Irish Craft Beer Festival 2016

slayerking

The annual All-Ireland craft beer festival is almost upon us. http://www.irishcraftbeerfestival.ie/

Sept 8th - 10th in the RDS.

Odell & Beavertown will be there as well.

I hope they improve the food options, which are always a bit lacking.
It looks like they've increased the beer bucks to 3 euro, so pints will be 6 euro - which is a tad steep IMO.

quadrifoglio verde

I didn't think you could get a pints last year, half pints or 2/3rd pints only. Found if you went for a half pint, you got a good but more though and you get to try lots of different ones.
I'll probably head on Thursday to avoid the madness

L1011

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

I didn't think you could get a pints last year, half pints or 2/3rd pints only. Found if you went for a half pint, you got a good but more though and you get to try lots of different ones.
I'll probably head on Thursday to avoid the madness

I have the fancy glass from last year - used it earlier actually - and its lined (under the top) to 1/2 and 1/3 - the thirds were for higher abv% product. I'm pretty sure that the "normal" glass was 1/2 to full and lined 1/3.

Most breweries filled the glass for a half, though.

Any Beoir entry discounts this year?

BeerNut

L1011 wrote: »

Any Beoir entry discounts this year?

Half price on the door with a valid membership card. Get there early.

L1011

Card's in date. My usual festival buddy is having a month off all drink but there's others that'll likely be there that I know and you always meet someone new in the smoking area (although I don't smoke so would need an excuse to go out there).

slayerking

Defo recommend arriving early for anyone planning on going the Saturday. Last year, they actually closed the gates around 5 or 6. Stopped selling tickets and only let people in who had pre bought.

Ronan|Raven

Shame to see an increase in the price of tokens.

Blut2

Are there any free tokens with the entry fee? I think I remember that being a thing in past years? Don't see any mention of it on the site, though.

BeerNut

Blut2 wrote: »

Are there any free tokens with the entry fee? I think I remember that being a thing in past years? Don't see any mention of it on the site, though.

Not usually. Sometimes Carlow has tokens for their stand only with some tickets but it's logistically awkward otherwise.

L1011

Blut2 wrote: »

Are there any free tokens with the entry fee? I think I remember that being a thing in past years? Don't see any mention of it on the site, though.

Alltech fest usually has that. Not this one.

BeerNut

L1011 wrote: »

Alltech fest usually has that. Not this one.

If only Bruce had Pearse's money

Losty Dublin

I'll be there on the Thursday; easier night all round to work the room and to chew the fat but it's far more comfortable as a whole.

cruhoortwunk

BeerNut wrote: »

Half price on the door with a valid membership card. Get there early.

My baby dropped my membership card in her ****ty nappy, is it possible to get a replacement?

me_irl

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

My baby dropped my membership card in her ****ty nappy, is it possible to get a replacement?

:pac:

Amazing.

You could email / contact beoir either through email or twitter (I'd say you might get a faster reply on twitter).

http://www.beoir.org/index.php/component/contact/category/12-contacts

https://twitter.com/BeoirOrg

EDIT! Which reminds me O Brother Brewing are running a competition to win two tickets (https://twitter.com/OBrotherBrewing)

ciaran76

Took a half day for Friday and going to drop in Friday afternoon.

slayerking

I malfunctioned last week and booked both Thursday and Friday off work in a moment of excitement before I realised the doors don't open until 5pm. Feic it anyway.

ciaran76

slayerking wrote: »

I malfunctioned last week and booked both Thursday and Friday off work in a moment of excitement before I realised the doors don't open until 5pm. Feic it anyway.

Yep took a half day too then saw the times. Going to be there bang on 5 Friday.

c - 13

Heading up to this on Friday. Looking forward to it now, had a great time at it last year. I do think that e3 per token is a tad bit steep though.

matrim

Is there a list of specials available yet? It normally comes out a day or two before the festival starts. I'll be heading in on Thursday and Saturday

Also for anyone buying tickets online you get a 10% discount with the promotion code OBRIENS

Ruben Remus

€3 for a half, on top of the admission price, is very steep. I won't be going.

