STELLA ARTOIS TAPPING THE PULSE

STELLA ARTOIS TAPPING THE PULSE/ POST-EASTER LATE EDITION

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STELLA ARTOIS TAPPING THE PULSE

High living and low life in the hospitality capital - brought to you by Stella Artois, "serving rogues and knaves since 1366"

Visit the Stella website at http://www.stella-artois.be/. You'll need Netscape, Shockwave, Flash and a good command of the French or Dutch language.

Alternatively, check out http://www.stella-artois.com - the international site for beer.

26 April 2000

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POST-EASTER LATE EDITION

Cybersquatter nailed
Spray that butter!
Chomp that bear!
Event highlights: past and upcoming

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Three years after the domain name steinlager.com was registered by Wallace Waugh, the Waikato farmer has been ordered by a judge to turn the name over to Lion Breweries. Waugh's defence - he wanted the identifiable Steinlager beer brand name to use for his roading business ("steinlager" translates roughly from German as "stone layer", apparently) - was undercut by his offer to Lion that he'd sell the name for $20,000, and his registration of other domain names like cuttysark.com.

Also in Lion news: the company look like shifting their operation to Australia, where 70% of their assets are now based.

Meanwhile, brewing giant San Miguel have made a $111 million bid for Tasmania's J Boag brewing business, makers of the James Squire Premium label. Chuck Hahn of J Boag says that such beers are becoming increasingly popular at the expense of mainstream brands; the Australian market for premium beers is now up to 6%, approaching the 10% levels of Europe and the USA.

Chefs like Icon's Peter Thornley are raving about the new Butter Oil Mist. It has more flavour than than similar canola oil sprays and is just as easy and clean to use.

And with wild food season upon us, it's appropriate that there's a resurgence of interest in Kiwi Bear. That's possum, actually, great as a gamey casserole and known by the more attractive Kiwi Bear brand in China, where the nearest equivalent is an endangered species. Here, we wish that the possum WAS endangered, and Deputy PM Jim Anderton is throwing his weight behind an export drive for the TB-free possum area of Northland. With the meat selling for $NZ23 a kg in China, and 70 million possums for 1.4 billion Chinese, the numbers stack up.

If it hadn't been for the University Sports Tournament in Wellington over the long Easter/Anzac weekend, the capital would have been very quiet indeed. Apart from StudioNine that is, which managed an event trifecta: Thursday night's Flipside 6th Birthday party; Saturday night's triumphant end to the Roots Foundation national tour (over 600 through the door, big queues, everybody smiling); and the Bass Frontiers Sunday Sessions II, with close to 300 people getting down to 48 Sonic's AK styles and the seriously solid Sean.

Event highlights this week include Thursday night's opening of the TV2 Laugh! Festival, with the Wellington premiere celebrations at the Opera House and later the Boatshed. Out in Newtown, the Neut Gallery also have an opening on Thursday: new work by Jason Secto. And Mr Drum'n'bass, the mighty Grooverider, plays StudioNine. Party down!

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STELLA ARTOIS TAPPING THE PULSE

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