Coromandel Brewing Company, NZ

While at a cute cafe near Cooks Beach on New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula, Mrs. Hoplog and I noticed they carried local beer from Coromandel Brewing Company.  A quick web search revealed the brewery was only about 20 minutes away, and having time on our hands we decided to swing by.  We were itching to try some local beer, especially since Croucher Brewing's Brew in Rotorua had been closed when we visited a few days earlier.  (Like many venues in Rotorua, they inexplicably don't open until dinner time.)

After taking the scenic route along a narrow single-lane dirt road cut into crumbling clay cliffs directly over the ocean, we arrived in the quiet community of Matarangi.

The address of the brewery led us to a cul-de-sac in a very residential neighbourhood.  We weren't sure if we were in the right place until we saw a minivan printed with the Croucher name parked in the driveway of what was obviously someone's private home.  No one appeared to be around except for a friendly dog greeter.  So we erred on the side of caution and did not disturb the premises.

Driving out, we circled to the other side of the house and noticed a small shed attached to the home - perhaps a former carport.  I couldn't resist a peek in the window, and sure enough it contained some lovely copper-clad brewing equipment.

Where the magic happens

Later that day I found a phone and called up Coromandel, who confirmed my suspicions that they are not set up for visitors or tours.  However, within the next year they plan to install a small tasting/growler filling room, and one should be able to drop by then.  But give them a call to confirm first.

So for now, the only way to sample their beer is to buy it in a local restaurant or grocery store (their batch size is only 350 litres).  Which is what I did.  And it's what you should do, too.

Their beer is, in a word, fantastic.  "Just Buzzin'" is a seasonal rye ale finished with New Zealand's famous manuka tree honey - not only can you taste the manuka honey, it dovetails nicely with the rest of the beer.  "Good As Gold" is a solid Kiwi-style pilsener - think Bohemian pilsener but with fruity Kiwi hops.  "Dizzy Blonde" is a seasonal, straight up Belgian pale ale, and my favourite of the lot.  And "The Dark Side" is a Kiwi twist on a bock, also lovely.

That's four very different styles of beer, all of them top-notch, and all from a brewery that is essentially just starting out. Kiwi beer fans keep an eye on this little operation, they're going places - and they've given you another great reason to visit the Coromandel area.

Wellington

If Nelson is the center of craft beer production in New Zealand, Wellington is probably the center of craft beer consumption.  There are some big similarities to Vancouver - including many hipsters, and enthusiastic coffee and craft beer consumers.

This cafe and craft beer culture is deserved and long-earned.  The Wellington Museum of City and Sea even displays an antique beer-drinking manual from the area...

Teetotallers nearly instituted prohibition in New Zealand - 47% voted in favour at one point in the past.  And for years pubs had to close at 6pm.  Which meant that working men who all got off work at 5pm had less than one hour to do their night's worth of drinking, with the obvious result of massive binge drinking.  It was a happy day when pub hours were extended.

Fortunately, Wellington now has more lenient liquor laws and some great craft beer drinking opportunities.

Hashigo Zake

If you want to drink craft beer in Wellington, this is the place to come, period.  A cool subterranean bar unabashedly dedicated to craft beer.  The focus is on New Zealand beers, but with a good dose of various international beers, particularly in bottles.

The bright red off-street entrance announces the Asian look-and-feel.

The staff was helpful and knowledgeable, and able to provide clear suggestions and descriptions without dumbing down the information provided.  Bravo.  I immediately felt comfortable and informed.

Asian decor abounds.  And a video monitor of tap offerings is a nice splash of high-tech.

Mike's Taranaki Hefeweizen beside Townshend Aotearoa Pale Ale.  Purchasing a half-pint gets you a decent-shaped goblet, but many full pints get a more utilitarian shaker-type glass, like most venues in New Zealand.  Sigh.

This is a chill venue to contemplate a complex craft beer solo, or to engage in animated discussions with several good friends.  Make it your first stop - you'll probably want to return for more before you leave town.

