The Irish Craft Beer Show: Recent Episodes
ICBShow
The Irish Craft Beer Show visited the Alltech Craft Brews and Food Festival 2018 from the 8th to the 10th of March.
John "the Beer Nut" Duffy spoke with festival newcomers and we also watched the announcement of Dublin Beer Cup winners.
askforcraft
Listen to the episode here (audio version to follow).
Episode music:
"Matt's Blues" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Watch the episode on YouTube here:
Check out John's blog here:
thebeernut.blogspot.ie
The festival website is here:
www.alltechbrews.ie
Priory Brewing:
twitter.com/priorybrewing
Reel Deel Brewery:
www.reeldeelbrewery.ie/
Ballykilcavan Brewing:
www.ballykilcavanbrewing.com/
12 Acres Brewing:
12acresbrewing.ie/
Larkin's Brewing Company:
www.facebook.com/larkinsbrewing/
BrewCon 2017 was held by the National Homebrew Club in Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin on the 29th April. Speakers included Rossa O'Neill, Jasmin Winterer, Mark Jenkinson, John Palmer, Mike "Tasty" McDole and Brandon Jones.
Audio version of the episode to follow.
Check out the episode on YouTube here:
For information on BrewCon 2018, check out http://www.nhcconference.com/
For the Chop and Brew review of BrewCon 2016 go to the video here: https://youtu.be/KYQl0y16DLU
To join the National Homebrew Club or take part in the discussion forums go here: http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/
Thanks to all the BrewCon 2017 committee for their hard work. It was much appreciated by all.
Following his quick trip to Minnesota for Homebrew Con 2017 (www.homebrewcon.org), Brian shares some of the beers he brought back with John Duffy, "The Beer Nut" (https://thebeernut.blogspot.ie/).
APOLOGIES FOR THE SOUND QUALITY!
Thanks to Elsa and Chip of Chop and Brew (http://chopandbrew.com/) for providing the beers.
Listen to the audio version of the show here: Episode 28
Watch on YouTube here:
The beers we sampled were:
Spring Saison 4.7% - Summit Brewing, St. Paul MN
http://www.summitbrewing.com/
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/summit-unchained-24-spring-saison/497408/
Extra Pale Ale 5.1% - Summit Brewing, St. Paul MN
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/summit-extra-pale-ale/7344/
Bent Hop Golden IPA 6.5% - Bent Paddle, Duluth MN
http://www.bentpaddlebrewing.com/
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bent-paddle-bent-hop-golden-ipa/208655/
Xtra Citra 4.5%- Surly Brewing, Minneapolis MN
http://surlybrewing.com/
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/surly-xtra-citra-pale-ale/398459/
Dark Infusion Stout 8.5% - Summit Brewing, St. Paul MN
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/summit-unchained-23--dark-infusion/461460/
Whalezbrah 7.5% - Surly Brewing, Minneapolis MN
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/surly-whalezbrah/522518/
I recorded some footage from this and will try and pull and episode of the ICB Show together in due course, but while it was still recent I just wanted to post a quick* review of my trip to Homebrew Con in Minneapolis last week (15th – 17th June). Short summary, I enjoyed every minute of it! I was invited by Chip Walton to take part in a panel discussion entitled “Homebrew Worldwide: An International Panel”, to give the Irish perspective on homebrewing. Imposter syndrome was in full force, but I jumped at the chance. The American Homebrewers Association covered my conference registration as I was speaking, and Chip organised a hotel roommate for me to share costs, so all I had to do was get to Minneapolis on time! It was one of those things that I always wanted to attend and I’ll forever be thankful for the opportunity.
