waves.  John Bristed visited Greytown… Continue

• A good, cheap cuppa joe

  FOOD prices on the up means Wellington coffee-lovers are hard pressed to find a flat white for less than four dollars. Capital Times called some busy inner city cafés to see what they charge for staple beverages. In the Flat White category (we are, after… Continue

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  Cook and chat

  LIKE the perfect spice seasoning a mouth-watering meal, the third bi-annual Migrating Kitchen Exhibition at Pataka Museum in Porirua is in time for the Rugby World Cup kick-off. The six-week multi-cultural festival of art, literature, music, dance and food will… Continue

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  Ciao to favourite trattoria

  MARIA Pia’s Trattoria in Thorndon, is closing at the end of this month. Richard Klein, who runs the restaurant, says the time is right to move on – but not before he thanks the person who made it all possible. “Without the incredible passion… Continue

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  A plate of the best

  MORE than 81 events are planned for the third annual Visa Wellington On a Plate culinary festival this August. The festival includes an Asian night market, a five course chocolate menu, blind dining, master cooking classes and a club baking competition. Event… Continue

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  You catch it, we’ll cook it

  Local restaurants are waiting for  successful hunters to bring in the pheasants, swans, and geese they’ve shot.  Their chefs want to make the birds into great dishes and serve them back to the hunters. But thus far, nobody has taken up the offer… Continue

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  Coffee, for the people

  SHEEP, cows and Vikings: All things that come to mind when you think about Dannevirke. Forward-thinking ambassadors of fair-trade business, not so much. Meet Matt Lamason, and prepare to change your mind. THIRTY-two year old Matt Lamason is the founder and… Continue

• Barista title eludes us

  WELLINGTON’S wait for a national barista title continues after a Christchurch barista took out the national barista championship on Saturday. Wellington baristas Aymon McQuade, of Bell Tea and Coffee, and Nick Clark, of Flight Coffee, took out second and… Continue

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  Best barista in town

  Memphis Belle cafe’s Nick Clark is officially the best barista in town after winning the Wellington heats of the New Zealand barista championships at the weekend. Clark, representing the Flight Coffee roastery, competed with 16 others for the title, with… Continue

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  Titillating fashion

  MENSWEAR designer Clare Bowden has got a grip on the female bust. The co-designer and co-owner of Wellington-based label Mandatory, was commissioned to design uniforms for Coco at the Roxy, the restaurant opening soon inside Miramar’s new, 1930s themed cinema.… Continue

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  Here’s something new

  FINALLY the rumours will come true, when Ancestral, a new 1930s Shanghai-style bar, opens on Courtenay Place. Thick blue curtains will replace the old newspaper now covering the windows of the former United Video shop at 31-35 Courtenay Place, leading you into… Continue

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  Anything to help

  MAYOR Celia Wade-Brown says there’s been an overwhelming local response to the Christchurch earthquake and she’s pleased and proud to see how Wellingtonians have generously offered their support. The Mayor herself met a builder from the UK at the Wellington City… Continue

• Birthday bake off

  LOGAN Brown’s new pastry chef, Kristen Gibb, celebrated her 30th birthday by baking 30 cakes. As well as starting her new job at the award-winning restaurant, Gibb was up at the crack of dawn to bake in preparation for her “dream party” at Newtown’s Car Club last… Continue

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  Health doesn't have to be expensive

  “DON’T eat your overdraft. EFTPOS and takeaways can put you straight into debt, and poor health,” says Maria Goncalves-Rorke, a student financial advisor at Victoria University. Student budgets are strict, and healthy eating can be a challenge. “Essential living… Continue

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  Graze on the grassy knoll

  THE newly-flat grassy area beside St John’s Bar on Cable Street, dubbed “the grassy knoll”, is pumping. Weekend crowds and after-work revelers are freely using the area to enjoy a whitebait fritter and a drink in the sun – without getting told off. And this… Continue

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  Kaimoana Queen

  RACHEL Taulelei, of Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Huia iwi, is a Wellington woman thinking big. Taulelei is a director of economic development agency Grow Wellington, co-founder of City Market, and owner and operator of Yellow Brick Road - a seafood supply company that… Continue

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  No booze for Pinky

  THE holiday season is over, along with boozy lunches by the beach, and, if the Alcohol Reform Bill is passed, cheap alcohol will disappear too. A Law Commission review of alcohol use has prompted Downtown Community Ministry (DCM) to launch a campaign for submissions… Continue

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  Too busy, already

  A PAIR of brothers is disproving the adage that family partnerships don’t work. Half brothers actually, Shepherd Elliott and Jesse Simpson – both former Logan Brown employees – have taken over the Wellington institution that was Katipo Café on Willis Street and… Continue

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  Clean your plate

  ROBYN Langlands, a women’s refuge volunteer said: don’t throw food away! She was inspired when fast food retailer Wishbone offered the charity its prepared, but unsold, food. Langlands picked the food up, but she found that often supply exceeded demand. So she… Continue

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  Beer Necessities Survey 2010

  Heading down the quality road One of the encouraging themes from this year’s Beer Necessities survey is the increasing quality of New Zealand beer. Last year’s survey offered up 8 beers scoring 4 out of 5 points, this year we have been able to make up a… Continue

• Hop to it

  MOUNT Victoria is set to get a new local. The Hop Garden will open mid-December in the blue-and-white glass-roofed building on Pirie Street that used to house Greek Taverna Kosmos. The bar is the latest project by James Henderson, owner of Bar Edward in Newtown.… Continue

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  Liquored up

  THE number of liquor outlets (including restaurants and cafes) in Wellington increased by almost 300 percent in the ten years to 2008. The number was 231 in 1998, and nearly 700 ten years later, according to the NZ Drug Foundation. Government will table in… Continue

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  Tasty Taquería

  If you’re after a taste of true Mexico here in Wellington, head down Left Bank, off Cuba Street to Taquería Viva Mexico. Capital Times’ reporter Melody Thomas is addicted to their cheese (and more cheese) enchiladas, but has tried almost every option on the menu.… Continue

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  Small, proud and full of hops

  NOTHING about mike’s Organic Brewery is orthodox. Not even the name. (The lower case m is not a typo – it’s a mistake director Ron Trigg decided to keep). “It’s just a little bit quirky and we’re a bit that way inclined. Maybe they think we’re a bit backward… Continue

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  Taste of Brazil

  THE Live Brazil Festival is about to kick off, and like most Latin American celebrations there will be colour, energy and good food in abundance. On top of that, everything in the programme is free. The festival opens at Te Papa on October 14 with New Zealand… Continue

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  Salute a Master

  TOP wine judge and connoisseur Raymond Chan is stepping down from his role at Regional Wines and Spirits after 16 years – with nothing lined up yet, you could say he’s making a leap of faith. Raymond Chan is Regional’s wine advisor and a shareholder. “I suppose… Continue

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  Coffee, cake and poetry

  JRR. TOLKIEN is known to have said, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” The creative writing course at Whitireia Community Polytechnic understands this and has formulated a competition from it. Eat… Continue

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  Best of Wellington 2010 Results

  WELLINGTON may be New Zealand’s capital city, but one of our Capital Times’ readers thinks ‘it’s just a big town with a heart’. You, our readers have made some great and interesting choices.. We’ve got winners in there who’ve topped lists again and again – from… Continue

