It was probably one of the most satisfying beers Simon Spark has consumed in the past decade.
Last Thursday Mr Spark, who is Arrowtown Rugby Club president and Arrowtown Sports and Community Centre Trust secretary, was one of 50 people invited to attend the "roof shout" for the long-awaited sports and community facility at Jack Reid Park.
The first sod on the building, about 12 years in the planning, was turned in February.
On completion, the $2.35million, 630sq m building will serve as the Arrowtown Rugby clubrooms, a base for Arrowtown Scouts and other community groups.
An upgrade to the playing field would begin this spring and involve light realignment, pitch levelling, lengthening, resurfacing and drainage.
The field and the building would both be completed by the end of this season and, importantly, in time for the club's jubilee at Easter, marking 30 years since it was reformed.
The Bulls rugby team has only played at its home ground once since the end of the 2015 season - that was last year during a White Horse Cup Battle of the Basin match against neighbour Wakatipu.
Since the beginning of 2016 the side had used the Queenstown Events Centre as its "home" ground, and had done without clubrooms.
This year, in particular, had been difficult, he said.
"I think this year we've probably noticed more around probably the financial wellbeing of the club.
"We're probably using some of our reserves that we've accumulated over the last 10 or 15 years to keep our club running.
"I guess any club relies a lot on their bar taking, and that's what we've missed the most.
"We just don't generate a lot of revenue now, other than sponsorship."
The lack of home facilities had made it "challenging" to keep people coming to games and it had also been testing for the players.
"It'll be something special for us to get back to Jack Reid Park, back to our home crowds, supporters and back to a facility that's actually designed with us in mind, as an overall community facility.
"I think the players probably don't fully understand how that will impact on their mental state in terms of playing for our club - it's nice to have your own facilities, in your own home [and] somewhere to put roots down."
