Welcome to the first Malthouse blog of 2011.

December and January are traditionally the slowest news months of the year.  Journalists tend to join the rest of the country lounging at the beach or crowded around the barbeque. 

The recent announcement that Croucher Pale Ale is the Champion Beer in the 2010 Capital Times Beer Essentials Survey caps off a top year for the likeable chaps at Rotorua’s Croucher Brewing Company. 

The single most Epic Event this year

Christmas is fast approaching but the soundtrack is different this year.  Sure, supermarkets are still cranking up “Snoopy’s Christmas", Scott is still thrashing “The Best of Nashville 1956” playlist at Malthouse but there is another, even more sinister noise in the background.  It is the sound of a thousand air guitars, and it is getting louder every day.

For three months, a single sealed barrel sat mysteriously in a far corner of the Tuatara brewery.  In November, that same barrel then served usefully as the base of the brewery crew’s impromptu picnic table.  Now, finally, the barrel has been tapped and its heady contents are available exclusively at Malthouse.

The flash logos and slick imagery associated most mainstream beers are basically wishful thinking from the marketing department. 

For this, the one hundredth Malthouse blog post, I had a good idea.  My plan was to whip up a hackneyed ‘very best of’ column which would involve virtually no original writing at all.