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  Sure to rise

  “IF these walls had ears,” must be especially true of kitchens. Based on the stories, recipes and secrets told in this space, Geraldine Brophy and daughter Bea Joblin have written a play about life, love and the universe. Extending the family involvement further,… Continue

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  Gumbo Gary

  GARY Jones loves Wellington food. “I think Wellington is the best food city in New Zealand by far,” he says. “It’s more cosmopolitan. The population’s a lot smaller so there’s a lot more competition – you’ve got to be good to get the customers.” Jones was born… Continue

• Wellington goes bananas

  The capital city is going bananas for bananas. All Good Fair Trade bananas, retailing in 19 city locations, sell in Wellington at a higher rate per supermarket than anywhere else in the country. “It’s similar to free-range eggs and pork. After a while people… Continue

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  Born to cook

  ITALIAN-New Zealander Antonio Cacace was destined to be a chef. Cacace grew up on the spectacular Amalfi coastline on the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula in Italy. He began helping out at his parent’s Michelin restaurant from the age of four. “I… Continue

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  Thursty work

  SEATOUN artist Richard Thurston will have a wine named after him. Thurston’s work Fulfillment, entered in this year’s New Zealand Art Show, attracted the attention of judges from online wine retailer Winesale.co.nz, who commissioned Thurston to design a label… Continue

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  Free food

  THERE’S an abundance of free fruit and veg to be found around Wellington city – if you know where to look. Fruit trees on council land, wild herbs growing in parks, and vegetables lining suburban streets all can now be located via google maps. Olive trees on… Continue

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  Taste the difference

  With Beervana just around the corner, Capital Times discovers there are more people drinking craft beers than ever before. Cash-strapped backpacker Martin Baptiste says New Zealand craft beers can’t be beaten. “Cheaper alternatives just don’t do it, you really… Continue

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  Explosive cocktail

  WHEN a huge artillery shell was delivered to Calem Chadwick’s home last week, the courier looked at him sideways. “Don’t ask,” Chadwick said as he signed for the delivery The award-winning barman has devised an ingenious way for Wellingtonian’s to get fired up… Continue

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  Offaly close to the bone

  CHEF Kit Foe has always loved eating entrails and organs. The St Johns Heineken Hotel head chef says it was natural for his family to use every part of an animal when cooking and it’s a tradition he has continued to this day. “When you don’t have a lot of money… Continue

• Top wine award

  ENTRIES are open for the 2010 Air New Zealand Wine Awards. All vintage wines must be 100% sustainably produced. “Sustainability has been a focus of the Air New Zealand Wine Awards for several years with the introduction of pure medals in 2007,” says NZ Winegrowers’… Continue

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  Cheeky cow

  BEEF cheeks are the new lamb shanks, says Zealandia head chef Craig Dunshea. Rata, the Karori sanctuary’s new terrace cafe, is doing a main of braised beef cheeks for this month’s food festival Wellington on a Plate. “I wanted [to make] something a little different,”… Continue

• McMurrayMon wins top gong

  YOUNG Wellingtonian Jessamy Murray’s initiative and experimentation has paid off, as her creation was awarded the 2010 Zumwohl cocktail of the year. For the competition, participants were asked to create a cocktail recipe with Zumwohl schnapps as the base ingredient.… Continue

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  Hell for Rugby World Cup kitchens

  A top hospitality trainer says Wellington will suffer a culinary shortfall for the World Cup. Capital Times investigates why there is a shortage of hospitality, IT, electrical, and nursing staff while Wellington’s youth unemployment sits at 22.5%. THE Wellington… Continue

• To ban or not to ban

  A large majority of Wellingtonians don’t want a citywide liquor ban, but Wellington City Council officers do. The council received 604 written submissions on the proposal to amend the city’s Liquor Control Bylaw, which presented three options: to have a citywide… Continue

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  A mean brew

  CAPITAL Times beer columnist Kieran Haslett-Moore will be the first individual to brew his very own beer at Emerson’s Brewery in Dunedin. The Regional Wines & Spirits beer specialist will spend three days in Dunedin brewing his own recipe. Haslett-Moore,… Continue

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  Small and steady

  BOUTIQUE vineyards are the way to go, says Martinborough vineyard owner Katherine Jacobs. She will display wine from her Big Sky vineyard alongside 14 other small vineyards from Martinborough at the upcoming “Unique and Boutique” tasting in Wellington. To be… Continue

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  Memphis Belle flies with Fair Trade coffee

  WELLINGTON seems to have an endless supply of young guns who like a good coffee. Nick Clark, 21, and Bink Bowler, 19, have turned the rundown Quick-E-Mart on Dixon street into the Memphis Belle Coffee House. Clark decided sustainability was a path he wanted… Continue

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  It's all in the family

  DEIRDRE Tarrant has one talented family. She’s mum to Flight of the Conchord’s Bret McKenzie, and Jonathon and Justin McKenzie, the owners of successful Wellington bars Hawthorn Lounge and Hooch. Jonathon and Justin have just received a Capital Award for each… Continue

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  To ban or not to ban

  WELLINGTON could waste up to $200,000 on a proposed Liquor Control Bylaw if Central Government policy overrides it, says Wellington City Councillor Iona Pannett. The idea of a national public place ban was floated in Geoffrey Palmer’s Alcohol in Our Lives report,… Continue

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  How to beat the bottle

  Wellington City Mayor Kerry Prendergast has said Wellington has a binge-drinking problem. The council says it’s had success with the “Stay Safe in the City” campaign, a Kiwi take on popular programmes Sex and the City and Friends, but a group of young Wellingtonians… Continue

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  Cup talent

  FOR three young Kiwis, hospitality isn’t just a job. It’s a passion and a career for life. Wellington boys Calem Chadwick and Josh Crawford, and Aucklander James Goggin, are representing New Zealand in the 42Below Cocktail World Cup. The three were selected after… Continue

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  Kapai food

  THE bedraggled Hungry Kiwi café on Courtenay Place has gone, and been replaced by a vibrant café where you can eat the containers your food comes in. Kapai opened this week after several weeks of renovations. The café is the third Kapai instalment in Wellington… Continue

• New Newtown cafe

  MONTEREY, a new dining and cocktail bar, will open in Newtown this weekend. Kreuzberg summer café owners Joe Slater and Mike Stewart are behind the venture. Like Kreuzberg which serves coffees and cakes from a caravan in an empty parking lot at the top of Cuba… Continue

• A tatse of the South East

  THE Chinese have Chinese New Year, Indian’s get Diwali, and now the South East Asian community has an event to look forward to as well. Through a partnership between Asia New Zealand and the Wellington City Council, the capital will host the second ever South… Continue

• Latina love

  PAULA Caporalini makes food for her customers with the same love and care she would her family. The chef from Argentina arrived in New Zealand three years ago, and always dreamt of opening her own restaurant. Last week, she did it. Caporalini opened the Buenos… Continue

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  The cat that got the milk

  BEING given 60 days notice to vacate the premises was a blessing in disguise for Willis Street café owner Damian Jones. Meow Café’s landlord decided he wasn’t keen on the café being there any longer. “The only reason he really gave was that he’d found someone… Continue

