Beervana and Frugal Enlightenment

Last weekend we had the pleasure of volunteering at Wellington's annual celebration of all things brew at Beervana. We got to pour ourselves foamy microbrews between serving customers (how can you honestly recommend a beer without having tried it?), bump shoulders with some of the premier brewers throughout New Zealand and learn which chocolate to pair with which beer (my personal favorite was a dark, black pepper, strawberry chocolate with a mellow oatmeal stout). Awesomely enough, America was solely represented by Colorado's own homage to Hunter S. Thompson- Flying Dog. The next day, we got in free of charge and experienced 15 different breweries from the other side of the tap. None of this would have happened unless we had volunteered.

We are poor but unwilling to miss out on all that Wellington has to offer which puts us in a seemingly impossible situation. Fortunately, to solve this problem requires just a little extra legwork and some free time (of which we have heaps). I highly recommend it if you are in a similar situation. Keep an eye out for upcoming events that look interesting and then contact them saying you would like to volunteer your time in exchange for free admission. Most people are happy to have you help and you get to do fun things without spending a dime. It's a win-win.


FACT OF THE DAY
There are technically only two types of beers- ales and lagers. This is determined by which direction the yeast goes once it's gorged itself on sugar. In ales the yeast floats to the top, in lagers the yeast sinks to the bottom. All the other “types” of beers- stout, porter, pilsener etc. are either indicating a certain style of brewing or a marketing ploy to get you to try something novel.