Select a news topic from the list below, then select a news article to read.

Europe’s definitive guide to beer styles

The European Beer Consumers Union has launched its ‘one stop shop’ for information about different beer styles across the continent and further afield. The Beer Styles of Europe and Beyond has been published by the European Beer Consumers…

Beoir at 10

Today marks ten years since Beoir was formally established, on 1st July 2010. It doesn’t seem like all that long ago but it’s safe to say that the world of Irish beer has changed immeasurably since then. Beoir’s objectives have similarly…

DirectFromBrewery.com: direct sales for difficult times

With the independent beer industry facing an uncertain future during the covid-19 pandemic, it's more important than ever to support it. Irish licensing laws give breweries very little scope to sell directly to the public. Several are now offering…

Beer of the Year 2020

The opening weeks of the new decade saw Beoir once again taking the pulse of the Irish beer scene, assessing it via the eyes and palates of its members. This is the ninth annual awards, in which the drinkers en masse choose their favourite Irish…
A storm is brewing over Imma tweet Should one of the state’s leading cultural institutions be shilling for a drinks company? Last week the Twitter account of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma) gave a shout-out to a brewer in Dublin 8. “We were delighted to visit Rascals for a premium guided tour with beer tasting,” simpered Imma. “The place was incredible, their craft beer really good, we had so much fun.” And it added ominously: “We’ll be back soon.” Spoilsport Atticus asked if this tweet was appropriate, with the government busy passing laws restricting the promotion of alcohol. We got no response from Imma’s social media person, but the tweet promptly disappeared.

This Is How It Changes

"Should one of the state's leading cultural institutions be shilling for a drinks company?" So opened a section of the Atticus column in The Sunday Times of 15th December 2019. It had been prompted by a tweet from the Irish Museum of Modern…

Beer of the Year 2019

While the Irish brewing scene hasn't grown as much in the last twelve months as it has in recent years, the task of picking a best beer from the hundred or so operational breweries has not got any easier. In this the eighth edition of the competition,…
EU flag

New EU proposals on excise duty structure

The Irish laws governing taxation on beer, including where the various tax breaks are applied and to what, are largely controlled by European law. Specifically, Directive 92/83/EEC allows member states to grant up to 50% excise duty relief on…

Indie Beer Week 22nd June – 1st July 2018

Show support for your local brewer! The second annual Indie Beer Week begins on Friday 22nd June and runs through to the following weekend. This is an initiative by the Independent Craft Brewers of Ireland and is made up of a series of events…

Beer of the Year 2018

2018 is the seventh consecutive year in which Beoir has chosen a Beer of the Year and two runners-up. As always, the net is cast as widely as possible, with votes coming in from Beoir members all over Ireland, and abroad, and beers selected…

Beer consumers send warning shot to AB InBev

The European Beer Consumers Union, of which Beoir is a constituent member, has written to the CEO of the world's largest brewer, AB InBev, expressing concerns over the company's business practices. The letter from EBCU chairman Henri Reuchlin…

What should beer labels say?

With all the coverage recently about what the labels on alcoholic drinks should or shouldn't say, one side that nobody thought to ask is us, the consumers. Everyone recognises that we need to be informed about the products we buy, but exactly…

Beoir’s Best Brewery 2023

The Beoir awards have been running annually for over a decade now. It is the only beer awards scheme in Ireland voted for by the drinkers ourselves and the integrity of the system is a vital part of how it works. Winners can know that their…

Beer, Health and Wellbeing

Editors' note: Prof. Claus-Christian Carbon is an academic at the University of Bamberg, Germany, with an interest in the social aspects of beer. He is also an executive member of the European Beer Consumers Union. This article is on the important…

Christmas Beers 2022

Our late friend Andrew Moore made a point of contacting Irish breweries each year for a list of their seasonal Christmas beers. The tradition has been continued in his absence. See below for a list of what Ireland's small and independent breweries…

Iceland joins EBCU

EBCU is very proud and happy to announce that the beer culture association Bjórmenningarfélag Íslands from Iceland now is part of the EBCU as a full member. The organisation applied for membership and became part of the EBCU family in the…

Beer of the Year 2022

Since 2012, Beoir has been calling on its members to choose their favourite beers from among all those brewed on the island of Ireland. Though the brewing scene is now unrecognisable compared with then, great beers still stand out and, due to…

BRÚ and Galway Bay merge

Last month, the business media reported that two of Ireland's larger and more established craft breweries had merged. One partner, BRÚ Brewery, was already the product of a previous merger, when last year the owners of Carrig Brewing in Leitrim…

