Celebrate Wellington's craft beer scene with Hopstock

Hopstock: A celebration of fresh hop beers and Wellington’s “globally unique” craft beer scene

The fourth annual Craft Beer Capital Hopstock Festival kicks off from 13-18 April, with 21 bars and breweries taking part in this year’s celebration of fresh hop beers.

The annual fresh hop harvest is always a beacon in calendars of craft beer boffins. It sees breweries and Wellington craft beer venues exclusively paired up to showcase the breweries’ “green hop beers” (brewed using harvested hops, fresh off the bine, as opposed to the perennially-used, processed, dried pellet form). Punters follow the Hopstock Fest trail map, in an endeavour to sample these once-a-year beers, collecting a stamp at each craft bar by way of ticking it off the list.

Peter Moran, Hopstock Organiser and Craft Beer Capital Secretary, says as an event, Hopstock not only fulfills Craft Beer Capital’s modus operandi of “bringing breweries, bars, punters and everyone else involved in Wellington’s ‘good beer’ industry together”, but also showcases Wellington’s breadth of craft venues and “globally unique beer scene”.

“The trail is about getting people around to Wellington’s awesome craft bars as much as it is about showcasing the breweries and their beers. It’s one of only a couple Welly beer events that actively encourages people to get out and visit the city’s multiple craft destinations.

“There are other brilliant local beer events throughout the year, but often these take place in one venue and people have to purchase tickets to attend. Bar purchasing beers, this event is free to partake in, and everyone is welcome!

“Wellington is pretty unique in the sense that there aren’t many cities in the world where you can hold an walkabout event like Hopstock, with venues so easily accessible from one to the other. The city’s geographical proximity is definitely what makes our beer scene an exceptional destination!”
Peter says part of the anticipation in the lead up to Hopstock is that each venue has exclusive pouring rights to their allocated beer (confirmed by random draw): “It’s the first and only time you can get these beers in Wellington until the festival’s finished.”

The Hopstock trail caters for sober drinkers, and can be completed without drinking alcohol. Instead, those wishing to abstain can simply gain their trail stamp by purchasing a non-alcoholic drink or food. Hopstock buses are also available for those who wish to go in large groups or put their feet up (ticket prices TBC).

“It’s really important that we support non-drinkers, sober drivers or those who may wish to take a bit of break from the trail by having other options so they can still be a part of the event, whether they choose to drink beer or not,” says Peter.

There will also be a People’s Choice Award, with trail-goers sending their trail maps in to vote for their favourite Hop Harvest beer (completing the trail map is not needed to partake in this).

Peter says Craft Beer Capital is “stoked” with the undeniable growth Hopstock has experienced each year.

“In the beginning, there were about eight beers across 12 bars - some bars were sharing beers! Whereas now we have a waiting list of brewers that want to be involved with Hopstock.

“Fourteen of the 21 spots were snapped up by Wellington breweries, and we were able to offer the remaining spots to out-of-town breweries.

“In terms of public interest, it’s definitely grown - last year’s 1000 trail maps were completely snapped up during the event, and around another 1000 were downloaded off the Craft Beer Capital website.”

Hopstock takes place from 13-18 April, 2016. More details are available on the Craft Beer Capital website: www.craftbeercapital.com.

ENDS

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