Speight's Brewery

I took a tour of the Speight's brewery today. Quite interesting, this is one of few breweries (at least in the southern hemisphere) that uses old batch brewing methods, and has a full set of copper vats still in use.

They have several brews that are quite drinkable, and since I like dark beers myself, I took a fancy to the Speight's Old Dark, a 5 malt dark ale, and the Speight's Porter, which has only been brewed for about a year. I got the opportunity to mention the Porter Drinkers Association, which much impressed the tour guide.

I also got an explanation to the strange fields I had seen around Nelson when I was there a few days ago. There were huge fields with no visible crop, but with wires strung all over to a height of about 4 m. They grow hops there, and the New Zealand hops are actually exported all over the world, even to England.