Chilli & Hop Festival 2014

Ok, I was far more interested in drinking beer than taking photos this year, so visually stimulating this post is not (although most of the photos that I do have are fab - thanks to Kelly Cook).

Nor does this post provide much of an insight into the festival, the chilli eating champs, chillies or hops.

It does however provide some insight into why lunch with Mum on Sunday was cancelled and the car sat at Hallertau until 4pm.

Now that I've made this sound an incredibly insightful and worthy read...

The Chilli & Hop Festival is an annual event at Hallertau - a brewery/pub/restaurant in Coatesville which is a regular venue for us for a Sunday pint of vino (I'm going to pretend that was supposed to say pint or vino). It has great food, in a great setting, with great beer on tap and is the location for this great event. Those couple of loyal readers of mine will know we went last year and surprisingly were feeling worse for wear following that too...

Last year the festival hosted the finals of the NZ Chilli Eating Champs and was held in July so proved a slightly darker, rainier and colder day but still one to remember (mostly).

This year certainly topped it - fantastic band, great beer, delicious food, not too shabby company and an absolute stunner from the weather gods.

Being earlier in the year, the first round of the Chilli Eating Champs was held and, well to be honest, I don't know how anyone who participated is still alive.

The heat that El and I went to last year had a lovely looking chilli con carne, a little soup number and some pretty mean chicken wings. This year they ate whole chillies. And more whole chillies. Oh and a triple chilli taco. And washed it down with more chillies.

And when I say chillies, I mean Carolina Reapers. We grew Reapers this year and I can barely look at them, let alone touch one. The last mental thing I ate was about an eighth of a Trinidad Scorpion and I cursed Elliot for making me do it.

For those of you who have not eaten any part of a super hot, words simply cannot explain how hot these things are. I and haven't gone near a Reaper.

I guess the contestants did get a fairly easy first few rounds - a mere Bishop's Crown, a teeny tiny Cobán , a golden Habanero the size of a small cat (I had a great view once I pushed past the kids to get up front).

About twelve contestants kicked off, and slowly but surely they started bowing out through the rounds.

Then the big guns - the 7 Pod first which cut the field down to three determined and uncomfortable contestants looking longingly at the yoghurt and beer in their direct eye line.

The trio were given two Reapers to down in the final round and, well, HoTtt ASs Chillies Paul, Amber Alert and Chilli Willy could not be separated. The sunglasses could not hide the tears and absolute pain, but they had done it.

The three way tie went down as a first in the championships' history. An absolute beast of an effort by all three.

As a bonus, Chilli Willy turns out to be an old friend from high school I have not seen in yonks. I am sure he appreciated seeing me at my finest... Well done mate (and Rewa hard!)

There was a great story on Campbell Live which follows reporter Lachlan Forsyth learning about the comp, entering the comp, and giving well a damned good effort before ending his time in the comp spewing into a bucket on national television.

The New Zealand Herald also covered the champs - story here.

There are also some great photos on NZ Chilli Eating Champs and HOTtt ASs Chillies' Facebook pages.
Here and here.

There are heats up and down the county - head along for a great night out (Chilli Eating Champs website above will have the dets).

The Chilli Eating Champs were on for a couple of hours but before that we were treated to some sweet beats from The Gramophone Band while sampling all the different beers on offer. Trying all the different varieties and then having a whiskey cocktail was most definitely not a stupid idea.

Yes, the whiskey and beer cocktail with plum jam, bitters and lemon was shaken in style by the handsome bar tender and we all shared a toast and a sip. Delicious. Slightly too sweet for a couple and I could probably only have one, but a nice change from the lager.

The beverages washed down the amazing pulled pork taco from The Lucky Taco Truck -a flour tortilla topped with pork tossed in a delicious barbeque sauce, a bit of shredded red cabbage, a splash of lime and sprig of coriander then smothered in Habaenero sauce by me - amazing. Pulled pork. Hot sauce. Can't really go wrong.

The chilli dog from the award winning Grey Lynn Butchery was another treat. My white shoes may not have survived my hotdog eating skills but it was delicious with some nice heat.

Then of course there is only one thing needed at 8pm when you have been drinking since 2... JALAPENO POPPERS!! I have written about Hallertau's poppers before - just eat them already. They are super super good. Period.

In between the eating and cheering the chilli loving freaks we checked out the always fantastic Fire Dragon Chillies stall, said hi to Clint and the great peeps there, visited the HoTtt ASs Chillies stall run by Chilli Eating Round 1 Champion Paul Smith who has made some crazy good Banana and Bhut Jolokia sauce that had to be bought. What really was great about the day was getting to meet and chat to some other fantastic chilli heads - you don't seem to run into them often in everyday life.

Additions to the hot sauce collection

So the time had come. People were making their way home, the contestants were round the back having a chuck and a taxi was ordered. While we waited??? fries of course. And the daunting realisation you know what is to come tomorrow.

Worth it? Hell yeah. We will be back next year without a doubt.

Cheers!