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Beervana
Beervana is an annual beer festival held in Wellington, New Zealand which has on average 14,000 to 16,000 festival attendees over two days, with a maximum of to 4,000 attendees per session.

Festival goers can expect to try between 350-450 different craft beers as well as some ciders, hard seltzers, alcoholic ginger beers, and beer cocktails. There is a growing range of low and no alcohol beer options at the festival.

The majority of breweries come from New Zealand, and in the past has had visiting breweries from Australia and around  the world including the US, the UK and Japan. Typically the festival is held over four sessions across two days (Friday and Saturday) in August.

The entire festival is held within the Wellington Regional Stadium concourse, a large, oval corridor inside the stadium.

History
Beervana began as the New Zealand Beer, Wine and Spirits Council's NZ Beer Expo in 2001 which featured events across Wellington celebrating the growing NZ Beer Industry. It was usually held just after the NZ Brewers Guild Awards, as a way for brewers to make use of the leftover beer they submitted for judging.

The BrewNZ Beer Expo then turned briefly into The Great New Zealand Beer Show, which in turn evolved into Taste BrewNZ, which was held at the Wellington Town Hall. The Brewers Guild of New Zealand then created "Beervana" in 2008.

The festival was sold to then Guild president, David Cryer, who in 2011 moved it out of the town hall and into the Wellington Regional Stadium. The Wellington Culinary Events Trust brought Beervana in 2015 and has run the festival ever since.

Over the years there have been collaboration brews between international and locally based breweries.

Beervana today
Festival goers can taste beer from brewers from around New Zealand, and there are usually brewers from overseas represented. In 2022 and 2023 Australian breweries from The Sunshine Coast have exhibited. There is always a Pink Boots stand which showcases females in brewing, and the New Kids On the Block stand which features new breweries which have opened up within the previous year. The New Kids of the Block stand at Beervana has launched several breweries that are now well-known beer brands in New Zealand, including Panhead and Shining Peak. There is a growing range of low and no alcohol beer options at the festival.

The food at Beervana features food trucks and restaurants from Wellington, and around New Zealand. Past food vendors include Boulcott Street Bistro, House of Dumplings, Soul Shack, Rosie’s Red Hot Cantina, Mahurangi Oysters, McClure’s Pickles, More Better BBQ, and Viva Mexico.

Festival goers can ‘praise’ the beers they try, recommending them to other attendees. These ratings are displayed in real time on screens throughout the stadium as the Beervana Leaderboard. The top rated beer of each session is announced before the close of the session with the top rated beer of the festival announced after the weekend.

Other highlights include roving street and theatrical acts, live music performances, and DJs.

Breweries who have participated at Beervana since 2014 include: