The latest from Atlas

Monday 21 December 2015

$21,564...!!!!!!!

The team at Atlas is proud to announce we have raised a WHOPPING $21,564 for the QMTBC this year! This is a combined fund between The GB’s Club and the Atlas SOS party. We could not have done it without everyone eating and drinking at Atlas between October and November – and of course the hundreds and hundreds of people who attended, participated and purchased raffle tickets and t-shirts at the Season of Shred Party!

The GB’s Club (The Good Bastard’s Club) ran for 5 weeks in Atlas. We had a ton of sponsors donating product, which in turn allowed Atlas to save a % of the months earnings. This included items like $1 per pint sold and $1.50 per Collarbone Cure sold etc. The grand total for the GB’s = $11,004. A massive thanks goes to: Steamer Wharf | Altitude Brewing | Octane Coffee Roasters | Ivy & Lola's | Emerson's Brewery | Coopers Brewery | Thatcher's Cider | Bidvest | QT Laundry Services | Tuatara Brewing | Zeffer Cider | Terraces | Garage Project Brewery | European Bakery | Southern Hospitality | Liquor King | Alpine Milk | Farelli's | Ronnie Baker and again everyone who ate and drank at Atlas for these special 5 weeks.


The Atlas SOS Party (Season of Shred Party) is the grand finale to The GB's Club. The party moved up to Wynyard Freestyle Jump Park this year and included BBQs, beers, a DJ, local band Rules of Addiction, over 65 riders shredding in the Vertigo Huck-a-thon and the biggest raffle giveaway Queenstown has ever seen! This is the party people will talk about all year (especially because of the insane mosh pit!) After thousands of raffle tickets were sold and limited edition t-shirts worn by all, $10,560 was our grand SOS total. SUCCESS!


The raffle and SOS would not have been such a huge success without the help from these GB's: QMTBC | Ronnie Baker | Tom Tom Productions | Brandland | Bikeaholic | Queenstown Bike Taxis | Skyline Queenstown | Spa Hire Queenstown | Crankworx | Skyline Rotorua | Peterpans | Cardrona | Heliline | Queenstown Rafting | White Tiger | Outside Sports | Gibbston Valley | Fishing Charters | Carters | Spoke Magazine | Queenstown Health | Wide Open | Onsen | Mons Royale | AJ Hackett | Sram | Hells Gate | Southstar Shuttles | Novotel | Abracadabra Cafe.

Last year we were pretty blown away when we raised $12,144.50. However this year we almost doubled it – $21,564! Talk about hitting it out of the ball park! Atlas would again like to thank everyone that was involved – volunteers, sponsors, photographers, MC, drinkers, eaters, huckers – we definitely could not have done any of it without you!

Now bring on summer shredding!

Jake getting side ways!

Bie winning the Beauty and the Bike Mechanic prize from Outside Sports!


Massive prize list board
Jon winning the bike from Bikeaholic & Atlas


Rules of Addiction rocking the stage
Your lovely host and MC Amy Freedman and Fraser Gordon!

Tuesday 15 December 2015

Octane Coffee Roasters


For all our coffee fanatics in Queenstown, it will come as no surprise when we tell you that Steve Kay isn’t just a talented, tutu-wearing dancer, but that he is a green coffee bean roasting master! We do not want to make his head any bigger then it already is however, the simple facts prove that Octane Coffee Roasters is the best blend in town!

Nearly 20 years ago, in the Court House Cafe in Golden Bay, Steve was given the nickname ‘Steveo-bin-latte the coffee dictator' because he produced and perfected the most amazing coffee in the Nelson Region. Customers flocked from near and far to get their morning fix. Now Queenstown is lucky enough to have him – and his big mouth – roasting away in his secret lab, also known as his ‘man cave’! 

What makes his blend so unique and different from others? Firstly he roasts beans in a 7.5 kilo Turkish roaster called Has Garanti. He blends a 50/50 mix of Guatemalan/Colombian seeds, as he thinks it is the best consistent product for consumers.  However it did take a few different beans such as East Timor and Papua New Guinea, before he was happy with his perfect batch.

