Describing Luke Nicholas as “a bit of character” is akin to characterising the Great Wall of China as “quite a large construction project”.  The head honcho at Epic Brewing Company is internationally renowned

The great author John Ronald Reuel (JRR) Tolkien famously said “I am in fact a Hobbit in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanised farmlands. I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food

Like David Shearer and David Cunliffe, Palmerston North and I have never really gotten along. The town slogan may be “Knowledge City” but I have often referred to

Last Friday witnessed the beginning of a new annual tradition. The First Malthouse Old World IPA Challenge witnessed seven New Zealand craft beers compete to be crowned the inaugural best “traditional, proper, English-style India Pale Ale in the colony.”  

When I first heard about the creation of International Stout Day I was completely overjoyed.  After all, mothers have Mothers Day, fathers have Fathers Day, protestors have Waitangi Day

The authoritative Oxford Companion to Beer defines India Pale Ale (IPA) as “a beer style characterised by high levels of alcohol and hops.  It gained its name thanks to its huge popularity in British India and other outposts of the British Empire throughout the 19th Century, a result of its keeping abilities on long sea voyages and its refreshing character when it finally reached its destination.”

Of course, it is never that simple.