• Public "nuisance"

  A man with a vendetta against liquor licencing has frustrated a group of café and bar owners who have the intention of applying for or renewing their liquor licences. Newtown resident Bernard O’Shaughnessy has lodged a formal objection against outlets that publicly… Continue

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  Beer Necessities Survey 2009

  Brewing up diversity THE top rated beers from this year’s Beer Necessities Survey represent a near perfect cross section of brewing in New Zealand. Represented in the top eight are New Zealand’s largest brewer Lion Nathan, one of the country’s biggest independent… Continue

Columns

• Summer of Riesling

  I know I’ve banged on about Riesling, but that it’s a seriously under valued grape variety. The neglect of Riesling is not just a Kiwi thing, it’s a problem around the world. The frustration felt by people in the wine industry is such that… Continue

• Wines to please

  BALMY summer evenings means barbecues with friends. The emphasis is on cheerful, affordable wine that will please everyone. I have a few go-to categories that come up regularly on these occasions due to their instant appeal and often bargain prices. To settle… Continue

• Hen’s night sparkler

  A recent Hen’s night was a great opportunity to taste a range of different sparkling wines at the lower end of the price spectrum. This is not meant to make my friends sound cheap, but it’s a reality when you know everyone’s going to be sharing… Continue

• Whites in the cellar

  FRIENDS of mine are getting married in a few weeks and instead of a standard wedding register they are getting a local wine retailer to put the beginnings of a cellar together for them. Although the cellaring potential of many types of red wine are well known,… Continue

• Lovely Stickies

  MOST of the dessert wines (“stickies” for some) in New Zealand are made in one of two ways: Late harvest, where the grapes have been left on the vines until they start to shrivel and the sugars concentrate resulting in a sweeter wine; or botrytised… Continue

• It’s a guessing game

  WITH so many international visitors in town at the moment I thought how hard it must be to choose a wine in restaurants or shops without local knowledge. It’s hard enough to pick the right wine even for those of us who are used to the local labels and styles.… Continue

• Friendly savs

  SAUVIGNON Blanc is what made the New Zealand wine industry, and it’s important to remember to give it its due, but when poorly made it can be aggressively acidic and mean. Encountering one of these wines on a Friday night after work and before any food appears… Continue

• In the black

  I am not a rugby fan but I do like a good party, and town is buzzing. I might even end up watching one of the games (it’s hard to avoid) but you’ll never catch me in an All Blacks jersey. I’m not rich enough to pay the prices Adidas is asking,… Continue

• A Rosé glow

  THIS time two years ago I was on a working holiday in Wanaka and marvelling at the magic of spring in Central Otago. The best way to truly celebrate spring, I found, was sitting by the lake in the afternoon over a few glasses of Central Otago Pinot Rosé.… Continue

• Wine and veges

  I found myself in a quandary recently when I invited some vegetarian friends to dinner. As a fairly ardent carnivore, I don’t have much occasion to match wine to vegetarian dishes (nor much experience at creating them). Well and truly out of my comfort zone… Continue

• Chardonnay is back

  I am an unabashed Chardonnay lover. Although fashions are changing, Chardonnay is being rehabilitated, and although the ABC movement is subsiding, many are still a little embarrassed to admit they like Chardonnay.  I think this is a shame. There are a few… Continue

• Villa Maria first

  GRENACHE is an important grape variety in many different regions, but particularly France (in the Southern part of the Rhone Valley, and in the South West), Spain (where it is called Garnacha and is the most widely planted red grape variety) and Australia. It can… Continue

• Warming reds

  THIS time of year warming reds are the order of the day, and we’re all looking for a bargain. I tend to look to Spain for these, as to my mind they deliver consistent quality at good prices. Like most European countries, Spain has 65 quality wine producing… Continue

• Cheers to Gewurz

  A good friend is passionate in her love for Gewurztraminer.  I share her liking for Gewurz, but it’s a relatively uncommon preference and as a result we can share some more special wine at a barbecue and be fairly sure people will keep their mitts off… Continue

• Check the label

  MANY wineries produce several tiers of wine at different price points. This offers us greater choice, but can throw up a few problems. The first is a practical one. Often the entry level wines in a range can offer excellent value for money, particularly in the… Continue

• Hawkes Bay not just about reds

  MID winter is the perfect time for red wine, so it’s no accident that this is when the Hawkes Bay Hot Red show is held. This is always an interesting tasting, but I must admit that some years the very thought of a room full of full-bodied red wines has prompted… Continue

• Warming reds

  THIS time of year I tend to reach for a warming red, and as the temperature drops and power bills rise, price becomes a pretty keen issue. We may be feeling the pinch, but why should we compromise on quality? My solution is to head towards South America for my… Continue

• What about Marlborough?

  WHEN it comes to Pinot Noir, the first words on many people’s lips are Central Otago.The region has done a brilliant job of building its reputation for excellence and of branding itself, and now seems to be the ‘Gucci’ of Pinot Noir in New Zealand.… Continue

• A bit of sparkle

  I got some beautiful, tinkly new Riedel Champagne flutes on the weekend.They look gorgeous and sparkly in the sun.They tinkle like champions and are the perfect accessory to an air kiss. Also, they are wonderful for drinking quality sparkling and champagne wine… Continue

• A few gems

  AS part of my continuing quest to try new wines I have uncovered a few gems. These are wines that are local, unique, ingenious and new in some way or other. The wine industry in New Zealand is relatively young, inquisitive and vibrant, and there’s innovation… Continue

• Away with the grease

  With all the hype and hysteria about KFC’s new doubledown burger stimulating queues at local outlets we can’t ignore this culinary direction and so I suggest a few wine matches. Now, when matching wine to fatty or greasy food a handy rule of thumb is… Continue

• Difficult to understand when young

  MUCH has been said recently about a “study” by Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, in which he claims to have shown that most people could not tell the difference between a cheap wine and an expensive wine. This “study”… Continue

• The white blends

  Last time I was banging on about Bordeaux style blends in New Zealand, but red blends are not the end of the story. White wine is often blended too, for exactly the same reasons. Blends that you will most likely come across here are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon… Continue

• A taste for the blended

  I have a passion for blended wines, both red and white. We are obsessed in New Zealand with wines being “single varietal”. Basically, this means that if it doesn’t say something recognisable like “Sauvignon Blanc” or “Merlot”… Continue

• Sauvignon Blanc at the top

  Sauvignon Blanc is quite simply the most important grape variety in New Zealand. It is the foundation of our wine industry, and also the first impression we give to most of the world. The British wine critic Oz Clarke summed up the splash New Zealand Sauvignon… Continue

• Unfashionable chardonnay

  In one of my favourite episodes of Kath and Kim, there’s a scene where Kim is at her husband’s office party. Asked what she’d like to drink, she imperiously demands a “Cardonnay” (“It’s pronounced Cardonnay - the haitch… Continue

• It’s all in the glass

  I HAVE to confess that I am a glassware geek. The aesthetic pleasure involved in looking at wine in a beautiful glass and holding a thrillingly delicate piece of crystal is considerable, and I believe it enhances my enjoyment of the wine experience. This aside,… Continue

• Jesus drank Riesling?