He uses a light roast to let the coffee speak for itself. “I’m allowing the product to showcase itself instead of over-roasting it to pack it with flavour. I want it to taste like coffee, not roast"

In his secret lab, as well as perfecting the green coffee seed, he studies the behaviour of men and caffeine. He lures men in with his pool table, dart board, and loud drum and bass beats. In return they always consume his addictive product and return for more!

If you are looking for that perfect morning coffee – without the queues, or random hours – look no further as Atlas only stocks Octane Coffee Roasters because we support the passion Steve puts into his product. And unlike Steve’s operation, our opening hours are consistent, daily, dine-in and takeaway! 

However, if you feel obliged to deter from Atlas one day to get your coffee from the man himself, go find the secret man cave. We promise Steve will not disappoint. But if he is not open, then try again tomorrow – someone is also a family man! Customers be warned his discussions never lack entertainment, they are heated and controversial as he is a strong but fair liberal who likes the word ****! ;)

See you all at Atlas for your daily coffee because we do more then just steak, beer and chips!
Bags of coffee beans are available to purchase for personal or commercial use


The Turkish Has Garanti
Steve's uniquely designed takeaway cups to match his personality!
The Vibiemme Domobar Super!
Helpless victims

        
50/50 Guatemalan Colombian green beans

Thursday 3 December 2015

Emerson's Tap Takeover

This Friday, for the first time ever, Atlas will have a 24-hour Tap Takeover hosting 13 different Emerson's beers in-house. These unique beers have been made for special occasions or are limited edition brewer's reserves, and are unlikely to be seen in Atlas again. The different varieties that are available from 4pm until close this Friday, December 4 are:

Overlord Coffee Infused Stout – This fantastic beer tastes exactly as you think - coffee infused stout! What more do you need? 8% WOW

Sitting Bear Pale Ale – If you were here 3 years ago, you had the luxury of trying the brewer's reserve Sitting Bear. It was brewed to assist ageing brewers cope with those long days at work. 3.5%

Shroom to Breath – Brewed with Shittake mushrooms to make a nice earthy brown ale. 6%

Mr Jo’s Golden Ale – Mr Jo wanted a bigger, hoppier golden ale to stand out from your average ‘Golden’. This American Kiwi combo is distinctively spicy with a resiny hop flavour and an aroma that will wow you and Mr Jo. 5.6%

Gladiator“The secret to a great BOCK beer is that the drinker shouldn’t notice it’s strength until he gets up from the table.”7.2% Enough said.

Southern Clam Stout – Brewed in conjunction with Southern Clams Ltd, this special edition creamy roasted stout has hints of vanilla and ocean briny characters. 6%

Manuka Smoked Chilli Porter – It is exactly what the name says – A strong smoked porter, conditioned on chillies. YUM 7%

Urberbell – Refreshingly tart with Riwaka hops, this is a private reserve Belgian table beer. 4%

Lil' Nugget English Ale – The complete opposite of a big malt hoppy beer. This change of pace allows you to get lazy on a Sunday and reminds you what it would feel like to be relaxing at an English countryside pub! 4.6%

You will also still find our regular Emerson’s taps available because they are far too good to get rid of!
1812 | Pilsner | Bookbinder | London Porter

Supply will be limited so get in early to guarantee your beer of choice is still available. See you all Friday!





Monday 9 November 2015

10 More Beers On Tap


This Friday, November 13, Atlas Beer Cafe will be home to the most unique, individual and quirky beer-pouring system in Queenstown – adding 10 more beers on tap! Yes, you read it correctly, 10 MORE beers on tap.

One might ask how you could fit anything else into the tiny, busy bar of Atlas? ... Surely extra space does not just appear in thin air? There was a crazy idea of an industrial bar made with custom designed beer taps ... Pipes that scattered across the ceiling... 

Thanks to the insane imagination of Davey McKenzie and the specialised skills of Jono Profit, this dream has now become a reality. However, this was no ordinary dream to full-fill – with 40 hours on a running CNC machine centre, almost 200kg of metal, a 2230mm I-beam, steel piping, copper tubes, and very little space to work with (in Atlas) – J P Engineering company, based in Lake Hayes Estate, has managed to create the impossible. An industrialised tap system!


