Alltech Craft Brews & Food Fair

The beers themselves were great. Broad selection of companies and differrent brews. The event itself was a bit amiss. The entry price to the event was OK, but if you really wanted to try a good selection of the beers you had to buy more tokens and it ends up being quite an expensive endeavour. Would have been great if there was a possibility to try more beers in tiny portions with an incentive to then purchase the beers (like a promotional discount or what not). Judging by the crowd, I think this would have gone down as a hit. Overall, I think the event was underpromoted and could have fared a lot better if more people had known about it.

I’ve really been enjoying this Craft beer trend. Not only here in Ireland, but also in the U.S. and Canada, where it was already a thing in the 90s!
So anyway, I went on the Saturday to the Alltech Craft Beer and Food show at the Convention Centre.
Lots of stands from different Irish and foreign brewers, including my favourite of the day, Redwell, with their Steam Lager. Totally worth the 2 tokens for the half pint.
Lots of other brewers of craft beer, plus Cider and distillers of craft whiskey showed their wares. The food was also tempting, including some of Dublin’s tried and tested, Bretzel Bakery, Marino’s of Howth as well as some new names (to me anyway) including De Mad Food Company and Skoff Pies.
Worth the experience!

I went along to this on the sunday, the same day as the England V Ireland 6 Nations game– the place was rammed and there was a massive screen up showing the game. I have to admit, I’m actually not a beer drinker (the other half is) but this fair had a great selection of ciders and also gin and even a fruity cocktail or 2 (sorry, specifics are a little hazy…)
To me, definitely a beer (or at least drinks) fair with a few albeit great food stands– we tried some great bread and bought a couple of Skoff pies to take home but not so much of a food fair (maybe my reading of the name, i’d expected a bit more of a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ split).
Great ambiance and when the rugby finished there was a live band which really made the whole place have a good buzz about it. Really good that you could choose different measurement to try and taste lots of different things– could rinse glass out etc so had been well thought out.
Fab way to spend a sunday; only thing I would say is that we ended up paying more on the door than if we’d booked online, although couldn’t find anywhere online that told you the price was different if you didn’t book in advance.
Some great brewers (and a few distillers) and a nice way to try some new stuff outwith the normal bar environment. Would definitely go again.

Now this is how to spend a Saturday, few drinks and some tasty nibbles! I brought along my Daddy, as many moons ago he used to brew his own in my long suffering Mothers hotpress, and he was eager to see what was available from micro breweries.
I have to admit, I had a firm favourite within moments of arrival. Mac Ivors cider, it’s dangerously delicious, and tastes like apples, unlike some of the less impressive ciders I tired, some of which taster like they were brewed from tree bark, not fruit. I tried quite a number of the beers, which would not be my usual drink of choice but found a couple that would persuade me! Especially a beer from Kentucky, Bourbon Barrel, which is brewed in damp bourbon barrels giving it a delicious vanilla tang.
There were tasty treats on offer, and I trekked off with a bag full of cheese and biccies to enjoy at home, all artisan goodness, showcasing some of the lovely smaller businesses setting up to offer a wee something different.
My only complaint, like some others, is lack of seating, my Dad is registered disabled and there was nowhere for him to take a little rest so we ended up leaving a wee bit sooner than we had intended. Still, looking forward to next year!

I love that craft beer festivals are becoming more popular here in Ireland, because I love me some craft beer! I decided to go on the satruday evening that it was on, and I“m really glad I checked the hours before I left, because I didn’t realise it closed at 9pm… on a Saturday! But either way, I made my way on over to the event.
There was a lot of good variety I thought of different brands of beer. The guys at Wicklow Wolf were AWESOME… and their beers weren’t too bad either! There was an awesome Booka Brass band which was great for getting the crowd in good form. As one of the other people said, it would have been better if there was a little bit more of a food selection. Especially given that it was also supposed to be a food festival.
They had TV’s up which I image was good for drawing a rugby crowd on the folowing sunday for the 6 nations match. But, given that there wasn’t a whole lot of seating, I’m glad I chose to go on the saturday, and not on the sunday when the match was on. I don’t want to stand for THAT long. Although, I could see how they may want it that way to encourage people to keep moving around the area and not just sitting around.
Like the other beer festivals that go on in town, you had to purchase beer with tokens. I liked that the pours were a bit smaller so you had a chance to actually taste some of the different beers.
All in all was a good event. I though it was comparable to the one they do each year at the RDS. I hope that next year they have a few more food options and that there’s a bit more seating. Will definitely go again next year!

