Pub Reviews

Trax

condor — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:25:25 +1300

Location:

Central Railway Station, Wellington

Review:

A large service area that is split into main bar, snack bar, Tab and pokkie rooms. In itself it is quite comfortable however the beer range is that dictated by Lion Nathan. It would have been really good to see some craft beers available (heck even one!), but the tie to Lion Nathan and, possibly, a lack of desire, from management/owner, to try anything none mainstream, look to have killed this possibility.

Tap beers: Macs Gold, Speights Dark, Gold, Summit & Distinction, Lion Red & Brown and Guinness.

Bottled beers: Corona, Stella, Steinlager & Pure and Becks.

Opening hours: Mo/Tu 0700 - 2000hrs, We/Th/Sa 0700 - 2100hrs, Fr 0700 - 2200hrs. Su - closed

The Craftsman

condor — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:53:52 +1300

Location:

Corner of Cambridge Terrace and Courtenay Place, Wellington

Review:

Rather characterless bar painted in different shades of brown and having some areas of varnished pebbles on the bar front and some columns. Staff tell us that the target market is the business man. At the time of this visit, it is fair to say that the drinkers were "mature".

Beers on tap: Full range of Macs beer.

Bottled beers: Macs range, Steinlager, Kirin, Little Creatures Pale Ale, Stella Artois, Corona and Becks.

Opening hours: Su - Th 09:00 to midnight,

Fr 09:00 to 01:00

Sa 09:00 to 02:00

The Watusi

condor — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:47:11 +1300

Location:

6 Edward Street (Off Victoria Street), Wellington

Review:

In a previous life this bar was known as Tupelo, however after several months of repose it has been reborn (19th Sept 08) as The Watusi. The bar name comes from a 60's dance, which in turn was named after a Rwandan tribe.

The venue itself has quite a basement feel with its "bones" (beams and columns) exposed and painted in vaguely oriental tones of dark green and red. The rest of the decor consists of leopard skin print seat coverings, bamboo stools, J.H.Lynch prints etc

On tap there are Tuatara Porter, Gisborne Gold, Emerson Bookbinder and Pilsner. In the fridge you will also find Three Boys IPA & Pils, Tuatara Pilsner & Hefe, Coopers beers, Peroni, Sol, Heineken, Amstel and Tiger.

Opening hours: Wed - Sat 5:00p.m. to 3:00a.m.

Edward Street is on your right hand side as you head away from the port, just about opposite the MacDonalds (on the corner of Manners mall).

The Temperance

condor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:11:16 +1200

Location:

Blair Street/Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

Review:

DB proudly announce The Temperance as being built inside a 100 yr old heritage building, though it looks as though the only original parts remaining are the exterior walls, the core of the building(s) having been gutted to make the different drinking areas of the venue.

The Temperance Brewery bar is comfortable enough, having a polished concrete floor, wood fronted bar, stainless steel fermenters and tanks, bench seats and tables. Whilst the brewery equipment suggests a strong in house brew presence, the fonts do not stand out amongst the usual Tui, Monteiths Original/Black, Export Gold and Heineken....but then again neither did the Fiery Redhead beer. The Cheekie Blondie has proved to be rather elusive and has not been sampled by this scribe, yet.

The Atrium bar and restaurant sits at the bottom of a three storey void. The walls of the Atrium are mainly concrete block, which is partly obscured by 3 very large TV/projector screens. Same beer range as the brewery bar.

Madame Jo-Jos - up the stairs in the Atrium - is decorated out bordello style, with a padded white bar front, vaguely leopard skin type hangings etc. The in house brews do not appear here as this is more definately cocktail territory. The decor is apparently there to "provide a night of elegancy and indulgence". They even have extra bouncers at the entrance to this section of the complex.

The Milliard, on the top floor, is named after a famous Wellington rugby player of the past, and is aimed very much at the rugby fan, being closely linked to the Wellington Lions and Hurricanes rugby teams, who are seemingly bused into the Milliard after home games.

Boulot

condor — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:15:41 +1200

Location:

Blair Street, Wellington

Review:

More of a restaurant than bar, with staff describing the loaction as "informal" - it actually looked quite classy and comfortable.

