Kiwiblog

Neil Miller writes in the HoS on 10 benefits of drinking beer:

1. Beer lessens the constant anxiety of watching the Black Caps bat.
2. After beer, Gareth Morgan’s constant lectures become slightly less annoying.
3. Beer enables people to hold strong opinions on every issue without resorting to research.
4. Without beer, no one would date in the provinces.
5. Television beer ads employ all young Kiwi actors not talented enough to be on Shortland Street.
6. The Government gets lots of money from beer through excise tax, GST and company tax on anyone who manages to make a profit.
7. Frank Zappa said “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons.” Without beer, New Zealand would only be half a real country.
8. The late-night takeaway food industry depends on beer for patronage.
9. Beer production provides the main ingredient in Marmite.
10. Drinking a frosty beer annoys President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Professor Doug Sellman.

Heh, an excellent list.

Another HoS article focuses on the drop in beer consumption in NZ.

Statistics NZ figures reveal beer sales have dropped from 181 litres per adult in 1973 to 79 litres last year. This figure marks the lowest level of beer sales since World War II.

But what about the drinking crisis in NZ?

And before you claim people are just drinking more of other alcoholic products, overall alcohol production is down also.

The New Zealand National Party is currently hosting a meeting of the Executive of the International Democrat Union. This is the federation of centre-right parties from around the globe. Chaired by John Howard, it has 80 member parties.

As I have been involved in the past, and know quite a few of the people attending I’ve been fortunate enough to be attending the meeting, and the associated social functions.

Last night was the formal dinner at Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Hotel (which incidentally was top class  fantastic food). Yesterday morning I got a call from National Party HQ saying they had had a couple of people unable to attend, and I could bring a date at no extra cost if I wanted to.

I thought this was wonderful, and my mind started to think about which lovely young woman I could invite and impress by introducing her to the various party leaders and MPs from around the world. Before my mind could even start compiling a short-list of dates, I then was informed “And we want your date to be Neil Miller“.

Now I’m about as liberal as one can get on same sex issues, having supported civil unions, gay marriage and same sex adoption. But having National make it compulsory for me to have a same sex date to the IDU dinner was just a step too far.

However as a loyal person, I rang up Neil and invited him to be my date for the dinner. Strangely Neil seemed more upset by the fact he had to wear a tie, than being my date. He did show some concern when I joked his name tag would be Mrs Neil Farrar. He got revenge though by giving me a hug and kiss on the cheek in front of the Prime Minister. Luckily I had pre-briefed the PM that it was his party that had made same sex dating compulsory.

Neil proved to be an admirable date, so I have decided not to join Colin Craig’s Conservative Party yet. I will insist on choosing my own dates for any future events though!

The owners of the Malt House along with well known beer writer Neil Miller opened up a new pub in Wellington last year. I promised I would do a review of it, and last week had a friend in town back from the US, so we all arranged to meet at the Fork & Brewer on Bond Street.

The Fork & Brewer is on Bond Street. The location used to be home to Syn & Hell Pizza, the Ruby Lounge and the Loaded Hog before that. I also recall it being the Bond Street Inn. You go up the stairs to be greeted with …

At present these are decorative, but in the near future they will in fact start to brew their own labels in-house.

On the good Wellington days, you can sit outside on the balcony and look down on all the worker ants scurrying up and down Victoria and Bond Streets.

I love their bar. The interior is quite large, and the bar forms a barrel almost the entire 360 degrees. The decor is cool with all the gadgets displayed on the wall, but what is most excellent is the 43 different beers they have on tap – almost all New Zealand independent and craft beers.

This is a bar made for beer lovers, owned by beer lovers. You can see their full range of beers here.

The food is great – much better than normal pub or bar fare. Not just my view, but also the Dine Out reviewers. I can only rave about the chicken wings – they are delicious, and you get a huge number too.

In keeping with their love of beer, they have matched beers to each menu item, as you can see above. You can see their menu here.

And as the final temptation to turn the Fork & Brewer into my mobile office, they have a power hot-point at every booth, so you can plug your laptop in.

All up, a highly recommended venue for drink and food. I plan to go there often.

Beerologist Neil Miller asks the politicians their favourite beers. In summary:

• John Key – Bath Gem, a tasty ale from Bristol
• Phil Goff – Emerson’s Pilsner
• David Garrett – Stella Artois and Macs Gold
• Jim Anderton – Speights and Stella Artois
• Peter Dunne – Guinness, Heineken and Macs Gold
• Russel Norman – Founder’s Redhead and Tall Blonde
• Metiria Turei – Green Man Pils