Beervana: Mr Whippy and Kāpiti brewery create beer icecream

Duncan's Brewing co-owner George Duncan with his raspberry ripple creation. Photo / Supplied

Mr Whippy and Duncan's Brewing have dreamed up a raspberry sherbet soft serve-inspired beer and an ice cream with a twist.

Wellington's Beervana festival kicks off at Sky Stadium on Friday and is set to be the ultimate celebration of New Zealand's brewing industry.

Duncan's Brewing co-owner George Duncan will be there.

He grew up on Kāpiti Coast and now brews beer in his home town after returning to raise a family.

Since getting into the business of brewing, Duncan has dabbled in the more creative side of the industry.

This year the brewery has collaborated with Mr Whippy to create a raspberry ripple ice cream sour beer, topped with a float of vanilla ice cream and a dusting of raspberry sherbet.

"I've got memories like most kids, especially growing up in the nineties, of Mr Whippy cruising around, so it was a great way to evoke childhood memories," Duncan said.

Duncan's Brewing will also have a stroopwafel pastry stout ice cream, which is essentially a 5 per cent soft serve beer in a cone.

It will be dipped in a choc top and garnished with a delicious stroopwafel biscuit.

There are some truly weird and wacky beers on the list, with more than 400 delights in total to try.

Derelict Brewing has a double pastry stout brewed with maple syrup, coconut, chocolate fudge, bourbon vanilla, and cocoa.

Altitude Brewing has a carrot cake ale and Garage Project has a layered pomegranate and pineapple sour.

Mean Doses has a hazy beer that looks a bit different- it's made with pandan, so it's green. Pandan is often used in Vietnamese food.

Beervana manager Ryan McArthur said 103 breweries will be represented at the festival across 63 stalls.

Among them is a German beer house and a stall dedicated to the "new kids on the block".

Last year Beervana just managed to go ahead the weekend before the country was plunged into lockdown at the beginning of the Delta outbreak.

But this is the first time since 2019 the festival is happening with the country's borders open.

Those from breweries across the ditch are finally venturing over after the transtasman bubble was shut in 2021.

McArthur said about 500 tickets to the festival have also been sold to Australians this year.

McArthur said a year's worth of planning has gone into the event.

"Beervana is the ultimate celebration of New Zealand's brewing industry, it's where we can indulge in the curious, and inspire the innovators in a fantastic setting that welcomes all and send them back off around New Zealand to search out those breweries they discovered at Beervana."