The Flight To Beervana

In less than three weeks, what’s becoming an ever larger annual trans-Tasman migration of Aussies to Wellington will be well underway. The goal is Beervana, New Zealand’s biggest craft beer festival, as well as the lure of checking out one of the craftiest cities in the beer world. The festival itself takes place over two days and four sessions at the city’s Westpac Stadium and, both inside and outside the stadium, visitors can look forward to plenty of awesome beery action, drawn not just from New Zealand but across the globe too.

Around 12,000 people are expected to attend sessions, sampling hundreds of beers, eating great food, meeting marvellous people and soaking in the atmosphere of a city where Yeastie Boys Stu McKinlay reckons 50 percent of the draught beer poured is craft.

“It’s an exciting time to be part of the craft brewing industry in New Zealand, with Beervana showcasing some of the best in the country as well as profiling beers from some of the newer breweries to hit the scene,” says Beervana director David Cryer.

“With the additional element of our ‘Beervana Exchange’, where three award winning brewers will be here from Portland, as well as other events within Beervana such as specialist beer seminars, home brew and media brew competitions and the launch of the New Zealand chapter of the Pink Boots Society, which supports women in the brewing industry, there will be something for everyone.”

With so much going on, here’s a snapshot of some of the highlights for those lucky enough to be making the trip.

The beers

More than 250 beers from 60-plus breweries will be showcased over the four sessions. With the Kiwi beer industry a few steps ahead of that in Australia, if it’s your first visit you can expect to be dazzled, as you’ll find some incredible beers on offer from breweries whose beers never make it to Australia – as well as from those whose do.

More Aussie breweries are sending beer across than before too, while The Crafty Pint’s founder might even pop up at the Australian bar at some point for a Kiwi launch of this. You can check out the brewers (both Aussie and otherwise) on display here; NB there will be a few more Aussies than listed after we prompted a handful to get on board with a keg or two after this list was published.

Amazing food

We returned from our first visit to Beervana in 2012 having been as impressed by the food as the beer; who wouldn’t be when breakfast on day two was black pudding, scallops and chorizo next to the Tuatara stand, with freshly shucked oysters to follow later in the day?

Once again, the culinary side of the event is being curated by one of the city’s most respected chefs, Martin Bosley, who says: “I’ve brought together some of Wellington’s best restaurants, ensuring that each provides a sensational variety of food, all different, yet all complementing or contrasting the craft beers available. “As the quality of craft beers has improved, so has our understanding of just how important it is to match the food to them. Frankly, this year’s lineup shows just how much craft beer has been embraced by the capital’s restaurants.”

The eateries include: Boulcott St Bistro, Big Bad Wolf, Epicure, Grill Meats Beer, House of Dumplings, Monsoon Poon, The Fire Truck, The Goose Shack, The General Practitioner and Tommy Millions.

Beervana seminars

David Cryer says: “Through the seminars attendees can experience Beervana at different levels, whether it’s about extending their knowledge of brewing, or how to pair beer with food, or having the opportunity to taste award winning craft beers from other parts of the world.”

The inaugural Taste of Portland seminars offer a chance for attendees to meet the brewers and try the beers of the World Beer Cup Medal Winners from Portland: Gigantic Brewing Company; Commons Brewing; and Widmer Brothers. Portland-inspired culinary delights will be presented by specialist beer chef Paul Kasten, also from Portland.

Look out for Home Brewing Masterclasses led by brewers from Panhead Custom Ales, Fork Brewing, Liberty and Epic, as well as Beer and Cheese seminars run by local cheese expert Wendy Adams. All seminar spots are booked in advance when buying your festival tickets – and some are already sold out – so jump online quick here.

Media Brew Beers

Also on offer will be the largest collection of Media Brews yet. Each year, Beervana organisers invite media to pair up with a brewer to create a new beer (this time with the theme “Spring”) to be judged by industry professionals. There will be a Media Brew bar this time around too.

In the past, the experiments have led to commercial beers such as Epic’s Epicurean Coffee & Fig beer, while we seem to recall Yeastie Boys experimenting with the sort of technique in 2012 that they’ve used in their recent Spoonbender Defender collaborations with Some Young Punks.

Sadly, our plans to enter following the win for the Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep with Murray’s in 2012 have been scuppered by some dastardly unforeseen circumstances at both Crafty Towers and for head brewer Shawn Sherlock. There will be other Aussie entries from Brews News and The Shout as well as one from the US to check out though.

The City of Wellington

You could head to Wellington in any of the other 51 weeks of the year and still have an amazing, beer-themed trip. The city is awash with amazing venues and has a growing number of breweries too, such as Garage Project, Panhead Custom Ales and ParrotDog.

The city is also home to a forward-thinking city council that has helped fund Craft Beer Capital. It’s a resource and promotional tool for all things craft in Wellington and also one of the best places to start when planning a spot of self-guided beer touring while over for Beervana. Here’s hoping more Australian councils take a leaf out of Wellington’s book and start backing some of the great festivals and events taking place here too.

Trade Show

The Beervana Trade Show is being held on the afternoon before Beervana opens to the public (August 21) and is for the brewing industry, retailers, restaurants, bars, caterers, media and others wanting to develop their business with the brewing industry.

It is being held from 2pm to 4pm in the new Mezzanine Lounge at the stadium, with craft beer tastings will be on offer during the afternoon. Anyone wishing to attend can register here.

Photo of Westpac Stadium at the top by Jed Soanes.