The Twisted Hop Real Ale Brewpub is currently closed as a result of the February earthquake.  See below for news, and join our newsletter mailing list to be kept informed of developments as they happen. 

Sunday 22nd January:

So our place in Sockburn is all ready to receive our brewery plant.  The draining floor is laid, the new water supply in plumbed in.  But we can't get access to our building in Poplar St.  VERY FRUSTRATING.  They are demolishing lots of the buildings in the lanes and it is deemed too dangerous for us to get in there.  We had hoped to get in on the 21st and 22nd December, but that was scuppered, and since then not much has been happeneing (except lots of after shocks).  We are hoping to get in with trucks and cranes next week to get all the tanks and things out, if CERA let us.  It is nearly a year now since the earthquake and we are getting desperate to brew some beer.  Once we do we will be selling it form the brewery in riggers, and barrels and bags for you to takeaway.  We also hope to get it into some bars in Christchruch.  The Pilsner and the IPA will avaialee in bottles directly from the brewery.  Here are some pictures of the inside of our Parkhouse Rd building, all ready and waiting...

We are also having some new larger (1800L) brewery equipment fabricated in preparation for when we have full production again.  Here is a preview of the new brewery, mashtun, kettle and fermenters in the making.

We will be at the Great Kiwi Beer Festival on 25th February in Hagley Park with some of our beer.  If we can manage a brew in time we will have some cask conditioned ales there on handpump.

Thursday 10th November:

We are pleased to announce that The Twisted Hop brewery has secured  premises in Sockburn that we intend to shift our brewing equipment to, and resume brewing.  As we do not have a new outlet yet, brewing will be on a smaller scale to start with.  Twisted Hop beers will be available in bottles at supermarkets and bottle stores.  We'll also supply kegs/casks to bars that would like to serve Twisted Hop beer on tap/handpump.  We are taking this opportunity to double our capacity with some new plant, tying in with our plans to open a couple of brand new Twisted Hops in the coming months.

The only news we have on Poplar St is that it will be at least a year before repair work can start on the building.  We are still hopeful that the building can be repaired and strengthened so that we can eventually re-open.

Clare and Stephen have signed a lease on a building yet to be built in Woolston Village and hope for this to be open mid 2012.  Lisa and Martin are in the process of buying land in central Lincoln to also establish a Twisted Hop there – watch this space!

In amongst all the wheeling and dealing, we've had time to squeeze in the odd brew at Three Boys brewery - you'll find it in bottles of IPA and Pilsner at good craft beer retailers soon, and there will be a few kegs so ask your landlord to get some on tap!

Some people have been shocked at the price of the Red Zone Enigma - sorry!  Due of the terms of our insurance policy, most of any income that we make until 22 Feb 2012 goes to our insurance company. So when we discovered the beer was drinkable (delicious in fact)  we had a really hard choice to make :  pour it down the drain - or pay the excise tax and bottling costs and try to retrieve these by selling the beer at a higher price.  We hope we made the right decision, it was definitely too good to just pour down the drain!

Friday 12th August:

Beer from the Red Zone

This Monday, and nearly 6 months after the Februray quake, we were allowed back in for a second time.  The first impression going down Ash St is, where am I?  It all looks different, most of the buildings on Ash St have been demolished, almost giving The Twisted Hop a frontage on Madras!  The June 13th quake has taken its toll on buildings in the area, but the Hop stands strong.  The pictures below were taken by Martin and Jess and they show how different, but the same, the area is.

The main objective of the team going in was to extract beer.  We suspected that the tank of Enigma Barley Wine (10%) that has been conditioning in the brewery for 9 months would be ok.  We tapped a few barrels of our real ales and were pleasantly surprised by the hoppy American Pale Ale (Improvisation Pale Ale, intended for the Jazz Festival) and our old favourite Twisted Ankle.   So we grabbed a few barrels of each and intend to get them on sale somewhere.  Cassels have taken a couple of barrels and we will let you know when they are on tap.  Hopefully we can persuade Pomeroys to put some on their handpump too.

Our Barley wine, Enigma, was being conditioned when the quake struck.  It had been in a tank for 3 months, but the longer the better with that sort of beer, so the enforced ‘Cordon Aging’ has made it a far more complex beer.   Sean transferred the Barley Wine into another tank and it was whisked away to Harringtons Brewery for bottling, sure to become a collectors item, look out for Red Zone Enigma in the shops!

The building has suffered some damage, but until our landlord can get it properly inspected it is hard to know exactly what will need doing.  Most of the buildings in the lanes fared worse than ours and many will surely have to go.  Poplar Lane will never be the same again, but we will re-open if at all possible.  Can't put a date on it - sorry.

Due to the uncertainty about the timing of any re-opening we have had to start on 'Plan B'.   There are definitely a few irons in the fire for other Twisted Hops, Lisa and Martin are looking at Lincoln and Stephen and Clare have their eye on Woolston.  So fear not the Hop will rise again!

Hope to see you all over a red zone beer somewhere soon!

