48 Hours Drinking and Eating in Wellington, New Zealand

Coffee, culture, craft beer, and crosswinds. Described to me as the San Francisco of New Zealand, Wellington is genuinely its own vibrant, captivating city. Living in the Bay Area, I can see the similarities—city on water, hills aplenty, and more great breweries than clouds in the sky. Yes, there’s even a cable car. But, to me, Wellington has its own buzzing energy with distinct natural, historical, and culinary wonders to explore.

Situated at the bottom of New Zealand’s North Island on the Wellington Harbour, Wellington is only a three-hour flight from Australia’s East Coast. Albeit, it was a much lengthier fifteen-hour flight for me from that other hilly city we mentioned. But one hundred percent worth it.

Known for its warm locals, Wellington welcomed us immediately with crackly croissants, cracking cups of coffee, and beers that blew us away like the city’s famous crosswind.

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

For the uninitiated, Wellington winds can often reach 120 kph (74.5 mph) highs. “When it hits you, it cuts your breath,” WellingtonNZ Communications Advisor Clarisse Christie told us over waffles and coffee flights at the popular breakfast spot The Hangar.

Having lived in Chicago, The Windy City, we thought we knew gusty conditions, but Wellington is in a league of its own.

And not just when it comes to the weather.

“We’re quite unique,” says Christie. “We’re small compared to Auckland but have so much to offer. We have heaps to do.”

Christie says they often refer to the city as “The Compact Capital” because there is just so much to do in such a small space, whether it’s surfing, taking nature walks, visiting museums, drinking craft beer or coffee, or just eating your way through award-winning restaurants.

Shannon Thorpe, founder of Fortune Favours, a local brewery in Wellington, describes the city as “more about your individuality and creativity.”

Something you’ll definitely see in the breadth of craft beer across the city. From passionfruit miso sours to some of the highest-rated fresh-hop beers from one of the best breweries at the bottom of the world to an award-winning Scotch ale, Wellington has earned its stripes as New Zealand’s “Craft Beer Capital.”

While we wish we could have spent a little more time here, Wellington is one of those places we’ve tucked into our back pocket to return to someday…because two days certainly weren’t enough.

Follow our footsteps (if you wish) with a little help from the folks at WellingtonNZ as we eat and drink our way through forty-eight hours in Wellington.

Friday: Warm Welcomes in Wellington

Nau mai ki Te Whanganui a Tara, the Māori words for “Welcome to the Great Harbour of Tara,” aka Wellington. Get to know Wellington through the area’s history and heritage—starting with coffee, learning about the Māori history and culture, and, of course, drinking a few beers.

Hotel Check-In: The Intrepid Hotel

60 Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 830 0996

Photography courtesy of WellingtonNZ

Photography courtesy of The Intrepid Hotel

8:00 AM Drop bags, pick up croissant – We flew in from Nelson Tasman, New Zealand, bright and early, so we headed straight to the Intrepid Hotel to drop our bags. This boutique accommodation in the Te Aro neighborhood gave us one of the biggest surprises of the entire trip.

Sitting in the lobby lounge downstairs, we smelled something extraordinary—butter. We followed our noses to a basket with a blanket on top. Underneath, a cornucopia of crusty, crispy croissants.

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

Shatteringly delicate on the outside and beautifully pillowy on the inside, the croissants at the Intrepid Hotel were sneakily some of the best we’ve ever had (and we’ve been to Paris and lived in New York). Plus, they were free for guests!

Curious, I asked the receptionist where they sourced these little morning parcels of pleasure. She told me the hotel makes the pastries themselves, sourcing all the ingredients and blending and laminating the dough before sending it out to a local bakery for the final bake.

The spiral presents hinted at the luxury within here.

Situated in a former office for 1909 Cadbury Chocolate, the Intrepid Hotel offers eighteen gorgeous rooms decked out in plush, deep forest green tones. Every floor has its own coffee, tea, and still and sparkling water station. And you get free local snacks in your room, including popcorn, crisps (chips as we call them in the States), almonds, and gummies.

Again, it’s just these little touches that make the Intrepid Hotel a cut above.

Besides the croissants, the Intrepid Hotel also houses The Puffin Wine Bar & Shop, which serves organic, biodynamic, and minimal-intervention wines along with craveable small plates.

You could probably spend all day in the hotel and be happy. But that’s not why we’re here!

With a few more butter-flecked stains on our pants and crusty crumbs in the corners of our mouths, we set out to explore Wellington.