Malthouse

The Malthouse is only a couple of years old, and is situated on a high pedestrian traffic area of downtown.  As such, it has more of an after-work pop-in-to-the-local-for-a-pint feel than Hashigo Zake's more loungey, sophisticated vibe.  Though its prices are just as high - if not higher - than Hashigo Zake.

Unfortunately, there's a smoker-friendly porch area right in front of the pub, whose doors are always open in summertime.  So hopefully you enjoy smelling/tasting cigarette smoke in your beer, or the great-looking pizzas Malthouse serves.

The Malthouse has some great beer on tap, and a nice bottle selection.  But it's a bit too busy after work to get more than a few words of advice on what to drink from the heavily occupied bartenders.

A brief break in the crowd at the bar - time to order some beer, quick!

Oh, and the crowd is back.  Nice problem to have at a pub!

Full glasses are served in the ubiquitous and terrible shaker pint glass.  Half glasses are served in... half-size versions of the shaker pint!  Double sigh.  Please, craft beer bars, serve your beer in any other type of glass, so we have a hope of smelling/tasting it.  A different glass would also leave some room for head to improve the drinking experience, instead of brimming under-sized glasses like this.

I don't want to be too down on the Malthouse - their beer selection is great.  But they need a couple of tweaks before they can compete with Hashigo Zake for pure beer drinking pleasure.

Tap Haus

I didn't have a chance to sample anything at the Tap Haus, a beer restaurant that loudly proclaims its pedigree.  But the specials on the sandwich board didn't look promising: Corona, Carlsberg and vodka + Red Bull.  Not disappointed to give them a pass.

Garage Project

What's with this abandoned gas station?

Sweet - it's the small-volume and highly-respected Garage Project brewery.  Not quite so small as when they started out with only a little Sabco-style pilot system, but still pretty boutique.

Some new & bigger brewing equipment, and some barrels - nice.

Garage Project is not presently set up for tours or tastings.  But the gang was hard at work both brewing and putting together their tasting and growler-filling room, which was still about 2-3 weeks from completion.  They were nice enough to say a friendly hello to a Canadian home brewer, and sold me a T-shirt featuring the logo of their wicked Double Day Of The Dead beer I had sampled previously.

Definitely one of the coolest beer T-shirts I've come across.  Be sure to watch out for these guys - they started out nano-style, have garnered great respect in New Zealand, and can never keep up with demand.

Fork & Brewer

Fork and Brewer bills itself as a craft beer and food pairing restaurant.  Its menu offers beer pairing suggestions (not uncommon at pubs these days), and beer is used as an ingredient in many dishes.

The view at the top of the entrance stairway is of working brewing vessels - not just for show.  Fork & Brewer makes several styles of its own beer, in addition to offering many others on tap.  And the brewer is often around if you have questions or want to thank him - he's hard to miss in his big hair and beard and old school metal T-shirt.

These are both half-glasses of beer.  Inexplicably, one is served in a terrible half-size shaker pint, and the other comes in a huge and decent goblet.  Odd.

I have to admit, I was skeptical of Fork & Brewer - the interior said "mostly-empty high-volume bar" rather than restaurant, and I was starting to think they might be all talk and no action.  But their beer was fine if not mind-blowing.  The Thai beef salad was very good, and the pairing with their pilsener - definitely not a memorable beer on its own - was stellar!  So no cause for complaint here, my meal and the beer pairing were both very good.

The big barrel-esque tap tree at the bar has 40 taps, but many are duplicates of the Fork's in-house beers.

There's a skinny porch off to one side where you can catch some rays - but unfortunately it's also where the smokers flock, so goodbye tasting your meal or your beer if you're out there.


Wellington lived up to its craft beer and cafe culture billing, in addition to being a funky, oddly Vancouver-esque stop.  Big thumbs up.

Auckland

I didn't do any beer exploration in Auckland.  However, while walking around the downtown core one day, I stumbled across this beautiful old post office...

