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At last year’s Abandoned Brewery booth in Beervana, an apocalyptic explosion occurred at a makeshift nuclear power plant. This year, customers witnessed “the cleaning.”
Smoke billowed out of the dumpsters, janitors in overalls and brooms galore accompanied the staff of the Lower Hutt-based brewery, which was offering 10 beers (pouring out of said dumpsters) as part of the two-day festival, the largest celebration of New Zealand beer, at Wellington’s Sky Stadium.
The nearly sold-out annual event, in its 19th year, runs on Fridays and Saturdays.
Tim Ward, founder of Abandoned Brewery, said the theatricality of his brewery booth was a nod to the “abandoned” namesake. Because the brewery was originally “abandoned for dead,” when Ward took over three and a half years ago, he wanted to come up with a name that reflected its history.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Gwilym Breese of Abandoned Brewery maintains her social distance while serving beers for Heather Nash during Beervana at Sky Stadium.
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“We are basically here to clean up Beervana. We are eliminating the aspect of last year that was a toxic waste, ”he said. “We are cleaning up our act.”
Whereas last year your staff were dressed in white lab coats in the control room, this year as “Wasted Management” cleaners they were all called Black Sabbath members.
“Roady” (Gwilym Breese), whose actual position at the brewery is national sales manager, said the brewery was “known for making a bit of a mess.”
“We thought it was probably a good time to stop exposing people to radiation, they might be susceptible to some other viruses,” he said.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Crowds of drinkers during Beervana at Sky Stadium.
As for the containers from the brewery? “They are definitely not dumpsters. We prefer to use ‘trash cans’ … A kid dropped a cigarette into one earlier and it’s still on fire, we’re trying to figure out how to put that out. “
Also on display at this year’s festival was a Parrotdog booth, hauling in a pile of sand and recreating Lyall Bay (where their brewery is located); a painting gallery courtesy of Juicehead where people could shoot paint at a canvas through super-soaked squirt guns; and the Miami Vice-vibe dance floors of the 80s with beers inspired by Urbanaut cocktails.
Tuatara Brewery recreated a Southeast Asian fruit market, as many of its beers used Southeast Asian fruits, including what is believed to be New Zealand’s first durian IPA beer. There was even a hemp beer on sale from Double Vision.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Heather Nash tastes an Abandoned Brewery beer during 2020 Beervana at Sky Stadium.
Instead of international brewers, there was an American and British beer stand, courtesy of the American Embassy and the British High Commission.
Ryan McArthur, Beervana’s manager, said the biggest mission in preparing for the festival was getting people in. “We have people here, they are drinking beer, eating and they have a smile on their faces.”
McArthur, who refers to Beervana as his “son,” said he was proud that the team managed to get the festival out of line.
“I don’t ride that horse all the time, but with the year we’ve had it, it doesn’t feel real until the crowd comes in. I’ve eaten my oysters and I’m happy.”
Ross Giblin / Stuff
Crowds in Beervana at Sky Stadium.
