Beer made with hemp, with crayfish frames, with white pepper; made to taste like a strawberry milkshake and boosted to nine per cent ABV. The bottles are wrapped in elaborate artwork and the brewers are accosted like rock stars in airports: Craft beerhas well and truly frothed in to New Zealand's drinking culture.
But is the effervescent tide about to turn? While you may have become a craft beer aficionado, popping up across the country is a new type of bar finding favour among the punters.
Specialising in gin, vodka, or whisky, spirit bars are the latest liquor trend to hit the Kiwi booze scene.
NZ Herald Focus presenter Tristram Clayton has checked out Russian-inspired establishment Vodka Room in Auckland's Ponsonby for a tipple and a taste of what this new buzz around spirits is all about.
Sitting down to a 200ml carafe of vodka with Mark Gregory, founder of New Zealand's biggest restaurant booking network, Restuarant Hub, and Master of Culinary Arts, he explains how diners are learning to try spirits in different ways.
"You know how you have sake in Japan? In the Eastern Bloc they have little carafes of vodka, not just for cocktails, but as something to eat with the food. We're not here to get smashed but to sample the drink and appreciate it," says Gregory.
Some of the cocktails on offer at Vodka Room. Photo / Instagram, Vodka Room
Rather than the usual beer or wine pairing, at Vodka Room, an impressive space that juxtaposes the opulence of Russia with it's industrial grit, you'll be recommended the Russian spirit to match your meal.
Head chef, Murray Wiblin, of Ebisu and Tyler Street Garage fame, has been brought in to create a menu that includes Russian dumplings, a Bolshoi toasted sandwich, and terrines, which you can order until 3am.
"The concept here is trying to pair food and vodka together and also keeping up with the traditions of Russia, the motherland," says Wiblin. "We're making everything from scratch, fermenting our own vegetables, making our own breads every day, and introducing people to pairing food and vodka together."
Boasting over 150 different vodkas on their shelves, Wiblin says, "There's such a wide array of things that can be matched with all of our dishes from citrus vodkas to a lovely blackberry and lime, which works so well with our vodka cured gravalax."
A vodka service button in one of the karaoke rooms. Photo / Instagram, Vodka Room
While the Vodka Room is indeed a unique concept, Gregory says it's indicative of what's been happening world wide: Specialty spirit bars are challenging the dominance of their beer and wine equivalents.
Predictions within the America alcohol industry estimate craft liquor could capture as much as 30 per cent of the beverage market.
So what's sparked this renewed interest in hard liquor? Gregory recalls tasting pink gin bottled with handpicked raspberries in the UK two years ago and says these sort of experimental treatments are "really taking the drinks, particularly vodka and gin, in a whole new direction.
"Ultimately," he says, "people are enjoying it."
And as the craft liquor scene blossoms globally, Kiwi distillers are making their mark, too. Thomson Whisky out of Riverhead in Auckland won three gold medals at 2016's San Francisco World Spirits Competition and The Source Gin from The Cardrona Distillery picked up gold at the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition last year.
Beyond Vodka Room, where you can also sign up for a spot of Karaoke upstairs, you'll find great options for gin and whisky around town.
The Gin Room on Auckland's Vulcan Lane offers around 30 rare and speciality gins, and The Jefferson on Fort Lane has over 500 varieties of whisky.
