Goodbye 20's Hello 30's!

Your Invited to my 30th Birthday & Sarah, Max and Molly’s House Warming

Join us on Saturday the 21st of November to celebrate my 30th Birthday and the moving in of Sarah and the kids. We will have ales from The Twisted Hop, O-Street and Townshend Breweries on draught and an Indian and Thai themed Barbeque.

When: Saturday 21st of November 2pm till 10pm.
Where: The Mason’s Arms 381 Ohiro Rd Brooklyn
Bring a koha for the beer and something spicy for the BBQ

Gifts not expected but if you want to give me something a bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale for the cellar would be lovely.

30 looming

I turn 30 early next month. Inspired by Alex’s gift to Greig and David Woods recent purchase I decided to (cheekily) arrange a 1979 bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale as a birthday gift from Sarah. I’m more than a little excited as Hardy’s Ale is one of my all time favourites and I have never had a bottle of Eldridge Pope brewed version let alone one that exceeds the much touted 25 year mark!

I’m currently organising a birthday party for mid November, it will consist of an Asian themed BBQ and Twisted HoHop bright beer on tap.

The 1979 Hardy’s is photographed on our brand new Indian made farmhouse style kitchen table, lovely.

Christening

The christening of the Mason’s Arms (my new bar) occurred this week. The first Thursday Night drinks in the new venue went very well. The rain was teaming outside , and the temperatures were definitely mid winter rather than late spring! Perfect beer drinking weather. A good crowd showed up and the room was filled to bursting at times, but everyone seemed to enjoy them selves, no doubt aided by the pints of Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black (Peoples Choice Remix) that were flowing. The beer was tasting fantastic but it did remind me why I like having at least one low strength beer on tap!, Stu reckons its 5.5% but I suspect it may be a touch stronger.

If you want to keep track of when the Masons is open sign up as a fan of the Mason’s Arms Brooklyn on facebook.

The bar is dead long live the bar!

And the new bar is all set up, its looking pretty sharp if I do say so myself.

Changing Rooms

There will be some changes coming up at the Mason’s Arms (aka my house bar). I used to get asked occasionally why I had a bar and three beer engine in my living room, my answer was always ‘why would you have a bar and 3 beer engines in your living room?’ However the time has come in my life where I will answer my own question. Sarah has sold her house and we are moving her and 2 of her kids into my house.

Its time for the bar to go...

Well move actually. Over the next month the bar will be moved from the central living area into one of the bedrooms that open off from it. This of course will give me a lounge bar and a public bar (or tap room as I’m tempted to call it even though I am well aware that tap rooms don’t usually have taps in them and this one will). Although Sarah will call the lounge bar the living room of course.

I will update with photos as the new bar takes form.

Real Ale at the Races

Never let it be said that we let a bad beer selection get in the way of a good time. This weekend I made a mad dash to Otaki for a very short weekend away for my good friend Mulchin’s 30^th Birthday. I had to be back for work on Sunday and ended up having to race the train an extra stop in order to catch it home!

On Saturday we visited the Otaki Maori Racing Club meet at the Otaki racecourse. We knew the usual suspects were on offer from bar so decided to sort our own beer out. We set up a beer engine in the back of the van and enjoyed the good stuff

To make the weekend special I had organised 3 soft packs, a concept similar to nasty cask wine but bigger and without the nasty wine, filled with bright moderately conditioned beer. So my title is a little disingenuous as it was really bright ale at the races but that didn’t have the same ring to it!

Through the weekend we enjoyed Twisted Hop Goldings Bitter, Three Boys IPA and Three Boys Oyster Stout. All were tasting absolutely fantastic. We had the IPA at the races and it certainly hit the spot.

Weekend Escape

One of the fantastic things about my new job is that I can have time off with Sarah. At Moores when one of us was away the other pretty much had to be there, a naff situation. Now we can have weekends away and shock horror, when we can afford it, actually get over to the UK. This weekend is Sarah’s Birthday so we will be off to Waikanae for the weekend. Last year we managed to get away midweek to the Wassail Brauhaus in Taranaki, we intended to go back this year but times are tough and we decided we couldn’t afford it. So this weekend it will be good beer, good cider, good cheese, good simple food, chilly dog walks, and warm fires. I cant wait!

The pictures are from a weekend we booked just after I started at Regionals. The beer was Sussex Old Ale , a low gravity old ale I brewed especially for Sarah.