Alltech Brews and Food, 6-8 February

BeerNut

Just got the producer list for this. There are a few breweries whose beer will be in Ireland for the first time, I think.

DRINK
Trouble Brewing - Ireland
Mountain Man Brewing - Ireland
Rascals Brewing - Ireland
Blacks of Kinsale - Ireland
N17 - Ireland
Kinnegar - Ireland
Redwell - UK
Independent Brewing - Ireland
Bru Brewery - Ireland
Birra e Blues - Spain
Carlow Brewing Company - Ireland
Rye River Brewery – Ireland
Kentucky Beers - United States
White Gypsy – Ireland
Independent craft brewers of Ireland – Ireland
Galway Hooker – Ireland
Hardknott – UK
Espiga – Spain
Coisbo Beer - Denmark
Hunters - UK
Windsor and Eton Brewery - UK
Elgoods - UK
Hilden - Ireland
Dingle Distillery/ Porterhouse - Ireland
Irish Whiskey Museum - Ireland
Franciscan Well – Ireland
Black Paw - UK
Stone Barrel – Ireland
Grand Cru - Ireland
Molta Birra - Spain
Welsh Beer Alliance (Group) - Wales

FOOD:
Ballymaloe Relish
Bretzel bakery
Brodericks
Burren Smokehouse
Carrigaline Cheese
Cashel Blue
Connemara Pies
Ed Hick Butchers
Keogh’s Crisps
Kinsale Gourmet
Man of Aran Fudge
Sheridan’s Cheese
Wrights of Howth
Little Milk Company
De Mad Food Company
Gilligans Meats
Seymours Biscuits

Official site is here. Kinda bizarre the way admission to both sessions are the same price even though the Friday one is much shorter than Saturday.

ciaran76

Any free tickets going?;)

BeerNut

Probably. They usually give out loads to pubs, offies, newspapers and radio stations to give away in competitions.

GLaDOS

Work with people from Alltech and Trouble, so hoping to get a freebie myself

Losty Dublin

No discount for Beoir members? Not good

yknaa

Losty Dublin wrote: »

No discount for Beoir members? Not good

Nope - asked on the Twitter Machine

physioman

goign myself. looking forward to it. 4 free drinks? knowing ireland probably not pint glasses but taster glasses! ;-)

drunkmonkey

Is there one happening, somebody told me there was but I can't find it anywhere?

Found it, http://www.alltechbrewsandfood.com/breweries/ €15 in and 4 free drinks. Anyone been to the convention center before?

Hugo_Whoriskey

An article in the Irish Times (poorly written I might add) about Alltech, the event this weekend and their future plans.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/changing-tastes-the-rise-and-rise-of-craft-beers-1.1675386?page=2

ciaran76

Anyone going today?

Be nice to see how it is before deciding to go on Sat.

BeerNut

I'll be heading along this evening. From the pictures I've seen, the set-up looks great - individual bars, some staffed by the brewers themselves.

Heroditas

BeerNut wrote: »

I'll be heading along this evening. From the pictures I've seen, the set-up looks great - individual bars, some staffed by the brewers themselves.

The bars won't be open until tomorrow though, will they?

BeerNut

Alltech wrote:

We're open Thurs 5pm-8pm, Fri 5pm-9pm and Sat 12pm-9pm

Link

I don't see a way to buy tickets for today online, so presumably it's pay-at-the-door.

Heroditas

Thanks, the website is awful (on the phone).
5-8pm unfortunately. Pity it isn't until midnight or 11. I'll only be able to make it into town by 8 at the earliest.

BeerNut

Didn't get very far round the stalls this evening, but found some absolute gems. N17 Oatmeal stout, of which there's only one keg, is utterly amazing. Easily one of the best Irish stouts I've ever tasted. Windsor & Eton have Conqueror Black IPA on cask, which is excellent, and they have the stronger Conqueror 1075 bottled which is a lovely strong liqueurish stout. On the hoppy end, Redwell have a simply beautiful keg IPA, just roaring with super-fresh west coast hops.

I'm also a new convert to sweet chilli white pudding.

Worth going along to, though the CCD staff are pretty strict about closing times, so if you're going, go early.

Lovely Bloke

How much is the beer?

Creamy Goodness

Seen on twitter that it's €10 for 3 200ml plastic glasses (water cooler style glasses to boot).

MonkstownHoop

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Seen on twitter that it's €10 for 3 200ml plastic glasses (water cooler style glasses to boot).

Do they not give you a glass when you enter that you can clean out as you go around?

Creamy Goodness

MonkstownHoop wrote: »

Do they not give you a glass when you enter that you can clean out as you go around?

I'm not sure I haven't been so just commenting on what I saw on twitter.

I know the Irish Craft beer/cider festival that is run at the RDS will give you a pint glass that you can clean as you go around.

Lovely Bloke

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Seen on twitter that it's €10 for 3 200ml plastic glasses (water cooler style glasses to boot).

a tenner a pint!

:eek:

physioman

bloody hell. how do they justify those prices!

Rob987

physioman wrote: »

bloody hell. how do they justify those prices!