  I SPOTTED a fantastic T-shirt a while back that stated “Jesus drank Riesling”. The owner of this T-shirt was, of course, a winemaker. One of the reasons Riesling is so attractive to winemakers is the variety of styles it can be made in, ranging from… Continue

• Know the region...

  I LIKE to know a bit about the people behind the wines I drink, as I feel it adds an extra dimension to the experience. One of the best ways to do this is to visit the wineries themselves. We’re privileged to have a premium wine producing region on our doorstep… Continue

• Support Cantab vino

  WITH Christchurch devastated, many of us are wondering how to help the people and the Canterbury region in general, so maybe this is a good time to put our money where our mouths are and drink more wine from Canterbury. Waipara has long been recognised as a great… Continue

• John Key's stash

  LAST week John Key came up with a cunning plan to find the money needed to invest in schools, hospitals, broadband and the Basin Reserve fly-over. He plans the partial sale of state-owned power and coal companies, along with the government’s stake in Air New Zealand.… Continue

• Syrah a contender

  Syrah is fast becoming a contender. After playing second fiddle to Pinot Noir, New Zealand Syrah is finally becoming recognised as a potential winner for producer and consumer alike. The grape comes from south eastern France. The fanciest Syrah is grown in the… Continue

• NYE sparklers

  IT’S a Kiwi tradition to break open the bubbles to toast the New Year. It’s also a tradition for the most celebratory people at the party to promptly fall over (or worse) after consuming said celebratory drink. One of my favourite memories of post sparkling shennanigans… Continue

• Christmas crackers

  ‘TIS the season to get stuck into cracking good wines. A survey of recent, and not so recent, releases unearthed these Christmas crackers, suitable accompaniments for lunch on the big day, or as gifts for that someone special. Pegasus Bay Bel Canto Riesling 2009… Continue

• Gruner Veltliner

  WAIMEA winemakers pride themselves in the diversity of varietals they produce, and of course the awards they win. Their latest experiment is with Gruner Veltliner, a grape popular in Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In Europe, Gruner Veltliner is considered… Continue

• Cash up for new solutions

  THERE was an article in the Economist recently about a chain of pubs in the UK that has attempted to ride out the recession by opening earlier. But instead of getting a bigger slice of the boozy pie, they have taken a leaf out of the coffee shop phenomenon and… Continue

• Aussie protectionism

  OUR neighbours across the ditch have launched a campaign to celebrate Australian wine. And to give their wine industry a shot in the arm. Stephen Pannell, a producer from McLaren Vale, has set up a website, allforonewine.com.au, on which the loyal lush is encouraged… Continue

• Cellar door tiki tour

  TOLKEIN thought “cellar door” one of the nicest sounding phrases in the English language. Yet add the words “tiki tour” and it promises so much more than just sonorous satisfaction. With the latest 2011 copy of Cuisine magazine’s Wine Country ($17.90) in hand,… Continue

• Rugby, wine and fireworks

  CLIVE Paton once scored a try against the Lions. That was a while ago. Now he’s better known as founder of Ata Rangi, one of Martinborough’s leading wine producers. Ata Rangi has had an exciting year. To begin with, its Pinot Noir was awarded the inaugural Tipuranga… Continue

• Nelson Wineart

  NELSON has long been a favourite holiday destination, with its award-winning restaurants, funky arts and crafts, and beautiful beaches. Nelson winemakers have added another reason to visit. The Nelson Wineart tasting at the Boatshed last week shows that vines… Continue

• Who owns ‘New Zealand’ wine?

  The sale last week of twelve Pernod Ricard wine labels to Lion Nathan got me thinking about the ownership of NZ wine. At first my parochial streak had me pleased that these wines made in NZ were being transferred from French to Kiwi ownership. Then my memory kicked… Continue

• The wine that put us on the map

  TWENTY-five years ago, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc put New Zealand on the international wine map. Founding winemaker Kevin Judd arrived to take up his new job in 1985 to discover a winery without any vineyards, winery or equipment. So he did well to produce a wine… Continue

• Milawa Brown Brothers wine

  THE AUSSIES have infiltrated our wine market, and I’m not complaining. The instantly recognisable sepia-toned label of Victoria’s Brown Bros can be found on supermarket shelves and in wine shops all around NZ. Brown Bros have been making wine for 125 years. It… Continue

• Show season

  AS we creep out from under our rocks to meet the new spring sun, so too do the wine judges. There have been at least four wine shows in the past month, celebrating fine pickings of NZ wine: The Tri Nations, Bragato, NZ International Wine Show and the New World… Continue

• 2010, the year of the sav?

  VILLA Maria is already celebrating a big win, the French have made an alliance with us to get into the action, and the sav meisters at Saint Clair have bottled it as a bubbly. Villa Maria recently won the trophy for Sauvignon Blanc at the Royal Perth Wine Show… Continue

• Unwined on Kapiti Coast

  MANY years ago, I was a fan of Parsonage Hills wines.   These guys made a wide range of fruit wine from their base in Te Horo, a short road trip from town. I remember loving their black doris plum wine. Now there’s a new producer, based in Paparaumu. They’ve… Continue

• Wine Bloggers Awarded

  LAST week US wine judges awarded Riedel Crystal wine glasses to wine bloggers deemed the best in their field. Check out this list of winners for some truly opinionated pieces on the ups and downs of the global wine industry. Best Graphics, Photography, & Presentation:… Continue

• To BYO or not to BYO

  SHAKESPEARE never had to worry about whether he could bring his own wine to a restaurant or not. The bard thought wine was for the court. He preferred ye olde English ale. As Autolycus sings in The Winter’s Tale: “The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, with… Continue

• Drinking to globalisation

  HEY, wine lover. Bored? Thirsty? Nothing good on TV? Fill in the evening with Mondovino (2004), a film best enjoyed with a glass of vino so that you can drown your sorrows as you discover the impact of globalisation on the wine world. The undercover documentary… Continue

• Dynamite wine

  YEARS ago I passed a vineyard way up north.  I was on my way to Ahipara at the south end of Ninety Mile Beach.  I wish I’d been able to convince my driver to stop – We’d zoomed right past Okahu Estate.  This week I had a chance to make amends when… Continue

• 'K Syrah

  ON recent visit to Woolies I had a peek at the latest Cuisine and discovered that Aussie Shiraz and Kiwi Syrah were flavour of the month.  By a happy coincidence, Syrah is also the most popular drink to have with dinner during these chilly nights according… Continue

• Affordable Martinborough Pinot Noirs

  LAST night I learned a new word, ‘pinosity’, as I huddled with 26 other pinotphiles around tables laden with Riedel glasses trying to keep our samples of Martinborough pinot noir warm as southerly winds howled over our heads. My new favourite word was coined by… Continue

• Chardonnay all white

  I love drinking chardonnay in winter, especially when the wine has spent some time in oak.  Contact with the wood adds texture and complexity, but sometimes those layers of flavours can come at the price of fruit purity.  Winemakers love to play around… Continue

• Red hot

  THE annual Hot Red Hawkes Bay wine tasting hit town last week.  I took a break from exam study and headed down the to the Michael Fowler Centre to see what’s hot in the world of red wine. It’s best to approach these big roadshows with a tasting tactic, rather… Continue

