New Zealand Beer

Welcome to a New Zealand Pub Crawl.

I'd been warned that the craft beer scene in New Zealand was going to be intoxicating. It certainly was a great diversion. Aided and 'topped-up' from day one by Tim Newman, who offered tips and advice along with bottles and glasses of some choice brews.

Tim, Eileen, Bill & Margaret (after drinks) in the crazy pub in Puhoi, north of Auckland.

Monteith's
This was my opening draught. A 150 year old brewery from Greymouth on the West Coast of South Island, with a selection to boggle the mind of any beer drinker.
No way did I get round to tasting them all, but had fun trying. Favourites:- Original Ale on draft; the Highway 6 IPA (Hwy 6 passes through Greymouth); Double Hopped IPA (pictured below) and 'best beer name' being their Red IPA called RIPA.

(left) a selection box and (right) Double Hopping.

Moving onto the South Island and shopping in the supermarkets I discovered beers from BRB Boundary Rd brewery way back up in Auckland. Their New Zealand Double IPA at 7% was my best buy here. Just one of these at a session, I'd say a recommended dose.

Altitude 
Queenstown had lots of local beers, (and a tour bus trip) including the Altitude Brewery. We had drinks at the Stratosfare Skyline bar with an amazing view (see pic). I had a Wheat beer called 'Persistent High' on draught and they also brew an IPA called 'Mischievous Kea', after the cheeky New Zealand alpine parrot.

I'd been told Speight's was the beer everywhere on the South Island, but I found this to be fairly bog standard. 
Continuing round South Island I missed the Wanaka bar 'Kai Whakapai' ('Wh' is pronouced as an 'f' - truly), and the Beerworks Brews.
Then the timing wasn't right for the famous Historic Empire Hotel in Ross and finally the brewery tour at Monteith's was bypassed, which was just as well as I had to take over the driving soon after Greymouth.

However in Hokitika, in the museum, I heard a song with the lyrics:

So I'm holed up in Hokitika

                                                   Living on white bait and Monteith's bitter

The song's called 'Karamea Cowboy' and I found a version on YouTube by a group named Hot Club Sandwich. If you want some music while you read on click on the arrow ⏩ . Name dropping places in New Zealand along the way.

A tuatara is an ancient reptile endemic to New Zealand,
 dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. 

Back to North Island and Wellington was full of opportunities. And some wonderful names.

Tuatara
Temple of Taste - The Third Eye was a brew pub serving Tuatara beers. See left.


Garage Project
Then there was the Garage Project and their Pills 'n' Thrills an irreverent take on the classic Bohemian Pilsner. German malts combined with American Summit hops. A real winner.


At this point you may be asking about prices. A pint usually set you back 8 NZ$, so about £4.25, occasionally 10 NZ$ = £5.25. Supermarkets were roughly £3.68 a litre in a 6-pack.

Crafty Trout
One of Lake Taupo's drinking attractions. Great selection on tap. This brew pub (kafe) is fashioned to resemble an alpine lodge. 

Croucher
Based in Rotorua, Croucher have a some entertaining beer descriptions on their website: i.e. ENDURO PALE ALE, 5%

Packed full of New Zealand hops, the Enduro Pale Ale is a bit like launching yourself down the Rotorua Redwoods at near terminal velocity while eating fruit salad on weetabix. We don't suggest doing that - but we do recommend savouring the smooth, lingering finish of this new world best bitter beer.

Drink responsibly, wear a helmet. 

Bill Blogs: Top of the Glass
I've gone for a top three: Croucher's Pale Ale / Garage Project Pills 'n' Thrills / Boundary's Hoppelganger
CHEERS 

Some of these New Zealand beers are actually available in the UK. Not cheap mind, though not crazily expensive either. See:
www.beerhawk.co.uk/browse-beers/browse-by-country/new-zealand-beers?p=1
& shops > www.webroughtbeer.co.uk/we-brought-new-zealands-finest/ 

Bit of a Country theme this week (see Midweek Spotlight below).
Another track found on the plane ride home (just like last week). American country music singer Brad Paisley's album, 'Love and War' released in 2017 included collaborations with Mick Jagger and John Fogerty among others. A single off the album 'Last Time For Everything' has some great guitar playing and a definite rock feel to it.

However I have little idea what's going on with the video, which is strange. Out of sequence clips spring up from nowhere and then David Hasselhoff and KITT the car turn up for no apparent reason. Lyrics have 1985 timeline references... might explain something?

Great track though

An alternative (and occasional) music posting highlighting something out of the ordinary. Perhaps of limited appeal, unconventional, experimental or just far-out ! Call it what you like (or switch it off, if you don't like). 

