WIFE CARRYING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, FINLAND

Your wife could be worth her weight in beer. That’s if you care to enter the Finnish Wife Carrying Championships.

Held in Sonkajarvi, in the eastern province of Finland, the popularity of the contest grows steadily, attracting thousands of spectators as well as contestants from all over the world.

The event, held in July, was inspired by two folk tales. The first was a 19th century legend where men stole wives from neighbouring villages. The second is a tale about an outlaw named Rosvo-Ronkainen who made potential soldiers prove themselves in a race where they carried heavy sacks. The combination gave rise to the ludicrous and hilarious wife-carrying shenanigans.

The requirements for the contest are pretty simple: The wife to be carried along the 253.5 metre obstacle course may be your own, the neighbour’s or anyone else’s, it seems. Actually, you don’t really have to be married at all. These are bendy rules, as you can see.

But she must be over 17 years of age and a minimum weight of 49 kilos. Several types of carry may be practised: piggyback, fireman’s carry, or Estonian-style (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband’s shoulders, holding onto his waist). Contestants’ and spectators’ sense of humour needs to be in peak condition.

Couples vying for the yeasty prize of the wife’s weight in beer are still trying to beat the 2000 record of 55.5 seconds held by Estonian couple Margo Uusorg and Birgit Ulricht. He’s still getting over his hangover.

ASELF-CONFESSED Upper Hutt bogan’s obsession with hotrods has helped him create one of the fastest growing breweries in the country.

Mike Neilson is a Hutt boy through and through, growing up tinkering with engines of all types.

‘‘I started at a young age, coming from a family of hotrodders, my dad especially. That’s just been a part of who I am.

‘‘There’s photos of me with my head buried under the bonnet of cars I don’t even remember.’’

Neilson and his wife Anna are behind Panhead Brewery, an operation based out of the old Upper Hutt Dunlop Tyre Factory and well into its second year of business.

Their story of starting a successful brewery is well documented.

Bored with his job supplying plasterers, Neilson began tinkering with brewing his own beer, likening it to working on a car engine.

Enthralled, he applied for a job as a brewer at Tuatara in Paraparaumu and learnt how to brew commercially.

Two years later the couple took a huge gamble and sold their house to fund the cost of setting up their own brewery.

Based around a petrol-head theme, Panhead was born. It has experienced massive growth since opening its doors in 2013.

Now brewing 12,000 litres of beer a week, the company employs six permanent and two part-time staff. Beer is being sent to Australia and the company is struggling to keep up with demand.

Back in 2007, before beer, Neilson began work on the shell of his own hotrod.

But once he started working in the brewing industry, money dried up and the project was put on hold.

One of Panhead’s most popular beers, an 8 per cent IPA called The Vandal, is named after perhaps New Zealand’s most famous hotrod.

John ‘‘JR’’ Reid first built his Dodge-based hotrod named Vandal in the late ‘60s.

Later he rebuilt Vandal and renamed it Black Sabbath, an event Panhead has also paid homage to by naming an extremely limited barrel-aged beer that sold out in days.

With the brewery wellestablished, Neilson has delivered his unfinished rod into Reid’s hands where it will be completed over the next 12 to 18 months.

When asked whether he’ll have time to drive it when he’s so busy keeping up with demand for his beer, Neilson has little doubt.

‘‘Oh, it’s for driving. There’s not much point having it sitting in the garage doing nothing.’’

Shane Cowlishaw is the co-writer of the Fairfax blog The Beerhive. You can follow him at facebook.com/ beerhiveblog or @BeerhiveBlog.