Climate Change and the Irish Beer Consumer

At this moment, world leaders are meeting in Glasgow at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Which brought me to thinking about what the Irish beer consumer could do about the crisis facing our species. By the way, our…

Celebrating 30 years of EBCU

The European Beer Consumers Union is this year marking thirty years since the beer drinkers' associations of Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK grouped together to fight for drinker's rights on a continent-wide basis. Since then, they have…

Indie Beer Week 2021

After a one-year hiatus, the Independent Craft Brewers of Ireland are bringing Indie Beer Week back for 2021. The event will run from 17th to 23rd May. This year, unsurprisingly, the action will be largely virtual, centring on online tasting…

Beer of the Year 2021

The tenth annual Beoir beer awards took place during January, with members voting on their favourite beers of the previous twelve months. No shortlists, no style guides, no expert judges: all winners were picked solely on the basis of how much…

Cask Ales & Strange Brews 2020

The Franciscan Well Brewpub's annual winter beer festival, Cask Ales & Strange Brews, always features a most interesting selection of one-offs and special editions from Irish breweries. As is traditional at this stage, Beoir was invited…
CAMRA's Good Beer Guide: Belgium

Review: CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide: Belgium

Veteran beer writer Tim Webb has been publishing a guide to Belgian beer and pubs since 1992. This and the previous edition in 2014 were co-edited by the Europe-based American writer Joe Stange. A short essay by Webb at the front of the book…

Beoir Cask & Strange Brew Competition 2018

  Beoir performed the judging at the 2018 Cask and Strange Brew Festival in Cork which takes place at the Franciscan Well each year. The judging was performed on Saturday, January 27th between 1pm and 5:30pm and 30 beers were judged in total…

Review: 20th Century Pub

There is no shortage of books on English pub life and pub culture. It is, after all, as essential a part of that nation’s self-image as the café is to Paris or the beerhall is to Bavaria. Popular works on the pub, however, have tended to…

Limerick – Beer City

When you think of great beer cities in Ireland, you wouldn't normally include Limerick in that list but things have changed significantly in Limerick. We just had the Beoir AGM there last Saturday and were met with a very warm welcome. Craft…

Beoir Champion Beers 2017

The third Beoir: Champion Beer of Ireland Competition took place at the Killarney Beer Festival on Saturday May 27th. The judging of 142 beers started at 10am with most of the rounds finished by 5pm. Then the international judges got together…

Beoir Cider Competition Results

  Saturday 22nd April saw the judging take place for the first ever Champion Cider of Ireland. A team of five expert judges from across the UK and Ireland deliberated on almost 40 ciders from 20 producers entered into five categories to…

The Taprooms Bill: A Call to Action

On Thursday 23rd March the Intoxicating Liquor (Breweries and Distilleries) Bill 2016 will have its second stage debate in Dáil Éireann. If passed, this legislation will allow breweries and distilleries to sell their produce directly to…

Beer of the Year 2017

For the last six years, Beoir's Beer of the Year competition has offered the clearest picture of the Irish beer connoisseur's drinking preference. That beers of such high calibre as Of Foam & Fury, Shandon Century Stout and The Full Irish…

Beoir Cask Competition 2017

  The 2017 Cask Ale & Experimental Brews festival over the weekend seemed like it had the largest number of cask beers available compared to previous years. In fact, there were only three kegged options on the main bar and about 23 casks…

Bill Published to Allow Direct Brewery Sales

Beoir welcomes the news today that the Labour party are to introduce a Bill aimed at boosting craft-beer tourism in Ireland by removing the major regulatory barrier for breweries, microbreweries, cider makers and distilleries. The Intoxicating…

Review: The Pub

English beer writer Pete Brown is probably better known for his matey-blokey beer history and travel books, like Hops & Glory (the definitive story of IPA) and Shakespeare's Local (a history of one not-so-well-known London pub). His latest…

Irish Craft Beer Festival 2016

  The Irish Craft Beer Festival is back this September and is bigger than ever with over 50 brewers, cideries and distillers. As usual, Beoir members receive a 50% entry discount at the door with a valid, in date membership card. If you…

Beoir Champion Beer of Ireland 2016 – Killarney Beer Awards

    Here are the results of the Killarney Beer Awards for 2016. We had 165 entries which was more than double compared to last year. Judging started on Saturday at 11am and the final round was completed by 7pm. A massive thanks to Kellie…

Micro Brewed Badge

Last month, Beer Ireland launched their Micro Brewed badge and it has since started to appear on bottled beer and possibly on pump clips too? I'm not sure about that one. For those that don't know, Beer Ireland is one of the two industry groups…

EBCU salutes the historic contribution of the Reinheitsgebot

The world’s longest lasting piece of consumer legislation, the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot, which aims to protect the purity of beer recipes, celebrated its 500th anniversary on Saturday, 23rd of April 2016. The European Beer Consumer Union…