Come down and join the team at Atlas on Friday, November 13, to celebrate this new addition to our impressive little bar – and of course treat yourself to the new craft beers we will have in stock! See you all then!












Monday 2 November 2015

SOS Party

Summer is nearly here, which means warm weather, sunshine, beers, biking, and – most importantly – the Season Of Shred party! Atlas is hosting its annual SOS fundraiser for the QMTBC (Queenstown Mountian Bike Club) so please continue to read so you don’t miss out!!

SAVE THE DATE

When: Saturday, November 21, 4-11pm
Where: The Wynyard Jump Park 
Why: Because we're GC's 

DETAILS

  • Atlas will have a special licensed area serving Altitude Beer on tap from 4pm.
  • The BBQ will be fired up from 4pm and food will be available all night.
  • Queenstown Bike Taxi will be running FREE shuttles from the One Mile car park between 4 and 6pm, so all you avid bikers can lap the DH track for a couple of hours.
  • A Jump Jam with heaps of talented riders will start at 4pm.
  • At 7pm the Vertigo Huckathon kicks off for best trick and whip off competition.
  • The DJ will be on the decks from 5pm.
  • Local band Rules Of Addiction will hit the stage at 8pm.


RAFFLE

This would not be an Atlas party without a massive raffle with a TON of prizes to give away! We start the prize-giving at 6pm and continue throughout the night. 
This is what you could win:
  • A 2016 Kona Process 153 bike donated by Bikeaholic and Atlas Beer Cafe.
  • A trip for two to Crankworx Rotorua 2016. 
(Flights.  Entry into all Crankworx events. 2 x 40 mtb uplift pass and 2 x 5 luge rides with Skyline Rotorua| An activity package with Peterpans including Quad-biking, Zorbing and Rafting. | Family voucher to Hells Gate mud spa. | 20 shuttles with South Star Shuttles| Food and drink vouchers at the Novotel| Food and drink vouchers to Abracadabra Café)



This is a free event for all the community to enjoy! Raffle tickets will be sold at Atlas two weeks before the event starting Friday, November 6. To win the top 3 prizes you DO NOT have to be at the party, however you MUST answer your phone if we call you! All other prizes will be raffled off to winners in the crowd!

Raffle tickets are 1 for $5, 3 for $10, 8 for $20 or 20 for $50

WHY DO WE DO THIS? 

The Queenstown Mountain Bike Club is host to over a 1000 members yearly. They are highly dedicated to building and maintaining local trails, hosting special events and most importantly bringing the biking community together as one. The QMTBC does so much for the community, and Atlas wants to continue to get behind and support the club as much as we can! We know our ongoing support of QMTBC definitely gives them that extra helping hand when it comes to their fundraising and growth.


We can not forget to give a big shout out and thank you to Ronnie Baker for all our design, Brandland for all our printing and Tom Tom Productions for sights and sound up Wynyard! GCs! 

Help us kick off summer and celebrate the Atlas Season of Shred Party and raise a ton of dough for the awesome Queenstown Mountain Bike Club. 
See you all November 21!

SOS T-SHIRTS

It has been an annual tradition that QMTBC has made up specialized Atlas SOS T-shirts. There is a limited supply, so get your special edition Tee asap. They will be on sale at Atlas and Bikeaholic from Friday November 6 for $30! You'll be the black sheep at the party if you are NOT wearing one!





Friday 16 October 2015

The GB's Club

For the past few years, during October, Atlas has hosted a fundraising event for the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club called 'Pints for Wynyard'. Last year alone we raised a whopping $6,794.50!

This year a ton of other good bastards have jumped on board to sponsor the event. We decided to change the title so we could truly capture the new awesome supports we have this year. So welcome to THE GB's CLUB (The Good Bastards Club).