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Breakfast: Flight Coffee Hangar

119 Dixon Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 27535 0884

Photography courtesy of WellingtonNZ

9:00 AM Flights of coffee – You must start your time in Wellington with a cup of coffee. “If you go anywhere for coffee,” Christie told us, “you go to Wellington.”

One of the most popular breakfast spots in Wellington, Flight Coffee Hangar, aka The Hangar, gets your engine revving with its famous “Coffee Tasting Flights.” Served on a glass board, the flight gives you coffee three ways—espresso, flat white, and iced. You even get a little shot of sparkling water to cleanse your palate.

Photography courtesy of WellingtonNZ

When we visited, The Hangar’s coffee flight featured Doi Pangkhon, a single-origin bean from the Chiang Rai province of Thailand. According to a little card with the flight, Doi Pangkhon produces one to two tons of parchment coffee every year, exhibiting tasting notes of piña colada, papaya, and marshmallow.

Foodwise, The Hangar shows you a significant slice of the city with its granola bowls, brekkie burritos, and build-your-own breakfast sandwiches. Whatever you choose, though, do not sleep on the Belgian waffles. The locals know; you’ll see a plate of these crispy, craggy, sugar-dusted shingles on almost every table. Crowned with slices of strawberries and atop a bed of Italian mascarpone, this breakfast classic flies a little higher here.

Fully fueled, we quickly agreed with The Hangar’s motto: “Great Coffee, Great Food, Even Better People.”

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Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

55 Cable Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 43 81 7000

Photography courtesy of WellingtonNZ

11:00 AM Educate yourself – After breakfast, stroll down to the harbor and walk along the water to reach the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Rated by Lonely Planet as one of the top five hundred places on Earth, Wellington’s interactive museum takes you through the entire journey of New Zealand from origin to present day. Through interactive exhibits, you’ll learn about New Zealand’s history, art, culture, wildlife, and more—all from the national museum’s beautiful location on the waterfront.

According to our guide, Jennifer Sanga, who has worked in the museum since 2001, the name—Te Papa Tongarewa—translates from Māori to “The House of Treasures.” Inside, you’ll find exhibits ranging from ones on earthquakes (“You need not live in fear,” Sanga assures us. “Life goes on!”), the Kiwi bird (“Our pride and joy and national identity,” says Sanga) and other animals, and, of course, Māori history, customs, and culture.

Te Papa Tongarewa truly is a gem in Wellington.

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Fortune Favours

7 Leeds Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 595 4092

Photography courtesy of Fortune Favours

12:30 PM We see a beer in your future – Located in an old dip stripper factory, Fortune Favours makes beer for the bold.

After all, it took a pretty bold leap (and a bit of luck) for Fortune Favours Founder Shannon Thorpe to open a brewery in Wellington.

As a university student, Thorpe wrote letters to breweries with some of his ideas. “I’d cringe if I read them now,” he laughs. After working at one of New Zealand’s big breweries, DB, for ten years, developing concepts for bars, Thorpe decided to strike out on his own.

“Fortune Favours relates to a lot of people,” says Thorpe. “It could be asking someone out on a date or running a marathon. You always have these moments in life where if you don’t take a risk, you don’t take that leap of faith, there will be no reward.”

At Fortune Favours, Thorpe wants to encourage you to have conversations. He keeps his taps at the back of the bar to free up space between the bartender and the customer. And why he serves a whole heap of meat and cheese boards to encourage sharing.

In the 1,000-litre brew house (and offsite contract brew site), Fortune Favours brews everything from its OG unfiltered pale ale, The Naturalist, to The Adventurer, a punchy pilsner with Green Bullet, to the flagship, award-winning Wellingtonian, a New Zealand IPA that Thorpe is incredibly proud of.

Photography courtesy of Fortune Favours

“I’d say ninety percent of what we use is New Zealand hops,” explains Thorpe, whose goal at Fortune Favours is to make craft beer accessible to all.

“Beer is a great leveler,” he shares as we sip on pints of The Adventurer. “Any two people should be able to sit down and have a beer together. There is no hierarchy, no status—just two people having a beer.”

With over five hundred beers, Fortune Favours isn’t shy about getting creative. For instance, a kettle-soured rosé beer with strawberries that’s “super delicious,” according to Thorpe.

During our visit, I was keen to try The Claymore, a Scotch ale that had recently won a gold medal at the Untappd Community Awards. Thorpe pulled a bottle for me.

“I find this one quite well balanced,” says Thorpe. “Even though you get the peat up front, by the end of the pint, I don’t feel it’s overpowered my palate. I think it’s highly drinkable.”

Bottom line: You don’t need a Magic 8 Ball to tell you what to drink here. You could close your eyes, point to something, and let Lady Luck show you the way. Anything you hit is going to be tasty.

