BoozyBanter - The After-Grog Blog

It's time to announce the winners of the two double passes to this March 21st.

Big congrats to and 🍻🍻🍻

I'll be in touch to grab your email addresses, and you can expect two tickets each to be in your hot little hands prior to the event.

Hope to see you both there, it's shaping up to be a cracker day!

Now back on Australian soil after our 4 week NZ holiday having come to an end, I thought I'd take a moment to sing the praises of the New Zealand beer scene.
Much like here in Aus, times are tough for the smaller brewers as they contend with increased costs across all facets of their businesses, and their patrons deal with the rising cost of living. But almost to a fault, everyone I talked to was optimistic and ready to go the extra mile to get bums on seats in their breweries, or get punters buying their beers retail.
From my experiences there really is no faulting what's being produced from a quality standpoint. Small brewer to large, they're all doing their thing and doing it well.
I also feel like it would be remiss of me not to run the numbers and give a quick recap of the whole shebang, so here goes:
Breweries visited - 9
Beers consumed - 67 (I'm not counting double-ups, I am counting tasting paddles)
Beer shirts purchased - 8 (much to wife's annoyance)
Beer glasses purchased - 1
Bakeries visited - 7 (I've thrown this in just for the hell of it)

Anyway, I must once again say thanks to all those that took the time to have a chat while I was in these places. Whether you were an owner, brewer, tour guide, or just another punter like myself. It's these chats that make going to breweries fun and interesting.

Thanks New Zealand, you were awesome. Now if you don't mind, old Boozy is going to give his liver a break and go back into hibernation.

We're on the home stretch of our New Zealand trip (just a few nights in Christchurch to go), and no shade to any of the other breweries I've visited, but yesterday I reckon I had the coolest beer experience of our travels thus far.
I'm going to back up a little - while visiting Emporium Brewing in Kaikōura, I was told that should I find myself in Oamaru, I HAD to go to Craftwork Brewery - I would not be disappointed.
So here I am, about two weeks later, staying overnight in Oamaru and with a spare couple of hours to fill. Now Craftwork ain't your average craft brewery, this place is nothing short of a tribute to all things Belgium. The decor, the food, and especially the beers, are all designed to put to you smack-dab in a Belgian tavern. On offer is a variety of beers on tap - from grisettes to tripels, saisons to flanders - plus a huge selection of their bottled beers.
I grabbed myself a tasting paddle, chose an assortment that I thought would tickle the tastebuds, and settled in. Thoughtfully, the tasting paddle also came with a book of tasting notes for all the beers so you can get a sense of what you're smelling and tasting.
Without telling you about each of the beers, the passion involved in crafting them is obvious, and the quality is exceptional. And I think that's the key word here, passion. It's imbued into every facet of Craftwork, and it's hard not to appreciate it.

Santé!

With today's planned whale watching tour having had the kibosh put on it by...well...a lack of whales, I was scrabbling for things to do that would keep the kiddo happy. So naturally we ended up at a brewery.
Now, I know what you're thinking, "Boozy, that is some ordinary parenting." And normally I'd say you're right. But when said brewery is Emporium Brewing and they have a mini golf course, then suddenly I'm looking like dad of the year. Cap that off with a cheeseburger while dad knocks back an IPA and takes in the snowy mountain views, and everyone's a happy camper.
So if you find yourself in Kaikoura with no whales to watch, get yo'self to Emporium for a bev or two. You won't regret it.

Tonight we're staying in Blenheim, in the heart of Marlborough wine country, surrounded by so many Savvy B vines it's almost difficult to comprehend.
Looking for dinner options near our hotel, on a whim we thought we'd give Dodson Street Beer Garden a crack. What an awesome little surprise this place was! An interesting pan-European mix of German beer hall and English pub, with some Italian food options thrown in for good measure. Meals hit the spot, and with my wife and I both having an affinity for German brews, we rolled with a couple of NZ takes on classic German styles - a The Sawmill Brewery + Smoko Room Hefe, and an Emporium Brewing Dunkel Weizen - both went down a treat.