Reflections on the 2017 Alltech Craft Beer & Food Fest, Dublin

 

A weekend spent in Dublin is always enjoyable but combined with the Alltech Craft Beer & Food Festival and a Six Nations rugby weekend to boot, then it always was going to be a winner.

The Craft Beer Festival was run by Alltech, a wonderful multinational business who are very successful in the world of animal feed, meat, distilling and brewing. As part of their business they run and sponsor this particular event that takes place at the impressive Dublin Convention Centre.

The festival lasts for three days and there are over 8,000 visitors with 38 breweries represented serving almost 9,000 litres of craft ale. Most of the breweries are from Ireland but there was a smattering from other counties including St Austell Brewery and Marston's from the UK and Schneider Weisse from Germany. There was also live music from a handful of great bands and live rugby was shown featuring both international games on the Saturday.

What made this event so special was the age group it attracted. At last here was a beer festival offering an informative, professionally run event that was full of younger people. What a contrast to some UK beer festivals! Undoubtedly the tasty craft beers were the main attraction but much care had been taken in providing suitable entertainment, both musical and sporting. Education was also a key part of this event and this included a cooperage demonstration and there were other factorial displays on how beer was brewed and distilling worked. It was also the case that the brewers present were there not just to showcase their beers, but also offer advise and information to an age group that was thirsty not just for beer, but for understanding beer knowledge as well.

The stands were professional and consistent, nothing looked out of place or outshone a neighbour. Alltech had clearly taken great care to ensure this and it paid dividends as the smallest brewers compared well to much larger competitors. The beers were also in good condition and served at a refreshing temperature. Again that's not something you can always say about a UK festival where commercial constraints can dictate that cask beer is sometimes offered too warm and insipid as no cooling is applied. Of course keg beers are the norm in Ireland which are run through a cooler so they had an advantage, but it worked, a refreshing cooler temperature is what younger people preferred.

As you would expect with craft beers there was a numerous selection of beer styles on show although the wild and whacky brews/flavours were perhaps less evident than some other crafty events. There were however some fine beers on show. It seems unfair to select any as being better as I certainly tried only a small number, but I did enjoy beers from the Independent Brewing Co from Co Galway, about as far west as it gets. Also Black Donkey Sheep Stealer, a traditional farmhouse Saison style beer was excellent, whilst the Wicklow Wolf Lobo, a new IPA was reasonably restrained and as a result highly drinkable. There were many good beers to try, brewed by brewers eager to communicate their quality, caring and love for the product.

So would I return? yes of course! I would certainly recommend a visit to this festival next year to anyone interested in the Irish brewing or distilling scene, or even if you just fancy a weekend in Dublin to take the in festival and enjoy the party atmosphere. Well done Alltech, a great event and cant wait for 2018!