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Lunch: Fred’s

149 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

1:30 PM Sensational sandwiches – On a suggestion from Thorpe that Fred’s has “awesome sandwiches,” we strolled a block and a half over to Cuba Street. At Fred’s, sandwiches transform from simple ingredients between two pieces of bread to time-stopping moments of deliciousness.

My Ultimate Salad & Cheese came stuffed under a Shelly Bay Bakery focaccia-like bread with cheddar, caramelized almond and walnut dukkah, cucumber, roasted red peppers, pickled onions, greens, alfalfa, house beetroot relish, and sage aioli. I’m not ashamed to say that I ate the whole thing. My partner’s chicken sandwich (one Fred’s is known for) included an extra juicy piece of free-range chicken, pounded and breaded with panko and togarashi. Shredded iceberg lettuce gave the perfect textural crunch, while pickle mayo added the right hint of acidity.

If you’re hungry, go to Fred’s. Added bonus: This place will be the perfect opportunity to sop up some beer while you’re brewery hopping.

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Walk Down Cuba and Eva Street

Wellington Chocolate Factory: 5 Eva Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 385 7555

Photography courtesy of Celeste Fontein | WellingtonNZ

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

2:30 PM Sweet, sweet shopping – The vibrant heart of Wellington, Cuba Street’s several colorful blocks feature little boutiques, cafes, and eateries. Walk off a bit of lunch by ambling up and down Cuba Street’s dusty red cobblestones, which often feature lively performers.

One alley over, on Eva Street, you’ll find Wellington Chocolate Factory. Pop in to find organic, ethically traded, bean-to-bar single-origin chocolates. If you’re lucky, as you’re browsing, you can watch the WCF chocolatiers work their magic, roasting, tempering, and shaping chocolate.

Pro Tip: This is a wonderful place to pick up gifts for loved ones back home. I know I sure did!

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Garage Project Taproom

91 Aro Street, Aro Valley, Wellington 6021, New Zealand | +64 4 802 5324

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

3:30 PM Bucket list checked – In 2024, we named Garage Project one of our “13 Best Breweries to Watch in 2024,” crossing our fingers that we’d have a chance to visit in person soon.

Well, tick that off the bucket list!

Garage Project lived up to its hype and name.

Covered in sh*t, fenced in by barbed wire, graffitied to the gills, the old petrol station in Wellington, New Zealand, had seen better days when two locals decided to clean it up and start a brewery. Thirteen years later, what began as “the garage project,” brewing audaciously whacky beers, has become Garage Project, making some of the highest-rated beers in the world.

Founded in 2011, this Wellington, New Zealand-based brewery has led the way for craft beer in New Zealand over the past decade-plus.

It all started with the 24/24 series: For the first twenty-four weeks at the brewery, Ruffell and Garage Project Co-Founder Pete Gillespie brewed twenty-four different beers on a tiny 50-liter Sabco BrewMagic kit in just twenty-four weeks.

Ruffell describes the decision as terrifying. “We had to hold our breath,” he says. “We were just sort of eating off our savings.”

But the bet paid off.

Today, Garage Project has the ten highest-rated beers in New Zealand on Untappd. They also hold eighteen of the top twenty New Zealand beers on Untappd and most of the top fifty.

And they’ve collaborated with legends like Stone, Sierra Nevada, Monkish, Trillium, Firestone Walker, and many others (the list is mind-blowing🤯). Chances are, if you’re asked to name just one brewery in New Zealand, these Kiwis come to mind.

Even with over one million check-ins and over seven hundred beers created, Garage Project stays true to its roots. Head Brewer Pete Gillespie and his team are constantly experimenting, playing with new ideas, and pushing the envelope of what beer can be. They even dove into creating natural wines and non-alcoholic beers.

Ruffell pulled a few beers off the taps during our visit, including Sunrise Valley. Originally a collab with Trillium, this imperial IPA included a hop-free boil combined with a massive dry-hop of New Zealand Nelson Sauvin and Rakau hops.

Across the street, at the bustling taproom, I put myself in Ruffell’s hands. He curated a flight of five beers, including Pernicious Weed, Snug, Spicy Pickle Beer, the latest March 2025 version of Fresh, and Swifty.

I loved Spicy Pickle Beers’ bright, briny notes, Snug’s dry roastiness as an Irish stout, and Swifty’s refreshingly uncomplicated nature as a pale ale.

My favorite, though? A whole pint of Czech pilsner he pulled off the LUKR tap simply called Beer.

Simple yet complex, Beer was Garage Project’s unfussy yet still elegant version of the style.