• A warm drop

  ONCE upon a time, the only thing Gimblett Road had going for it was its drag strip.  But now the arid paddocks just off the beaten track on the way to Hastings grow some of the best wine in the country. Chris (CJ) Pask was one of the first to discover the… Continue

• Roaming in Richmond

  THE next time you are holidaying in wine country and fancy popping around the corner to visit a winery, remember a country block is a lot bigger than a city one! Surveying the map of Richmond, we were convinced we could wander a short 15 minutes to visit some… Continue

• Keeping up with the Jones's

  AS the rain lashes our fair capital, I wish I was on sunny Waiheke Island, where the wine flows freely and the views are breathtaking.   Robyn and Nicholas Jones, a couple of Auckland accountants, had similar thoughts when they bought a chunk of land on the… Continue

• Central Otago Procrastination

  ON St. Patrick’s Day I avoided the Irish shenanigans and instead headed down to The Boat Shed to a tasting of Central Otago wines. First up was a tutored tasting of pinot gris, riesling and pinot noir from the seven sub-regions of central. Our guide, Paul from… Continue

• Happy Santa

  PINOT hits the capital once more on St Patrick’s Day when 20 producers from Central Otago colonise the Boat Shed to show us their wares.   The tasting Central Otago Wine: A World of Difference is designed to showcase the terroir of the various sub-regions.… Continue

• Wine of the week - $12

  AUCKLANDER Murray Brennan was drawn to the Gibbston region when he was a uni student at Otago.   He bought some land in 1994 and started planting. Since 2006 his son Sean has been making wine under the family’s own Brennan label, saving for themselves the… Continue

• Guinea pigs, sheep and wine

  SENSITIVITY to the environment is so hot right now.   But well before Al Gore made his documentary An Inconvenient Truth, New Zealand wineries were adopting green principles and raising funds for endangered species.   One of the latest initiatives saw… Continue

• Queen of the pinot

  WINEMAKER Carol Bunn first got into pinot noir while working at Dry River and Martinborough Vineyards in the ‘90s.   Her success with the 2002 vintage at Akarua winery at Bannockburn had her dubbed “Queen of the pinot”. Bunn brings this fine pedigree to her… Continue

• Mediterranean mix

  MY heart was all a flutter when I thought I’d found out that an old boyfriend’s family now owned a winery and olive grove. Who needs to move to the Mediterranean, I thought. Dreams of connections and their benefits were soon dashed, however, when I discovered… Continue

• Pinot envy

  PINOTPHILES, it’s time to start saving your pennies. Pinot Noir 2010 is just a few days away. Mark February 1-4 in your diaries. One hundred wineries strut their stuff, along with guest speakers from around the world, addressing themes of regionality and sustainability,… Continue

• Holiday horrors and hurrahs

  I tasted some of the nastiest and nicest wine over the hols. My worst experience was at a music festival where the bottle proudly boasted “wine made from the vines you’re peeing on”.  I should have known then to expect a killer hangover. On a happier note,… Continue

• How to party with wine

  THE holidays are a time of silliness, happiness and good times. Here is the best way to get yourself in the mood for those long nights partying with friends. Start with something light and bubbly, like Brown Brothers Zibibbo ($16.99).  Named after “zabib”,… Continue

• Topsy turvy twins

  NEARLY 30 years ago, Andrew and Cyndy Hendry bought land at Huapai west of Auckland, planted grapes there and founded Coopers Creek winery.   Now they have vineyards dotted all over Aotearoa. Chief winemaker Simon Nunns creates one of the most diverse wine… Continue

• Toiing with your tastebuds

  NEW kids on the block, Toi Toi, are based in the Omaka Valley, in the same neighbourhood as Cloudy Bay and Seresin. They are enthusiastic about the recent success of their Toi Toi Marlborough Riesling 2009 ($20.90) at the New Zealand International Wine Show… Continue

• Size doesn't matter

  A collective of small vineyards has formed an exciting new label, Little Vineyards of Wairarapa, so that we can “taste the true terroir of the Wairarapa” though their selection of single vineyard wines.   We tasted a red and a white from the range, and discovered… Continue

• A fine tasting year

  THIS year has seen the rise in popularity of pinot gris, especially among the ladies.   At netball drinks nowadays it’s Yealands Pinot Gris 2008 ($15) replacing the old favourite sauvignon blanc. Easier to drink as an aperitif thanks to low acidity, gris… Continue

• Nobel wine

  KIWI rieslings are world famous. One of our most shiny stars comes from Marlborough’s Framingham Estate. Company founder, Rex Brooke-Taylor, was one of the first to plant vines on the rivers bed soils just outside Renwick in 1982. The first riesling under the… Continue

• Scents and sensibility

  FLORAL aromas are the sign of a good wine.   The scent of blooms indicates the use of physiologically ripe grapes. A good pinot noir, for example, might smell ever so slightly of carnations.   Tim Heath of Cloudy Bay is a master at creating such fragrant… Continue

• Why is chardonnay so hot?

  JUDGES sniffed, swirled, slurped and spat their way through more than 2,000 wines at the New Zealand International Wine Show a couple of weeks ago, awarding 156 gold medals, 317 silver and 791 bronze medals.  For the second year in a row a chardonnay won… Continue

• Handbag smells and WOW

  WINEMAKERS from Nelson gathered at The Boatshed last week to open Wellington eyes to the delights of their art, and to share scallops with us.  Aromatics, pinot gris and gewürztraminer were the theme of my night at the Nelson Wineart Show. I started with… Continue

• Tri-nations win

  NEW Zealand’s won the tri-nations… wine competition, that is. A couple of weeks ago, wines chosen to represent NZ, Australia and South Africa (SA) took the field. The competition was stiff, but we came out on top, bringing home 11 double golds to Australia’s meagre… Continue

• Pinot envy

  PINOTPHILES, it’s time to start saving your pennies. Pinot Noir 2010, featuring 100 wineries and plenty of tastings, is just over four months away (February 1-4). Programme highlights include the Winemaker’s Party on the opening night, a tasting of the 2003… Continue

• Spring wine festivals

  THE Eurowine International Winemakers Roadshow hits town on September 22. Just $25 will get you tasting a selection of new releases from Australasia at the Holiday Inn on Featherston Street. There’s always a hard decision to make at these roadshows. There will… Continue

• O Romeo, Romeo

  ONE hundred years ago, an Italian investigated New Zealand’s winemaking potential.  Romeo Bragato’s legacy to the industry is celebrated every year at a conference named after him. Winemakers, students and enthusiasts gathered in the Hawke’s Bay last weekend… Continue

• Wet and winged

  I was heading south for a Classics conference when we stopped at a beach in Pegasus Bay, North Canterbury. It was hot, we were sticky, so we stripped off to our undies and took the plunge. Luckily the only other people in the water were a young couple far more… Continue

• New era at Esk

  I winged my way to Napier for the unveiling of Esk Valley’s new label.  The new look is a brighter cream label, designed to grab the consumer’s attention, as is the “price realignment”.  We started with the Esk Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc… Continue

• A riesling to spring

  SPRING-CLEANING is a necessary evil, best enjoyed with an invigorating riesling. Drs John and Brigid Forrest’s Doctors Riesling 2008 ($22) is an off-dry award-winner that is delicious as an aperitif. Better with food is Forrest’s The Valleys Wairau Library… Continue

