There aren’t many drinks that start with a dawn dash to the airport, but green hops craft beers do. Using fresh hops is a race against time for Kiwi craft brewers keen to take part in the once-a-year opportunity. They only have a 24-48 hour window to capture the little green flowers’ unique, aromatic flavours once harvested. The clock is already ticking when they're picked in the Tasman area in the wee small hours. They’ll only be good for a few hours more, so it’s onto the first flights out to Wellington and Auckland, into a van and the...

Epic Beer's Onehunga taproom originally launched as a pop-up in October 2019 and has since been operating across select weekends with special liquor licenses. After more than 12 months of delays from COVID-19 and a drawn-out licensing process, the craft brewery's sprawling space is now open to the public. The taproom can be found right in the middle of the brewery's functioning warehouse down the driveway at 230B Neilson Street. The delightfully no-frills beer hall was inspired by owner Luke Nicholas' trips to similar industrial spaces in Los Angeles. Between the warehouse roller door, wooden storage pallets and walls lined with product,...

What an incredible night we had last night at the Epic Beer HQ Taproom. After an intense, busy, stressful, confusing week I think we pulled it of while complying with the distancing rules of Level 2. We turned a crazy mess that has been our lockdown home of packing Mixed Six Packs, and shipping online orders into an amazing Beer Hall with an inside food truck - Home Grown Food Truck. I'm so proud of the team at Epic. Not only have they been work so hard all week getting the warehouse ready while doing their normal jobs, they then...

Stout, the original craft beer. From a time when the world was awash in a sea of industrial lager, you could always find that one beer of difference; Stout. From the company whose brand was as strong as Coke, and the only beer that has its own annual holiday celebrated globally. Where everyone finds some distant relative from Ireland to justify taking the day off work and drinking Stout. Here is our homage to hope and choice when things looked as dark as the beer.The last couple of years we have released Beer Blanket and Fat Shady as more approachable...

MAYZ is a beer that we brewed right before lockdown and has been sitting in the tank just waiting to be set free. It is our first new Hazy IPA in a couple of months which I am sure will make many people happy to get their hands on another Orange Can. This time we have had a play with using some Corn Flakes in conjunction with Oats which help contribute to the hazy character of the beer. We believe that the corn flavour will also give a level of sweetness that will complement the fruitiness of the hops.For this...