Two hours later, I felt a little dazed when I stepped out of the Garage Project taproom into the late afternoon sun.

I’ve been clamoring to visit this mighty brewery at the bottom of the world for a long time, and having it blow through all my expectations felt like a lucid dream.

Garage Project are considered the cool kids on the block around Wellington, but you absolutely cannot visit Wellington without stopping at the OG taproom.

Pro Tip: Are sours and wild ales more your thing? Then check out Garage Project’s Wild Workshop, a unique bar and bottle shop dedicated to all things funky, fruity, and wild.

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Dinner + Drinks: Heyday Beer Co.

264a Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 20 443 9329

Photography courtesy of Pivot Photography and WellingtonNZ

5:00 PM Have yourself a great little heyday – You can’t miss Heyday Beer Co. on Cuba Street. The sea foam green exterior sticks out. Even if you don’t see Heyday, you’ll probably hear it.

Behind a simple wooden slatted fence, an outside beer garden buzzes, packed picnic tables full of flights and conversation. Groups of people stand around on the turf, soaking up the intermittent rays of sun peaking through the clouds.

Walking under the rolltop doors, a similar seafoam-tiled bar immediately splashes out at me, drawing me closer. To my right, the brewery’s gleaming steel tanks stand open for all to see, a conscious decision from Heyday Beer Co. Co-Founder, Director, and Designer Hannah Blackwood “to get the best out of the brewers, but also to let the customer feel involved in the process.”

At Heyday Beer Co., at the bottom of New Zealand’s North Island, the motto is simple: “Be Kind, Stay Safe, Drink Beer.”

It’s a slogan that harkens back to a different time. One where neighbors traded sugar and hosted summer barbecues. Walking inside feels like stepping into your childhood best friend’s basement rather than a brewery.

This is not to say the brewery is old-fashioned, far from it. But it’s hard to stand in front of the aquamarine bar without seeing flashes of Julia Child’s kitchen, all celadon green tile and colored cabinets. There is an intentional simplicity here that harkens back to, well, a heyday.

“When things are in their heyday, they’re nostalgic and at the height of their popularity,” explains Blackwood, dressed in a navy polka-dotted dress. “I wanted the place to be a little bit retro, a little bit funky.”

The design isn’t the only nod to the past here.

A designer by trade with an honors degree from Massey, Blackwood dreamed up the idea to start a brewery with one of her other business partners during a three-month trip across the States in 2015.

Yes, you’ll find the ever-popular hazies here. For instance, Soul Cat, a nod to Blackwood’s cat Queenie, and a part of a larger limited series of hazies built on Marvel’s Infinity stones.

But you’ll also encounter a single called Enkel, the first of four Belgian beers Heyday has planned for the year.

A core imperial pilsner called Jeremiah and a Passionfruit Miso Sour. The former and latter are a part of Heyday’s monthly lager and sour series, where they release a new beer in each category every month.

Personality oozes out of Heyday’s beers and taproom.

“I wanted bright (but not fluoro), airy, and cheerful,” explains Blackwood, who hoped her focus would make the place more inclusive of everybody, “not just the beer connoisseur who sits at a dark mahogany bar.”

She adds, “And if there is a beer connoisseur, he doesn’t care that he’s sitting on a pink seat!”

Heyday isn’t afraid to embrace who they are: a little vintage, a little thrifty, a lot of soul.

Those iconic mint green tiles? They came at a bargain on Trade Me, a New Zealand auction site, inspiring the bold color that pops on the exterior.

Instead of a huge space full of knick-knacks, Blackwoods went for a more clean aesthetic. “That has evolved over time to make the place seem more lived in,” wrote Blackwood in a follow-up email to Hop Culture, “and show the personality of the staff and beers.

Between the people, the vibe, and the beers, Heyday has created a place that we’d go back to again and again if we lived in Wellington.

Since we were only visiting, we stayed as long as possible, arriving at 5 p.m. and closing the place down a little after 8.

We highly recommend you do the same. In fact, go even earlier.

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Golding’s Free Dive

Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 381 3616

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

8:00 PM Take the dive – A true North American dive bar, Golding’s Free Dive is where you should go towards the later hours of the night, in my opinion.

Pro Tip: Although, if you go a little earlier, you can order Neapolitan pizza from Pizza Pomodoro just across the lane.

With strings of Christmas lights on the ceiling, stickers plastered all over the front door, and a huge light-up sign that just says “BEER,” Golding’s has all the markings of a classic dive bar. But you’ll find a little more than just “BEER” here. With the addition of “Free” in its name, Golding’s is a free house, meaning it’s not tied down to contract beer from any one brewery. So you’ll find many local craft breweries on tap, such as Parrotdog Limited Release 25 IPA and Liberty Yakima Monster. There’s also an interesting selection of wines, whiskey, and rum.

