Season of Shred 2014

Last Sunday went off with a bang at Atlas a great crowd gathered to celebrate the start of the mountain bike season at the Season of Shred party. The aim of the party was to raise some money for QMTBC's Long Live the Loop campaign which will see improves made to the Fernhill loop track.

This year saw the addition of a jump competition at the start of the evening, to kick off proceedings. A few local riders hucked themselves off a ramp set up on the wharf-side and into the lake, all competing for the best trick prize. 

The comp saw Nick Dethridge winning the DHaRCO gear for best trick. Biggest huck went to Sean McCoul. Bob Latchem won the Women's Best Trick accolade and Meagan Mee Wilken attempted a rad 360 so also deserves a shout out. Emmerson Wilken and Conor Macfarlane both landed double backies, and Jarrah Healy also put in a huge buck. And finally, to the delight of the crowd, Jono Head did a run in his undies!

The evening then commenced in earnest with the beer flowing (big ups to our friends at Coopers for donating some Special Reserve beer!) and with delicious food specials available from our neighbours at Farelli's Trattoria, who allowed us to expand into their premises for the evening. 

The raffle kicked off with a load of wicked prizes to giveaway. Heartfelt thanks to all the business who contributed to the raffle with such generosity, we were blown away. Top prizes were a $1000 voucher from H & J’s Outdoor World, won by Ryan Roach, and two full day trips with Queenstown Bike Taxis valued at $600 each won by Will Kemp and Ryan Roach (again - lucky Ryan!).

DJ Justin then continued to spin the tunes into the night. It was another epic fundraiser which saw us raise a total of $5360 for QMTBC! We are so stoked to have raised this much money and we know it will be put to great use.

Thanks again to all the businesses that contributed to the event and to the raffle. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped with this event - Indri, Jo, Samantha, Amy and Rosie on ticket and T-shirt sales; Nikki, Helen and Robin on crowd control. Thanks to Emmerson and Meagan for building the awesome ramp; Jimmy for the bike lifting; Fraser for his ever solid MC skills and Callum Wood for the fantastic pictures of the event. Thanks to Steamer Wharf and Real Journeys for letting us use the wharf for the trick comp, thanks to the Atlas and Farelli's staff and last but not least, thanks to everyone who came out and supported the event! 

Season of Shred 2014 - Photos Preview

Sunday saw our annual knees up to celebrate the start of the MTB season go off with a bang! This year we also added a trick competition to our Season of Shred celebrations. This proved to be a big hit with lots of people coming to watch some hardy locals huck themselves off our Atlas ramp and into Lake Wakatipu; all competing for the best trick accolade. We'll have a full write up of the event on our news page soon, in the meantime here's a few snaps (big thanks to Callum Wood) of Season of Shred 2014. 

Pints for Wynyard Grand Total

October saw our 2nd Pints for Wynyard campaign where we joined forces with our friends at Emerson's, Coopers, Zeffer, Altitude Brewing Studioes, Invercargill Breweries, Tuatara and Betty's to donate $1 from every pint sold to the Wynyard Freeride Terrain Park. We managed this year to raise a whopping $6794.50! Woo hoo! We've got no doubt that the money will be put to excellent use by the club once again. Thanks to our brewing friends for helping use make a great contribution to the Queenstown community that we know will most definitely be appreciated.

And don't forget if you want to support QMTBC club some more... become a member. You'll be helping the club continue with their stellar work and you also get a ton of very nifty discounts at with many businesses around town, it's a win, win, win, win situation!

Thanks again to everyone who supported 2014's Pints for Wynyard, we hope you'll be pulling up a bar stool and sedately sipping on a craft brew next year too.

With thanks,

The Atlas Team :-)

SOS Party: Special Guest Beer: Coopers Artisan Reserve

We're going to be serving an awesome guest beer at the Season of Shred Party this Sunday. We expanding into neighbouring Farelli's Trattoria for the evening so we'll have some kegs on the lines in there. We'll be pouring Coopers Original Pale Ale and our special guest beer for the night is Coopers Artisan Reserve.