Yes, it's a complete rip off. Went last night. Set up v impressive with loads of variety. At least the food is free (bretzel bakery take a bow).

Quite a few English cask ales there. If you go, make sure to try the Hunters stand. Fabulous ales from Devon.

MonstaMash

physioman wrote: »

bloody hell. how do they justify those prices!

Hence the term 'rip off Ireland' :mad:

BeerNut

The stands (I've found) will give you a taster if you don't want to commit a ticket. I bought a couple of bottles from one of the stands and it worked out more economical than buying a sample.

There's a fair bit of free whiskey floating around, if you're there for the units.

sofireland

BeerNut wrote: »

The stands (I've found) will give you a taster if you don't want to commit a ticket. I bought a couple of bottles from one of the stands and it worked out more economical than buying a sample.

There's a fair bit of free whiskey floating around, if you're there for the units.

Yeah thats the thing. 15 quid gets you in covers the cost of food etc and four tokens and your glass. The 3 for 10 is a bit on the high side but as beernut says most stands will give you a sample if you don't want to commit a token.

drumswan

BeerNut wrote: »

Didn't get very far round the stalls this evening, but found some absolute gems. N17 Oatmeal stout, of which there's only one keg, is utterly amazing. Easily one of the best Irish stouts I've ever tasted.

You steered me in the direction of this one when I said hello near their stand and am glad you did, its fantastic.

Did you get to try the English lambic? One of the most interesting things for me there yesterday.

Picked up one each of the Tiny Rebel beers to take away, been wanting to try Dirty Stop Out for yonks.

Despite the inevitable whingeing about prices, this is a must visit for beer lovers.

BeerNut

Didn't see the English lambic! Where was that?

drumswan

Crowd called Elgoods, down near where Carlow were.

I had a fascinating chat with the brewer, he showed me pictures of the coolships and the lot.

drumswan

Actually Beernut, if you are heading back in could you grab the name and ABV of the Lambic, I seem to have lost it in my notes, cheers

bigar

The Elgoods Lambic was definitely worth it. At 6.7 ABV it is a bit higher than Belgian lambics though but it did share it's flatness an sour taste. It had some nice fruity aftertastes. The brewer told me his brewery is in a region of apple orchards which may explain this extra taste. Quite remarkable to have a lambic type beer from the UK which still kept it's uniqueness.

Overall, I really disliked the event. However thought it was a good idea to have a rugby game on a big screen with all overwhelming noise should be sacked. It spoiled the whole event for me. You were barely able to speak be to the brewers because of the noise from the sound system and the venue was split in two because of crowd watching the screen. Very badly organised and I will not be returning.

Maynard

Was there last night. A total joke.

Felt like i'd crashed a Mormon wedding.

3 shot glasses of beer for €10????

We were gone within the hour.

BeerNut

drumswan wrote: »

could you grab the name and ABV of the Lambic

Elgood's Coolship is 6.7%, as bigar says. It's a bit rough around the edges: I can see why the Belgians keep acres of barrels and blend to get good beer.

BaZmO*

Apparently O'Hara's Double IPA won gold at this. What the gold was for I'm not so sure.

Lovely Bloke

Gold Medal for the style.

It being the only representation of it's particular style, it was a dead cert.

:P

BaZmO*

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Gold Medal for the style.

It being the only representation of it's particular style, it was a dead cert.

:P

Ha. That'd explain it alright.

oblivious

BeerNut wrote: »

Elgood's Coolship is 6.7%, as bigar says. It's a bit rough around the edges: I can see why the Belgians keep acres of barrels and blend to get good beer.

Just sour no depth?

BeerNut

Yeah, none of the woody smoothness. A fair bit of residual sugar too: it tasted more like a faro than a straight lambic.

youcancallmeal

Went yesterday and must say I enjoyed it. Few people I was with weren't drinking(Just wanted to watch the game on the big screen) so didn't have to spend any money on tokens thankfully. I did get to talk to a couple of the brewers before the rugby started but after that it was pretty tough due to the level of noise. I tried the lambic from Elgoods, wouldn't usually be something I'd drink but it was interesting. Loved the Kentucky Kolsch, you rarely see it outside Cologne and I thought it was a fairly faithful attempt. My favourite of the day was probably the Redwell steam beer. It helps that I like steam beers it was the only steam beer I could find!

matrim

Went yesterday too. Some nice beers but I was disappointed with the food, a few places finished their samples and they weren't selling to eat at the festival. I went not having eaten expecting to pick up a pie but they were only selling for take home and cook yourself.

I enjoyed the Stone Barrel American style IPA, Bru Dubh, N17 Rye. Wasn't a huge fan of the new Hilden IPA but it was ok

strobe

Headed down with the gf on the Saturday. Thought having the game on was a great idea, but agree they coulda tuned the volume down a bit.

Tried a lot of things, with the tiny portions wasn't gonna go buy any extra tokens though. Most samples people poured were nearly half a glass anyway. My favourite by far I think was the rotation brew by the Boom IPA people, can't remember the name of the brewery. Very OFAF/Brewdog Hardcore like. Lovely stuff.