The Malthouse

Bit of a different tack for today's blog. Some Wellington beer nostalgia. Long before there was a craft beer scene, you basically took your luck on whichever of the big breweries supplied the bar you happened to be at. If you were feeling fancy you might grab a Heineken or a Tiger but that was about it. There were a couple of places where you might have a little more choice but they were the exception.

One such place, however, was the Malthouse. And I am not talking about the Malthouse up the end of Courtenay Place. Before that bar cemented its place in craft beer culture, it was situated on Willis Street. It was an odd place. You had to go up a big set of stairs that looked like you were heading into an office building, but at the top they opened up and you came into a (usually) crowded bar packed with all manner of people. Students rubbed shoulders with suits and bogans and nobody really cared as long as they could get good beer. You could sit around and watch sport, you could play pool, you couldd sit out on the long deck at the front. A trip to the Malthouse was usually the sign of the start of a big night. The decor was pretty tired and looked like an old hotel bar but that all added to the charm.

Although my love of tasty beer may have matured in London it was definitely born at the Malthouse. I still remember looking at the array of taps trying to decide what I wanted to drink and seeing a beer that was definitely New Zealand, but wasn't from the big breweries. It was called Tuatara. It was expensive compared to other beers on offer (although not by today's prices...) but it was an explosioin of flavours in my mouth that made the other beers I had been drinking taste like water. I kept drinking the water but from there on I was always left wanting more.

(I wrote this as a thank you to the Malthouse for being the first beer institution that I recognise to follow me on the Twitter.)