Radio Hauraki Brewery Tour - Day 1 Diary

How does one prepare for a stint of 10 days touring Breweries and partying with hundreds of Great New Zealanders including Leigh Hart, Jason Hoyte and Jon Toogood?…By getting massively on the back foot the night before the tour of course.

Truth be told, I’m a huge hockey fan (ice hockey for our local readers) and right now we are balls deep into the Stanley Cup Final. The championship round of the NHL season where that giant oversized cup is handed out to bearded, bloodied athletes with missing teeth.

June 5th the night before Day 1 of the Brewery Tour it was Game 4 of the Final. The Washington Capitals had the chance to go up 3-1 against the miracle expansion Vegas Golden Knights and be on the verge of hoisting the Cup. I managed to avoid all spoilers during the day so I could get home from work, settle into the nicely worn ass groove on my couch and watch the game delayed with no distractions.

As the game began, something was calling my name from the fridge. It was a cold and tasty 12 pack of Tuatara APA’s. I cracked the first one which went dangerously down quickly and it wasn’t long before the fourth bottle top was being levered from its beautifully unique bottle. Fast forward to the midway through the 3rd Period and the Caps have blown a 4 goal lead and Vegas had scored twice. This game was about to get very interesting and I was getting into the bottom of the box. Steam levels were reaching high levels. “Have you packed?” my girlfriend asked. “Nah I’ll do it in the next day….” A few fights, dirty hits and game misconducts later Ovi and the Caps had won 5-2 and would play for the title on Friday. I had also finished my work. Tomorrow will be interesting…

The scene opens with my alarm blasting in my head and ringing round like a massive gong after getting smashed by The Mountain from Game Of Thrones. Within what seemed like moments G Lane and Leigh Hart were waiting outside in an Uber. After smashing an ice cold red ambulance into me waiting for the plane we were boarding Nelson bound. Things were going great until the turbulence hit. A fierce internal battle to keep the vomit down was successful and turns out my flight was a lot more enjoyable than G Lane’s, who had a baby boomer spilling coffee all over him during the bumpy ride. We touched down in sunny Nelson with precision and professionalism that comes only with an Air New Zealand flight crew.

One last thing before we unloaded from the plane… The pilot is a huge Shihad fan with a giant Shihad tattoo and wanted a photo with Jon Toogood. And by giant tattoo, I mean giant tattoo!

Onwards to the hustling and bustling city centre of Nelson. Quick bag chuck and off to the venue of the first stop on Radio Hauraki’s Brewery Tour - McCashins Brewery the home of Leigh Hart’s Wakachangi.  The scene was set, the beer was cold and flowing, hopefully, I wake up tomorrow in a better state than this morning.

But as Leigh hands me another pint I have only a few words repeating in my head… “Keep Calm and Changi On”.

Massive thanks to the great New Zealanders at Jack Links for making the Brewery Tour possible. 

Words by Joseph Durie - Please direct all hate to Joe_Ray_Me on Twitter