The good news is that, despite the occasional bad news, there are great new brew bars are still bubbling up all over the place. In central Auckland, for instance, I came upon two in a single afternoon – a sunny Sunday afternoon on the edge of summer, hope in the air. A hazy sort of hope. Or did I say hop?

First stop, in toney old Parnell, halfway up the bustling main drag, on the left, in a funky, Asian-styled building (previously a restaurant), is Twofold, open less than a year and running a couple of cuts above the industrial vibe many brew bars lean into.

It’s a gracious space and there’s a curated new-American style to the 20-option menu, which offers everything from oysters in spicy buffalo sauce, through truffled focaccia to on-trend charred cabbage, smoked lamb rib and (to finish, if you dare) pumpkin cheesecake.

Most tempting of all, and something you don’t see enough on this side of the Pacific, are seafood rolls* featuring a whole lobster tail (with a pile of house-made potato crisps on the side, not bad for $28 these days).

But most important, of course, there’s homemade beer – six fresh options and a cider on tap, all with quirky names (and translations). I try a pint of the “Trug”, a delicious golden California IPA. My tablemate disappears into the “Fo’G”, a dense and powerful hazy double IPA.

Her food is a thick and juicy-looking cheeseburger, mine – naturally – that seafood roll, which I happily declare one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in a premises that also happens to brew beer. The roll was perfect, the sauce crabby and the lobster tail fat and smoky. My pal pinched half my crisps.

The bar was playing Born to Be Wild on its sound system. I briefly thought I was in heaven.

Twofold is a fab spot, a brew bar and restaurant too, with loads of nooky seating options plus outdoor space. It should be humming like a hive come high summer. All strength to them (and their unassailable seafood rolls).

Then, for a more traditional approach to the beer-and-bites business, across the city in the bohemian territory of Kingsland, tucked in and around a former panelbeater premises, is St Leonards Brewing and it’s terrific in a different sort of way.

This one’s a beer garden wrapped round a brewery. There’s a taco truck for fulfilment and the beer taps offer nine or 10 St Leonard’s brews plus a few guest drops from the likes of Urbanaut and Ballast Point.

Mr Good Bar

The railway might run past by right behind, and one of Auckland’s busier corners is just steps away, but you’d hardly know it in this big space tucked behind the shelter of its sturdy wooden fences, charmingly vertically planted, mostly with lush lavender.

The seating is an array of classy picnic tables, white gravel underfoot and a massive retractable roof for any showers. Auckland’s unpredictable weather tested it while we were there, and it worked a treat.

As for the beers, top marks to the Warp unfiltered IPA (5.5%, $13). The raspberry sour gets a nod too. St Leonard’s is a good spot and though it was a bit of a sleepy Sunday when we were there, with Eden Park just round the corner and the Kingsland village a stroll away this place looks built for a bright and hopful future.

*Twofold has just changed its menu to a summer offering and alas, no seafood roll, for now.