September 30th 2014: Surf, beer, food

Dunedin. Beer. Those two things go hand-in-hand like the smell of a burning couch and Castle Street, like amorous sea lions and big peaks at Aramoana. On Saturday the city hosts its second ever Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival at Forsyth Barr Stadium and it's grown bigger and better.

Managed by OUSA, the festival for 2014 will feature some pretty cool musicians including: Che-Fu and the Kratez, Ragged, Matt Langley, Ciaran McMeeken, Bulletproof Convertible, Jake Barton & Bongo John. That's enough reason to go alone, but there will also be some really cool food and lots of craft beer – some experimental, some limited release and all of it tasty. It's a family event, so bring the kids and let them go wild in the Kid's Zone (kids under 14 get into the festival free).

We're a big fan of the team at OUSA behind this – it's one of the few events that are built for Dunedin people and students alike. So we've been helping them out this week highlighting a few of the characters in the craft beer and food festival fabric.

Take that guy above for instance. He's Bart Acres and he brews Velvet Worm brews in Dunedin. He's also working on a new range of beers under the Stacpoole's label – named after his ancestors. He's drawn a lot of inspiration from this beach and he reckon's that goes into his beers. I'm not entirely sure how, but this stout he was testing was smooth as silk. Check him out on Saturday ...

We also met a couple of characters in Chris and Dave from Shed 152 ... basically a shed in Dunedin ... these guys have produced their own beer label called Hop Invaders with Hi-Score a South Island Pale Ale, Level 1 a golden ale and a stout called Lunar Landing. The festival is the launch of their brand so go visit the mothership.

I'm not sure what's in the water around these parts, but there is definitely a space theme to the Beam Me Up Bagels team. We met Ellen and Chris midway through a bagel-making frenzy. They make bagels for a bunch of hipster cafés in town, the local Saturday market and they'll be loading up for the festival. Try the salmon and cream cheese bagel with sesame seed – it's perfect matched with a Weiss beer.

Our last stop was Ombrellos where proprietor Josh Clark gave us the tour of his establishment – this is where great food and craft beer come together. He has 12 taps of craft beer – most of it locally made. Hidden behind the main bar is a generous garden area with an open fire. It's got to be one of Dunedin's best-kept secrets. Seek them out at the beerfest to get a taste of what they're about.

Okay, that's enough beer talk from me ... some surfing to be done before the weekend if you believe this report.

See you at the beach or at the craft beer and food festival ... Derek

PS If you're wanting a warm up for the beerfest then grab a real Italian pizza and local brew from our mates on the beach at the Esplanade.