If you missed the pizza, order some salty snacks from behind the bar. We had some type of puffy, cheesy thing that I didn’t catch the name of but again seemed to scream, “You’re in a dive bar!”

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Nightcap: Dee’s Place

Basement level/126 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

10:30 PM Basement cocktails – To end the night, walk over to the lively Cuba Street, look for the stag head, and walk down a set of stairs to Dee’s Place. The basement cocktail bar isn’t a speakeasy or a well-kept secret, but I would consider Dee’s Place a semi-hidden spirits paradise.

The subterranean Dee’s Place just oozes casual cool. With Wellington’s biggest selection of American whiskey and constantly changing cocktails, this cozy cave has plenty to whet your whistle.

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Saturday: Birds, Beers, and Beach

Today, we explored Wellington’s wildlife and wild, windy beaches. Oh, we drank some beer, too.

Pro tip: Don’t forget the free croissants downstairs at The Intrepid. We grabbed the crackly, buttery bite before heading out for coffee. Seriously, life-changing!

Coffee: Customs Brew Bar

39 Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

8:00 AM Supreme coffee + vibes – A recommendation from Ruffell, Customs is a must-visit if you love coffee. Serving beans from Coffee Supreme, Customs also offers a whole selection of serve-yourself pastries and simply delicious toasts.

Even though we had breakfast plans, I couldn’t pass up ordering the toast with caramelized banana butter, which the barista described to me as bananas cooked down to almost burnt and whipped into butter.

With its cool mid-century decor, Customs is the kind of place where you can park yourself, pick up a pastry, pick out a magazine, put down your coffee, and people-watch for a good couple of hours. You’ll never want to leave.

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Breakfast: The Oatery

8 Left Bank, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

8:30 AM Gloat over your oats – Down a tiny alleyway off Cuba Street, you’ll find an oasis of oats called The Oatery. You come here for the o-a-t-s…oats, oats, oats! As someone who eats overnight oats almost every day for breakfast, I cannot tell you how excited I was to visit this place.

An extensive blackboard menu has hot and cold options, from peanut butter and raspberry coconut chia pudding to a banana and cacao oat milk porridge. If oats aren’t your thing, no worries. There are sweet and savory toasts featuring sourdough from Wellington Sourdough just a few meters away.

If there are huge chunks of banana bread on a wooden plate next to the register, get one.

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Zealandia

53 Waiapu Road, Karori, Wellington 6012, New Zealand | +64 4 920 9213

Photography courtesy of Phoebe Mackenzie | WellingtonNZ

10:00 AM New Zealand’s Narnia – An award-winning eco-attraction, Zealandia is the world’s first fully fenced urban ecosanctuary. With a goal to restore the area to a time before humans, Zealandia provides 225 hectares (500+ acres) of native trees, plants, birds, and other wildlife.

And it’s only a quick ten-minute ride outside Wellington’s Central Business District (CBD).

Pro Tip: Zealandia offers free ecosanctuary shuttles from the busy bay on 145 Wakefield Street that will take you right to Zealandia’s front door.

Named after what was once the eighth continent of the world, Zealandia is the most biodiverse-rich square mile of the mainland in New Zealand.

Eighty-five million years ago, Zealandia separated and sank underwater. Aotearoa (the Māori word for New Zealand) formed when a volcanic eruption forced the land upwards. In the middle of the ocean, New Zealand became home to countless birds, bats, and insects. But there were no animals. That makes sense, right? The only way to get to this lush land was through the air.

Unfortunately, when humans finally made landfall about 750 years ago, bringing with them things like rats and dogs, much of the flora, fauna, and species in this Eden went extinct, including fifty-one birds, three frogs, and four plant species, among others.

Photography courtesy of Phoebe Mackenzie | WellingtonNZ

Today, the lush reservoir works to restore this once-in-a-lifetime paradise, housing some of New Zealand’s rare wildlife—like the tīeke, hihi, little spotted kiwi, and tuatara.

Living and growing itself, Zealandia has a clear vision.

“This is a five-hundred-year project,” our guide, Roy, explained to us, “because it’ll take that long until this area looks like it once did.”

He smiles, “So you can come back in 475 years and book a trip!”

Today, you can walk around the wildlife sanctuary at your leisure or book a tour for the best chance at snagging a view of some of the species that now call Zealandia home, as they once did eighty-five million years ago.

