Try a bit of liquid magic

TOP cuisine deserves top beverages and there will be plenty of those available during Visa Wellington On a Plate.

Beer fans will make the trip to their spiritual home at Beervana at Westpac Stadium this Friday and Saturday, where traditional classics will pour side-by-side with brews just gaining in popularity in New Zealand, such as sours and the tart, salty goodness of a Gose. (rhymes with rose-uh).

‘‘What makes Beervana such a great experience,’’ says manager Beth Brash, ‘‘is not just the number and variety of beers on offer but also the fact you can have a chat with the brewers themselves to find out more about your favourite brews as well as discovering new ones.’’

There will be bars dedicated to the craft beer capital of Portland, Oregon and to Australian brews, while the Pink Boots bar will have ales from some of New Zealand’s female brewers.

As well as the opportunity to meet brewers and discover new beers, there will also be seminars, beer and food matching and the Black Rock Home Brew competition.

For wine lovers there is the Match pop-up wine bar that looks a lot like Optimus Prime. But even better than a Transformer, the truck and trailer unit turns into a 70-seater bar serving 40 top wines from 20 Wairarapa wineries, matched with food created by caterer Ruth Pretty.

Co-ordinator Sue McLeary says The Nation truck will be based at Jack Ilott Green next to City Art Gallery from this Friday for the duration of Visa Wellington On a Plate.

‘‘The whole idea is to bring the wines of what we like to think of as Wellington’s wine regions – Martinborough, Gladstone and Masterton – over the hill and to the people.

‘‘It’s called Match and it’s all about matching good food to good wine.

‘‘Ruth Pretty Catering has put together a menu of plates to share and for each of the menu items she’s recommended a style of wine.

‘‘So she’s doing oysters in a half shell with a mignonette dressing and underneath that on the menu the recommended match is either bubbles or a crisp aromatic white.’’

For people just discovering the world of wine, the wine lists include descriptions about the eight main wine varietals.

‘‘A lot of people are nervous about what sort of wine goes with a particular food, so we’re making it easy and fun for them. But there are no real rules these days, so we encourage guests to mix and match.

‘‘So after the oysters they might go for venison meatballs with a pinot noir, and then something else that goes with a chardonnay.

(Her own favourite bite is a gao bao dumpling. ‘‘That works brilliantly with a pinot gris, which always goes nicely with slightly spicey food. Or a savoury style of pinot noir that comes from the Wairarapa.’’)

Match is open from 5pm-10pm weekdays and Saturday, and 3pm-8pm Sundays.

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