...which is now a Belgian Beer Cafe (a New Zealand chain of pubs).  Belgian beer is anything but cheap in NZ, so at first I was skeptical.  (Though the New World supermarket chain has been blowing out 750 mL bottles of La Trappe Tripel, Dubbel and Quadrupel for $7.00-$8.50 NZD, which is an amazing deal.)

But then I saw it was 1/2 price mussel day - and I still hadn't had any of New Zealand's famous green-lipped mussels.  Well, twist my arm.  The mussels were big and flavourful without being fishy, and served with bacon and shallots in a witbier cream sauce. Nice.

The cafe was having trouble replenishing its stock after the Christmas vacation rush (understandable, given that Belgium is on the other side of the globe), and several beers were unavailable.  So I went with a Kwak - not a particularly good pairing with mussels, but a comforting warmer for a cloudy day.

Mrs. Hoplog-approved

Not bad surroundings at all.

People in BC, be happy that you've recently been able to get some Westvleteren 12 for what some would consider reasonable prices.  Check out how much 330 mL (minus sediment) costs at the Belgian Beer Cafe:

That's about $86 CDN at present exchange rates.  Gulp.

More Christchurch Goodness

Before flying to New Zealand's North Island, we had another 1/2 day to spent in Christchurch.  Which was fine by us, since it involved staying with the ever-helpful Matt S and his wife Kate, and drinking Kiwi beer.  Thanks, Matt and Kate!

We visited The Twisted Hop for a happy hour beer - great IPA there, among other choices.  One of my favourite NZ breweries.

Then we stopped by Harringtons for "flagon" fills - there is a filling station adjacent to most of their bars.  NZ doesn't usually do glass growler fills, instead they fill plastic PET (pop) bottles in the 1L-2L size range.

Lots of selection at Harringtons!

Then it was off to Matt and Kate's place for dinner and some beer in the warm February evening sun.

We assembled a lovely selection of Kiwi beers for the night, and Matt even dug into his cellar for some special bottles, which which I very much appreciated.

One special bottle was a collaboration beer led by Epic Brewing and made in conjunction with... well... practically every brewery in New Zealand.  Very tasty, and very, very Kiwi!

The possibly most interesting beer was also the last - a really wonderful barleywine intimately connected with the Christchurch quakes.  The Twisted Hop (where we had beer earlier that day) had a brewery in Christchurch's Central Business District.  They did some seismic upgrades, so their brewery was well-equipped to survive an earthquake.  When the second (big) earthquake hit, they had a barleywine in the fermenter, bubbling away.  Their brewery survived the quake, but the brewery itself was in a region so ravaged that it was designated a "red zone" that no one was allowed to enter (since a building might fall on you at any moment).  So Twisted Hop had to stand by while their brewery stood idle for 6 months - with a barley wine sitting untouched in a fermenter.  Once they were allowed back to the brewery, Twisted Hop bottled the extra-conditioned barley wine and sold it under the name "Red Zone," for obvious reasons.

And Matt shared one of these rare bottles with me.  I really can't thank him enough.  An amazing story, and an amazing beer.  It was wonderful.

Rebuilding Lyttelton, NZ

A quick example of the direction many cafes/pubs are headed in the earthquake-ravaged Christchurch, NZ area.

Lyttelton was hit particularly hard by the quakes - it's a lovely little town situated in a bowl that slopes down to the sea.  The destabilization of these steep slopes resulted in much destruction, as well as many areas that are now simply too unstable to venture on to.

Enter The Porthole, a really well-designed shipping container cafe and pub.

Here is what used to sit on The Porthole's location, prior to the earthquakes - a couple of neighbourhood institutions.

But now there are three heavily-modified shipping containers plus a roof and a patio, together with a lot of light, air and coziness.

Cheers to Lyttelton and Christchurch, and best of luck with the reconstruction.  If The Porthole is any indication, the earthquake disaster has a huge silver lining.