Blut2

L1011 wrote: »

Alltech fest usually has that. Not this one.

Hmm. I've never been to the Alltech festival, so it was definitely this I was thinking of. Might have been 3-4 years ago though. I think it was only 5eur of tokens or something but it made paying the entry fee a bit more acceptable. Oh well.

I'm sure the festival will be rammed even without any free tokens though to be fair to them, it does seem to only be getting more and more popular each year.

Creamy Goodness

I was seriously contemplating not going this year due to it being incredibly uncomfortable sweat box last year. Tokens going up to €3 has sealed the deal unfortunately. Look forward to trying to specials that spill out into local pubs instead.

ciaran76

Ruben Remus wrote: »

€3 for a half, on top of the admission price, is very steep. I won't be going.

My friends and I organised to attend this some time ago. When the pricing was announced there was plenty of grumbles and we all agreed that this is the last one.
Its got too expensive for what it is.

Ronan|Raven

slayerking wrote: »

I malfunctioned last week and booked both Thursday and Friday off work in a moment of excitement before I realised the doors don't open until 5pm. Feic it anyway.

Even the Saturday opening time looks later than previous years? 2pm?

Uriel.

yeah this will be my first year not going. I think it's lost the run of itself to be honest.

me_irl

I don't really mind the 50c increase in the 1/2 pints. I'm going solely to taste new brews, or ones that I overlooked. I'd probably have a great time on 20e (yes I'm a lightweight :pac: ).

Wonder is the increase to stop any attitudes of this being a "binge" event? Heard they introduced the half pint glass two years ago.

noby

It's a pity ( but completely understandable) to see regular festival-goers not attending because of the price increase.

slayerking

6 euro per pint make me sad .

I won tickets for Thursday, so I'll head along to suss it out (I've never missed it since it began). I usually do an all weekend job, but cost a fortune now without full weekend tickets as well.
I don't normally do this, but I can see myself asking for lots of samples before I pull the trigger to get more bang for my buck. :P

quadrifoglio verde

Price doesn't bother me, being able to try the different specials make it worthwhile. At the end of the day I've paid a tenner into coppers at 3 in the morning and spent way more than 6 quid on a drink just so I could eat the face off some one whose name i didn't know. And beoir membership does get you a discount.

What will stop me going on thursday is this bloody bus strike, I just can't justify 50 quid on a taxi home :mad: I'll have to save my drunken chats with noby and drunk posts on here for another time :pac:

noby

Ha! I won't be there Thursday myself anyway, but will be available for drunk chats on Saturday.

Lovely Bloke

20% increase in the price of drink is off the charts really, and is actually price gouging/money grabbing

There used to be free drinks with the entry on the Saturday, gone now.

This will be my last year, barring a change of policy.

It's also pretty sad to see the breweries announcing pretty underwhelming "specials". One particular brewery announced a "special" festival beer which is in the style of every beer they've released since last year's festival for example. Hardly innovative.

The only thing this still has going for it is the fact that the brewers are available, but the Saturday is so ridiculously packed these days that you may as well be on a production line of half pint glasses.

Look at the line up of breweries at ABV for comparison. The quality there is unbelievable. I'll be going there next year, brewers or not, instead of this. I never get to speak to them anyway in the RDS so their presence is no longer a draw.

I think the organisers perhaps need to lose the "Irish" tag, and be a bit more discerning when it comes to which Irish brewers are allowed in. A lot of more recent entrants to the Irish market are mediocre at best and their attempts at even the simpler styles do not leave me waiting with bated breath for their specials, if they even exist.

I've also heard a story or two about one of the "newcomers" not paying an artist for designing their label, so I'll be avoiding that stall.

Clearly the cost of a stand has gone up, if it hasn't then it's the breweries themselves driving the cost increase, which is not on.