Dose anyone know if there is a beer shop close to Pukekohe to Waiuku that sells budvar beer 🍺. Coz I really want to try it and add it to my can collection. Cheers 🍻

I'm travelling to NZ soon, and I like to collect tin tackers from all of the areas I travel to. I'm having a hard time finding any, so i thought id ask here. Are there any breweries in auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, wellington, queenstown, and christchurch that sells them?

Hey all! I'm in New Zealand for the next couple of weeks. Currently in Queenstown, but will be hitting Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland (for varying amounts of time). I'd love to find some bottle shops so I can sample and take home interesting beers. I'd love ones with a lot of variety, as I'm a fan of imperial stouts, wild ales, barleywines, etc. Any help is appreciated!

Edit: Thanks everyone for the recommendations! Didn't expect New World and Liquorland to be so prominent.

Kia Ora everyone,

My partner, I are thinking of moving to NZ and I’m just wondering if a profile like mine is interesting and could get me jobs in NZ? I’ve been in the brewing industry for 12 years now, currently Head Brewer in a small brewery in the UK. I’ve also worked a year in a traditional cask ale brewpub in London and some internships in 2 Belgian breweries (De la Senne and Cantillon).

I’m ready for a change of scenery and it looks like the craft beer industry is great in NZ and I found this group about the NZ craft beer scene and was wondering if you could help me or give me your opinion about it.

What are the job websites for brewers?

We're torn between Auckland and Wellington. What would you choose?

My partner is a GP and could get a NZ working visa so that's sorted on this end?.

I don’t know the scene much but in the UK there’s a nice beer professional community and everyone helps each other and get along pretty well. Hope it's the same in NZ.

Thanks !

Simon

Kia Ora,

Not sure if this is the sub for this but looking for a supplier in NZ of wadworth 6x.

Seems alot of UK beer providers don't have but not sure if there's some shop around that would have it.

This is for a bday gift, so any leads would be greatly appreciated 🙏🙏

Thank you guys,

Aswell located in wellington if that helps.

More of this sort of thing! No more fresh hop hazies!

So I got interested in one of Beer Hug's offers, cos I think I passed this brewery in a car in 2021 but thats my full knowledge of it.

Got a 12 pack consisting of 2 of each - Weiss Wheat Beer; Low Carb Pilsner; Haymaker Strong Lager; American Rye APA; IPA; Dark Lager.

I've started on the lighter ones, and I'm impressed with a local take on beer styles.

The Weiss was good. I've added to my list of decent NZ wheat beers, which is up to 5 now. It's got a strong body, with more of an assertive malt than most. The aroma is classic wheat beer, though, and the taste has good banana/clove overtones. It's 5% which is a touch more than average. All in all, a good, slightly feral weissbier which we haven't had since Mike's stopped making theirs.

The low carb Pilsner is weird. The can subtitles it Very Fancy Champagne, and, after the Weiss, I wondered why it didn't have a taste. All fermentable sugars removed gives it a delicate dry taste and lemony citrus overtones. It's a take on Pilsner I haven't come across - a brut take on the Emerson's slightly understated style. It might grow on me.

Moving onto the hoppier beers, but I'll add them as comments.

I wrote this up for the Wellington sub in a thread there and thought it might be an interesting discussion for this sub. My criteria was essentially a blend of

• how good is their average beer
• how good is their best beer
• how big is their range
• how good/how often do they make new beers

Obviously its subjective.

S: World Class (large range of consistently excellent beers, always developing new beers, including some world beaters)

• Garage Project
• Parrotdog

A: Top tier domestic (All the beer is good, reasonable range and some of it is exceptional)

• Duncans (arguably S tier based on critical acclaim and its amazing new styles of beer it pushes)
• Boneface
• Fork and Brewer
• Baylands (arguably B tier because it really only does hoppy beers but that is the biggest category and it does them very well)
• North End

B: High quality local option with the occassional dud OR limited range

• Choice Bros (arguably A tier because of its large range of ecletic beers but slightly let down by core range)
• Abandoned (arguably A tier but no truly exceptional beers and tends to stick to its core range)
• Kereru (arguably A tier but hampered by massive range of seasonals that are hit and miss)
• Double Vision
• Mean doses (has come a long way in a way that waitoa hasn't)
• Heyday

C: reasonable beer, no clear standouts OR inconsistently good

• Panhead (The 'special' house beers at the OG brewery in upper hutt that is made on site is A or B tier)
• Fortune Favours
• Te Aro

D: Avoid because its bland or inconsistent.

