Thirst Quenched By Northland’s First Brew Of Islands Beer Festival!

Over 2000 people attended the inaugural Brew of Islands beer festival across three sessions during the weekend. The Turner Centre venue was transformed into a buzzing festival wonderland of brewery delights and live entertainment. The enormous beer hall, draped in popping colour, festooned with lights and full of happy people, was lined with nine of the country's best craft breweries, six local food vendors and the music of three live bands, T-Bone Trio, the Wellington Sea Shanty Society and Norizin.

Upstairs, with a full laser light show and lush soundtrack provided by DJ’s VanDeBelle, JXO and Meg, the Theatre Bar was recast as the nightclub style Cardrona Cocktail Bar. Stepping onto the outside terrace, guests were soaked in Northland winter sun, giving a rooftop bar vibe that one punter compared to a Las Vegas club.

The festival was opened with Karakia and Waiata from Ngati Rehia. “Being welcomed like that was beautiful and set an amazing feeling for the festival,” said Eddy Lyon from 8 Wired Brewery in Matakana.

People came from Wellington, Christchurch, Waikato, Coromandel, Tauranga, Whangarei, Auckland and Kaitaia for the festival to enjoy the friendly Northland hospitality. Paula Schwass from Stay Kerikeri said, "We were fully booked with out of town guests who all absolutely loved the festival. Congratulations lads. Legends."

But it wasn’t just the punters that enjoyed the festival, Rich Yong from Parrotdog Brewery in Wellington, has been to scores of festivals around the country, said Brew of Islands was in his top three Beer Festivals ever. Bruce Turner from Urbanaut Brewery in Auckland said of all the Beer Festivals he’s been to, Brew of Islands attendees were the politest and most welcoming he has come across.

Brew of Islands festival organisers Gerry Paul and Tyler Bamber said the takeaway from the event was the immense positivity and appreciation from all of the attendees. “Everyone was so happy and there was a celebratory atmosphere in the air. People kept telling us, this is exactly what Kerikeri needs and wants more of. It’s incredible to have so much of the community involved and behind the festival, absolutely showcasing and celebrating Northland!”

Locals are raving about the festival, “We loved the vibe, the quality of the beer and the food, the speed of service and friendliness, the professionalism of the staff and there was a beautiful feeling of aroha everywhere. We just loved it and haven’t seen anything like it in Northland before!” General Manager of the Turner Centre Gerry Paul said, "There were a huge amount of first time visitors, they kept commenting that the Turner Centre is an incredible asset to the community and can we have more of these!”.

Wellington Street Entertainer Conrad Coom delighted audiences with his hilarious costumes and high energy antics, crowd favourites being Rachel the non-binary rooster and Pat the Green Gnome.

Everyone brought the fantastic festival vibes with their amazing energy, colourful dress ups, fun and amusing antics.

There were 24 entries into the first year Home Brew Competition running alongside the festival - Judge and beer writer John Oszajca commenting on overall winner, Richie Lewis’s beer being a gold medal standard.

All of the vendors reported great sales, with two breweries Parrotdog and Urbanaut selling out of beer and Kindred Spirits cocktail owner Ben Trippleton claiming it was his "busiest two days in over 20 years of working in hopso”. The Ariki Espresso Martinis were the crowd favourite and local coffee roaster Keir Toto came to the rescue with emergency roasts and espresso runs, going through 21 litres of espresso over the two days.

Police had a friendly presence at the festival and did an amazing job keeping an eye on things and despite an unplanned fire evacuation on the Friday night, Brew of Islands went off without a hitch, with no incidents to report.

Media Festival Images HERE

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