Craft beer festival brewing

Get ready to pour a pint and enjoy some of the best beer the Wellington region has to offer.

The Greater Wellington Brewday is set to go ahead on February 18 and for the first time it will be hosted in Upper Hutt at the Trentham Racecourse. In previous years, it was held in Martinborough.

Organiser Dean Bradley said he wanted the event to have a picnic-like atmosphere where families and friends could turn up together and enjoy the day.

Along with craft beer, there would be soda and mocktails as well as street food vendors and live music. Bringing a picnic blanket to throw down and some homemade food to share was strongly encouraged as well.

‘‘Just get a group of friends and have a good day,’’ Bradley said.

Breweries such as Tuatara and Upper Hutt’s Kereru have already signed up and other big name places have been keen to join. Bradley said 10 breweries had signed up so far and he expected about five more would be on board by the time the event rolled around.

Five thousand tickets had been made available and already a few hundred had been snapped up by eager craft beer fans since they went on sale.

A few thousand people were expected to attend.

Moving the event to Trentham opened it up to the wider Wellington region as the racecourse would be more accessible to people. The Upper Hutt train station is only a short walk from the racecourse.

Upper Hutt City Council marketing manager Megan O’Connor said the council was playing a supporting role in organising the day and it was aiming to help put on a grass roots festival.

‘‘While it’s a craft beer festival, there’s also soda, street food and live bands going all day. People can sit on the grass, throw a picnic blanket down and eat with their family.’’

Destination Wairarapa general manager David Hancock said if Brewday could have stayed in Martinborough that would have been great but it was fantastic to see the event grow.

For the previous four years Brewday was held in a park close to Martinborough Square.

Earlybird tickets are available online for $45. Once the first 1000 tickets are sold, the price will rise to $55. Tickets for those aged six to 17 are $10 and under-fives are free.