I flew out Wednesday the 14th, with a short stopover in the craft beer desert that is Amsterdam Schiphol (so much green branding). Upon arrival in MSP and after clearing CBP, Chip’s wife Elsa whisked me straight away to Insight Brewing in St. Paul, where the Chop and Brü Prefunk Party was already well underway. This was a party and homebrew meet organised by Chip and Marshall Schott of Brülosophy. I sampled some of the Insight beers in the taproom where the main party was taking place, but for me the highlight was the homebrew meetup which took place in the brewery. There are some talented brewers over there, and for me some standout sours and meads.The next day was the beginning of Homebrew Con proper. Our hotel was only 500m from the convention centre which would be useful, as I realised right at registration that I’d left my passport behind. No beer in the USA without ID! After registering I picked up the goodie bag which included the usual things like hops, vouchers for malt, yeast and some stickers. Also given out at registration was Whalezbrah, the commemorative beer brewed by Surly brewing for the conference and a bottle of mead. I began to notice that mead is a big thing in Minneapolis!I knew the conference would be big but the scale of the place still surprised me. The main Expo took place in a hall about twice the size of the hall where Alltech takes place in Convention Centre Dublin. This hall was where all the exhibitors presented their wares, there were stands from the likes of Yakima Valley Hops, White Labs Yeast and Weyermans Malt with plenty of free samples. Lots of bars dotted around too, with local breweries Summit, Surly and August Schell, and other breweries like Ballast Point, Sam Adams and Bells pouring as much beer as we could fit into the 100ml sample glass. BSG Handcraft, the American distributor for MCI malt amongst others, had a bar manned by Jake Keeler and Michael Dawson formerly of Brewing TV fame. They served beer from breweries and homebrewers that used their ingredients, a good place to hang out if you wanted some good beer. I took my first wander around the Expo hall with Don Osborn of YouTube fame (https://www.youtube.com/donosborn/) and that’s when I noticed the amount of familiar faces around. Who’s that manning the BeerSmith stand oh that’s Brad Smith. Hey look at all the shiny from Blichmann engineering and hey that’s John Blichmann selling it. There’s Jamil Zainasheff signing his book, there’s the entire team from Brewing Network (Tasty remembered me, friends made at BrewCon are friends for life!). We bumped into James Spencer from Basic Brewing, the amount of brewing knowledge in this one room was incredible and all you had to do was stick your hand out and introduce yourself and you could share in it.
Some interesting products demonstrated included Cryo hops for from YCH hops, already on sale in the Irish market from Get ‘Er Brewed (http://www.geterbrewed.ie/hops/?features_hash=2-115) and the All American home can seamer (canned homebrew, the future is now). I got up close and personal with the shiny from SS Brewtech and now it’s not a matter of if I spring for a Brew Bucket, it’s when. Or maybe a chronical…
Moving on to the seminars, unlike Brew Con there were 6 talks happening simultaneously in different rooms in the convention centre, so you had to choose what to go and see. One personal highlight for me was “Hold my beer and watch me Science!” from Marshall Schott and Malcom Frazer of Brulosophy with Denny Conn and Drew Beechum of Experimental Brewing. Another was Kris England’s history of stouts and porters “Kinda brown, mostly sexy”, seriously we have to get this guy over for BrewCon. There was talks on every brewing topic under the sun, Czech lager styles, meads (they do love them in Minnesota), milds, Berlinner Weiss, identifying off flavours, even keeping your beer lines clean! The seminars were all recorded and will be available for AHA members to view at a later date, I look forward to going back and watching some that I missed, and reliving some I attended.
The seminars and expos were all finished by 5 which allowed us to venture into Minneapolis. I wanted some good American food and was not disappointed!
Each evening at 7:30pm there was a party in another exhibition hall, the same size as the one the expo was in. On the first night the kickoff party featured breweries from all over Minnesota and surrounding states, I unfortunately had to miss this one due to severe jet lag. But Friday evening was the highlight, Club Night featuring beers from almost 50 different homebrew clubs! Themed bars and costumes were the name of the game, speaking of names these guys put a little more effort into naming their clubs than we do. Brew Tang Clan anyone? I even found the American cousins of one of our beer blogger national treasures, the Cedar Rapids Beer Nuts (John assures me copyright lawyers are already on it). I circled the room with the aim of going as long as possible without trying the same beer style twice, not that difficult a task. Key lime mead anyone? Entertainment was provided by rock musician Abstract Artimus, and an inflatable velociraptor!
On the final day as the expo wound down, the winners of the National Homebrew Competition were announced. I skipped this (surely couldn’t be up to the standard of Alfie Byrne’s) and caught up on some seminars repeated from earlier in the festival. The conference wrapped up with the knockout party, where all the unopened bottles from the competition were shared out. Labelled with nothing but the style number it was a mystery what beer you’d get unless you were a BJCP grand master. The smug face on Gordon Strong!
That was Homebrew Con, despite the jet lag I loved every minute of it. 2,586 attendees in total, slightly bigger than BrewCon and an experience I’ll remember for life. Glad it wasn’t 2,585.So Homebrew Con 2018 anyone? 28th – 30thJune in Portland, Oregon. Anyone who can make it work but is on the fence, I heavily recommend it. Flights to Portland should be around €650 return with one stopover and you could get a hotel for 3 nights for about €400 (half that if you share). Not that I’m already pricing the trip or anything…
Thanks to everyone who I hung out or chatted with with over the few days, Elsa and Chip, Gaston my roommate, Bryon Adams, Don O, Paul and Denise Fowler, Leif, Joel, Chino and Daniel. Apologies to anyone I left out. You all made me feel welcome.*I couldn’t be quick, sorry.
Join Brian and John Duffy as we traverse the floor of the Alltech Craft Brews and Food Fair 2017
Audio version to follow.
Until then, check it out on YouTube here:
eu.alltechbrewsandfood.com
The brewers we spoke with are:
Aidan at Galway Hooker:
http://www.galwayhooker.ie/
Barbara-Anne from Bridewell in Clifden:
http://www.bridewellbrewery.ie/
Tony from the Lough Gill Brewery in Sligo:
http://loughgillbrewery.com/
Kevin from Independent Brewing of Connemara:
http://independentbrewing.ie/
Joey at Irishtown Brewing Co in Dublin
https://twitter.com/irishtownbrew
Jeanne from my local brewery, Hope Beer in Kilbarrack
http://hopebeer.ie/
Don and Joan from Clonakilty Brewing Co. in, well you can guess..:
http://clonakiltybrew.ie/
Alan from Sullivans Brewing Co in Kilkenny:
www.sullivansbrewingcompany.com
Jack Smyth from Jack Smyth's in Dublin:
https://twitter.com/jacksmythstout
Simon from Rye River in Celbridge
https://www.ryeriverbrewingco.com/
And finally, Dara from the Station Works in Newry:
http://stationworksbrewery.com/
After the birth of my daughter I thought my brewing days were over, no way could I spend all day Saturday on an all grain batch. Then I discovered the Grainfather, an all in one electric brew in the bag system, and the promise of the four hour brewday! Join me as I take you through batch #3 with the grainfather as I brew an Irish Stout to have on tap for St. Patrick's Day.
As this episode was quite visual I decided to not release an audio version of this episode.
Watch on YouTube here:
Early Morning Stout Recipe:
3 kg Pale Ale Malt
0.5 kg Flaked Barley
0.5 kg Roasted Barley
0.1 kg Black Malt
40g Northern Brewer @ 60'
1 Whirlfloc tablet @ 10'
1 sachet Nottingham yeast
For more info on The Grainfather check out:
www.grainfather.com
or the excellent users group on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/groups/grainfather/
At the Alltech Craft Brews and Food Fair 2017, John "The Beer Nut" Duffy caught up with Scott Baigent of Eight Degrees Brewing.
Stay tuned for more from Alltech '17 coming soon.
Listen here:
Minisode - 8 Degrees at Alltech
Watch on YouTube here:
The Beer Nut blog:
thebeernut.blogspot.ie
Eight Degrees Brewing:
http://www.eightdegrees.ie/
John and Craddock and Nigel Comerford present some of their latest homebrews to Chip Walton, visiting from Minnesota.
Check out the audio version of the episode here:
Episode 25
See the Youtube version here:
Don't forget Chip's show Chop and Brew, check it out here: www.youtube.com/chopandbrew
Recipes for all beer used in the episode will be added soon.
Brian is joined by Nigel Comerford of North County Brewers and Chip Walton of Chop and Brew to discuss the first transatlantic homebrew beercast collaboration.
No chillies were hurt in the filming of this episode!
Check out the audio version of the show here.
Episode 24
Watch us on You Tube here.
For the Rye Stout + Espresso recipe and Chip's original version of the beer check out: http://chopandbrew.com/episodes/chop-brew-episode-46-rye-stout-espresso/
Watch Brian turn an stc1000 into a proper fermentation temperature controller, and how does storage of beer affect the flavour. It's Episode 23 of the icbshow!
Download the audio version here:
Episode 23
Watch the show on YouTube here:
I got my stc1000 on ebay, always seems to be plenty on there in or around €10.
http://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR4.TRC0.A0.H0.Xstc1000.TRS0&_nkw=stc1000&_sacat=0
Listen here:
30 beers in the RDS.
