Radio Hauraki Brewery Tour - Day 3 Diary

There are strange vibrations all around us…

Wellington is a wonderfully weird and windy city. Filled with coffee, culture and now it seems at every corner craft beer breweries. The home of Parrot Dog, Garage Project, Heyday, Panhead, Boneface, Tuatara and our host for the second stop on the Brewery Tour, Fortune Favours. Operating out of an old run down derelict building on Leeds Street which has been refurbed in true Wellington style featuring the brewing vats as part of the furniture. There was a beer for every taste including the award-winning Oregonian Amber Ale, a Blueberry Cider and my pick the Naturalist IPA.

Once again Leigh & Jase kicked off the evening, this time with a bit of stand up and then put in a shift behind the bar pouring pints. They must have been good at it because at one point I remember looking over at Leigh to see him being pashed by a leather jacket wearing, mullet-sporting man. Turns out his name is Motorhead and he’s a massive Bhuja fan. After such an intimate moment the host and listener will be forever a little more connected. Jon Toogood once again kept the crowd pumping with his DJ set. At one point Leigh was in a dance battle to the sounds of “Dancing With Myself” by Billy Idol against a group of young punters. Leigh won the battle but his opponent one the eyebrow and hair battle…

This is when things start to get weird. “What kind of milk do you drink?” That’s not the typical question you’d hear in a bar during a Brewery Tour, but a weird dressed man with an eloquent pronunciation repeated it to me again across the table. I look at him, performed an ocular putdown and surveyed the threat and truthfully replied. “Blue top”. His facial expression rolled into a smile and he then yelled “Thank you! I can now confirm that you are not a robot and that makes me happy.” This is how I learn to determine who is a human and who is a robot…. “If you see someone and they drink any milk other than Blue, if they drink light blue, green, yellow or anything else, they are a robot and you must immediately grab a gun and blow their robot brains all over the wall. Their robot body will then crumple to the ground and that green milk will pour from the wound.”

It was time to go…

We were separated from Leigh & The Night Wolf, who were set up in an Irish Bar on Courtney Place, as I decided to pull pin, return to the hotel and hope that the robot killing milkman doesn’t break down my door. Waiting for me as I returned to the Rydges was a bucket of beers and a note from the team at one of the best hotels in New Zealand. Sleep. Sleep will be good.

This morning I text Matt to check on his status, we were leaving in moments to catch another flight, this time to Tauranga for stop #3. A cryptic but not unsurprising text from The Nightwolf “I woke up nude in Leigh Hart’s bed”. Apparently, he had been in Leigh’s room, left to go to his own room before returning in only his underpants holding a keycard. As we checked out the usual confusion/bartering around the mini-bar ensued and we piled into the shuttle to head to the airport for the flight to Tauranga.

As soon as we touch down I am going straight to a sports bar to watch the remaining of the 5th Game of the Stanley Cup Final to see if the Capitals and Ovi can finish off Vegas and win the cup.

Then we do it all again at Rising Tide and the Mount Brewing Co. tonight. Remember, watch out for the robots who don’t drink Blue Milk…

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