TAURANGA SEAFOOD FEST Since the last update we attended the Tauranga Moana Seafood Festival - and it was huge!! The event sold out, 3500 tickets, and our beer went down a treat. There was some excellent entertainment, great seafood and a crowd of people who wanted to have a good time. Our Pale Ale and Pilsner were particularly popular with punters.
NEW BREWHOUSE
It is a particularly busy time at the brewery. Not only have we been brewing and bottling up a storm to keep up with demand, but we are in the process of installing a bigger shinier brew system. These things don't happen overnight, but we are are making progress.
Stage I is complete. That was moving our refridgerated container to provide wider access to the old brew area. Two forkies came in and couldn't even move it while it had beer inside it. After a week or so frantically bottling and kegging we were able to completely empty the container and a Mainfreight forkie came in and did the business.
Stage II underway right now - pouring a sloped concrete floor for an expanded foodgrade brew area. It is pretty exciting to see the place empty, ready for concrete to pour! Once this is finished we'll be able to move the larger brewing equipment into place and commence Stage III - Installation.
FEEDBACK ON OUR BEERS
TOP 10: Renowned beer writer Neil Miller has just announced his annual Top 10 beers for 2008. Croucher Pale Ale has debuted at number 7 on the list - this is a great result for us, and perhaps next year we might even have two beers on his list!! Thanks Neil. Full rankings here.
CAPITAL TIMES: Wellington's Capital Times run an annual beer competition. In the Pilsner category, Croucher Pilsner was rated second best in the country next to the iconic Emerson's Organic Pilsner. Croucher Pale Ale came in 3rd in the Pale Ale category, with an honourable mention for The HEF.
For smaller breweries like us these sorts of articles and competitions are a good way to get feedback on our beers - we are always looking to improve and learn, so feedback is always welcome.