• Sprig and Fern (Get the pilsner though its great and the pubs are great)
• Waitoa

-Whistling Sisters (RIP)

Local bottle store has quite a few X/PAs on tap but I've got Three Boys Wheat and Mata +64 Pale Ale and Workshop Brewery in Raglan's XPA is my new go-to when I can find it.

What are your favorite brewies on the South Island? I'm going to be there for a couple of weeks traveling around in February with my wife, and I'd love to hit up some of the most respected places and try to avoid the mediocre spots.

We tend to lean towards west coast hoppy, pilsner, saison, funky/spontaneous, dry malty beers, but like anything well made. We're less into hazy, "juicy," high-adjunct marshmallow stouts, or seltzers.

I found this post with some metion of breweries in it, but thought I would start a new thread for anyone with knowledge and experience to weigh-in.

Bonus for wineries! We prefer old world style and natural wines over new world fruity oaked styles.

Hi all,

I’m planning on doing my third extract brew, with a thought to the forthcoming hot summer days. I was wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for kits/recipes.

I’m looking for something refreshing and not too heavy, but with a bit more flavour than say your mass market lager.

I thought this looked pretty reasonable:

https://www.brewerscoop.co.nz/blog/Citra-Pale-Ale-Extract-Recipe

Any other suggestions?

Cheers

Hey!

I'm just getting into brewing and thought I'd give mead a go as well as one of the Mangrove Jacks pale ale kits...

So I've just made up my must/wort for the Mead and I'm following the instructions. I do have a question though,

does the kit come with yeast or is it the yeast nutrients that is the yeast?

I know this may seem like a silly question with an obvious answer, but if anyone could please advise me on what to do I'd really appreciate it.

I have checked and double checked the contents of the kit and the ingredients just say "yeast nutrients A". So I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

Tia!!

https://philcook.net/beerdiary/2023/08/01/epic-fail/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/want-to-own-a-craft-beer-brand-epic-brewing-company-goes-into-liquidation/KM3UVB2HRJF6LLZVRMTT6W2CLE/

Before Covid liqourland had it but since that nonsense I can’t find it anywhere

What are some serious craft beer spots to look at!

Bonus points for must do breweries!

Cheers!

If you’re looking for a break from hazies, the beers from the 2022 West Coast IPA Challenge held at Malthouse a few weeks ago are trickling into stores now. I know my local (Hamilton Beer and Wine) have around 10. The winner (Eddyline) won’t be in stock till the end of the month, but managed to pick up the runner ups (Liberty Firestarter and Baylands The West Coast Electric) and a bunch of others.

Hi guys,

Is anyone interested in taking on a mod role for /rNZBeer? This sub has been criminally neglected and it could be so much more. Please DM me with the reasons why you'd think you would make a great mod!

Cheers,

IRD

The first of the freshly hopped beers for 2022 should be available now (or at least in the next week). Anyone tried any yet? thoughts?

Hey people I am asking for some advice about my upcoming birthday.

First let me state I enjoy their beer so there is no question around that side of things. What I want to know is what is Deep Creek's pub/bar like as a venue? Atmosphere, food, ease of parking whatever. I am thinking it might be where I celebrate this year's birthday but want to know a bit more.

Comparing it to places I have previously celebrated would be a bonus:

Galbraiths, Hallertau, Brew on Quay, Sawmill, 8wired, Little Creatures.

I am always curious as to what people like in their pubs. Beyond good beer on tap (that is a given for this subreddit) what factors do you enjoy the most?

For me, personally, it is hard to quantify exactly but I appreciate places that go for their own style. For example: I loved Galbraith's from way back. They did the "English style pub" look at a time when this wasn't what every second pub was trying for. It still is very roomy and light plus has great seating outside.

I also miss the old Skysport Grill with it's 40 taps and American style bar in the middle. The fact it was a sports bar with an entire wall of tvs dedicated to the various sports channels made it easy to encourage friends who weren't big into craft beer to join me. It had a problem though; the large bar in the middle of the establishment often made it looks more crowded than it was plus I think their logo of girl in a skimpy ref uniform didn't exactly scream "classy". But it was good to chill over some beers and chat with other patrons around the bar - I even made some friends there.

I do feel like there is an expectation for craft beer places to have a rustic look or an "olde english pub" look to them. Which is fine but it means they often feel similar to each other. Maybe this lends its self to some sort of authenticity but I would like more unique looking venues. Of course maybe the drinkers won't be as keen to try an establishment that doesn't conform to the current "look" so it would be a risk.

What are the best cities (not in NZ) you have enjoyed local beer in? Obviously travelling is tough at the moment but we can always reminisce about easier times and make recommendations for if/when overseas travel is viable once more.