BAR OF THE MONTH - December

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for December is Smash Palace, Christchurch.

Smash Palace is the 'pop-up' reincarnation of Goodbye Blue Monday, which used to sit in Poplar Lane opposite the Twisted Hop before the earthquakes. The bar is a converted bus, and will be on the move sometime in the new year when building starts on its current temporary site. Even on a wet winter's night the outside seating is cosy and inviting, since enough of it is covered and heated. They showcase local beers, happily including a couple of handpumps which draw beer up from a refrigerated area beneath the bar. Despite the beer generally coming from bags, it is usually served in respectable condition, and has a relatively good turnover.

BAR OF THE MONTH - November

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for November is Albar, Dunedin.

Albar remains Dunedin's beer enthusiasts' bar of choice. The four handpumps serve a regularly changing variety of mostly local beers. Sadly the beer is likely to be served bright, but the bar is usually busy enough now that there is sufficient turnover to allow the beer to taste moderately fresh.

BAR OF THE MONTH - October

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for October is Pomeroy's Old Brewery Inn, Christchurch.

It's a couple of years since Pomeroy's last received honourable mention in these pages. During this time the building has gone through a period of repair, additional strengthening, and some minor internal rearrangement. The new brewery, Beer Baroness run by Ava Wilson, has also opened on site. Its excellent beers are found with increasing frequency in bars around the city, and as far south as the likes of The Portsider in Port Chalmers. In many cases the beer is happily dispensed by handpump without artificial carbonation. In Pomeroy's itself, three handpumps are now to be found in almost continuous operation. Unfortunately the beer does tend to come from bags, but it still tastes fresh and is (generally) at an appropriate temperature. It's rarely cloudy, presumably indicating that the beer is bright. It's certainly far more flavoursome, aromatic and drinkable than the wide array of gassy beers on offer.

BAR OF THE MONTH - September

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for September is The Free House.

The Nelson area continues to show the rest of New Zealand how it should be done, with a plethora of interesting breweries, characterful pubs, and handpumps popping up in several new establishments recently. At this point, though, the good example stops as most of those pubs' handpumps are connected to bags rather than barrels in which beer can properly condition. It's certainly a step in the right direction. Hopefully it will stimulate enough interest amongst customers and staff alike to prompt them to graduate beyond bags. The Free House are an honourable exception. They do set the right example. Their handpumps are usually to be found serving Townshend beers direct from the cask, although the beer sometimes seems to suffer from low turnover.

BAR OF THE MONTH - August

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for August is The Woolston Hop.

The Twisted Hop at Woolston is nearing its first birthday celebrations, and finds itself confidently leading the real ale revival in Christchurch. The Hop's beers are consistently the best in the city, and a convivial atmosphere and warm welcome are always guaranteed by the staff, who are passionate about their beer. In addition to the excellent standard beers (which will be well-remembered by regulars from the days in Poplar Lane), a number of special brews have been produced recently, and they gladly showcase other local brewers. No beer lover's tour of NZ would be complete without a visit to the Twisted Hop.

BAR OF THE MONTH - July

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for July is Little Beer Quarter, Wellington.

LBQ has just celebrated its second birthday. It has become a pleasantly civilized pub for the craft beer enthusiast over its first couple of years, during which time it has installed a couple of handpumps. They generally keep their barrels upright directly beneath the bar, with a nod towards reducing temperature by sheepishly adding bags of ice cubes around the barrels, although on their website they proudly declare that their handpulled beer is "Served through a traditional beer engine, at room temperature with low carbonation". Wellington has been erroneously styling itself as NZ's craft beer capital for some time despite having neither any real ale breweries nor any pubs that consistently serve cask-conditioned beer (surely Christchurch, Nelson and Auckland have a more genuine claim?). LBQ should be acknowledged for taking a step in the right direction, but beer-loving patrons might want to suggest that they go the final step and actually serve cask-conditioned beer at 12 °C through their handpumps.

BAR OF THE MONTH - June

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for June is The Brewery, Cassels & Sons Brewery at The Tannery, Woolston, Christchurch.

It's a little over a year since The Brewery last received honourable mention in these pages. Much has happened at Cassels and in Christchurch since that time. Work continues apace on the Tannery arcade conversion (see photo above). Gustav's, Cassels new wine bar opened this week, marking the second anniversary of The Brewery (bar rather than lower-case brewery!) opening. Gustav's outstanding fitout, together with its two handpumps, will receive further attention here in the near future but, for now, let's raise a glass to Alasdair Cassels and his team for the fine work they are doing in making Christchurch a better place after nearly three years of difficult times. Admittedly, there have been problems with beer quality control over recent months, although most of the beer pulled from the handpumps has been of respectable quality. A rapidly expanding brewery was always going to have challenges, especially after the astonishingly high quality of its beer in its first year of operation. Let's hope that its third year sees a return to its incomparable best.

BAR OF THE MONTH - May

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for May is Galbraith's.

Galbraith's remains the North Island's unquestionable beer mecca. In the year since its last honourable mention in these pages, the other sources of real ale in the Auckland region have dried up. The much-lamented Cock and Bull chain has been bought, its award-winning beer ceased, and it now seems to be suffering a slow descent into some sort of tacky faux-Irish-branded set of bars serving bland national keg beer; hardly a recipe to attract people who care about beer, one would think! The Speakers Corner English Ale House on the North Shore has ceased using its handpumps, apparently after a row with their supplier (Galbraith's) about pricing. A handful of new breweries have opened up in recent months around the city. Alas, they perpetuate the mistaken view that beer has to be fizzy, whereas beer lovers will understand that anything that has to be artificially carbonated in order to get it to the bar really isn't beer at all. Against this dispiriting background, Galbraith's is a true oasis. The only establishments that come anywhere close to Galbraith's (Cassels and the rejuvenated Twisted Hop, both in Christchurch) may have their moments of deserved and happy success, but there really is nowhere else to compare to Galbraith's in terms of its long-standing, consistently outstanding beer. Time-after-time, their beers are crystal clear, pretty-much the perfect temperature, aromatic, and immaculately balanced (although perhaps tending towards a little too much sweetness in order to cater for the average NZ palate?). Keep up the good work, and long may your success continue. Cheers!

BAR OF THE MONTH - April

New Zealand Real Ale Bar of the Month for April is Cassels & Sons CBD Bar, Christchurch.

Since opening eight months ago, Cassels CBD Bar has quickly become established as one of Christchurch's best bars. Of course, there's not a lot of competition at the moment, but they set high standards in terms of the quality of their building and its fittings, the warm welcome and friendly atmosphere and, most crucially, the quality of their beer. It is true to say that Cassels beers are not of the same exquisitely high standard that they were a year ago, but they have settled back to consistently drinkable quality after going through a temporary bad patch six months ago. The four handpumps get a good workout, with barrels rarely staying on for more than a day or two. Unfortunately, limited cellar space means that barrels aren't always allowed to condition and settle for as long as would be ideal, and sometimes the beer is even pumped from bags (brought fresh from the brewery at Woolston).

Smash Palace, Christchurch

Smash Palace, Corner of Victoria St and Bealey Ave, Christchurch.

See also BAR OF THE MONTH - December 2013.

Smash Palace is one of Christchurch's ubiquitous 'pop-up' bars, and has been running, out of a decommissioned bus, for nearly a year now. They have two handpumps, with beers from the likes of Cassels pulled through 'from the bag'.