Brew Of Islands Craft Beer Festival Confirms Incredible Line Up Of Food Vendors & Celebrates The Finest Northland Food

Celebrate NZ’s best independently brewed craft beer and Northland inspired food delights at the inaugural Brew of Islands Beer Festival at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd July! The much anticipated festival has attracted five of Northland’s top foodies, serving up an epic array of Northland’s freshest fare - kaimoana, snapper sliders, mussel fritters, low n slow, smoky, beer flavoured BBQ meats, traditional beer festival fare, bratwurst, pretzels, and locally grown, seasonal vegetarian pakoras - along with nine of the country's top craft breweries, bringing their best brews to the table. A feast of flavour to freshen up winter in Northland.

Famous for its bounty and the big blue, a Northland festival isn’t complete without kaimoana. Brew of Islands has the award winning chef Colin Ashton and his team cooking up fresh line caught snapper sliders. And local legends Mrs Miller will be serving up her infamously tasty Mussel Fritters to the hungry crowd; an alchemy of herbed and spiced kutai wrapped in batter, flash fried and served hot and crispy.

If smoked meats are more your thing, they’ve got you sussed too. You can't go far in the NZ low ‘n slow BBQ scene without hearing the name Ken Van Mackelbergh of Barbecue B.O.I. Fresh off back-to-back Grand Championship wins in Kumeu and Smoke on the Coast, and now amping up for the world’s largest BBQ competition, The American Royal World Series of Barbecue in Kansas in September. Ken is bringing the fire to Brew of Islands! Teaming up with his "Coal Mates" Fat Boy BBQ and current NZBA Chicken Champions The Coal Kids, get ready for some succulent beer-inspired BBQ hot off the coals - the perfect match for the bold flavours of a hoppy pale ale!

Wait, did someone say beer festival? We might not be sitting in a tent in Germany, but Brew of Islands is the real deal and we know a good thing when we see it, that’s why our friends from Northland Fine Foods are serving up locally made fresh bratwurst with sauerkraut and pretzels with beer cheese dip - got a feeling that’ll go nicely with a crisp German style lager made with Kiwi hops.

For the veggie lovers Brew of Islands has partnered with Northland’s own plant based Queen, chef and author, Anna Valentine from the Veggie Tree in Kaeo. Passionate about plants, local, seasonal, wild, foraged and nutrient dense, Anna is serving up crispy spiced Indian chickpea pakoras, made with locally grown seasonal veggies, edible weeds from her wild garden, served with homegrown, homemade lime pickle and mint and kawakawa raita. Pair that with a crisp cold pilsner and you’ll be smiling all day long!

New Zealand’s top craft breweries Parrotdog, Garage Project, Urbanaut and Cassels, are joining Northlands local favourite craft breweries - Kainui Brew Co., Phat House, Bay of Islands Brewing, McLeods and 8 Wired at the inaugural Brew of Islands Beer Festival. Local cocktail maestro Ben Thrippleton of Kindred Spirits will have on offer delicious hand-crafted cocktails and mocktails for festival goers that don’t love beer or booze. The Cardona Cocktail bar will feature spirits from the boutique South Island distillery, who have got behind the event.

Kerikeri’s own local craft brewery, Kainui Brew Co. won best micro brewery in New Zealand last year! Head brewer Gary Henwood says, “It thrilled us to have lifted the trophy for the NZ Micro Brewery for 2022, seven years after going commercial on a 50L brewhouse. Our sole focus as a brewery has been to supply our local market with fresh, world class beer. 18 Months ago we enticed our Lead Brewer and avid home brewer Paul Keating to join us. During the interview process, we promised him he would one day hold the ‘Micro Brewery of the Year’ trophy. We just didn't think it would come so soon.”

Craft beer was born out of experimentation and home brewers pushing the boundaries, to continue to foster that relationship between craft beer and home brewing, Brew of Island’s has also added a home brew comp as part of the festival - with a chance to win some epic prize packs from Galdfield Malt and League of Brewers.

Brew of Islands, Northland’s own Beer Festival, has been made possible by the epic support of local legends Barfoot and Thompson Kerikeri and a couple of men who had a great idea over a couple of cold beers - Gerry Paul and Tyler Bamber.

Festival organiser, Tyler Bamber says that to bring something this epic to life has been surreal, “We’ve somehow managed to attract the absolute best in NZ brewers and match that with the finest food in Northland, all we had to do was offer them a fishing trip in the Bay!”

Brew of Islands Beer Festival consists of three 4 hour sessions. 6pm - 10pm Friday 21st July, 12pm - 4pm and 6pm - 10pm Saturday 22nd July. Tickets are only $35 or $30 each when you buy 6 or more tickets. Attend as many sessions as you like, if you want to try all the beer and all the flavours, you might have to come to all three! Just weeks away, tickets to the festival are selling fast, get yours at https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2023/jul/brew-of-islands

www.brewofislands.co.nz

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