New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Hello,

My partner and I have just moved from our central-city apartment in Christchurch and are wanting to socialise with Brits in the capital. Does anyone fancy meeting up for drinks after pay day (15th)?

Also, if anyone out there homebrews, it would be good to swap notes and have tastings!

Thanks.

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Hi

Welcome to Wellington. We have been here around 18 months now and love it. Would be happy to meet up but busy on 15th/16th/17th with Christmas parties. Its like buses, they all come at once!

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Welcome to Wellington, we've been here 5 years & are also north of the city.

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

can we organise something for the after the New Year as we fly out on the 8th Jan??

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Hello Teresa, Bloopy, and Mrs Fychan,

How are you all?

That's no worries, Teresa. Karen's off to Christchurch the following weekend so maybe some time in the new year? (And do you have a favourite local either down here or up where you are?)

Thanks, Bloopy. (I'm a Toonie by descent, by the way. The English side of my family are all from West Sleekburn/Bedlington. I was born and raised in Watford.)

Good luck with the move, Mrs Fychan. How is the visa application going? My mother is Manawatu born and bred so I got to skip all that. We should meet up after you have settled in. Where is your husband based?

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

I'd be up for a meet up in the new year... and i'm also a budding home brewer... well just started out on the road...:beer::beer::beer:

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Hi Simon,

Nice to hear from you.

Yup, I'm new to homebrewing too - on brew number four at present with three planned. (I read somewhere that the best thing to do as a beginner is to not give the fermenter a break, and I intend not to!) So far a lager has come out well, but I daren't try my real ale yet. I really miss London Pride, Spitfire, et alii.

Have you come across Great Expectation in Lower Hutt yet? They sell brewing and winemaking equipment, and have a section dedicated to aquarium supplies (for some reason).

Let's meet up in the new year - and do keep in touch about the brewing.

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

[QUOTE=DouglasHarvey;9756853]Hi Simon,
Have you come across Great Expectation in Lower Hutt yet? QUOTE]


Frequent visitor...

1st batch was an Ale which wasn't bad, didn't last long enough to see if it improved with age...

2nd was a Cider which i am really pleased with, just need to tweak it a little to improve the apple flavour, but carbonation was good...

3rd was a ginger Beer for the son, so no Alcohol...

4th just bottled yesterday is an Imitation Heineken, so will be interested to see how that matures in a week or so...

Now planning the 5th, can't decide between another Ale or giving a Stout a go...

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Good stuff.

So far:

First: Australian lager - pretty tasty but the remaining twelve bottles need a while!

Second: Also a cider. I used the Black Rock kit. It tastes good but the one I cracked yesterday had little carbonation. It was only bottled last Tuesday so I'm not too worried. (And I don't mind still cider.)

Third: A real ale (with extra dried malt) that, somewhat worryingly, took only five days to ferment (1042 - 1008 with two days stable). I've only half-carbonated the bottles to get a British ale feel. This one could go either way - I'm really hoping it's good.

And currently in the fermenter: a Mexican Cerveza with Cooper's Brew Enhancer 2 and dry enzyme. I'm going for a cool ferment on this. (The previous three were all brewed on a heat pad.)

I've got a Brewcraft ginger beer kit for my partner (which will be non-alcoholic too), and then it's a wheat beer which I'll probably splash out on as I love the stuff. Our local in Christchurch was the Belgium Tap in Victoria Square. They did Hoegaarden on tap and we spent a small fortune there. The building has survived but it remains firmly inside the red zone. Would love to go back there one day.

My partner is sowing me a large tea-cosy-like heat retainer for the fermenter. It should make it easy to brew without central heating in winter ...

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Great stuff... be really cool to meet up... I used the Black Rock cider kit too and it took about 3-4 weeks to get good carbonation... am leaving the last 15 bottles for Xmas...

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Ah, thanks for that. I thought that was why the cider wasn't picking up. Next time round I'm going to add yeast nutrient and lactose (and maybe risk leaving it on its lees for several weeks - sanitise, sanitise, sanitise).

Anyway, we're probably sounding like fanatics ...

Let's definitely meet up in the new year. There was a great pub in Christchurch that brewed their own English-style beer (much like the old Firkin chain in the UK). Have you come across anything similar in Wellington or surrounds?

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

This is the best place i've found http://www.thebruhaus.co.nz/ the beer is a little more expensive...

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

London Pride and ESB on tap. That's a deal-breaker ...

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

We'd be up for a meet in the New Year too, going to be arriving in Wellington around about New Years Eve.

Re: New to Wellington and looking to meet people
 

Hey Shades,

Good luck for the move. You'll love Tai Kapiti and Porirua is certainly a useful hub to have nearby.

I'm returning to studying in late February so will have plenty of free time at the start of the new year. Give us a shout if you guys need a hand.

Doug