Outstanding New World Awards line-up

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Happy St Patrick’s Day beer lovers.

As someone who went to two schools called St Patrick’s, I always find it weird that we celebrate a saint’s life by turning it into one of the biggest drinking days of the year! When we were kids St Patrick’s Day was mass and a half-day (I could be imagining the half-day, but there was definitely mass).

St Patrick’s Day is less of a drinkathon in New Zealand than it is in Britain, the US and Australia but still, there will be people downing pints of Guinness or green beer as we speak, talking in funny hybrid-Celtic accents and saying witty things like “potatoes”.

I know Ireland’s finest export (despite it being owned these days by an English company) will be universally popular tonight, but if you want to do yourselves a favour, see if you can find …

Beer of The Week No 1

This Irish Export Dry Stout is a hearty 7.2 per cent ABV but it hides that ABV brilliantly, cloaked in aromas of leather and tobacco and with a lovely mellow body, capped, with the right pour, by a creamy head of dense foam. There’s sweet coffee and slightly burnt toffee on the palate and a dry, ashy finish that drags you back for more. While North End have three new beers out to celebrate their 10^th birthday (and we’ll talk about those in coming weeks) this is the St Paddy’s Day treat you’re looking for.

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Great beers on show at New World Awards

I’ve just got back from a few days in Christchurch where we judged the New World Beer & Cider Awards.

The Awards will be announced in May but I’m privy to the outcome and I can tell you that it’s one of the best arrays of different beer styles — from non-alcoholics to big Belgian styles, German lagers, absolutely banging Pilsners and the best Hazy IPA I’ve had for a while. It was a great competition and also allowed me, on our nights out, to try some South Island beer that you don’t regularly see up in Auckland, and I’ll share those later.

Brewing legend Kelly Ryan with an array of the champion beers and ciders in each class at the New World Beer & Cider Awards this week.

But one thing that came out of the awards for me, was the quality of the beers on show, particularly in the hoppy area: we had so many great pale ales, hazies, IPAs and even hoppy pilsners that it was an absolutely cut-throat business separating the outstanding from the merely excellent!

On that note, and before I get into more news and recommendations, the Brewers Guild is seeking expressions on interest to be on their judging panel for the 2023 NZ Beer Awards. They have a programme that takes you from steward to judge and if you’re interested, please be aware that the level you need to make the cut is very high: New Zealand is building a great depth of talent in beer-judging but we’re also looking for new faces.

2023 NZ Beer Awards Expression of Interest - Stewarding & Judging (cognitoforms.com)

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And a quick reminder before I move on, with a couple of days to go, Parrotdog are around $300,000 shy of the $2m they are aiming for in their crowd-funding bid. It’ll be a touch-and-go weekend for the team at Lyall Bay.

Should you invest in Parrotdog? | Pursuit of Hoppiness

Oh, and next Friday Garage Project are hosting the Hāpi Symposium, for which tickets are still available.

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