Reviews

• Ales by Dale

  THE rise of contract brewing has resulted in the democratisation of New Zealand’s brewing scene. By that I mean that home brewers from all walks of life have been able to enter the beer market. Once it was only those with the drive, means and blind determination… Continue

• ‘I’m strictly a broccoli man’

  This week’s column title comes from a quote by the Canadian beer writer Stephen Beaumont. In short Stephen likens beer drinkers who will only drink the one brand or type of beer to people who would only eat one vegetable “No thanks, I’ll pass… Continue

• Year in Beer

  AT this time of the year it’s good to look back on the year that has been and think about what has happened before we get busy being embroiled in the events of the next one. As the quality part of the beer market grows, more and more seems to be happening… Continue

• A Christmas tale

  IT doesn’t seem like a whole year since I wrote last year’s Christmas column. It has now become a pattern at this time each year for me to write about what I will eat and drink on Christmas Day. This year the hills of Brooklyn will again host a long… Continue

• They’re tasting our hops - there

  NEW ZEALAND hops are gaining a reputation around the world for the exotic and unique flavours and aromas. New Zealand hops have long been valued around the world because of the low levels of insecticide and fungicides used in their production and the high levels… Continue

• From science to wine

  A friend of mine recently mused on the number of winemakers who have moved into the field after a successful career in science. What made them leave the laboratories, and does their scientific background make them better winemakers? One such winemaker is Andrew… Continue

• New Blood

  EARLIER this month Wellington hosted  a Belgian brewer now based in NZ. Dave De Vylder from East Flanders in Belgium trained as an electrical engineer and served in the army before retraining as a brewer. He met and married Kiwi teacher Susan Kiener who was… Continue

• Stone, Wood and Wheat

  DESPITE being neighbours we see very little Australian beer in New Zealand. As in New Zealand, Australia has undergone a beer renaissance with independent brewers popping up all around the sandy continent. Increasingly New Zealand brewers are seeing Australia as… Continue

• Flying Nun

  THIS month two beers are being released to honour the Flying Nun record label. Emerson’s Tally Ho! is making a return to taps around town after first appearing in February this year. Tally Ho! takes its name from The Clean’s debut single and forms part… Continue

• Pacific Flavours

  IN the midst of last month’s kerfuffle over the oval ball a new type of beer festival made its debut. The Pacific Beer Expo brought together a range of beers from around the Pacific rim highlighting beers from Australia, California, Japan and NZ. Organised… Continue

• Beers from the Peak

  NEW Zealand brewers have played a part in two of the most exciting and innovative English breweries to emerge in the past five years.  First Kelly Ryan helped build the Thornbridge Brewery in Derbyshire up to become one of the most innovative and high profile… Continue

• Does it matter who owns a brewery?

  A fortnight ago it was announced that the Australian brewing giant Fosters was to be sold to London based South African Brewing giant SABMiller. This has caused considerable consternation across the Tasman where it is being heralded by some as a sign of ebbing… Continue

• Tower brewery empty

  HERE in New Zealand there is precious little of our brewing history left to see. New Zealand was once littered with breweries many of them grand and ornate. Before rail and road networks made distribution of beer easy every town and many villages had their own… Continue

• Craft Beer Capital

  OUT of conflict arises creativity, well at least that’s what happens when the world works the way we would like it to. Earlier this year a group of Nelson brewers, hop growers and publicans decided to join forces and promote Nelson as a beer destination.… Continue

• End of the line

  Last month Young’s, one of England’s great brewing companies, severed its final link with actual brewing. Up until 2006 the London based brewer and pub operator brewed at one of the oldest breweries in England, the Ram brewery in Wandsworth, South London.… Continue

• Smokin Pioneer

  BACK in 2008 Invercargill brewer Steve Nally made history by releasing New Zealand’s first ever widely available smoked beer. At the time Smokin Bishop was truly revolutionary and in some ways ushered in the era of boundary pushing extreme brewing that has… Continue

• Wellington Revolution

  IN a former life I played bass in a hardcore band. During the late 90’s early 2000’s Wellington was home to a thriving underground punk, ska, hardcore music scene with Thistle Hall on the corner of upper Cuba St and what was then Arthur St, playing… Continue

• Winter Warmers

  THE rather wonderful cold blast of the past fortnight has got me thinking about winter warmers. Winter warmers are not a style of beer, or a category that has any defined boundaries but when we talk about them we know what is meant. Winter Warmers tend to be accented… Continue

• Old Foghorn

  TRADITIONALLY America has been known for producing incredibly light bodied, pale, scantily flavoured lagers. More recently beers like Epic Pale Ale and Tuatara APA have introduced the American Pale Ale style to NZ drinkers and the realisation has dawned that America… Continue

• 8 Wired a champion

  LAST week on the eve of Beervana the brewing industry gathered at the town hall to celebrate excellence in brewing. In the week leading up to the event a judging panel made up of Australasian brewers, and the odd beer specialist like myself, judged our way through… Continue

• Regional bars to star at Beervana

  THIS Friday and Saturday Wellington plays host to Beervana, the biggest event on the beer world calendar. This year the festival has made a few important changes. Earlier this year the Brewers Guild of New Zealand made the decision to sell the festival to malt… Continue

• Radler shouldn’t be a trademark

  Radler is a style of German beer. It is Germany’s answer to the English shandy, and was originally a blend of lemonade and lager developed for German cyclists who didn’t want to drink full strength beer for fear of falling off their bikes. In 2003 DB… Continue

• Season for the Saison

  IT seems like this year is the year of the Saison. Saison is a tart dry spicy type of Belgian farmhouse ale that was originally brewed by farmers to preserve grain and pay farm workers. So far this year we have seen Invercargill Brewing Co’s interpretation,… Continue

• Past Master

  I like to think that beer runs in my blood. When the Treaty of Waitangi was being signed my ancestors on my mother’s side were running a pub on the south coast of England. Over half a century later my paternal great grandfather was working as a drayman delivering… Continue

• Winter Warmer

  AT the end of June each year the New Zealand Society Of Beer Advocates holds a Matariki winter ales festival to celebrate the broad range of hearty wintry brews that are available to New Zealand beer drinkers. Last year’s inaugural festival for the consumer… Continue

• Comings and goings

  A few weeks ago I wrote about some of the new brewing operations that are opening in Wellington. It’s great to see these new people coming into the industry. A week later I received a phone call from Matt Duncan, the sixth generation brewer from Founders… Continue

• Milestones

  IT takes a lot of work to make good beer. The day to day running of a busy brewery can sometimes obscure a brewer’s view of the bigger picture and so miss marking the achievements and milestones that other businesses would celebrate. Back in 2005 I visited… Continue

• Beer in Focus

  THE beer world is a multifaceted community. Brewers, drinkers, educators, activists, retailers, writers and suppliers all have a part to play. I tend to play all the roles at times. Recently another role has appeared in the form of documenters. While I have already… Continue

• New ventures brewing

  WELLINGTON is already the craft beer capital of New Zealand. We have in this city a fantastic array of bars all offering a broad range of beers and a craft beer drinking population that demands that mainstream bars and restaurants are increasingly including at… Continue

