Mean Doses Brewery and Fillery began in a basement in 2013. Several awards and sell out brews later, they opened a bar and taproom upstairs on Tory Street. Food is supplied by Mabel’s restaurant downstairs and washed down with one of the brewery’s exclusive house beers. The bar has pinball, pool, shuffleboard, and classic arcade games so you and your friends are in for a long (and fun) evening. Completing the group of city breweries is Garage Project on Aro Street. Established in a former petrol station garage, the brewery is a creative powerhouse. Its collaborations with other Wellington businesses and ongoing experimentation have produced some wildly innovative beers. The cellar door onsite usually has about eight rotating beer taps available. You can taste, chat with the brewers, and take it home with you.
The suburbs heading southeast host some tasty gems as well. Waitoa, in Waitoa Road Hātaitai, is a micro-brewery by day and a bar by night. Bring your own flagon to fill up and takeaway or stop in for a while for a drink. The bar menu offers the classics, but patrons are also welcome to bring in food from the surrounding Hataitai eateries. Parrotdog Brewery in Kingsford Smith Street, Rongotai is inspired by traditional pubs. Antiques, taxidermy, and a pool table all feed into the retro vibe. After you’ve selected from one of the bar’s 17 revolving tap beers you can sit down and watch the hops ferment through large windows. When it’s sunny you can sit outside, sip, and smell the sea air. Lyall Bay Beach is a couple of hundred metres away.