Cheers, Martin and Stephen

The Twisted Hop, relatively undamaged

Across the road - not so good

Oops!

Yellow Sticker

Glasses left as they were 6 months ago

The mess from demolitions

The new view down Ash St from Madras

News on May 8th:

Our first peep at The Hop since Feb 22nd.

After 10 weeks of waiting we finally got into the Hop.  Poplar and Ash St are still out of bounds, so we gained access through a building on Lichfield St , the business in question being characterized by  red and purple rooms decorated with velvet curtains, mirrors and artificial flowers.  oooer!  We wound our way through the darkened labyrinth to find The Twisted Hop a mess but structurally sound. Lots of broken bottles and glasses, a few burst barrels, but the brewery and bar and kitchen are all in tact.  The Enigma barley wine that was in a tank had shuffled its way across the brewery floor, but had matured nicely and tasted great (hic!).  We had only 1 hour and during that time we grabbed cash, computers and other 'essential items'.  We retrieved 2 handpumps, 6 (empty) barrels and various bits of brewing related equipment.  

It seems unlikely that the Poplar Lanes area is going to open up again soon. No attempt has been made to clear the streets nor to demolish the unsafe and condemned buildings.  The engineer seemed to think that the Hop itself was safe, needs some repairs but should open again.  What will the area look like when it does open again I wonder!

In the meantime we are looking at other options to keep you real ale drinkers happy.  One is a bar in the suburbs (exact location to be confirmed!) and a new brewery and pub in a more rural location just outside of Christchurch.  Watch this space!

For more immediate gratification we plan to have a temporary fix.  We have been doing a bit of brewing out at Three Boys brewery, and although most is destined for bottling (look out for our bottles in the supermarkets) will hive off a few barrels for real ale.  A 'Short Hop' is an idea to bring you real ale one Saturday soon in a gap somewhere in the city, we are also working with Canterbury University and hope to offer something in a few weeks.

That's all for now, stay on this mailing list to hear the next instalment coming soon.

Photograph taken 4th May 2011

News 27 March:

Since the authorities are being accused of not passing on information.........we thought we had better keep you all informed as to what we know! We have just heard that The Twisted Hop building has a yellow placard.  We have also been told by the owner of the building, that is not going to be demolished.  Good news, but what does it really mean?  

The yellow sticker simply means that the building is safe enough for restricted access.   This means that, when the area is safe for entry, we may get the call and have up to 3 hours to get out essential items.  Unfortunately it tells us nothing about our ability to operate as a bar and restaurant in the future.  There will have to be a thorough structural inspection of the building before then, and it obviously relies on the area being opened up to the public.  Reading between the lines of the newspaper it could be many months before that happens.

We have to make plans and move ahead and we would like to share those plans with you.  When we do get the opportunity to extract some equipment it will include the firkins (English barrels for real ale), hopefully some brewery tanks and the hand-pumps.    We are looking for an alternative location for the brewery, so that we can brew some beer that can be both sold in other bars around Christchurch if they are willing, and prepares us for the day that the Hop opens its doors again. If we can't get all the brewing equipment that we need out of the Hop, we will have to borrow or purchase bits of plant.   Hand-pumps and firkins have to come from the UK and have an 8 week lead time. We will also be looking for a suitable building for a bar in the suburbs - as time goes on it seems more and more as if the CBD will be off limits for many months.  We may even take advantage of space in the proposed entertainment and retail hub if it materialises.  That obviously depends on being given some certainty about access, or lack of it, and how our insurance company plays it.

Our real ale is a unique product and we want to resume supply to the beer drinkers of Christchurch as soon as possible!  Rest assured we are doing our best, and we will keep you informed.

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TWISTED HOP CLOSED

As a result of the February 22nd Quake The Twisted Hop is closed until further notice.  The building is still standing, although it has sustained more damage than in the previous quake.  Also buildings in the Lanes have collapsed and the area will be too dangerous to enter for some time. The cordon within the 4 aves will make opening impossible in the near future.  We do not know what the future holds for the Hop, nor indeed for the central city.  Please bear with us we will keep you updated via this website and our  email newsletter that you can subscribe to below and we will pass on news when we have it.

All members of The Twisted Hop staff have been contacted and are safe.

Below are some photos that I took of the buildings in Poplar Lanes just after the quake.  The building opposite has partially collapsed, but miraculously no one appears to have been hurt, the building that used to house Bismark has collapsed further onto Poplar St, again no apparent casualties.  Parapet walls collapsed in the courtyard behind the brewery, narrowly missing several people who were using a forklift to move the container.  Then below are some images taken from our security cameras which are still running.  You can see that there is relatively little damage to The Hop both inside and out.  All that earthquake strengthening paid off, and hopefully we will be able to re-open at some point. Who knows?  The last two images show the devastation at Three Boys Brewery where we were brewing a batch of IPA at the time of the quake.  The brew is lost but luckily both of our fermenters are still standing.  Both Sean who was brewing, and Ralph who was filling kegs using the now crushed equipment were shaken, but thankfully are safe.

Security Camera images 26th Feb:

3 Boys Brewery: