Harriet heads off pourers

Harriet Fenwick is our best beer pourer. Photo / Doug Sherring

Christchurch may have been shaken, but its beers won't be. For the second time in succession, a Christchurch woman has won the title as the top beer pourer in the country.

Harriet Fenwick, who already counts herself as the luckiest woman in Christchurch for surviving last weekend's earthquake unscathed, won the Stella Artois Draught Masters in Auckland on Friday.

The key to a good beer is Stella's nine-step pouring ritual. "It stops the beer oxidising. It makes the beer taste better," Fenwick said. That was achieved by leaving a head on the beer, stopping the air affecting the taste quality of the liquid.

Kiwi drinkers should be relieved to learn they get good bang for their buck. Stella bar staff in Belgium leave a three-finger beer head equivalent but in New Zealand "we want more for our money" and a smaller two-finger head is the instruction for bar staff.

Fenwick, 20, of Trevino's Restaurant and Bar in Christchurch, said her house and the bar suffered no structural damage in the earthquake. "We only lost some alcohol. Unfortunately an 18-year-old Glenfiddich got smashed. It was a bit of a mess," she said.

She beat 11 other bartenders from around the country to represent New Zealand at the world champs in London in October. Second place this year went to Maxine McKeage (from The Grand Beer Café in Palmerston North) and third to Fiona Stanton from the Occidental Belgian Beer Café in Auckland.

Fenwick had a clear head post celebration as "I'm not a huge drinker myself".