At the 2015 Irish Craft Beer Festival I stuck a camera in the face of unsuspecting craft beer fans to talk about what they were drinking. Here are 30 short beer reviews.
Irish Craft Beer Festival 2016 will be on 8th - 10th September in the Industries Hall at the RDS.
Download the audio version here:
Episode 22
Watch the show on YouTube here:
http://www.irishcraftbeerfestival.ie/
Listen here:
Reuben Gray joins Brian to brew an American Pale Ale, and to sample some craft beers from across the pond.
Download the audio version here:
Episode 21 - American Beers
The beers we enjoyed were the following:
Contact High Hoppy Wheat Ale - 4 Hands Brewing Co.
Cast Iron Oatmeal Brown - 4 Hands Brewing Co.
Rookery Rye IPA - Atlas Brewing Co.
Two Hearted Ale - Bells Brewery
Mojo IPA - Boulder Beer Co.
Hop Crisis - 21st Amendment Brewery
And of course the old favourite:
Metalman Pale Ale - Metalman Brewing
The recipe for the beer we brewed, Long Hot Summer APA
20l batch
5kg Minch Pale Ale Malt
0.4kg Munich Malt
0.25kg Crystal 120 EBC
0.2kg Wheat Malt
(All hops in pellet form)
25g Magnum 60mins
20g Amarillo/20g Citra 15mins
20g Amarillo/20g Citra 5mins
20g Amarillo/20g Citra 0mins
Whirlfloc added at 15mins
Yeast Cal Ale WLP001
NOTE: After 48 hours the fermentation hadn't kicked off so I added a sachet of US-05. Everything went smoothly after that. Beer tasting will be in a future episode.
Check out Reuben's blog, The Tale of Ale
Watch the episode on YouTube here:
John "The Beer Nut" Duffy joins Brian for part 2 of our coverage of the Alltech Craft Brew and Food Fair 2016, at The Convention Centre in Dublin. Join us as we chat with some of the newer Irish brewers exhibiting at the festival, while also checking out the Dublin Beer Cup.
We also catch up with Sarah Finney of the 5 Minutes of Finney show, who was exhibiting her first commercial beer.
Download the audio version here:
Episode 20 - Alltech 2016 Part 2
5 Minutes of Finney:
http://www.5minfinney.com/
St. Mel's Brewing Company
http://www.stmelsbrewing.com/
Wild Bat Beer
http://www.wildbatbeer.com/
Galway Hooker
http://www.galwayhooker.ie/
Five Lamps Brewing
http://the5lampsbrewery.com/
Rye River
http://www.ryeriverbrewingco.com/
Watch the episode on YouTube here:
John "The Beer Nut" Duffy joins Brian on the floor of the Alltech Craft Brew and Food Fair 2016, at The Convention Centre in Dublin. Join us as we chat with some of the newer Irish brewers exhibiting at the festival.
Download the audio version here:
Episode 19 - Alltech 2016 Part 1
For more information, check out the following links.
Alltech Craft Brews and Food Festival:
http://eu.alltechbrewsandfood.com/
Independent Brewing:
http://independentbrewing.ie/
Wood Key Brewing:
http://woodkeybrewing.ie/
Rascals Brewing Co:
http://rascalsbrewing.com/
Soulwater Creative Beer Project:
http://soulwaterbeer.com/
Boyne Brewhouse:
http://www.boynebrewhouse.ie/
Wild Bat Beer:
http://www.wildbatbeer.com/
N17 Brewery:
http://www.n17.com/
Watch the episode on YouTube here:
The Irish Craft Beer Show hits the rails to visit the Boyne Valley Fruit Farm, home of Dan Kelly's cider.
Join Olan McNeece as he brings us on a tour of his family orchard, and lets us sample some cider.
Download the audio version here:
Episode 18 Audio
For more info please visit: http://www.dankellyscider.com/
Watch the episode on YouTube here:
Listen here:
Brian is joined by Emmet Ryan to brew some beer, and by John Craddock to drink some beer.
Today we try and find out what effect different yeast strains have on the same beer. One batch of Pale Ale is split between four yeast strains, and we taste the results. Homebrew Science!!!!!