• Mash Up with the Hop Zombie

  LAST week saw the release of Hop Zombie Double IPA. Hop Zombie is the first new Epic beer to be released since the one man brewing company doubled its workforce. Late last year it was announced that head brewer Luke Nicholas would be employing Kelly Ryan who had… Continue

• In season

  IN the Belgian province of Wallonia there is a long tradition of farmhouse brewing. Wallonian farmers used to brew tart refreshing ales to sustain and pay farm labourers in the same way that English farms used to ferment cider. These beers were traditionally brewed… Continue

• The Rex Attitude

  KIWIS are always incredibly keen to achieve world firsts. We flew first, we climbed Mt Everest  first, we stepped onto Antarctica first, we gave women the vote first, we made the first commercial bungee jump and now we have brewed Rex Attitude, the world’s… Continue

• A Right Royal Snub

  LAST Friday’s Royal wedding should really have been a celebration of everything that England does well. Unfortunately instead it turned into a shining example of how the English can denigrate and disregard the very things they excel at. A week before Prince… Continue

• Fit for an Empress

  WITH winter on its way it’s now the season when many brewers start to release their big rich winter seasonal brews. It’s now an understood convention that the biggest most intense example of a beer style gets  labelled ‘imperial’.… Continue

• Take note!

  CALL me jaded, call me spoilt, call me hard to please, but it’s not often that a new beer comes along and really gets me excited. Last week I tried a beer that truly got me going, Such was the intensity of the aroma I knew it was going to before I even… Continue

• Full Circle

  Modern New Zealand history is a most finite commodity. While in the UK there are breweries that can trace their history back hundreds of years, here, brewers who date from the 1980’s are seen as the old guard. There is one New Zealand brewing dynasty however… Continue

• A sanctuary for beer lovers

  Craft brewing and craft beer consumption is at an all time high and happens in places you would never have found it a year or two ago. Last week I attended a Tuatara beer and food matching evening held at the Zealandia Wildlife sanctuary. The evening was held to… Continue

• Give a man a beer

  ‘Give a man a beer and he will waste an hour, teach him to brew and he will waste a lifetime’ or so the saying goes. However for some of us learning to brew beer at home, it has been anything but a waste with many of the craft brewing industries key… Continue

• Autumn’s calling

  AUTUMN in Wellington tends to arrive first with a thud in the form of an icy southerly front followed by a relapse into ‘Indian summer’ and then an inevitable descent into winter. Unlike the majority of the population I relish autumn as it marks the… Continue

• Tastes like communal spirit

  IN the wake of the Christchurch earthquake many of us have been scratching our heads about what exactly we can do to help. A week ago those of us in the craft beer community came together to do what we could. A series of fundraising events around New Zealand… Continue

• Underwired

  BREWERS often set themselves technical challenges. Sometimes this takes the form of nursing their yeasts to achieve high alcohol levels, sometimes it consists of using unusual ingredients, and in several cases I know of it has involved creating a beer with a very… Continue

• Europa, Rapture and Tally Ho!

  GOLDEN ales are a relatively young style of beer dating from the early 1980’s. Independent English Ale brewers decided they needed a style of beer to compete with the pale lagers that were becoming increasingly popular with the masses. They devised a beer that… Continue

• Sacred vows

  Last week I was very kindly given two very rare bottles of beer from the Saint Sixtus of Westvleteren Abbey in Belgium. In the low lands of Europe there are seven beer brewing Benedictine abbeys where the monks are known as Trappists. While at first the image of… Continue

• Beer from the wilderness

  I’ve become reacquainted with a beer that has been out forging its own stylistic path for the best part of the last decade. Moa Methode is a very original beer which starts its life as a zesty fruity New Zealand style pilsner before it is bottled with an addition… Continue

• Christmas beer

  LAST December I wrote a column on what I would be drinking and eating on Christmas Day. That column obviously captured the imagination of the drinking public as many people approached my family wanting to know if we really eat and drink that well at Christmas:… Continue

• A year in beer

  LAST year I wrote that choosing a list of favourite beers for the year was like “choosing a favourite child, difficult, dangerous and sure to end in controversy!”. As that statement is no less true a year later, I have decided to review the year that was by writing… Continue

• Seeing the light

  I FIRST met Kirsten Taylor while judging at BrewNZ in 2009. At that point she was helping Lion Breweries to formulate the malt extract homebrew kits produced at their Christchurch Brewery. By the time we judged together again this year Kirsten was working on something… Continue

• The whole package

  I DON’T usually write about the packaging beer comes in; brewery marketing departments do more than enough of that for everyone. For big mainstream brands, innovation is often a new brightly coloured label or a slightly longer bottleneck. I like to use the opportunities… Continue

• Weekend warriors

  AT THE end of last month I travelled to Hamilton to judge the 2010 SOBA National Homebrew Competition. Organised and run by beer consumer group the Society Of Beer Advocates, the NHC is run each year to celebrate and improve the New Zealand home brewing community.… Continue

• The New Vintage

  IF YOU ask someone what beer is made of chances are they will answer ‘hops’. While in reality malt, yeast, water and the processes the brewer uses are equally important to the herbaceous flowers of the Humulus lupulus vine, it’s the hop that has won the PR battle.… Continue

• Coals to Newcastle

  HOPS are a vintage crop, which is harvested once a year in the autumn. Increasingly brewers are producing beers that highlight the harvest by producing green hopped beers, which use fresh un-kilned hops to create striking fresh hop aromas. Here in NZ we have several… Continue

• The Taste of Spring

  A FORTNIGHT ago I wrote about the beer writer Michael Jackson and the memorial of his life. Jackson’s writing was a huge influence on me as I learnt about beer. Michael always stressed how different types of beer suited different situations and different seasons.… Continue

• Living the dream

  BACK in 2004 I entered my first beer competition. That year the BrewNZ Festival included an amateur brewer section where homebrewers like myself could enter our beers and get feedback and, if we made the cut, the glory of medals. That year I didn’t win anything,… Continue

• One white glove

  AT the end of last month along with Geoff Griggs I helped present a tasting that commemorates the life of one of the worlds most influential beer and whiskey writers. In the late 1970s Michael Jackson sparked the modern age of beer writing by writing about beer… Continue

• Prodigal son returns

  BACK in May I wrote about attending a tasting at The Malthouse hosted by Kelly Ryan, the New Zealand brewer at Thornbridge - one of England’s most exciting breweries. Thornbridge Brewery produces an exciting and varied range of beers including three, which are… Continue

• Pint Sized Platinum

  In 1979 progressive rock musician Mike Oldfield released the Platinum album with a track called Punkadiddle. The song was an anti-anti-establishment statement lashing out at the punk bands that Oldfield felt were robbing record company investment from the more… Continue

• Tiger Balm and oysters

  LIKE any cultural movement or scene the craft beer industry has gone through a number of phases over the years. Much like music historians can trace the lineage of modern rock back through punk, garage rock and 60s Brit pop to delta blues, blue grass and traditional… Continue

• The Best?