From October 16 until November 20 Atlas is going to donate heaps of $$$ from all our GB's products – beer, food, coffees, drinks etc! The more you eat and drink, the more money we raise! All you need to do it get down to Atlas and treat yourself over the five weeks and a ton of cash will be donated to the mountain bike club. The money raised is going to epic new trails, jumps and track maintenance in the Wynyard/Fernhill area!

This fundraiser is not possible without the help from all these Good Bastards:

Don't be shy this month, come on down to Atlas and help us, and the GB's, support the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club. Happy eating and drinking!



Tuesday 13 October 2015

Raise a glass to Queenstown's Altitude Brewing

Eliott Menzies from Altitude Brewing Studios
with one of his award winning beers on tap at Atlas
We only serve the best here at Atlas so it comes as no surprise that two of Queenstown’s Altitude Brewing Studios’ beers have won silver medals at the 2015 Brewers’ Guild of New Zealand Beer Awards. The Atlas team would like to congratulate Eliott Menzies of Altitude Brewing on this achievement – especially as his range has only been in retail circulation for just over two years.

The Mischievous Kea, winning silver in the Strong Pale Ale category, is made using all Kiwi ingredients – a carefully chosen blend of hops from Marlborough and malts from the Canterbury Plains. It’s a cheeky beer, with a cheeky attitude, which matches the cheeky parrot it’s named after! (5.5% abv)

The Posturing Professional, winning a silver in the Pale Ale category, is your typical Kiwi alpine ale. Eliott has used old school New Zealand hops to keep NZ’s brewing heritage and ancestry in mind. Best served after a hard day’s work! (5% abv)

“It is definitely a humbling feeling to win anything – as apparently this year’s awards were judged very harshly – and to be judged ahead of beers, that I considered international benchmarks, is a bit surreal. To win with two beers, you kind of have to smack yourself to see if it’s real. As of now, three, of the five beers in our range have medalled – so it must mean something being done is right. When you’re working 80 hours a week it’s a nice reward for sure!” – Eliott Menzies

Congratulations Altitude Brewing – you guys deserve it – and our customers love it!

The Mischievous Kea, along with two others in the Altitude Brewing range, can be found on tap at Atlas just now. The Posturing Professional will be returning to our line-up in coming weeks, along with three new Altitude beers.

Friday 2 October 2015

Changing faces in the Atlas kitchen


New Head Chef at Atlas,
Sam D'Cruze
After almost five years of dedicated, hard work in the Atlas kitchen, it is time to say goodbye to our head chef Scott McCaughan. Scott has been an asset to our team and it is very sad to see him go. We wish him all the best on his journey to come and are excited to see where his next adventure takes him. 

Scott's large chef shoes will be filled by our sous chef Mr Sam D'Cruze. Sam has been a hard-working member of our team since May 2013. He always has new ideas to bring to the table and has showed exceptional leadership skills in the kitchen. Sam has great new dishes to add to our menu so keep a look out in the coming weeks for some teasers...

Tuesday 1 September 2015

Atlas Hand Pump - Tuatara Copperhead

Equally as delicious in Spring.
We've currently got Tuatara's Copperhead Red Rye on our handpump at Atlas and it's a ripper. Perfect for the colder months and pretty apt for early Spring, we think. It's not exactly that warm at night yet plus there's still ton of skiing to be had - so this beer fits right in. 

As the name suggests, rye is in the mash and that gives a distinct flavour you won't find anywhere else. The rye is enhanced by Bramling Cross hops resulting in a smooth palate that allows the spiciness of the rye flavours to be enjoyed and not smothered. The finish is sweet and fruit but still has the spice of the rye present.

Tuatara suggest, on their website, pork belly as an accompaniment. You could try a Copperhead with Atlas' pork belly with apple glaze and sesame seeds. Mmm-mmm that's apres sorted! 

Tuatara Copperhead Red Rye | 4.5% | $9.50 pint

Pork belly with apple glaze and sesame seeds | $8.5

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Altitude Brewing | Moonlight Track Stout

Our good friends at Altitude Brewing have managed to tear themselves away from all that pow to brew their moreish new stout, Moonlight Track. As far as brews go you just can't fault a drop of stout when it comes to winter drinking. 