Pretty cool, right?

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Lunch: The Botanist

219 Onepu Road, Lyall Bay, Wellington 6022, New Zealand | +64 4 891 0198

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

12:30 PM Brunch by the beach – From plants to…more plants. Catch a cab or Uber to Lyall Bay, where you’ll find this innovative plant-based eatery. Just a stone’s throw from Wellington’s famous surf spot, The Botanist serves up sunny classics with a New Zealand twist. Things like a vegan breakfast burger, Thai salad with plant-based chicken, Asian slaw, mixed greens, and fried shallots, or the Veganise Me, a plate heaped with smashed avocado, facon, hash browns, wilted spinach, chili beans, plant-based sausage, roasted tomato, battered jalapeños, vegan hollandaise, and toasted five-grain bread. (Of course, I “unveganised” this dish and added halloumi and eggs).

Bright, breezy, and buzzy, The Botanist was a wild eating adventure.

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Parrotdog

60/66 Kingsford Smith Street, Lyall Bay, Wellington 6022, New Zealand | +64 4 384 8077

Photography courtesy of Parrotdog

1:30 PM Squawk, bark…a beer – A Wellington OG, Parrotdog, was started in 2011 by three guys—all called Matt—who loved good beer. A mashup referencing a pet parrot and a tendency to call each other “dog,” Matt Kristofski, Matt Warner, and Matt Stevens* started Parrotdog because they wanted to save money on beer. Paul Watson, an honorary fourth “Matt,” joined the team later.

Parrotdog formed its roots in the early 2010s as Wellington started to come into its own as the country’s craft beer capital.

Today, Parrotdog is a watering hole for Wellingtonians. Modeled off an English pub, Parrotdog has become a place for all to drink—families and hopheads alike.

“We want to be a pub where everyone feels welcome,” Parrotdog People & Culture Manager Tiff Stewart tells me as we work through a flight.

Photography courtesy of Parrotdog

Behind us, a couple plays on a red-velvet-topped pool table. I pointed out an old jukebox to Stewart and asked if it still works (it’s just for show). In the corner, a band starts setting up for a set. It wasn’t a great day for surfing, but Stewart assures me most weekends, you’ll see a few sand-flecked folks coming inside after a set for a couple of beers.

That’s the bar’s mantra, “Come as you are.”

With a tagline of “Nice,” which you’ll notice plastered on Parrotdog’s cans and signs throughout the taproom, Parrotdog offers something to drink for everyone.

For instance, in front of me is a tasting paddle shimmering in an ombre of clear to hazy gold beers.

First, I try Bitterbitch. “Our history and core,” Stewart explains. The flagship IPA that put Parrotdog on the map almost died before it saw the light of day. The first 1,200-litre batch nearly went down the drain after adding the wrong hop quantities too early in the boil. A surprise dry-hop with Nelson Sauvin saved Bitterbitch, balancing the bitter beer with a pleasant sweetness. Launched in July 2011, Bitterbitch instantly sold out in record time and continues to be a favorite at Parrotdog.

In 2020, Parrotdog launched Birdseye, the second beer I tried. A hazy counterpoint to Bitterbitch, the New England-style IPA quickly became Parrotdog’s top seller. Stewart describes the beer as “insanely drinkable.”

On the lager side, Sundog pilsner won gold for the Best New Zealand Lager / New Zealand Pilsner at the 2024 NZ Beer Awards. “It has a bit of a cult following,” shares Stewart, noting the beer’s higher New Zealand hop character that adds a lovely passionfruit and white-wine-like quality.

Whether you’re coming in off the waves from the beach, just touched down at the Wellington Airport (just across the road), or driving fifteen minutes from the CBD, Parrotdog is the warm, welcoming place to put your feet up for a few pints.

*Editor’s Note: Matt Stevens has stepped back from day-to-day operations but remains a major shareholder in Parrotdog.

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Double Vision Brewing

128A Unit E, Park Road, Miramar, Wellington 6022, New Zealand | +64 4 213 9204

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

3:30 PM Seeing double – Remember the folks from Eddyline in Nelson Tasman, who moved from Colorado to New Zealand to open a new taproom? Must be something in the water, because Double Vision Co-Founder Warren Drahota also moved from Colorado to New Zealand after falling in love with the country during a family vacation.

“My dad described Queenstown like Boulder in the 1970s,” says Drahota, who went down there to check it out. “There was just something about that place. It was removed from the rest of the world. My dad said you should figure out how to get down here.”

