Living in wine country had me craving some good craft beer. When I saw tickets for the Wanaka Beerfest, I got tickets with a girl-friend during the first release. Getting in early saw you saving $10 as tickets ranged from $30-40 NZD.
Since Wanaka is about an hour North of where I live, we decided to stay at a local campsite so we could enjoy the beers without worrying about driving. As we were coming closer to the Saturday day festival, it was looking like rain so we upgraded to a room.
The weather was awful in the morning with heavy showers, but the sun came out right as we were catching the free bus from downtown Wanaka to the venue.
This was the BeerFest’s 5th year and included 15 unique craft breweries. All accepted cards or cash for either a small ($5) or large ($10) fill.
We arrived around 1:30pm but the event started at 12noon and went until 6:30pm.
When you entered you got a reusable cup and tokens for 2 free drinks at one select brewery. Although it was nice to have that to start, I wish I could have chosen where I wanted to use those tokens.
There was seating and some cover from sun/rain but most people were sitting on the grass in front of two stages. Food trucks were also dispersed throughout the festival with a range of options.
Overall I was impressed how the festival offered a free bus service to and from town. That being said they could have advertised this service better. For the venue itself, it was a good size and although busy, not crowded. Some places had longer lines than others but it was manageable. I would do this Beer Festival again since it had a lot of South Island and Otago Breweries you do not see in Auckland.
TIP: Having a beer necklace can be handy at these types of events!
What’s your favorite Beer Festival?