Longtime readers probably guessed that eventually I’d talk about beer and breweries that I found during the trip. I’m so predictable.
Naturally I focused some research on this topic ahead of time so I’d be prepared. I did find one surprise, though. It turned out that beer trends in the United States seemed to cross borders almost instantaneously. Just about every brewery in New Zealand and Australia made a reasonably accurate version of a New England IPA, as one example. A brewery visit in the southern hemisphere felt completely familiar too. The atmosphere, styles, quality — even the brewers’ beards and clothing choices — rang distinctly similar. Only spoken accents differed.
Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular
The Great Australasian Beer SpecTAPular, or the GABS Festival for short, is a premier beer festivals Down Under. Each year the festival lands in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland.
I’ve been accused of timing our trip to coincide with GABS. Actually we had little choice over travel dates. Our kids’ school schedule and summer plans backed us into the final week of June and the first week of July. Would I really select wintertime on purpose? GABS Auckland, by happy coincidence, just happened to fall on Saturday, June 30. We were already planning to be in Auckland on that date anyway. However, I do admit I made sure we rented a house within walking distance of the event.
Attendees stepped up to centrally located serving stations called “containers” where small samples could be purchased either individually or by the group. These included beers from about 90 different New Zealand (primarily) and Australian (to a lesser extent) breweries, plus a handful of ciders. A number of breweries also had their own stalls with a wider range of their lineups. Food trucks ringed the back wall. The setup would seem familiar to anyone attending other festivals pretty much anywhere. The main difference here was that nearly every single beer was completely new to me!
Maybe I’ll get a chance to try it again someday.
New Zealand
I’d never been to New Zealand so naturally I’d never been to a brewery or brewpub there either. Most of our brewery visits took place in Auckland as one would imagine given the percentage of the population that lived within its vicinity. We also managed to find a brewpub in Rotorua. The general level of quality across these visits impressed us.
I think the most memorable brewpub might have been been Dr Rudi’s Rooftop Brewing Company in Auckland. One of the flight attendants on our Air New Zealand flight recommended it and the location fit nicely within our itinerary. The rooftop in its name provided an expansive view of Auckland Harbour which I’m sure we would have been lovely had it not been raining and the middle of winter. Instead we stuck indoors where the restaurant included a small two-lane bowling alley. Our boys got to entertain themselves while the wife and I shared samples, ate lunch and worked through our jet lag.
That also got me thinking about the “proper” terminology for a series of small tasting glasses that allows one to try several different beers at a single sitting. In the United States the term sampler seemed to be a standard although flight has become increasingly common, maybe even eclipsing it. In New Zealand and Australia the favorite term might be paddle. It felt logical. The four or five-ish beers generally arrived on a paddle with each small glass in a separate hole (example).
Australia
The Australian beer scene didn’t disappoint either. We found plenty of options both in urban and rural settings. Sydney offered a tremendous amount of choice. We stayed in Millers Point just a short walk away from the harbour. From there we could walk easily to four separate brewpubs, and we did. That barely scratched the surface. We ran out of time and never got to visit the huge cluster in Sydney’s Inner West.
We also found some options in Port Stephens, a three hour drive towards the north. I particularly liked the setting of Murray’s in Bobs Farm. It fit the typical model of a farm-brewery. In addition, it offered a vineyard and a distillery. Name an alcohol and Murray’s could likely age it, brew it or distill it. Plus they had an on-site restaurant.
I also enjoyed our visit to 4 Pines Brewing Company in Manly. Yes, I realized AB InBev purchased them last year so that unfortunate fact counted as something of a strike against them to beer purists. I picked up on its status even before I arrived when I noticed cans of 4 Pines on our flight from Auckland to Sydney. An ordinary independent craft brewery probably wouldn’t be able to land a contract like that. Nonetheless they brewed solid beer and offered a nice place to relax next to the ferry landing after we visited Manly beach. My son got to see the sand; I got to see a paddle.
‘Murica
I’ve always been fascinated by how the rest of the world views the United States. One reminder came in the form of a bottle I spotted in a grocery store in Auckland. I simply had to buy it. New Zealand’s Behemoth Brewing Company featured an array of stereotypes including a flag, a banjo, and an interesting hayseed ensemble for its mascot on this American Pale Ale. Naturally they called the beer ‘Murica! (with an exclamation point). As the brewery described it:
“This here beer is for all y’all with a henkerin’ fir freedom, freedom to enjoy all them there hops. We done used good ol’ malts and gussied it up wit loads of granny-slappin’ good ’murican hops. Pick up ya britches, get ya clob hoppers on and enjoy this here ’murica pale ale. YEEHAW! It tastes like freedom and loose gun laws!”
I grew up in a part of the country that some might call ‘Murica. I shared a laugh with representatives of Behemoth when I met them at the GABS festival a few days later. The beer tasted pretty good too.
Free Beer?
This may have been the best sign I saw all trip. For the record, there’s no such thing as a Free Beer.
Articles in the Australasian Adventures Series:
- Preparations and Arrival
- On the Waterfront
- Vistas
- Geothermal
- Heading Inland
- The Hunter Region
- Wild Animal Encounters
- Captive Animal Encounters
- Epic Runs
- Breweries
- Lists
- Changes
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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