Fortuitously, work eventually led Drahota down to New Zealand. Not Queenstown as life would have it, but Wellington, where he met his business partners Harry, Evarn, and Mario. “We got paid jackshit and couldn’t afford craft beer,” he laughs. So they started homebrewing with a little 100-litre pilot kit. “We thought, sweet, we’re brewers now!”

The hobby became a habit. “It was taking like a quarter of our paychecks,” says Drahota, mentioning they started entering beers into competitions and earning a few accolades.

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

Double Vision launched eight years ago with an American pale ale (APA) and red IPA called Red Rascal. Yes, you read that right. Drahota says over a hundred people showed up to try the esoteric style. “They thought it was either going to be so terrible they could watch us fall on our face or that we had the courage to give it to go.”

But Double Vision believed in its red IPA. “We did like thirteen versions of Red Rascal before we released it,” says Drahota. “And we drank every shitty one!”

Feeling like red IPAs were an underappreciated style and knowing they couldn’t swoop in as a new Garage Project or Liberty Brewing, Drahota says they thought, “If we can crack this, that’s a good testament.”

Spoiler alert: Nothing fell flat.

Eight years later, Red Rascal, the red IPA with Riwaka as the hero and Nelson Sauvin as a supporting star, is now a staple at Double Vision.

In 2020, after contract brewing at five different places around Wellington and beyond, Double Vision opened its own brewery and taproom.

“We literally built everything here,” Drahota says as he sweeps his arms around. “We built the tables, the bar, everything by hand.”

Look close enough, and you’ll find these little homemade touches everywhere, from the decor to the beer to even the food.

Pro Tip: Order the chips (fries to us North American folks) and homemade tomato sauce (ketchup again to those from the States). Perfectly crisp, salty fried wedges tempered with brightly acidic tomatoes. Oh, and Drahota says the Philly Cheesesteaks and wings are bomb, too.

At Double Vision, Drahota says there’s another meaning to everything.

“We wanted to take the pretentiousness out of beer,” says Drahota, who describes himself and his partners as just a bunch of nerds. “So Double Vision is kind of a smart-ass approach to lighten the mood and take the seriousness out of drinking.”

Like Double Vision’s logo, which reads like an eye chart.

Or Expatriate, an APA with half American, half New Zealand hops whose graphic includes a guy that looks like Uncle Sam with an I love New Zealand shirt.

At Double Vision, it’s all about community. “We don’t want people just getting pissed,” says Drahota. “We want them to enjoy and appreciate the beer.”

For instance, Naughty Hopper, an imperial IPA that is one of Drahota’s favorites. A recipe based on the ratios of the first beer the quartet ever brewed together, Naughty Hopper includes Simcoe, Amarillo, and Mosaic hops. “Late additions and awkward positions are what Naughty Hopper is all about,” reads the beer’s description.

“It turned out perfect,” gushes Drahota, who believes Double Vision’s Head Brewer Mario’s best superhero skill is hiding ABV. “It was our first beer where we thought, hey, maybe we can make some good beer together.”

One of my favorites, and a surprise hit for the day, was Smooth Operator. “We take the boundaries and give them a nudge,” says Drahota. So when I say Smooth Operator is a cream ale with vanilla, stick with me.

The beer starts with flaked maize and wheat, giving it that luxurious mouthfeel. “We thought, what goes well with this?” says Drahota. “Oh, you know, a bit of vanilla and honey.”

The first sip immediately reminded me of the cans of Dr. Brown’s cream sodas I’d drink by the poolside during neighborhood barbecues in muggy Minnesota summers.

“I’d watch an older audience try it and go, oh my god, this takes me back to being a kid,” says Drahota. I wonder if I just dated myself, but as I take sip after sip of this cream ale, constantly drawn back to its smooth complexity, I realize I don’t even care.

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Mean Doses

66 Tory Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 213 6551

Photography courtesy of Hop Culture

5:30 PM Mean doses, happy times – Through the open doors and up the stairs, walk into a brewery with neon signs, tabletop shuffleboards, and arcade games. Mean Doses takes you back to the streets of Miami Vice.

At its heart, Mean Doses replicates the vibe founder Dean Moses loved growing up, heavily inspired by the ‘80s. “We took things that were really, really awesome from that era and reintroduced them,” he says as we bask in the glow of a purple Mean Doses sign in Néo noire font. “We funnel everything through that neon sign to see what comes out!”

That’s the test at Mean Doses. And people have taken to it, like Richard Simmons to aerobics.

The community loves Mean Doses. So much so that Moses says if he works behind the bar, he just slows things down because everyone wants to talk to him.

I believe it, because while I asked Moses to share his story with me, he often paused as another person approached him to say hello and catch up.

