After a Garage Project beer at Hashigo, George and I ventured out to the quiet outer suburbs to join Kieran Haslett-Moore in his in-house pub, the Masons Arms. Over a few of his beers (accompanied by a platter of delicious things he'd largely also made himself), we talked about the many roads to being a satisfied beer geek, pondered the idiosyncrasies of the Wellington craft beer scene and the wider industry at large. Towards the end, we picked up on the topic George and I had talked about last time, and discussed a few weirdnesses of beer award shows.

Recorded not-long after Beervana 2011, George and I sit down for some thoughts on beer awards and on the rights and wrongs (mostly the rights, it must be said) of the changes made for this year's festival. We're big fans of awards, but can't help but think there's plenty of room for improvement, for more clarity, and for, well, more.

For our first podcast 'on the road' (or at least 'out of the house'), we went to visit the Garage Project in Aro Valley. We sit down with Jos and Pete, have a few beers -- though none of their own, far-too-rare as they are -- and have a bit of a ramble about who they are, what they're planning / have done so far, and what has inspired them.

Back after an inadvertent hiatus, we share one of our favourite New Zealand beers -- Emerson's 'Bookbinder' -- and have a bit of a discussion about "midstrength" / "session" beer in general: the surprising variety available, its apparent return to 'vogue', the counterintuitive math of beer and booze, and that sort of thing.

As we recorded our third episode, the weather was making a turn for the cold. So we took the opportunity to have a little ramble about Winter Beers, seasonal offerings in general -- and to make a relatively-broad plea for more attention-to-situation in beer drinkers' habits. We offer up something of a taxonomy of winter options -- 1) light and restoring, 2) spicy and interesting, 3) huge and gloopy -- make myriad recommendations for worthy things to try, before touching on some Midstrength News and a bit of Beer News in general.

And then, as a special extra, we give George his first Rex Attitude, and record his unvarnished and honest reaction.

Back for a second round, we have a beer which George discovered purely from its advertising. Which leads to a discussion about beer marketing in general, the history, the good and the very very bad indeed. We touch on a few recent controversies and try to make some sense of them from each end -- George the marketing man, and Phil the beer nerd.

We also offer a few more recommendations for things-to-seek-out, and decide on our first recurring "segment".

The Beer Diary Podcast is us -- Phil Cook and George Langlands -- talking about beer, its various happenings and history. Based in Wellington, New Zealand, our conversations do skew towards the local craft beer scene, but also ramble their way around the world and into more-or-less related issues.

In this, the first episode, we make the obligatory introductions; enjoy an Emerson's Pilsner -- arguably the foundational and defining beer of a new local style; and discuss the occasionally-heated topic of unofficial / "Grey Market" imported beer.

We're aiming to be accessible, conversational and evangelical about good beer. Comments are not just welcome, they're encouraged, and can be made at the site of the actual Diary, or via Twitter.