A spicy pickle beer, courtesy of Wellington brewery Garage Project, was one of many colourful concoctions available to attendees of the two-day Dunedin Craft Beer Festival at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Garage Project South Island sales manager Crocky Hargreaves said the brewery had originally crafted the pickle beer, which combined a sour base, cucumber, dill and pickle spices.
It was released at the Burger Wellington festival in 2021, where Garage Project showcased three new flavours of food-matching beers each year.
The original pickle beer had proved "crazy popular", so they decided to brew a close cousin, now packed with red hot chilli peppers.
"Here’s the thing about pickle, it’s divisive.
"Whenever you grab it out of the fridge, people either love it or hate it.
"It’s definitely a weird beer but it is exactly what it says on the side of the tin — it tastes exactly like pickle, in this case spicy pickle."
Mr Hargreaves said the pickle beer was a fringe beer they brewed a couple of times a year.
Wild and wonderful varieties of beer were great to bring out and showcase at events such as the festival, he said.
When he first tried the spicy pickle beer, he didn’t know if he would enjoy it but ultimately found it savoury and refreshing.
It had been received well by attendees at the festival and was just as popular as the original.
"People are coming back for more, so this is good," Mr Hargreaves said.
This reporter sampled the sour nectar and found it tasted like pickle juice fresh from the jar, with a pungent pickle aroma and an aftertaste that was not too spicy.
Festival director Jason Schroeder said 6000 people attended the event on Friday and it was sold out on Saturday, with 2500 people through the gates before noon.
It was a key social event for the Dunedin community and one of the first big events of summer, he said.
— Tim Scott, PIJF cadet reporter
