Mother's Day treat, 2017

The day before Mother's Day, Jeanne and I went to Mt. Eden. I wanted to take her out for a little treat. We had a very nice time, and discovered someplace new. 

We did not climb the Mt. Eden that you see in this picture. We wandered around the suburb that is named for this volcanic cone. This photo shows clearly how hilly the terrain around here is.   

This is a shot of the train platform at Mt. Eden as we arrived for our day out. The picture itself is pretty blah I realize, but I like to show you what you would see if you were here, and this is it. Trains heading into the city and Britomart go away from the camera on the left, trains heading for our home approach us on the right. 

This is a shot I took at the top of the walkway from the train station platform. The top of Mt. Eden is just visible the in background. 

The centre of Mt. Eden, the suburb, is about 4 kilometres from the downtown Auckland, and walking through it, you can see that it is an older section. There are some new apartment buildings but most of the storefronts we passed are quite old and many were vacant. I did not take many pictures. Here is one that I took on another visit to Mt. Eden. 

We found a Thai restaurant that we liked the looks of and had lunch. I was very pleased that the food came almost instantly. I guess it doesn't take long to throw the ingredients together in a wok and toss it around a bit. We chose our selections wisely and the food was even better, we thought, than the food we get from our Henderson Thai place, where they tend to overdo the sugar. 

Our real find of the day came after lunch. I had seen this place the first time I explored Mt. Eden, but it wasn't open then. Since we came by in the afternoon, they were doing a brisk trade. 

 I'm always ready to check out an Alehouse.

 Especially one that looks like this one does. 

Galbraith's is in a 111 year-old building. It was originally constructed as the Grafton Library. 

 Hmmm, look at that. I took two pictures. One of the doorway and the second of the floor and I almost got them lined up. I didn't mean to do that but I like the expanded view it produces. 

This is the entryway just inside the outer door. 

I enjoyed sipping my beer while admiring this gorgeous and historic bar. Actually, part of the bar is pre-historic.  

(Also, the clock doesn't work, it's actually about 1 p.m.)

 Take a look at the counter from this angle, 

And now, from this angle. Resting your elbows on this bar is, in itself, worth the price of the beer in my opinion... 

...Because,  this bar is made from 40,000 year old Kauri wood. Kauri are huge trees that can be up to 200 feet tall. Swamp Kauri are those that fell over at some point and were pressed down into the deep swamps that preserved them. 
(DSIR stands for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) 

The picture below shows one such tree. Products made from swamp kauri are available but very expensive, as you might imagine. I wonder what that bar counter cost originally and what it would be worth today?

 I tried a half pint of the Russian Stout that you might have noticed advertised on the sign in the entrance, and a half of Redemption. The stout was okay, but the Redemption was extraordinary. It was Delicious with a capital D when it first came out of the tap. I noticed though, that it began to taste a little sweeter as it sat in my glass and the CO2 diminished. This was not terrible, but it surprised me. And this beer was only 2.5% alcohol.  

Another view across the room. 

Even a brass rail for the comfort of your feet. 

If Jeanne and I had not already had lunch, I would have enjoyed one of their hamburgers. 

(A sort of side-bar thought here...In New Zealand, they do not call hamburger meat hamburger, like we do in the States. They call it mince. Why then don't they call the sandwich made from it a minceburger?)

This bit of cozy seating is next to the brewing area, which can be seen through the glass partitions on the right.

I've seen Galbraith's beer in the stores, but never knew it's story. Now I do. 

We will definitely visit Galbraith's again and I hope it will be soon.   

Update: I went back to Galbraith's the following Saturday. Jeanne decided not to come this time. I tried a bitter and a porter. Very interesting. 
Both of these beers were chilled to only 50 degrees Fahrenheit compared to about 37 for most tap beer. And they had noticeably less carbonation. The bitter was not bitter at all and the porter was very dark like a stout. I've very glad I tried these and intend to continue to learn. There are currently three more varieties of these traditional English beers on tap.  -djf