Moonlight goes on the lines at Atlas from this Friday (14th August). Elliott and the Altitude team will be in the bar from 7pm to answer any questions you may have about their new beer. So come on down to give it a whirl. Oh and there'll be a prize or two to win too!

Altitude Brewing Moonlight Track Stout | 6.8% | $9.50


Saturday 1 August 2015

Warm Up with Whisky - New Whisky at Atlas





















We've recently given our world whisky array a bit of a revamp to bring a little more selection. We now have on the menu a few choice single malts from Scotland, whisky from Japan, Canada, America and right here in NZ!

If you're keen on your smoky Islay offerings check out the Lagavulan which is deep, peaty and dry. It's not for the faint-heartened but it's got a devoted following and if you love your whisky intense and smoky, this one is for you.

Also from Scotland we have the Glendronach 8 year which is crisp with spice and oak. Or Jura Origin which is oaky with hints of honey, caramel and liquorice. And for a nice accessible blend check out Monkey Shoulder which is great on the rocks or a perfect option if you like your whisky with a mixer. Monkey Shoulder is smooth and mellow with vanilla flavours and hints of spice.

If you like Japanese whisky we have Yamazaki 12yr. It's medium bodied with aromas of peach, citrus and clove with a mellow, woody finish.

Staying in the Pacific we have NZ 1990.  This powerful and complex offering from the New Zealand Malt Whisky Company has hints of wood, leather, hay and blackberries and it's distilled right here in the South Island.

Moving across the Pacific we have Crown Royal from Canada. This whisky is smooth and creamy, whilst remaining full-bodied, with hints of oak and vanilla. And our stateside offering is JD Single Barrel. IT's a richer version of the No7 which is less sweet and more intense. Expect toasted oak, vanilla and caramel.

We're really happy with our new whisky selection and reckon it'll provide plenty of options for a wee warming dram on cold QT nights. Pop in and see us for one soon.


Lagavulan 16yr | $25
JD Single Barrel | $12
NZ 1990 | $19.50
Yamazaki 12 yr| $10
Jura |$10
Glendronach | $10
Crown Royal | $9
Monkey Shoulder | $9


Prices are for standard NZ doubles



Friday 3 July 2015

Mulled Wine back at Atlas!

Welcome back!
Our Atlas mulled wine is back for winter 2015 and so far it's selling like hot cakes. It's made on the premises to our special Atlas recipe and and is just the ticket after a few runs on the mountain or on a cold day. And as it's been so flippin' cold its return is not a moment too soon. 

So don't sit in your freezing house come and get warm cosy at Atlas and try one!

Atlas Mulled Wine $8 | 11.5%

Sunday 7 June 2015

Fancy New Fireplace

One of the things we are proud of at Atlas is our eclectic interior. Here's two snaps of our most recent interior decoration dabblings. 

We've added a fireplace (just for fun, not actually functional) complete with new "team members", who have been christened Boris and Euan. We also gave our famous book shelf toilets a bit of a make over. Many thanks to Straight Up Construction for doing such a fabulous job. 

We're open as usual from 9am tomorrow so come and check out our awesome adornments for yourself.



Friday 8 May 2015

End of Summer Party - THANK YOU!


Thanks so much to everyone who came and supported our end of season party another fantastic night was had by all. Massive thanks to all the local businesses who once again supported the raffle with a ton of great prizes! We really appreciate your support of this event. Thank you: 
 QUEENSTOWN BIKE TAXI SKYLINEQUESTOUTSIDE SPORTSROYAL TREEQUEENSTOWN MOUNTAIN BIKE CLUBHELI LINE TOTAL TOURISMCARDRONAGIBBSTON VALLEY WINEQueenstown Laundry ServiceAltitude BrewingAJ Hackett and the Foot Doctor.

Once we have the final total of funds raised we will let you know but in the meantime have a look at the pictures (
taken by Callum Wood) and once again, massive, massive thanks to everyone who helped out with the event, donated prizes to the event or just came along to the event. Thank you all for your support!