It's a magical drive into Karamu Barrelworks on Daryl Bryant's rural Waikato lifestyle block. The morning light softly filters through the trees he and his| Pursuit of Hoppiness
A heavy reliance on chance, luck and magic is not usually a desirable feature in a beer, where precision can be the difference between a world-class drop or a| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Bringing you news, features and updates on the craft beer culture of New Zealand. Read the only craft beer magazine in NZ from Hoppiness.| Pursuit of Hoppiness
For the husband-and-wife team behind Isthmus Brewing, winning champion beer at this year’s New World Beer & Cider Awards continues a nice upward trend following some “dark times”. Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward are two of the nicest people in the beer industry and it’s great to see them celebrating the success Isthmus 3D IPA, […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Since their recent ownership shakeup, Brewtown’s (aka Upper Hutt’s) Boneface Brewery have been rolling out new releases with a relentless energy, such that I’ve had some samples piling up shamefully in the auxiliary fridge. This week I’m finally making some headway into the backlog with this curiously named Blood & Bone Oaked Stout. While (presumably) […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
At Beervana, The Third Pint Theory was joined by Garage Project founder Pete Gillespie and Wild Workshop brewer Dave Bell for a Q&A session on Chance Luck & Magic 2021, the Champion NZ Beer. At the session we sampled the hard-to-get 2021 vintage as well as the 20202 and 2023. The beers are brewed using […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Photographer, beer-lover and Instagram influencer Dusty, picks his highlights from the latest releases from this winter.| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Before the Kapiti Expressway opened, a drive north up State Highway One from Wellington would take you under a 14m statue of the Virgin Mother standing high| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Awards season rolls on, with the New World Top 25 joining the scrum of medals just last week. On that incredibly hotly tested list (and not for the first time either!) was Lakeman Primate Pilsner from Taupo. The pilsner style (particularly of the NZ persuasion) is seeing a bit of an ascendancy at the moment, […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Motueka-based Hop Federation will cease brewing next month following a strategic review by owners Kono NZ LP.| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Garage Project are opening two new venues in Wellington, including taking over the Fortune Favours taproom in Leeds Street. Fortune Favours closed its doors for the last time on Sunday but the venue will continue as a craft beer destination, with Garage Project moving quickly to take over the space. A day after announcing they […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
The 2025 New World Beer & Cider Awards have been announced. Here’s the list of the Top 25 winners which will be available in New World stores over the next month. Champion Beer Isthmus 3D IPA Isthmus Brewing is the Auckland creation of husband and wife team Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward. Hamish was the […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Isthmus Brewing in Auckland have taken top spot at the annual New World Beer & Cider Awards with their 3D IPA. The awards, in their 10th year, feature some major changes with the Top 30 reduced to a Top 25, making it an ultra-competitive event. And this year, there’s a new category known as Weird […]| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Just days before Brave Brewing won the Champion Brewery crown at the New Zealand Beer Awards, founder-brewer Matt Smith was wondering aloud about “imposter| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Brave Brewing and their cult IPA, Tigermilk, roared the loudest at last night's New Zealand Beer Awards in Christchurch.| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Guinness 0.0 — the hard-to-get non-alcoholic version of Guinness — will become more widely available in New Zealand from later this year.| Pursuit of Hoppiness
Tiny Wellington brewery Mean Doses captured the 18th annual Malthouse West Coast IPA Challenge with their "no gimmicks" entry, The Scale of Mean.| Pursuit of Hoppiness
In May 2024, I booked a one-way ticket to Spain for the following March. The challenge was to spend 34 days walking 800km along a 1000-year-old| Pursuit of Hoppiness
What follows is an updated version of the list of how many brewing brands (Updated July 11, 2025).| Pursuit of Hoppiness
For a few days in June, Dylan Adams thought he was cursed.| Pursuit of Hoppiness