Announcing The First ‘Brew Of Islands’ Craft Beer Festival, In Kerikeri This July!

Craft beer, cocktails, Snapper sambo’s and live music. You’ll try it all at the very first Brew of Islands Craft Beer Festival in Kerikeri on the 21st and 22nd of July. Here’s your chance to escape to the Winterless North (not a guarantee… more of an expression!) And while relaxing #northlandstyle, sip the frothy delights of NZ’s most prominent independent breweries and experience Northland’s favourite micro breweries too.

Brew of Islands is the “beer child” of no strangers to the New Zealand event industry. Tyler Bamber is the publican of The Pioneer Tavern in Waipapa and there’s not too many types of bars Tyler hasn’t run; a Ski Resort in Canada, an Old English Pub, an Auckland Gastropub, an Irish Bar. You could say hospitality runs through his veins like cold beer through the tap. Gerry Paul moved to Kerikeri a year ago from Wellington, where he was Festival Director of the country’s largest street festival CubaDupa and Entertainment Manager for Beervana, New Zealand’s craft beer ‘AGM’. Since then he has been the General Manager of the Turner Centre - Northlands premiere theatre and events centre and the venue for Brew of Islands.

The concept was dreamed up one day while joining in the age old camaraderie of a beer after work. Tyler said to Gerry “Damn! I love a good craft beer.” Gerry responded - “Yeah mate! Did I tell you about that time I worked on a pretty massive beer festival down South?” “No s**t? That’s cool. We should do one of those here in Kerikeri.” “Yea we should.” And they are. Northland Inc saw the potential and have supported the first event through their Northland Regional Events Fund - and the countdown is on.

The inaugural Brew of Islands has attracted powerhouse brewers Parrotdog, Garage Project, Urbanaut and Cassels, who will be joining local favourites - Kainui Brew Co., Phat House, Bay of Islands Brewing, McLeods and 8 Wired. The organisers are excited to welcome the cream of the crop of New Zealand's craft Breweries to the first event, who will have their tasty little drops of heaven on display.

But this isn’t just for the beer lovers at heart - Brew of Islands will have on offer delicious hand-crafted cocktails from local maestro, Ben Thrippleton of Kindred Spirits - so if you aren’t a fan of the fizzy stuff, you can still sip away at a sweet little treat.

There will be a delicious #northlandstyle street food menu by some of the best local suppliers - think snapper sambo’s, mussel fritters, oysters and bbq meats. Get a true taste of Northland in one hand, while sipping away on world class drops of golden goodness in the other.

When you’ve had your fill, it’s time to treat the ears. There will be laid back Far North grooves by local Northland reggae/rock group Norizon, maritime themed songs from the Wellington Sea Shanty Society and T-Bone - recent winners of the Te Kaipuoro Taketake Toa | Best Folk Artist Tui 2023, who will entertain with their own blend of Goodtime-Americana-Kiwi-Folk.

Event manager Tyler Bamber comments, “Brew of Islands is a chance to celebrate something everyone loves - beer - and use it to help showcase some of Northland’s other great qualities. We love it up here and we hope our guests from around the country will get a sneak peak of all there is to enjoy!”

Guests will be able to attend three 4 hour sessions to tickle their beer loving taste buds:

July 21st: 6:00PM - 10:00PM

July 22nd: 12:00PM - 4:00PM & 6:00PM - 10:00PM

Tickets will be available from Friday April 28th online via iTicket or from the Turner Centre in Kerikeri. For more information and to get excited go to brewofislands.co.nz, Instagram and Facebook @brewofislands

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