  EVERY year I spend a lot of time after BrewNZ explaining how beer judging works. People often struggle to understand the results and what they mean. With mainstream brewer DB being crowned champion this year there is more misunderstanding than ever. When beers… Continue

• From Mild to massive

  WHEN Michael Jackson the famous beer writer (not the moon walking one) toured New Zealand in the 1990s, one of the beers that captured his imagination was Mikes Mild Ale from the Organic White Cliffs Brewery in Urenui on the Taranaki Coast. White Cliffs was founded… Continue

• Coyotes proves hidden gem

  AS a newcomer to the capital dining scene I had previously viewed Coyotes Bar and Restaurant as a venue more popular with late night revellers than a quality dining venue. Coyotes proved me wrong. Right on Courtenay Place, Coyotes offers a secluded, tranquil ambience… Continue

• A drop of Majesty

  LAST year Wellington’s Yeastie Boys Brewing Co released their first bottled beer. Named His Majesty, it was the first of two annually released bottled beers presented in 750ml champagne bottles. Last year His Majesty took the form of a strong hoppy India Pale… Continue

• Let’s get festive

  AT the end of this month Wellington will play host to Beervana: the biggest event in the New Zealand beer calendar. On August 27 and 28 the Town Hall will be a bustling hub of activity as the country’s finest brewers, publicans and retailers combine to showcase… Continue

• A Cup of Old Stingo

  FOR the last 18 months contract brewing has been the leading trend in New Zealand craft brewing. With the release of their first beer “Stingo”, the Malthouse has now entered the beer brewing game.  To modern ears Stingo might seem an unusual name for a… Continue

• Great culinary experience

  LAST week there were two events that celebrated how beer can have a place at the table. On Tuesday night I was involved in The Emerson’s Degustation Dinner at Logan Brown.  The event showcased just how well fine food and craft beer can work together. Logan… Continue

• Extra Special

  MY favourite beers tend to have rich malt flavours balanced by tangy earthy hops and fruity yeast characters, and most of them tend to be brewed in England or in the English tradition. Like many home brewers I have often day dreamed about what beers I would brew… Continue

• Winter Festivities

  AT the end of June the New Zealand beer consumer group the Society of Beer Advocates, or S.O.B.A. for short, successfully held their first beer festival. The Matariki Winter Ales Festival was held at The Boatshed on the Waterfront to celebrate winter beer styles.… Continue

• Keeping our Jack Frost

  WITH winter hitting hard over the last weeks the time for hearty warming food and drink is most definitely upon us. While in New Zealand, beer has traditionally been used as a summer refresher served chilled and highly carbonated, more and more brewers are turning… Continue

• American Styles

  FOR a city that prides itself on leading the way in craft beer consumption Wellington has precious few breweries. With the loss of Mac’s there is no longer an active commercial brewery within the city limits. While we can almost lay a claim to Yeastie Boys, as… Continue

• Belgian brilliance

  BELGIUM is responsible for some of the most original and idiosyncratic beers in the world. One very unusual characteristic of the Belgian brewing industry are the six Trappist Monasteries, which brew and sell beer to fund their abbeys and the charitable works… Continue

• That's Epic

  BACK in February I attended a very special tasting. Kelly Ryan, an ex-pat Kiwi and head brewer of English craft brewer Thornbridge, presented a range of his beers at The Malthouse. Having studied food science and brewing for DB in New Zealand, Kelly set off on… Continue

• Scorchorama -A family feed

  Scorch-O-Rama, 497 Karaka Bay, Scorching Bay, Coffee: Havana MURIEL (the dodgy Mercedes) now has a slippery steering wheel. “A lot of play” they say… I refuse to give her up – she’s part of the family. But we went out for a coffee a couple of months ago,… Continue

• The last brew

  A month ago I was invited to the last brew at Mac’s Shed 22 waterfront brewery before production was moved to Christchurch. It was a very special and rather sad event. The brewing team decided to go out on a high by making the special harvest ale Brewjolais their… Continue

• Gonzo Brewing

  ASPEN Colorado is an affluent ski resort town and attracts the rich and famous. However there is a darker more creative side to this alpine city. It was home to author Hunter S Thompson, the graphic genius Ralph Steadman and one of the most original American breweries.… Continue

• The farce of low carb

  I fail to understand why brewers are put under pressure to compromise their craft by producing reduced alcohol beers. Given most beer styles are already far lower in alcohol than wines and spirits, why should brewers have to start tinkering round with them to make… Continue

• Beer from the wood

  IN the sun drenched wine country of California there is a brewery that has taken the Victorian technology of rainy Midlands England and replicated it on a smaller scale. The English brewing town of Burton-Upon-Trent became renowned for producing fruity hop accented… Continue

• A Captain's brew

  TUCKED away in the rural hinterland of Golden Bay, the Mussel Inn has been providing old fashioned country hospitality and some of the most idiosyncratic brews in the country since 1992. Captain Cooker Manuka Beer is the most famous of those brews. Inspired by… Continue

• Crafty brews

  I’VE always found it strange that the UK, with its rich heritage of brewing, doesn’t have a regular publication devoted entirely to beer.  I find it even more remarkable that France, a nation more commonly associated with wine, does. I discovered this last… Continue

• Hot Wired

  8 Wired is the youngest of the new breed of contract brewers to take New Zealand by storm. Contract brewing companies like 8 Wired brew their beers in other people’s breweries meaning they can concentrate on producing striking character full products without… Continue

• Christmas beer

  THE festive season is often seized upon as a chance to publicise the diversity of the wine world and to promote how different wines suit different situations and complement different foods. Sadly beer is often overlooked on Christmas Day being relegated to a… Continue

• Mayhem on the shelves

  BACK in 2006 Epic brewer Luke Nicholas brewed a festive beer for BrewNZ. The brew was assertively called Mayhem and threatened to “willfully maim and cripple the palates of the most extreme hop head”. Formulated as a bigger bolder stronger version of the award… Continue

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  Dine in style

  Khmer Satay Noodle House, Readings Courtenay. WHAT a neat idea to have a traditional restaurant in a mall setting. Khmer Satay Noodle House in Readings Cinema on Courtenay Place provides a mouth-watering alternative when grabbing a quick bite before a movie.… Continue

• Delicacy on a Plate

  Plate Restaurant, 75 Featherstone Street. PLATE Restaurant serves my new favourite dessert, so I’m going to start at the end. If you’ve never tried pannacota with amaretto jelly and amaretto granite, please do. The combination of the amaretto, a white, custard-like… Continue

• Best Indian

  Masala, 2 Allen Street I’VE yet to meet someone who doesn’t love Masala. A two-time winner in Capital Times’ Best of Wellington Readers’ Survey this year, Masala is a must visit for anyone in need of a spice up. Voted Best Indian Restaurant and Best Take-Away… Continue

• Living beer

  REAL ale is not a concept that’s readily understood in this country. Coined in the 1970s by English consumer organisation the Camra, Real Ale refers to beer that has been naturally carbonated by the actions of the yeast in the bottle or cask from which it is… Continue

• Out of the Cellar

  RECENTLY I was privileged to be invited to a very special tasting at local beer bar Hashigo Zake. Owner Dominic Kelly assembled a fantastic assortment of vintage beers from several private cellars for the event, including some beers that are no longer produced… Continue

• Three out of three

  GROWING up in West London in the 60s and 70s I served my beer drinking apprenticeship in pubs where I learned to enjoy the traditional English ales, usually amber or copper coloured bitters and best bitters. In those days although most pubs offered a lager or… Continue