Rather suprisingly, considering that this restaurant is owned by a member of the same family that owns Scopa and Duke Clavells, there is no draught Emerson beer available. There are two tap beers, namely Asahi and Kronenbourg.

The bottled beer range is reasonably broad with a number of boutique breweries being respresented: Founders Tall Blonde and Long Black, Emerson 1812 and Pilsner, Moa Wheat, Little Creatures Pale Ale, Bennetts Black. The other bottled beers are Duvel, Kronenbourg, Asahi, Staropramen, Carlsberg, Crown, Heineken, Peroni, Messina, Stella, Pure Blonde and Macs Light.

Opening hours are generally 4pm until sometime between 10pm and 2am (depending upon night of the week, amount of customers etc) but may open for lunches. Closed Sundays.

Ponderosa

condor — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:23:40 +1200

Location:

Blair Street, Wellington

Review:

Cowboy/western themed bar (moosehead, long horn cattle skulls, cartwheels, winchester rifles etc decorate the walls) that is unashamedly aimed at the "in crowd"....who presumably don't drink draught beer, as there isn't any. The atmosphere is actually pleasantly intimate with very subdued lighting levels.

The bottled beer range is the standard one that you'd associate with a Monteiths bar i.e. Heiniken, Amstel, Budvar, Sol and Monteiths.

Opening is limited to Wed to Sat nights - Wed - Fri 5pm to 6am, Sat 7pm to 6am.

Duke Clavells

condor — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:49:34 +1200

Location:

6 Swan Street (off Cuba Street) Wellington

Review:

Re-opened under its new guise in mid June 2008 and has already been described as having "the look of a Venetian palazzo colliding with an English gentleman's club" - this is going a little over the top but gives you an idea of the decor. The target market is passing trade calling by for some Medditerranean themed snacks and a drink, on their way to/from the theatre etc. As the locale has only recently opened the menu is a work in progress.

Beers: Emerson Pilsner on tap, Emerson 1812 and Oatmeal Stout, Peroni, Becks, Leffe Blonde & Brun, Duval and Amstel available in bottles.

Open from 0900 to late every day.

Cheeky Pipi

condor — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:43:55 +1200

Location:

163, The Parade, Island Bay, Wellington

Review:

Comfortable, popular cafe/restaurant situated in Island Bay (south of the city centre). There is a small stand up drinking area adjacent to the bar, which is situated to the rear of the building. Works by local artists, in different mediums, decorate the walls.

A commendable approach to beer has been taken by the owner (also of Blue Note Bar), there being Tuatara IPA and Pilsner plus Gisborne Gold on Tap. The bottled beer range is fairly standard except for the Peak Brewery Cornhill Porter - the other beers being Amstel, Heiniken, Tui, Tiger, Steinlager, Stella and Sol.

Opening hours are from 10am through to 9:30pm (last food orders) or later, every day except Monday, when closing is earlier.

The Lounge

yalnikim — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:34:55 +1200

Location:

Main Road, Carterton, Wairarapa

Review:

Great beer range covering 60-80 beers and changing reasonably regularly. All sorts of beer to keep you happy - from interesting left-of-centre premium lagers, through well-established local craft beers and international ales, to the "farmer's market" local brewery. A nice range of local wines (and a cider). It advertises itself as "tapas" but does full meals as well. I've not eaten here but the word from locals is very good, and it wouldn't surprise me. The passionate and friendly owner works behind the bar, so everything is kept in good order. A real oasis in the beer desert that is rural New Zealand.

Hotel Bristol

condor — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:45:46 +1200

Location:

131 - 135 Cuba Street, Wellington

Review:

Externally this is promoted as a Speights Ale House, so I expected to find the usual (full) range of Speights tap beers - how wrong I was; the only Speights beer available is Speights Gold on tap !

The bar itself is comfortable enough, though your feet tend to get stuck to the floor near the bar - not through any desire to stay near the bar, they just stick there.Â Plenty of exposed brickwork and wood plus an abundance of TV screens (large and small).

Opening hours: Mo - Th 0900 to late, Sa 1000 to 0300, Su 0930 to midnight.

Tap beers: Macs range, Speight Gold, Lion Brown, Kilkenny, Guinness & Oranjeboom.

Bottled beers: Macs range, Steinlager, Stella Artois, Kirin, Asahi, Crown, Hoegaarden, Becks and Corona.