Before opening a brewery, Mean Doses Co-founder Dean Moses worked in government, which “to be frank,” he says, “just sucked.” At home, Moses enjoyed brewing in the basement on his 30-litre start kit, so he quit his job to pursue a career in beer. “Just to test the theory, because sometimes turning a [hobby into a job] can ruin it,” he explains as we sit at the bar. “But I still love it!”

Moses launched the brewery in 2018, officially opening the pub spot we sit in around 2023.

“It’s a funny story,” says Moses. A former cowboy-themed restaurant, the space lay vacant for at least three years, owned by someone who didn’t quite know what to do with it. “He used it for a Halloween party once,” laughs Moses, who thought the spot would be perfect for Mean Doses.

With the goal of being a beer place with amusements, Mean Doses is known for bringing shuffleboard to Wellington. “People had no idea what it even was,” says Moses, who mentions that the bar’s manager now runs a league once a month.

But make no mistake, people come for the beer, too.

With just a 600-litre kit, “we can roll the dice a little bit more,” says Moses. “While I say we haven’t got a core range, there are definitely beers on repeat.” Those like the Mean IPA, Mean APA, and Mean Sour.

For Mean Angel, a 6% ABV IPA with a mix of New Zealand and American hops—Nelson Sauvin and Simcoe—Moses says he’s “really chuffed with how that came out.”

On the other hand, a best-selling hazy pale called Mean Juice exclusively features American hops—Citra, Amarillo, and Simcoe. “That’s pretty proper, big orangey vibes to that one,” says Moses.

While Mean Doses does have an in-house kitchen for bar bites like tater tots and cheesy garlic flatbread, your best bet is to take advantage of a restaurant downstairs called Apache. The French-inspired Vietnamese eatery offers a totally different type of brewpub food, including a chicken burger, charred eggplant salad, and pork and prawn dumplings you can enjoy in Mean Doses upstairs.

Perhaps Heyday’s Blackwood put it best when I asked about her favorite spots around town. “If you just want a real casual beer with a pool table and shuffleboard, I’d go to Mean Doses.”

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Mr. Go’s

3 Eva Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 384 3488

Photography courtesy of Phoebe Mackenzie | WellingtonNZ

Photography courtesy of Phoebe Mackenzie | WellingtonNZ

7:30 PM Pan-Asian food tucked away in an alley – Tucked down that same alleyway where you’ll find Wellington Chocolate Factory and Fortune Favours, Mr. Go’s calls itself neither a Chinese restaurant nor a Western one. “We’re a harmonious in-between,” writes the restaurant on its website.

The restaurant pays homage to the story of Mr. Ah Go, a local Chinese market gardener in the 1800s who tried to save his land from being taken over by Western settlers. While the city wanted Ah’s land for residential development, he proposed diverting a stream that ran through his property to offer an area where his garden and Western settlers could live side-by-side.

In a pretty typical colonial story, the city disagreed, giving Ah £3 for his land and building on it.

According to the restaurant, Mr. Go’s is a nod to what Ah wanted—Western settlers and Chinese market gardeners living peacefully side-by-side.

With an emphasis on pan-Asian cuisine, Mr. Go’s standouts include Kung Pao cauliflower, Taiwanese popcorn chicken, pork belly bao buns, and cream cheese wontons.

This type of food will make you pause and reflect, telling a story beyond just what’s on your plate. Even though that alone is incredibly delicious, we encourage you to think not only of the food but also the history and story behind it when you take a trip to Mr. Go’s.

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Sunday: Brews and Views

With your time in Wellington winding down, don’t forget to grab a few baked goods on your way out and potentially some killer views, too.

Breakfast: Shelly Bay Bakery on Leeds Street

Unit 6G/14 Leeds Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 800 427 323

9:00 AM Sourdough Sundays – Through natural ingredients and ferments, Shelly Bay Bakery Founder Sam Forbes makes a variety of sourdough bread and baked goods, from bagels and baguettes to buttery croissants and pain au chocolates. Can you think of a better way to start your Sunday than with a freshly baked goodie? We sure can’t.

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Climb to Mount Victoria Lookout

Lookout Road, Hataitai, Wellington 6011, New Zealand | +64 4 802 4860

Photography courtesy of WellingtonNZ

10:30 AM Best views – If you have time left, we highly recommend climbing the trails around Mount Victoria. Hike through twisting trails and switchbacks to various lookout points, where you’ll grab glimpses of the beautiful harbor.

If you really want to reach boss level: Stop at Shelly Bay Bakery, grab your goodies to go, and take them up Mount Victoria for a little last-day picnic.

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