In 2003, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen briefly graced cinema screens around the world portraying a world of Victorian era superheroes fighting against the mysterious Fantom and his surprisingly high-tech army.

We are about to witness the greatest sports and entertainment spectacle of 2013. There will be huge hits, athleticism, strategy, speed, drama, colour, controversy, noise, music and the events that ultimately unfold on the playing field will become the stuff of legend.

On 29 October 2008, the very first words appeared on the Malthouse blog.  They were:

“Brewers are, on the whole, remarkable creatures.  From just toasted grain, the flower of a vine, ordinary water and a single-celled organism, they can produce delicious, sweet, life-giving beer.

Welcome to the first Malthouse blog for 2013.  Despite the new head of the PPTA teachers union making the quite astonishing claim that most New Zealanders are on holiday until the 24th of January, many readers and certainly this writer have been back at work for a while now. Several of you have taken the opportunity to politely inquire when my "perennially popular and/or controversial selection of the Top Beers of the Year" will be available. The answer: right now.

Happy New Beer

This is officially the last Malthouse blog for 2012. In fact, if those Mayan mathematicians were indeed correct then this will be the last Malthouse blog ever. 

At 12:12pm on 12/12/12 a small but malevolent presence took over the Malthouse. The Impish Brewer Luke Nicholas forced 12 of his outrageous Epic beers on tap