The Irish Craft Beer Week is aimed at showing support and on-going commitment to craft beer drinkers and fans. The organisers are keen to support the local market of breweries and are also confident that the week will introduce new customers to the Irish craft beer market whilst simultaneously promoting a responsible and safe attitude towards alcohol – quality over quantity!
Featuring over 20 Irish craft breweries, craft cider producers and a number of guest breweries the festival is expected to attract over 5,000 attendees throughout the weekend. This year, the team is looking forward to showcasing niche brands, new products and pipe-line products, as well as providing craft-beer lovers with a unique insight to the Irish craft brewing scene and the opportunity to meet the brewers.
Irish craft breweries featuring at the festival include, West Kerry Brewery, Bo Bristle Fine Brew Co., O’Hara’s Carlow, Dungarvan Brewing Co., DJ's Tempted Juice & Cider White Gypsy, Eight Degrees Brewing, Franciscan Well Brewery, Hilden Brewing Co., McIvors Cider Co., Messrs Maguire Craft Brewers, Metalman Brewing Co., Porterhouse Brewing Co., Trouble Brewing Co., Stonewell Brewing, White Gypsy Brew Co., Whitewater Brewery, The Dingle Brewing Co. and more!
Festival organiser, Seamus O’Hara, says, “We have seen really strong growth in demand for craft beers in the past year bucking the general trend for the beer sales. It’s getting people talking about beer in pubs again and because craft beer has more flavour we are seeing a lot of experimentation with food pairings. Irish Craft Beer Week is a great time to try something new".
Beer and Food Pairing
Matching up Food with Craft Beers has become quite a common event at festivals in the last few years and some of the Irish Food Producers that will be taking display stands over the week will include:
Birgitta and her team from: www.burrensmokehouse.ie/
Elizabeth & Peter present: www.carlowfarmersmarket.com/producers/carlow-cheese.php
Cilian from the Pieman Café: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pieman-Cafe/138080266299569
Pig-On-Spit from Tommy at www.adarefarm.ie/
David's Pizza www.daveswood-firedpizzas.ie/info/
Oscar's Organic Burgers, which proved popular last year.
For the first time, the festival will launch with a special beer and food pairing evening on Thursday 6th September, offering guests the opportunity to learn more about the different attributes and traits of Irish Craft Beers as well as providing a deeper understanding on which foods compliment different types of craft beers. Email Carley at Grey Dog Events dot com with Food-Pairing ticket enquiries.
Where: Farringtons of Temple Bar
When: Thursday, 6th September
Time: 6.30pm - 9pm
What: 4-course food and beer pairing event
Price: €30 (including food and beers for the evening)
General admission Tickets for the Irish Craft Beer Festival 2012 start at €10 per day and can be purchased and more information found here at: http://www.irishcraftbeerfestival.com/tickets.html
UPDATE:
The Irish Craft Beer Festival held last weekend in the RDS, Dublin, was a roaring success. Over 5,000 attendees enjoyed sampling a variety of Irish craft beers whilst being entertained by local musical acts and feasting on Irish artisan food.
Co-founder, Seamus O'Hara (Carlow Brewing Company), said, "We were absolutely thrilled with the turnout at this year's festival with almost double the attendance figures of last year - even the sun made a special effort to turn up!" His partner, Bruce Mansour (Make It Happen) added, "For craft beer fans, the festival was a real treat. We had 19 brewers/cider makers and almost 100 different brews on offer. For new-comers to the craft beer market, this weekend was the ultimate introduction to what the Irish craft beer market has to offer."
The Irish Craft Beer Week was aimed at showing support and on-going commitment to craft beer drinkers and fans. The organisers are also confident that the week introduced new customers to the Irish craft beer market whilst simultaneously promoting a responsible and safe attitude towards alcohol – quality over quantity!
Throughout the week participating outlets nationwide (including pubs, off licenses, restaurants etc.) came together to offer craft beer lovers a hop-tastic experience, including special offers, tastings and expert talks in the field.
Organisers are looking forward to announcing details of their upcoming craft beer related projects and are already getting ideas together for next year’s Irish Craft Beer Week and Festival.
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