Media release - Beervana 2021

Beervana 2021 welcomes Trans-Tasman beer bubbles, birthdays, baby breweries and a bumper culinary weekend 

If there was ever a weekend to be into great beer and mind-blowing food, it’s the weekend of 13-15 August, when Beervana returns to Wellington’s Sky Stadium on 13-14 August and coincides with Visa Wellington On a Plate for a culinary weekend that is sure to draw foodies from all corners of the country.

New Zealand’s premiere festival of Good Beer is back with a plethora of crazy, one-off, Festival beers and theatrical, interactive brewery stands in an immersive fantasy land for beer lovers and the beer curious, alike. Beervana will also be welcoming seven Australian breweries, thanks to the opening of the Trans-Tasman beer bubble, celebrating multiple milestone brewery birthdays, and welcoming eight first-time attending breweries - all of this on one of Wellington’s biggest culinary weekends New Zealand has ever seen.

Adding to the excitement of Beervana 2021 is a super bumper culinary weekend, coinciding with the beer fest on 13-15 August. Culinary fans around the country can experience the height of foodie nirvana with Beervana, held, for the first time, at the mid-point weekend of Visa Wellington On a Plate’s month-long festivities (1-31 Aug). Also for the first time, the culinary festival’s Dine Wellington, Garage Project Presents Burger Wellington and Cocktail Wellington presented by Tommy’s will all take place simultaneously over the entire weekend (13-15 Aug), allowing visitors and locals to take a bite - and sip - of each.

Beervana Manager, Ryan McArthur, said after a tough and tentative year for breweries around the country in 2020, the beer industry was back in 2021, booming and keen to connect with beer lovers and the beer curious once again at Beervana. 

“Spots for Beervana filled up so quickly, we had to call time on applications a month or so back as we were running out of room,” said Mr. McArthur.

“More than 75 beer and culinary exhibitors will be in attendance at Beervana, with more than 60 of those being brewery, beer, homebrew or other drinks stalls, including a mix of both new and long-term returning breweries.”

The festival, in its 20th year, will also see a lot of beery birthdays being celebrated with Wellington breweries: Parrotdog and Garage Project, along with Auckland brewery, Deep Creek, all turning 10; Blenheim Brewery, Renaissance Brewing turning 15, and Paraparaumu brewery, Tuatara celebrating an illustrious 21 years. 

The festival has also seen a big uptake of first-time attendee breweries, with eight new breweries making appearances:  Cowabunga Brewing (Auckland), Derelict Brewing (Rangiora), Rhyme and Reason (Wanaka), The Beer Engine (Porirua), The Occasional Brewer (Wellington) The Emporium Brewing (Kaikoura), Three Sisters (New Plymouth) and Buzz Club Mead (Hawkes Bay).

And to top up the proverbial pint, the Trans-Tasman beer bubble has also opened up, meaning New Zealand’s premiere celebration of Good Beer can not only welcome Australian breweries, in the form of Boatrocker (Victoria), Range Brewing (Queensland), and Mountain Culture (New South Wales), plus four more Aussie breweries pouring beers on the Kegstar Australia stand, but also welcome Australian beer lovers since 2019.

“Beervana 2020 performed very well last year, even with the move to November due to the impacts of the pandemic and lockdowns. Our attendance was comparable to previous years taking into account a few less Australians. We’ll be welcoming them and the Aussie breweries back with open arms!” said Mr. McArthur.

“Approximately 50% of Beervana festival attendees are out-of-town-visitors, so with this year landing in the middle of Visa Wellington On a Plate it’s going to be a huge one for the culinary and craft beer Capital.”

Mr. McArthur challenged Kiwis from all over the country - even the ones who think they don’t like beer - to open their minds and try something new, especially whilst overseas travel was still limited.

“We want to break past the misconception that Beervana is just popular with men or fiending hop heads. It’s for everyone.We can’t even count the number of times we hear first-time festival attendees tell us how much they love the festival once they’ve experienced it. As well as some of Wellington’s best festival food from its top restaurants and food trucks, Beervana also showcases hard seltzer, natural wine, ciders and mead.

“And it’s always a wealth of entertainment - we have two live sound stages, street performances, and on top of that, because it’s indoors, it’s the only beer festival where breweries really get theatrical with their stands, giving a real dramatic, visual showcase of their personalities.

“Beervana always has a surprise just around the corner. The venue is a massive concrete doughnut, and as you walk along the concourse of the Sky Stadium, the festival is one big reveal. And by the end of it, people who didn’t think they liked beer or even knew anything about it, are big fans.”

Beervana tickets are on sale now (from Monday, 14 June).

Notes to media

The Wellington Culinary Events Trust is a not-for-profit trust established in 2014 to run iconic New Zealand events including Visa Wellington On a Plate, Beervana and Highball.

For media queries, please contact: JoAnne Carr - PR & Communications Manager - joanne@beervana.co.nz or 027 694 1506.