Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:00 AM

Beer of the Week: City of Ales Festival 2012

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the inaugural City of Ales festival. This was a smallish beer festival that celebrated the growing craft brewing scene in Auckland.

There were 25 or so beers available from a range of breweries around the City of Sails, and a fairly sizeable contingent of Auckland beer enthusiasts. The beer was plentiful and reasonably priced (three small glasses for $10) and there were some good options to choose from.

It’s always interesting going to a new event to see how it develops. City of Ales wasn’t without its issues—there were some problems with how some of the beers were pouring—but on the whole, it was a very good event. The atmosphere was good, with minimal queues and friendly patrons all round. If the event grows in the same vein, it has a solid future ahead of it.

In terms of the beers I enjoyed, I tended toward some of the darker and stronger brews. The Deep Creek Basilica (a vanilla chocolate porter), Ben Middlemiss Brewing Co. Nota Bene (a Belgian abbey style ale), and the Steam Brewing Co. B10 (a Belgo-American imperial dark ale) were all very tasty once I’d given them some time to warm up. On the hoppier side, the Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black and Epic Zythos both were of their characteristically high quality.

I didn’t manage to try all the beers there on the day, but I’m sure there were some other gems there. Maybe in the future they could also expand to have more beers from the North Island, letting breweries like Croucher and Tuatara join the fray.

I’ll definitely be back to support City of Ales next year.