Craft Beer of the Week – The Week in Craft Beer!

So much happened in the past week that it’s impossible to restrict this post to just one beer. I’m bringing you a huge mix of info this time, including beer recommendations of course, but also reports from deadly events and things that you should definitely check out. So get ready to take notes, folks!

First of all, the absolute highlight of the week was our Dublin Ladies Craft Beer Society Collaboration Brew Day at Metalman. We went to down to Waterford on Friday and started our Brew Day early on Saturday morning. The beer we brewed is called Sheba, and it’s a Saison with ginger and cardamom, which will be perfect for this time of the year. Metalman Co-Founder Grainne was our partner in crime and we can’t thank her enough for the fantastic day we had and all the things we learned! Have a look at what we got up to:

A special mention must go to Carafa who stole all our hearts and was super stylish in her Metalman swag. And yes, she is named after a type of malt!

The beer is fermenting away now and will be ready by the end of August, just in time for the Dublin Ladies Craft Beer Society’s 1^st anniversary. Our birthday party is happening on the 29^th of August upstairs in The Brew Dock and our beer Sheba will be on tap on the night. Put this in your calendar and make sure to be there!

The next event of the week was the launch of a new app called BoozeDoc. This app shows you the best offers for any type of drink, including craft beer, in your area. For their launch, they brought in Stephen from Trouble Brewing and Daire and Paddy from Brú Brewery to talk about craft beer and give out samples of their beers. The BoozeDoc guys mentioned that they were only new to craft beer themselves, so we gave them lots of suggestions on how to improve the craft beer section of their app. The app is a great idea, and with a bit of tweaking it will be an extremely useful tool for craft beer lovers.

One of the highlights on the night in beer terms was Kill Lager by Trouble Brewing, a Vienna-style lager with fantastic malty flavours. Definitely one to try over the weekend. 

The other two new beers we got to try were Brú Mór, a dangerously drinkable 9% Saison, and Brú Bán, a wheat beer with coriander and orange peel. Both were delicious and refreshing. Read more here and look out for them as they will be appearing at a pub or off license near you very soon!

Another highlight this week was being able to enjoy the fantastic weather on the terrace at Alfie Byrne’s. This place has been going from strength to strength ever since it opened and it is now absolutely jammers on weekends and the terrace is packed even during the week. If you’re on Twitter, you might have seen my very important announcement on Wednesday about Amber Ella being on tap. I cannot stress enough how amazing this beer is. They only have 2 kegs, so make sure you get there ASAP to try some. And with a view like this, why would you ever leave?

Last but not least, there is a craft beer festival happening this weekend at The Old Orchard in Rathfarnham. You’ll have the chance to meet several brewers tonight and tomorrow and there will be beer and food pairings, lots of craft beers to try, live music and all kinds of other fun things. It kicks off at 5 PM tonight and you can meet our friend, the lovely Grainne from Metalman, from 7.30. Or even get there for 6.00 to meet Donegal Brewing Company. Tomorrow, 5 Lamps Brewery will be there and you’ll also see some of us from the Dublin Ladies Craft Beer Society buzzing around in the afternoon. If you spot us, come and say hi!