The Coopers Artisan Reserve is a reflection "of the ancient art of beer making" and is crafted to taste as fresh as possible. This Pilsner is made with Hallertau Tradition and Hallertau Hersbrucher hops both sourced from Bavaria. It's citrus-y upfront and has a balanced malt character.

For the wine lovers among you we'll also be serving the Farelli's house wines; the Bianco which is a Marlbourough Savignon Blanc and the Rosso which is a Central Otago Pinot Noir. 

Season of Shred 2014 - Prize List!

Preparation for our 2014 Season of Shred Party is well under way here is the current prize list!

• 2 x Full day van hires with QT Bike Taxi -$1200

• $1000 worth bike gear, H&J Outdoor World

• 2 x Nights in the "new flash-as one bedroom apartment” Pinewood Lodge - $550

• 2 x Scenic flights with The Helicopter Line - $470

• 3 x Magnums and a case Pinot from Gibbston Valley - $330

• 3 x Night spa rental with Spa Hire QT - $275

• 4 x Half day bike passes from  Skyline Gondola - $210

• 1 x Jump at Canyon Swing - $215

• 3 x 1 year subscriptions to NZ Mountain Bike Magazine

• 1 x Paragliding jump with G-Force x $190

• A Milford Sound Trip with Kiwi Discovery - $175

• 1 x Bowen & 1 x Massage with Danielle Argent $170

• 15 day passes at Rabbit Ridge $150

• A rafting trip with Kiwi Discovery

• 4 x Party passes on the Luanda - $140

• 2 x Massage treatments with Emily at Sport and Therapeutic Massage 

• A surprise gift from Outside Sports

• Surprise gift from Bikeaholic

• 1/2 half day DH bike rental from Vertigo with pass - $134

• $100 voucher at White Tiger Tattoo

• Limited edition shoes from Frontrunner

• Gear from Quest

• 500 x Business cards with 3 Fold Print - $99

• 5 x 90 min classes at Yoga Nadi - $90

• A surprise gift from Off Road Adventures

Big thanks also go to the good folks at Coopers for generously supporting the drinks specials and also to Farelli's Trattoria for allowing us to expand into their premises for the evening.

Season of Shred T-Shirts Now on Sale!

Long Live the Loop T-Shirts $25

Long Live the Loop T-Shirts are now on sale at Atlas!

The proceeds from this year's Season of Shred party will be donated to Queenstown Mountain Bike Club's Long Live the Loop campaign, which aims to raise funds a-plenty for the new Fernhill Loop extension. 

We're really excited to be backing this QMTBC campaign, more trails = more fun is what we think! If you want to show your support too, then why not get one of the T-shirts?

The stylish, charcoal grey Ts are $25 each (with proceeds going to QMTBC) and you also get two free tickets for the Season of Shred Party raffle. 

5 Things You Didn't Know About Beer: How Beer Was Flavoured Before Hops

Twiggy

If you thought that hops had been used to flavour beer since beer began, you'd be mistaken. This dose of beer facts is about how beer was flavoured before hops. Be thankful that twigs and mugwort aren't the only options anymore.

• The 11th century is the first time hops are documented as being used to flavour beer.

• Before this beer was flavoured using a variety of plants including dandelion, burdock, marigold, heather and the rather Harry Potter sounding, Mugwort.

• Gruit (or grut) is an old herb mixture that was used to bitter beer before hops. Gruit varied in recipe with different producers having their own special blend. Some gruit ingredients are now know to have preservative qualities.

• Gruit itself lost popularity with the onset of hops in brewing but some non-hopped beers still survive today such as Sahti. Sahti is a traditional Finnish beer that is flavoured with berries, twigs and juniper.

• Gruit has had a bit of a revival though due to the craft brewing's recent renaissance. Many smaller breweries in the US and Europe have experimented with unhopped beers and found inspiration in the old herbs (and twigs) that were previously used to flavour beer.