Here's a good story:
About two weeks ago we booked into our airbnb accommodation in a town called Thames (roughly 120km east of Auckland on the Coromandel peninsula).
The contact there was a Bruce Greaves, who his profile said was a builder... among other professions, as it turned out. 
Margaret got chatting to him and he asked her if she liked Country & Western music as he was a singer, adding modestly "google me" ! Naturally that's what we did. Briefly:
"Bruce Greaves (Actor, Extra, Model, Singer, Guitarist) is the eldest son of the iconic Rusty Greaves (one of 10 sons actually!). Bruce has cut his teeth as a country singer in a great family whose tradition is country. A huge voice, including the ability to yodel gives Bruce that authentic kiwi Country sound. Also has his own building Co. - building new houses and doing renovations"

(None of this was known to me) Click here for the full story. And here for Rusty Greaves the first overseas singer at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.
Bruce gave us a few CDs (which are available on Amazon and Spotify). Listening to him he certainly likes a ballad or two (a la Jim Reeves) and also does a very passable Johnny Cash. Yet the best thing is he has a very good backing band, so lots of nice pedal steel guitar, fiddle and banjo going on. 
There was a Country music festival in town that weekend, which we couldn't stay for but having heard some of the tracks over the internet we said we'd spread the word. Consider that done ✓. 
But I haven't mentioned his big international hit - "number two on international charts" Bruce said, called 'Travelin' Man'. It's on YouTube (basically a video of him looking cool in his hat, playing over a backing track) a song written by Nashville hit songwriter Tommy Barnes, and here it is:

CD recorded in Nashville !

Bruce Greaves also has songs listed on:
www.numberonemusic.com/brucegreaves

Definitely well worth 2.49 minutes of your time is the Country Rock 'Cold Night in Wanaka'

The Music Spot is back ! But while I'm here, I'm not 'all there' if you follow me. My time warped mind is experiencing some synchronizing issues with its onboard body clock.
I have a handful of songs lined up ready to play, but for now let's get the show on the road with Neil Diamond from 1988.
Heard this on the return plane journey and it's been in my head ever since, appropriately enough. The guitar riff is very like Lou Reed's 'Sweet Jane', which if you love that riff as much as me then great. A middle sequence of organ and guitar breaks into a female vocal accompaniment on 'The Best Years of Our Lives' - let me hear you say "Oh Yeah" !

'The Best Years of Our Lives' was a single hit and title track of the album of the same name.

As previously mentioned I discovered so many remarkable videos showcasing New Zealand. Mystic Skies, drones and from Timestorm Films, who caught my eye with their time lapse films, firstly their show reel of various location around the world, that led me on to finding a large selection.
This is one of them called 'Ascending' - that I find is almost 3D, so make sure you have it on full screen to experience this effect. The soundtrack is 'Waves' credited to Mattia Cupelli.

> Here's that original Timestorm show reel, worth a look, especially as the music 'The Untold' by The Secession, is as dramatic as the images. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgsIAtn8zSY

An alternative (and occasional) music posting highlighting something out of the ordinary. Perhaps of limited appeal, unconventional, experimental or just far-out ! Call it what you like (or switch it off, if you don't like). 

The trip continues with this 'New Zealand by Drone' >
I chose this particular one because of the mix of music with natural sounds. Music by Tony Anderson titled aptly 'Eyes Wide Open' ! 
Pay close attention on 4.30 minutes we see the view from Roys Peak... fingers crossed, we get there...

> If you missed Roy, here's a short alternative > www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dERpMrK2JA

At the end of January I discovered Timestorm Films, after seeing some incredible footage of timelapse sequences from around the world. Epic visual journeys they call them, amazing skies a speciality, including the Dark Skies reserve in New Zealand.
I ending up finding so many of these videos it was mind boggling. This one isn't actually from Timestorm, but they will get an airing in a few weeks from now...
I'm going to make this a STAR TRACK. Mainly because the sky near the end reflects my banner heading and the music is fantastic: Ambient symphony by Zero-Project track 'High Hopes'. (Link to) *
By my reckoning we should be in this area of New Zealand's South Island, Lake Tekapo around the time of this posting. Hoping to see something similar to this Mystic Sky. High Hopes indeed >

* Download tracks for free, if you want.

It's well known that New Zealand was the location for Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' films, followed by 'The Hobbit' movies. The country and it's landscape so perfectly capturing the world of Tolkien's Middle Earth that I feel I am about to enter this fantasy world that previously I'd only imagined.
I loved the books and the films were incredible and this video with a selection of the music by Howard Stone over movie footage 'gives me the shivers'.
The adventure is about to commence >>>

The MUSIC SPOT is about to take a break. But technology allows me to schedule a few postings to coincide with our trip and they will be appearing at various points roughly along route, spanning the next 5 weeks.
So come along for the ride... if you please.

After all this forward planning I've lost my way on what to play today. So I'm going to simply add to last week's memories.
Ritchie Valens' short music career comprised of some great singles. (There was no album released in his name until after his tragic death). 'Donna' & 'La Bamba' were huge hits in 1958 but this was his first 45 'Come On, Let's Go'. So let's get going with some old time dancing. 
Some video curios - the record spinning at the start actually isn't 'Come On, Let's Go' and looks like an old 78 disc. While one of the dancers looks like a cartoon Ronnie Corbett (British comedian: 1930-2016 for those watching in America) >

Sometimes a song isn't what you think it is. When I first heard this track I thought it was Freddie Mercury singing about himself, in the wake of his Aids diagnosis. Turns out it's a Brian May composition for the 1986 film 'The Highlander'. 
It also features in the new movie 'Bohemian Rhapsody', that supposedly covers the period up to the 1985 'Live Aid' performance. How this song released a year later is included I can't tell, as I've yet to see the film, but I have read about other timeline liberties taken by the movie.
Never mind all that, it's a great track and performance and as one person has posted on YouTube: 'He still lives forever' > be upstanding for Queen

Along similar lines - this Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Ritchie Valens, J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and of course a 22 year old Buddy Holly.
Thankfully the music DIDN'T die on this day, but lived on, forever !