Great time here again. Looking forward to next year already. Excellent beers and good. The fair gets better with each year.

I like the lighting and the way each stand is decorated which is nice when drinking beer, and not wanting the bright convention center style lighting. I would have liked to see more space though. Walking around it was a little crowded. And they were showing rugby which I don’t care for and would have preferred some life music that apparently started after we left. Seating was lacking. They only had a few tables where people could sit, so most were left standing or sitting on the floor. The name food fair is in the title and I’m assuming not everyone wants to sit on the floor and eat in spots where quite a few people have walked with who-​knows-​what on the bottom of the shoes. Would have stayed longer I’d didn’t have to sit on the floor. This probably also would have been solved with a larger venue. A nice problem to have with an even like this though, where there are more people than space.
Overall it was a good even with a lot of good beer selection.

Got there in the afternoon, everything was so well organized. Beer lines were short at first, you have to exchange money for tokens. Many local and international breweries. I had the chance to try beers that I wouldn’t normally try in a pub, and they also had cider and spirit stands.
Facts
–Taxis were available right in front of the event location.
–Short lines.
–You get a free plastic pint glass, you can choose how much you want to drink: half pint, full pint .
–Live music after the rugby matches
–Sinks to rinse beer glass, free water.
— Food, including pies, burgers, hot dogs, cheese plates etc.
— Good crowd, good vibe.
— Left the festival a bit tipsy :-)
— This festival should happen every year!

Had a great day yesterday and it all kicked off in the Alltech Craft Brews & Food fair.
I arrived at about 2pm and it was quite quiet at the time, but as the afternoon moved on so did the numbers. When I left at about 5pm it was very busy!
I was very impressed with the variety of foods and beers, certainly the best i’ve been to in Dublin.
There was also a big screen to watch the rugby and a stage for the entertainments on later on in the day. Wish i could have stayed to see this.
All alcoholic drinks were purchased with tokens, generally it was 4 tokens for a pint. This did enable patrons to just try a ¼ of a pint, which was good, 4 tokens is a fiver.
Overall i really enjoyed myself. I mainly had IPA’s but also tried a honey cider which was very nice (Doyles). My favourite beer of the day was Csupor’s Tantorgo par IPA. I also tried the new one from 8 degrees which was ok.
Apart from beer there was also wine, whiskey and gin stalls if that’s your thing.
Food wise there was quite a few stalls, breztel bakery, skoff pies amongst others. I had a skoff pie which was great. I tried the vegetarian one for a change. served with some coleslaw it came to 5 euro. Not bad!
There was also a stall selling crisp sandwiches!
Overall a great day out! I’ll be back next year!

After a tough week personally we were looking forward to this. We attended last year and I am a member of the American homebrew association so I really look forward to this.
As luck would have it we could not make sat due to an emergency and when I say emergency mean that. I tweet alltech and co owmer and I call and ask if my pre purchased tickets could be used Sunday if god willing we could make it.
No answer. I discovered craft beer about 20 years ago and this my friend is just commercialisation so good luck with that I will get back to real life. Btw i dont want anything free but i wanted a 24 hour flexibility

If beer is your thing, make sure not to miss this event. There were so many great Irish local breweries present and several from other countries. Everyone working there it was so nice and friendly. I tasted some of the best beers I’ve ever had. You also have an opportunity to buy some of the beers from the local vendors
Was surprised to see they also had bourbon tasting’s, gin and vodka tastings.
The only complaints I have is that we could have used a couple of more food vendors. The sandwich guy with the sausages was really very good and we try the meat pie place. Some friends had the noodles & found them fairly bland. There just could’ve been a little more choice for an actual dinner. The seating was not nearly enough for the big crowd. There could have been so many more tables and chairs in the open spaces. Overall we had a nice time.