3000km Craft Beer and Food Festival trip worth it
PEOPLE will go a long way for a good beer, but few made the effort McLeod’s Brewery coowner Geoff Gwynne did to attend the Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival.
McLeod’s is based at Waipu, half an hour south of Whangarei, making it by some margin the brewery which travelled the farthest to be represented at the annual Dunedin event.
‘‘Why wouldn’t you come?,’’ Mr Gwynne said.
‘‘This is probably my favourite festival; it has good beers, good music, good people and a great venue, it’s a really impressive event.’’
Dunedin is familiar turf for the former University of Otago student.
Planning his return was a feat of logistics though, trying to get brewery staff, beer, equipment and merchandise organised for a 3000km round trip.
‘‘It’s quite a major, but I have a lot of connections with Dunedin and it’s well worth it.’’ McLeod’s, winner of the Champion Small International Brewery award at this year’s
Australian International Beer Awards, offered a range of its trademark pale ales, the ‘‘Far North’’ chilli pilsener, and ‘‘Subtropical’’ stout.
Its seasonal unfiltered India Pale Ales did not make the trip, but ‘‘one or two’’ special kegs had been held back in McLeod’s brewery — the former Waipu Post Office — just for Dunedin.
‘‘It’s a slow process because we are quite a small, boutique brewery, but people down here are starting to notice us now, which is nice,’’ Mr Gwynne said.
‘‘The more we come to events like this, the more the awareness lifts.’’
The festival was split over two days, with Saturday being a sellout and Friday night all but selling out. As well as beer and food, entertainment was provided by musicians including Hollie Smith, Phoenix Foundation and The Chills.
A police spokesman said there were no arrests at the festival ‘‘and in general police have been pleased with behaviour’’.