2017 Pacific Beer Expo to Showcase Contemporary Vietnamese Brewing

The 2017 Pacific Beer Expo will showcase the output of three breweries from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam. All three are quite new but are turning heads for the high quality and distinctive beers they have been producing.

In particular, Pasteur Street Brewing caused a sensation in 2016 when, after less than two years of operation, they won a gold medal at the world’s most prestigious beer competition – the World Beer Cup. That was for their Cyclo Stout and that beer will be in the 2017 Pacific Beer Expo lineup.

Cyclo Stout is a 13% ABV Imperial Chocolate Stout that incorporates several local ingredients, including chocolate from Saigon’s celebrated “bean to bar” chocolate maker, Maison Marou, whose products are already available in New Zealand.

Ryan McArthur of the Pacific Beer Expo started a conversation in early 2016 about acquiring a keg of Cyclo Stout for the 2016 event. This almost resulted in Ryan bringing a keg back in checked luggage. Instead that original invitation was expanded for the 2017 festival, drawing in two other smaller and newer Saigon Breweries, Heart of Darkness and East West, creating a fully fledge Vietnamese Craft Beer Showcase. The head brewer at Heart of Darkness is New Zealander Duane Morton, formerly of Panhead, Moa and Invercargill Breweries.

The 2017 Pacific Beer Expo will take place on October 21 and 22, at the Boat Shed and Wellington Rowing Club on Wellington’s waterfront. Since 2011 it has been a celebration of the most interesting and adventurous beer being made by brewers in New Zealand and elsewhere in the Pacific Rim. The session on Saturday October 21 is sold out. A few tickets remain for the session on Sunday October 22.

The Vietnam Trade Office in New Zealand is assisting the Pacific Beer Expo to bring these exceptional breweries' beer to this year's event.

ENDS

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