Hopful Thinking

Hopful Thinking

I Drink, Therefore I Am.

  • Beer Recipes
  • Beer Reviews
  • Brewery Spotlight
  • Home Brewing
  • Hopful Thoughts
  • Showcase
  • Travels
  • Book Reviews
  • Featured
  • About
  • Featured

Hot Tips for a great NZ Beer Festival Experience

Posted in Hopful Thoughts, Travels by Dan
Mar 30 2012

Welcome, intrepid visitor, to the home of the Hopful Thinkers.

Who are the Hopful Thinkers?  We are a motley assortment of “Craft Beer Enthusiasts” – and good mates.  We get together every Wednesday, and drink, and discuss, and think about Beer.  And whatever else comes to mind.  We blog about beer, brewing, breweries, brewers, and other related beer-type subjects and we are “all up in that social media” – whatever the hell that means.

So of course, we are going to be at the NZ Beer Festival.  Come have a drink with us – we are wearing black polos, with our catch cry emblazoned on the back:

I DRINK, THEREFORE I AM.

We’ll be putting up some bits here and on twitter… to help you find the best stuff at the Beer Festival as we do.

In the meantime, here are some tips from a seasoned NZ Beer Fester to help make your NZ Beer Fest 2012 a successful one…

  • DO NOT MISS the Brewery Britomart, they are new in town and have some sensational beers, and can be found at stall zero.  We reckon they will sell out for sure so get there early.
  • Get along to Epic and seek out Luke… ask to try some Zythos (not even released yet)
  • Think carefully about what you want to taste – there’s 70 beers here and you can’t get through them all…
  • Drink in order; don’t go for anything with too much flavour or alcohol early on because you will ruin your palate for anything more subtle.  Try starting with Pale Ales or Lagers and work your way up from there.  Or skip the weak beers altogether…
  • Safety first – try to avoid having too much of anything with “Imperial” “Double” “Tripel” or “Quadrupel” in the title too early in the day… these are synonyms for “rocket fuel”.  There are two major reasons for this – one, you’ll peak too soon – we don’t want to be stepping over bodies and puddles of vomit – and more importantly, you will barely taste anything else afterwards.  Pace yourself!!
  • Most importantly though, seek out beers you haven’t tried, or maybe even heard of before, and give them a shot.  You never know, you might leave with a new favourite.

Wishing you an enjoyable and safe day at the NZ Beer Festival — and hope to see you around!

Cheers,

Dan (of the Hopful Thinkers)

  • Tweet
No Comments yet »
Tagged as: Auckland, auckland craft beer, Beer Events, Beer Festival Tips, Brewery on Britomart, Epic Beer, Hell Pizza, New Zealand, nz, NZ Beer Festival, Tips

Brewery Spotlight: the Coromanel Brewing Company

Posted in Beer Reviews, Brewery Spotlight, Travels by Dan
Mar 07 2012

Nestled in the natural beauty that is the Coromandel Peninsula, just a few short hours drive from Auckland, there is a brewery known simply as the Coromandel Brewing Company. Neil Vowles has been brewing beer since his student days.  In the 80’s good beer in the UK was hard to come by; this combined with a student budget made brewing his own an attractive option.  His passion for brewing carried on as a hobby until moving to the Coromandel in 2008, and finding a lack of craft beers in the area.  The solution was obvious – start a small brewery and fill the void!

(more…)

  • Tweet
No Comments yet »
Tagged as: Bock Lager, bottle conditioned, Coromandel, craft beers, Dark Lager, Good as Gold, microbrewery, nz, pale ale, Pilsener, the Coromandel Brewing Company, Travel

Get updates by Email

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

Twitter

  • Drinking a Stone Free by @8wiredbrewing @ GABS2018 — https://t.co/IiOBlZ3eS7 02:39:54 PM June 30, 2018
  • Drinking an Iron Dragon Waving Cat by @outliercartel @ GABS2018 — https://t.co/TbrsLJysgb 02:39:33 PM June 30, 2018
  • Drinking a Shake Your Mangos by @BrewingBones @ GABS2018 — https://t.co/LIdFaTMwj1 02:38:36 PM June 30, 2018
  • RT @justinbaragona: Rachel Maddow chokes up and cries on air as she struggles to deliver news that migrant babies and toddlers have been se… 07:53:13 PM June 20, 2018
  • RT @tarbard: I made a device that checks the council website and lights up to show you what colour bin to put out. I call it the Bindicator… 06:07:00 PM June 02, 2018
  • Drinking an Electron by @SunshineBrews - https://t.co/T95QYsHlqo #photo 06:16:47 PM February 09, 2018
  • Drinking an Avgas Pilsner by Pilot Brewery @ Giraffe by Simon Gault — https://t.co/Go7ZLtO8pk #photo 05:33:07 PM February 09, 2018
  • Cold beer, cool jazz, warm food. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.... (Hopitoulas) https://t.co/JYlP7jFIpe 05:29:34 AM October 27, 2017
  • Drinking a Ragin' Cajuns by @BayouTecheBiere at @willajeannola — https://t.co/7GXNEWypC0 #photo 06:05:24 AM October 26, 2017
@hopfultweeting

Archives

  • October 2014
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011

Recent Comments

  • hopfulthinking on New Zealand’s Answer to Munich
  • hopfulthinking on New Zealand’s Answer to Munich
  • Dave on New Zealand’s Answer to Munich
  • Jager Tron on New Zealand’s Answer to Munich
  • Dan Capper on New Zealand’s Answer to Munich

Other Guff

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org
  • follow:follow:
  • Like us! Like us!
  • RSS RSS
  • Tweet with us Tweet with us
  • Subscribe to my YouTube Channel Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
Powered by WordPress | “Blend” from Spectacu.la WP Themes Club