View Past Articles: | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
Latest Articles
But what about the taste?
Jul 26, 2008
Author: Bruce Holloway
Which means a huge chunk of the market is fair game for an advertising assault in which a beer can stake its claim to being ``trendy' and flood the market for at least a few months. ``Image'' is huge in the beer market.
Wigram goes wild for an old hop
Jul 12, 2008
Author: Bruce Holloway
Paul McGurk and his crew from Christchurch's Wigram Brewing Co unveiled a limited-release Kortegast Sparkling Ale - brewed in an Irish red ale style - to celebrate their discovery of wild hops on the West Coast.
It's all about the beer - or is it?
Aug 26, 2006
Author: Bruce Holloway
What was historically known as the Monteith's Wild Food Challenge quietly evolved as the Monteith's Beer and Wild Food Challenge. While it made it more of, er, a mouthful, giving the beer side of the equation more primacy in the title made sense.
Anyone for lunch?
Sep 9, 2006
Author:Bruce Holloway
It works like this. I take a trip out of town and get bladdered in a flash restaurant. From there the processes are a bit vague, but somehow at the end of the chain, you lot feel obliged to go out and buy loads more of the sponsor's product.
On this occasion I was being fattened by a stunning six-course meal to mark the launch of Monteith's new Baltic Porter.
Missing the point
Nov 12, 2007
Author: Bruce Holloway
DESPITE some magnificent efforts from brewery public relations people over the past six months, I haven't been able to get excited about the Speight's Great Beer Delivery.
Beer fest drowned in public gusto
Mar 12, 2007
Author: Bruce Holloway
But sole female entrant Denise had the best line of the night when asked to nominate her favourite beer.
"If I've been mowing the lawns an Export Gold is okay," she said.
"But after a good shag I need an Epic."
Connoisseurs, raise your glasses
Dec 16, 2006
Author: Bruce Holloway
IT'S THAT time of year when columnists tend to pad out copy by dispensing meaningless "best-of" annual awards.
Looking at the brewing scene, it struck me that Australia and New Zealand already have more than enough worthy beer awards and competitions. And readers can make up their own minds on what's good and bad anyway.
Mark of a good brew the quality of resulting burp?
Jan 17, 2007
Author: Bruce Holloway
THERE is only one true test to see if a beer makes the grade, if Putaruru's Trevor Stapp can be believed.
"Forget your crooked-finger-and-nibbles brigade, that is for wine drinkers,"
he explains.
Wolves in Cock & Bull clothing
Feb 26, 2005
Author: Bruce Holloway
Waikato beer drinkers have taken a real shine to the Cock & Bull pub's tap brews.
Cricket ground's beer-faced cheek
Jan 29, 2005
Author: Bruce Holloway
Cricket and beer go together nicely. But how long before somebody in sports administration does the public a huge favour and drags event beer retailing into the 21st century?
Beer and those who drink 'em
Jan 15, 2005
Author: Bruce Holloway
I was amused to read an email from a barman, who after years of research, drew a correlation between Kiwi stereotypes and their attraction to certain beer brands or styles.
No Bull: New pub's got the best
Dec 18, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
NOW that the Cock & Bull pub has opened on the corner of Maui St and Church Rd in north Te Rapa, it's time for a punter's guide to its selection of handcrafted beers.
Looking forward to clearing the air
Dec 10, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
When I go out for a drink, one of the things I look for most in a bar -- apart from some half-decent tap beers -- is good ventilation.
When it all begins to blur
23 Oct, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
As a case in point, a colleague recently recommended TaaKawa, from Waituna Brewing Co, which sports the promotional line, "Indigienous Ale of Aotearoa".
Usually I'm a sucker for anything tangata whenua. Label something indigenous and I'm into it before you can say "honour the Treaty".
Bitter element a small price to pay for a civic leader
9 Oct, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
WHAT a pity nobody thought of nominating a keg of Waikato Draught to run for the Hamilton mayoralty.
My island for a decent lager
25 Sep, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
To be fair to Vanuatu, its Tusker Premium beer has the edge over Rarotonga's Captain Cook lager or Fiji Bitter. To the extent that, perhaps astonishingly, it even won a "best in class" award for premium lager at the New Zealand Beer Cup in 2003 in Nelson.
Surprises on the podium after exhaustive tastings
Aug 28, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway (Waikato Times)
Yes, it's the Beer Olympics, an event that takes place every four years and generally coincides with that other grand sporting occasion, round 24 of the northern premier soccer league.
Beer -- it's food's poor wee cousin
July 31, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway (Waikato Times)
BY FAR the best glass of Monteith's I had during the three weeks of their beer and food-matching Wild Food Challenge in the Waikato was a smart Celtic Red at Iguana.
It might be "skunky" but it still sells
July 3, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
IT'S NOT one of my favourites, but hardly a year goes by that I don't find myself drinking an Export Gold. Usually it's due to "urban beer terrorism", mind you, whereby venues such as Stalag Eden Park force us punters to drink stuff we otherwise wouldn't go near...
Capital awash in top beers
Jun 5, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
I used to agree with the view that Wellington is absolutely positively perfect for a programme of tutored beer tastings, the Beer Awards dinner, "match of the day" (beer and food tasting), home brewing championships and a festive brew competition to pick the "people's choice" from some provocative beer styles. Now, I'm not so sure, having spent a weekend there last month.
The Heineken Party
May 22, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
DID you know 1.4 bottles of Heineken are drunk every second? That was one proud factoid broadcast at Heineken's 10th New Zealand birthday party at The Bank in Hamilton this week.
How to take beer on dates
May 8, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
WHENEVER I try a new take-home beer, I first get out my electron microscope and entertain myself by seeing how long it takes to locate or decipher the mandatory "best before" date on the label.
BEER is the new wine
May 3, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
That's the view of Luke Nicholas, the brains behind the Real Beer Guide 2004, which you can pick up free with beer purchases at discerning liquor outlets.
From Red to cowshed
Apr 21, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
FOR a nation of beer drinkers, we know surprisingly little about it. This perhaps reflects the fact we are mostly just drinkers, rather than "beer tasters". But most of us do go through a six-stage beer taste discovery experience of sorts
To be sure, we need a holiday
Mar 13, 2004
Author: Bruce Holloway
Now that the Government is nudging towards giving us an extra week's annual leave in 2006, how about really pushing the envelope and lobbying for St Patrick's Day to be made a public holiday?
