Do you remember a time when this pool was…
11:38 am Sunday, 5 October, 2008
Given how I ended the last post, I’m not sure that I should tell you I spent the afternoon in a brewery.
I’m in Dunedin which is about 5 hours back north of Queenstown. It was another early start (and I didn’t sleep too well last night in the first place). My Lonely Planet suggests that anyone who visits will fall in love with the cafes and the culture. I’ve been here about 6 hours and I’m bored shitless. I’m very glad I only booked one more night!
I did, as I say, check out the Speights Brewery this afternoon which was fun. It’s an old gravity well brewery and the tour was interesting but more importantly it was a self-serve job for the tasting afterwards. Seven different taps and man it’s been a long time since I got to go behind a bar and pull a few drinks (even if they were only small ones). Anyway the verdict, their Porter is nice, the Distinction is almost as nice, the Pilsner is a pretty good Pilsner and their lagers are generic lagers. Interestingly, nay fascinatingly, they are one of eleven breweries in the world licensed to brew Guinness and Killkenny and they do so four times a year which then supplies all the taps around New Zealand. So, this means that all the Guinness I’ve had in New Zealand has been brewed here. It explains why the first one was so shocking but I must say I’ve had some good pints since then (in particular in Pog’s in Queenstown). Annoyingly, if I was a mere 5 days later they’d have been working on the last batch of Guinness for the year and would have added a bit extra to the tour for me.
Anyway I made the best of the tasting, there were several ones for the road and I find that my discounted ticket (thanks hostel) was more than worth the cash for an afternoons entertainment.
I also found out that there is local NZ whiskey and the distillery is at my next, penultimate, stop off! I may have to check it out but mainly…penguins.
17.59 Dunedin, New Zealand, Sunday October 5th.
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