Download the audio version here: Episode 17 Audio
Check out Emmet's The Pint of View Episode 5 recorded on the same day:
https://youtu.be/tJPIZigjS_Y
Watch the episode on YouTube here:
While we waited for beer to come to the boil during a recent brewday, Emmet Ryan and I tried some homebrews unearthed when I moved home.
Download the audio version here: Episode 17 Preview
Check out Emmet's The Pint of View recorded on the same day, also featuring my wife Elisabeth.
https://youtu.be/tJPIZigjS_Y
Watch the episode on You Tube here:
Listen here:
We take to the streets of old Dublin to explore some of the city's lost brewing heritage. John "The Beer Nut" Duffy is our guide as we follow the history of Dublin beer from dozens of busy Victorian breweries down to the last gasps of independence in the mid-20th century, before the modern microbrewery revival.
Download the audio version of the show here: Episode 16 - Dublin Brewing History
Don't forget to check out The Porterhouse Brewing Company, with locations in Dublin, Bray, Cork, London and New York.
http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/
Check out the video on YouTube here:
Apologies for the lack of an episode in April, I was moving home and time got away from me. An extra special to make up for it. The National Homebrew Club of Ireland present the final judging day of the 2015 National Homebrew Championships. I went along to capture the atmosphere of the day, as I spoke to Club President Rossa O'Neill and Club Secretary James Keane. I also catch up with some of the judges as they go through the process of finding the best beer.
Download the audio version of the show here:
Episode 15
The largest competition for amateur brewers on the island of Ireland and one of the largest BJCP rules competitions outside of the USA!
Thanks to the National Homebrew Club, Premier International, Galway Bay Brewery and Alfie Byrne's Pub.
Check out the results here:
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/wordpress/full-results-2015-national-brewing-championships/
Check out the video version here:
Listen to the show here:
Episode 14 was filmed at the Alltech Craft Beer and Food Fair 2015 at the convention centre in Dublin. Join us as we wander the exhibition floor and speak to some Irish Brewers and even a distiller!
Download the audio edition here:
Episode 14
Watch it on YouTube here:
http://youtu.be/IE87hOUqTHk
Links:
Alltech:
http://www.alltechbrewsandfood.com/
Eight Degrees
http://www.eightdegrees.ie/
Dungarvan
http://dungarvanbrewingcompany.com/
Metalman
http://www.metalmanbrewing.com/
Wicklow Wolf
http://wicklowwolf.com/
Jack Cody's
http://www.jackcodys.com/
Blackwater Distillery
http://blackwaterdistillery.ie/
Listen here:
While we wait for Episode 14 to be edited, please enjoy this interview recorded at the Alltech Craft Beer and Food festival 2015. Reuben Gray of Beoir awarded Scott Baigent of Eight Degrees Brewing the 2015 Beoir Beer of the Year Trophy for Full Irish IPA.
Download the audio edition of the show here:
Episode 14 Preview
Watch on YouTube here:
Episode 14 from the Alltech Craft Beer and Food Festival will be uploaded next week.
Beoir Beer of the Year 2015:
http://www.beoir.org/index.php/articles-mainmenu-36/news/267-beer-of-the-year-2015
Eight Degrees Full Irish:
http://www.eightdegrees.ie/the-full-irish-single-malt-ipa/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/eight-degrees-the-full-irish/261613/
Listen here
Join the homebrewers of Ireland as we brew Beoir #2 at Trouble Brewing in County Kildare. Brian and John "The Beer Nut" Duffy take you through the collaboration brew day, and hear from Trouble's co-founder Paul O'Connor about the joys of running a brewery.
Please note that the audio edition will take a few days to be posted. I wasn't happy when I listened to a straight rip of the video feed, so I shall recut at the weekend.
Edit: Audio edition now available:
Episode 13 Audio
Until then, enjoy the video:
Beoir - www.beoir.org
Trouble Brewing - www.troublebrewing.ie
Listen to the audio here
For the final time in 2014, Brian is joined by John Craddock and Emmet Ryan to taste some of this year's Christmas special beers and a chat about the year in craft beer.
Show notes to follow.
Download the audio version here:
Episode 12
Watch on YouTube here:
Listen here:
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @icbshow, and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icbshow
6 weeks later we came back to sample the fruits of our Episode 11 labours. But first, what happened to John's Elderflower Mead?
Download the audio version here:
Episode11.5
Watch it on YouTube here:
Listen here: