This blog is a re-post of our Brew'tiful Stories Series from our Facebook posts, when we were stuck in lockdown so we decided to do 1 week virtual tours of regional New Zealand to spread the word on what to see, where to eat and importantly where to get great local beers!!
Day 1:
We spoke to a friend in Invercargill that said you must start your day with a great coffee and then pointed us in the direction of The Batch Cafe who by the way are using the Regulr App to keep their local fans filled with said great coffee and scrumptious treats. Check out Southlandnz.com for huge list of local adventures!
Day 2:
With so many recommendations from the locals on delicious eateries got my taste buds dreaming up awesome beer and food matches...which brings me to the 2019 SOBA Southland Brewery of the year The Factory Invercargill. Luckily they have an online store and I am hanging out to try their milk stout! Looking forward to post lockdown because although they do not have a cellar door/ taproom they do open the brewery on the first Friday of each month for a beer and burger night and little tour of the brewery! Strategically planning my post lockdown visit to Invercargill to coincide with one of these!
Day 3
Day 3 of our virtual tour of Southland and we've been pointed in the direction of another SOBA winner with the Southland Bar of the Year 2019, Tuatara Lodge in downtown Invercargill. Nicola and Chris opened Tuatara Invercargill in 2016 and we've been excited to hear about Gadoochi Brewery which sits out the back of the lodge and specialises in harvest fruit cider produced with the leftover fruit from their own central Otago orchard! Brilliant! Not only that but they have an extensive range of craft beer rotating on their 17 taps. Yet another stop added to the list for when we can all get travelling again. 
Day 4
Realising I can’t (or is it shouldn’t...) spend all day in the pub...even virtually...I’m taking a short virtual drive out to the windswept beauty of Oreti Beach and on my way to the sand and shingle peninsula of Sandy Point. I’m told by one of our guides that it was on the banks of Cooper’s Creek at Sandy Point that the wild Irishman Owen McShane set up a distillery fermenting and producing the infamous Cabbage Tree Rum or Cooper’s Schnapps...after cottoning on to the traditional Maori practice of slowly steaming the leaves and roots of the tree to release its high sugar content. Auckland University Food Science students even attempted to recreate the rum in 2011...apparently it turned out like Tequila...and for those of you who know me there is the crux of the story!
Day 5
Day 7
Our virtual tour of Southland is coming to an end and we can’t wait to be able to visit for real soon...perhaps the world’s southern most Beer Festival Hop'n'Vine will be back up and running and we can time it for then. Also we’ve heard on the grapevine that there’s several local brewers quietly brewing away in the region who we hope to see more of in the future too. One things for certain...will be checking out Dig This Invercargill when we do...I mean how awesome is this!!!
