Getting to Dunedin and visiting Cadbury World.
They were so excited and our tour time couldn't come soon enough.
The tour saw us go through the chocolate manufacturing plant and see Easter eggs, chocolate buttons, Roses and more.
Unfortunately no cameras are allowed on the tour, so my photos are minimal from outside and the end of the tour.
The highlight of the tour for the kids though was the chocolate waterfall.
Cadbury have converted one of their old disused silos (the purple one below) for the waterfall. One ton of chocolate falls 28 meters in 28 seconds and is quite impressive.
The kids left with full bags of chocolate from the tour and chocolate driven smiles.
What could possibly beat a tour of the chocolate factory ??
Yep a tour of a heritage brewery.
My Dad and I took the 6pm tour of Speight's Brewery.
I last did the tour 9 years ago.
The majority of the tour is the same, but more detail is now provided and also more access to the production brewery is available. Specifically the historic kauri gyle fermenters, three of which are still in production. One of the kauri gyles still in production was being updated and I got to briefly chat with the engineer who knew all about how they were maintained. The copper cooling coils have been replaced with stainless and a thermocouple in the gyle controls the coolant in the coils. He was installing an outlet to allow them more easily draw of yeast after fermentation.
With the recent earthquakes in Christchurch the CHCH brewery has closed and some of the production moved to Dunedin. They are now brewing 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. They are also preparing for the installation of a new brewing plant to maintain capacity.
The existing plant dates back to the late 1940's and is very well maintained.
Following the tour was the customary tasting. The key difference was the ability to pour your own beers. There was a real mix of people on the tour and it was interesting to sit back and watch the different groups get stuck in with the novelty of pouring your own beer off draft.
The Porter is definitely my favourite, is only available on draft and is fermented in the kauri gyles which only have a 32,000 L capacity over their stainless 50,000 L fermenters.
Hey Darren. The thing I love most about having to go down to the Dunedin brewery for training is the porter! It's always on tap in the staff bar.
ReplyDeleteI think it is one of the best beers that Speights make. One day I hope we get to make it at The Pride, just so we can get it locally up in Auckland!