Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Home advantage for Kegkoura beer festival
‘‘We're aiming for 300, and are well on our way to having it sell out.’’
Kaiko¯ura boutique Kegkoura craft beer festival will be bigger and better this year.
This is the second year the festival has run, and owners Paul and Laura Finney have moved it to their home base at Emporium Brewing on Beach Rd.
‘‘There’s plenty of room inside should we be unlucky with the weather again.
‘‘If it is a good day it’ll be great as it’s a lovely sunny spot and our 18-hole mini golf course will be open for use by all ticket holders,’’ said Paul.
Last year the event was held at the former Kaiko¯ura Winery above State Highway 1. Although the event booked out, the rain came down and the festival had to be held inside limiting the number of sales.
As well as some one-off festival specials, one of the beers on tap will be Hi-Vis Pilsner named after the army of fluro orange-clad road and rail workers who’ve been rebuilding the quake-damaged road and rail services.
Laura said having only one road open to Canterbury last year severely limited their options, however now State Highway 1 to the north and south was open they were expecting to double the numbers.
She advised people to get their tickets early and not rely on door sales on the day because they were expecting the event to sell out.
This year a lot of tickets have sold to people from Blenheim, a far cry from last year when 80 per cent of ticket holders came from Canterbury who flooded in to support Kaiko¯ura after the November 2016 magnitude-7.8 quake.
‘‘We’re aiming for 300, and are well on our way to having it sell out,’’ Laura said.
‘‘We’ve always wanted to do an event here, and it will give people a chance to see our site, even though it isn’t fully developed yet.’’
This year the space is bigger, the area inside the brewery will be open, and gazebos outside, Laura said.
Local musicians will feature and Christchurch one-man band Stomping Nick Jackman will play his unique combination of music.
As well as Emporium Brewing, and locals Essex Wines and Kaiko¯ura Brewery; other brewers will come from Canterbury and Nelson, including Concept Brewing, Harrington’s Breweries, who are bringing their Brotherhood ciders, Wigram Brewing, Horse Box Brewery and Wilderness Brewing.
Food won’t be in short supply with the crew from The Mayfair Theatre flipping burgers to raise funds. More food will be supplied by Kaiko¯ura Cheese, the Slam Club and Bean Me Up mobile coffee cart.
Although people can be dropped off at Emporium Brewing parking will be restricted to the main road, so Laura recommended people get a shuttle, get dropped off, walked or cycled. The event is restricted to 18 years and over.
Tickets for Kegkoura craft beer festival on Saturday March 3 are available from Eventfinda for $35, which includes some drink tokens, or follow the link from www.emporiumbrewing.co.nz/ kegkoura-2018. A sober driver is $14.