A celebration of the regions craft beer was held on Saturday as the annual Marchfest took place at founders park.
16 craft brewers showcased their beers with each brewing their own specialty creations for the event. 17 new beers made their debut.
Sprig and Fern head brewer, Tracy Banner, says it was a great day for Marchfest with 300 litres of their brew, Paley Aley, selling out early on.
“It was a brand new brew, it was launched at Marchfest so it couldn’t be commercially available. It was a fresh hop international style pale ale. We went out and got the very first hops off the vine as early as we could to use for our brew.”
She says the beer will be available in taverns next week but will have to hold off any forward planning for next year’s brew.
“We’ll have to see, sometimes what they tend to do is have a theme, we’ll have to wait now until October to find out what is planned for next year. That’s when we get our thinking caps on.”
New Zealand bands and musicians including Wellington band Brockaflower and Auckland based Sola Rosa kept dancing crowds entertained while those who wanted to learn a bit more about the industry or how their favourite beer was brewed could attend brew talks in the Brew Zone.
