Northern side to Hopstock

By Frank Neill

Two northern suburbs outlets are part of this year’s Craft Beer Capital Hopstock Festival. which takes place from 19 to 23 April.

Karori’s One Fat Bird and the Kelburn Village Pub are among the 26 Wellington craft beer ven-

Free Iftar dinners

The Newlands Islamic Centre is holding free Iftar dinners at the Newlands Community Centre during the month of Ramadan.

The free Iftar dinners are open to all and will be held from 4:30 to 8:30pm on 2 April, 9 April, 15 April and 25 May.

Suicide support

A free Suicide Support Group meets at 7pm on the second Wednesday of each month at the Newlands Community Centre.

This is a group for those who have been bereaved by suicide. For more information contact Nerys on 027 340 8579.

Keep drains clear

David from Khandallah has posted some very good advice on Neighbourly.

“If you see leaves stacked over drains, you will do everyone a favour if you can clear them away to help water drain,” he wrote.

“If we all take notice and do a little it may save someone’s place from being flooded.

We can’t expect the council to run around all the time be looking out for every drain when it rains.

“It’s also a good time to clear your roof gutters and down pipes. These are source of water damage under or worse into your house when they spill over.” ues taking part in this celebration of the 2023 hop harvest.

Hopstock is a unique chance for people to taste a huge variety of “wet hopped” beers from the 2023 hop harvest.

These wet hopped beers can only be crafted during the harvest season, as brewers need to source hops straight from the bines and into a brew kettle within 24 hours.

Dave Wood, Craft Beer Capital President and Hopstock event organiser, says this year’s festival is expected to be the largest in years. Punters can grab a special Hopstock Festival trail card at any participating venue to help them find these once-a-year beers, ticking each off the list by way of collecting a stamp at each Hopstock venue.

People who taste 15 or more over the five day festival can enter a prize draw for bar tabs and beer merchandise.

“We want to support non-drink- ers and sober drivers to partake in the festival, so it’s important for us that our venues offer a stamp with any purchase, whether it be food or non-alcoholic beverages,” Mr Wood says.

More details are available on the Hopstock website: www. hopstock.co.nz.+