Beer Friday! - Yeastie Boys Brewery

Hello folks, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday!. This week, I'd first like to share a fantastic discovery I made. Here, in Dunedin, there is a CRAFT BEER STORE. Yeah. A place where I can go to pick up all sorts of NZ (and international) microbrews, as well as delicious scotch (if I could afford it) and fantastic wines (if I was Peter Dinklage). SO, I raise my literal and metaphorical glass to Castle MacAdam Wine. May we have a wonderful, alcohol based friendship over the next 100 or so (is that a hint as to my return date? MAYBE?) days.

As for the beer(s) this week, I went with two selections, purchased from the aforementioned Castle MacAdam, from Yeastie Boys Brewery. Based out of Miramar in Wellington, YB was founded by Stu McKinlay and Sam Posseniskie. They exploded onto the craft brewing scene in 2009 with their fantastically named Pot Kettle Black porter (winning two trophies at BrewNZ 2009), and have since been putting out top quality brown pops and making it rain, PACMAN JONES STYLE, international beer awards. Everything I've heard and read about these guys had been overwhelmingly positive, so I'm very excited to review TWO of their beers for you, as always, after the jump.

Beer Friday! - Renaissance Brewing Co.

Hello again folks, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday! Jumping straight into it, this week I elected to purchase the Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout from Renaissance Brewing Company. Based out of Blenheim, the heart of New Zealand's wine-producing region, Renaissance is actually the only brewery (that I am aware of) that had product in the LCBO at the time of my departure. As such, this particular beer is not the first Renaissance offering I've had, but it is certainly the first that I remember.

The brewery, being located in a world-renowned wine producing region, certainly has a lot to live up to in terms of the quality its neighbours put out. Renaissance takes on this challenge with zeal, with their website stating "We produce top end, ultra premium ales that enlighten the palate and thrill the senses. Our beers are made from the pure waters that flow from the southern alps and we only use locally grown hops from our own backyard." This mantra and committment to producing top quality product has led them to being nominated for a number of awards, including winning an Australasian Brewery of the Year for 2012. Renaissance are is a great example of a New Zealand craft brewery that puts out top quality product.

2012 NZ International Film Festival

If you care to review some of my previous posts, you will note that in some of them, I have pointed out the fact that New Zealand is mind-bottlingly behind the times in certain technological areas. Not that big a deal really, and frankly, not all that surprising when you look at where New Zealand is in relation to ANYTHING else - goddamn far away. So, the unreliability of the internet, something that is taken for granted in North America, isn't that shocking. Despite this difficulty, however, one thing NZ does not lag behind in is MOVIES (not counting Oamaru). When I moved here, I was expecting to encounter major delays in seeing big-time movies, mainly due to the fact that we're way down near Antarctica, not exactly a bastion of cinemophiles (not a real word, but you get the idea). Imagine my surprise when i got to see THE film event of 2012, The Dark Knight Rises, BEFORE all of my Canada-based friends (SPOILER ALERT: Snape kills Dumbledore Alfred is a BOSS) - finally, a benefit to living in the future.

In addition to not being years behind on the cinema scene, NZ actually has quite an impressive film scene/culture/community, which is likely a driving force behind the solid lineup at the NZ International Film Festival. There are a series of these festivals across the country, showing movies from all over world, and fortunately for me, one of the locations for the festival was Dunedin. Now, being a regular human being, I like movies, so I took advantage of the festival a number of times, and after the jump, you can read my arbitrary and non-sensical reviews of the movies I saw. ACTION! (movie joke!)

Beer Friday! - EPIC Pale Ale

Good morning/afternoon/evening my international friends, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday! As I'm sure you've noticed (UpsideDownDave readers being noted for their incredible powers of observation), once again, this post is not appearing on a Friday, no matter where on the globe you are. I'm just going to say it: Beer Friday! is pretty much a Friday post in name only at this point. I did drink a beer this Friday, but general apathy has resulted in me putting off the writing of this post for a few days. Thus, henceforth, Beer Friday! will become more of a weekend post. I will still drink the beer on Friday, but the post could appear at any point during the weekend. This has a double benefit: you, the reader, are kept on your toes, constantly refreshing your browser as you await my meaningless and meandering review, and I have a justification for my laziness. THAT IS A WIN-WIN SCENARIO IN MY BOOKS. So, without further ado, I present...

Minor Differences: Part 1

First things first. No, I am not dead. No, my hands have not fallen off. Yes, I still know how to type and all my fingers are, at last check, still attached (though I figure I could misplace at least 70% of my fingers and not lose anything off my words per minute score). Quite simply, I've been doing nothing interesting, unless you count schoolwork, exercise and countless hours of Football Manager interesting. I of course, do find those things passably engaging (at least two of them anyway), so if I were writing a blog just for me, I guess I'd be in great shape. I am, however, writing this blog for you, my intrepid reader, so posts about all that guff would be frivolous in the extreme. Much like this introduction.

Back to the whole purpose of this post (an admittedly half-assed premise), and that is some casual observations about small differences between Canadian and Kiwi life. The idea is shamelessly appropriated from The Oatmeal, one of my favourite blogs and a generally hilarious corner of the internet. To avoid copyright restrictions, my versions of Minor Differences will differ in two ways: A) It will not be very funny and B) It won't have amusing drawings. Pretty much the only similarity is the title I guess. Sorry to disappoint. Anyway, after the jump.