Beer of the Year 2016

This is the fifth run of Beoir's annual awards, seeking to find the drinkers' favourites from among the beers produced in Ireland. Given the ever-growing number of breweries in Ireland, and the range of beers that the established players have…

Irish Brewers Association Gets A New Chairperson

Beoir would like to offer a heartfelt congratulations to Seamus O’Hara on his appointment as the new Chairperson of the Irish Brewers Association (IBA). Seamus set up the Carlow Brewing Company in 1996 which celebrates its 20th birthday…

A visit to Boyne Brewhouse

They don't go in for half measures at the Boyne Brewhouse. The 30hL Kaspar Shulz brewkit was commissioned last October and occupies just one part of the large facility based in a former car showroom by the M1 just outside Drogheda. When a…

Tis The Season…

It’s that time of the year when the evenings get shorter and the days get colder. Which means it’s time for the winter seasonals/Christmas beers. There’s been a massive increase this year with nearly half the Irish microbreweries producing…

Vegan Friendly Irish Craft Beer

Currently there are 40 independent Irish craft brewery's across the island that brew vegan/vegetarian friendly beer. With a massive range of beers and styles there is certainly something for everyone. This list will be added to over the coming…

EBCU celebrates 25 years of campaigning success

On Wednesday 21 October hundreds of beer drinkers from across Europe raised a glass in Brussels to celebrate of 25 years of EBCU (European Beer Consumers Union) campaigning success. The celebration took place at De Markten, where members…

Budget 2016 Response

Beoir very much welcomes the announcement at Budget 2016 that the excise relief for microbreweries will now be available upfront. This will improve the cash flow for these small and medium businesses which we hope in turn will help further develop…

Autumn at The Bull and Castle

The Bull & Castle in Dublin is running a two-month long autumn festival for all of September and October. A range of special and seasonal beers will be available on rotation during the event including, appropriately enough, Eight Degrees…

Something special for the weekend

    The Irish Craft Beer Festival 2015 is almost here. For three days, dozens of breweries and hundreds of beers will be taking over the RDS in Dublin, alongside whiskey, cider, food, music and debate. It's the perfect opportunity to explore…

Killarney Beer Awards

Beoir launches a new awards programme at the Killarney Beerfest this June!   Are you a commercially viable brewer on the island of Ireland? Then give your beer the praise it deserves with an award from Beoir.     The Awards are…

Dublin Craft Beer & Cider Cup – Over 30 Irish Winners

The 2015 Dublin Craft Beer Cup was awarded to Coisbo Beer of Denmark for the second year in a row, this time for an imperial Russian stout aged in sherry barrels. It appears the competition might have been fiercer and the judging more stringent…

Beer of the Year 2015

For the fourth year of its existence, Beoir has run a competition to find Ireland's favourite beer: the one the drinkers enjoyed most and want to see more of, and more like it. Every beer brewed and sold on the island in the past year is eligible,…

Two Saturdays

The traditionally quiet New Year period was not so for the beer fanatics of Beoir. Circumstances led to two brewery visits being arranged for consecutive Saturdays in January, making for early starts, long days and in one case, actual hard…

Boundary Brewing: A Co-operative Approach to Irish Craft Beer

With £100,000 raised in just eight days, this round of funding is now closed. Congratulations Boundary Brewing! The recent Irish craft beer boom has seen no shortage of novel methods of raising the funds necessary to get a new brewery off…

The European Beer Consumers Union comes to Dublin

On the 14th and 15th of November Beoir will host a meeting of the European Beer Consumers Union for the first time. 30 delegates from eleven different countries across Europe will gather in Dublin for two days of debate and discussion covering…

Review: Sláinte – The Complete Guide to Irish Craft Beer and Cider

My review of Iorwerth Griffiths's small 2007 volume, The Complete Guide to Beer and Cider in Ireland, expressed the hope that growth in Ireland's craft beer scene would mean the next edition would be more of a coffee table size. A successor…

BeoirTV

    That's right, Beoir now has a YouTube Channel called BeoirTV. Get on over and take a look. If you would like to produce a video for BeoirTV, contact admin@beoir.org for guidelines/logo use.

We Are a Talented Bunch

For a small (but growing) consumer organisation made up of unpaid volunteers, we can count some very talented people among our ranks. A number of well-known writers & journalists, web/app developers, IT people, artists, photographers and…

Beoir Magazine

  Beoir Magazine was envisioned as biannual publication aimed at tourists and the general public to inform them of what's happening in the Irish Craft Beer scene. The 32+ page digest sized magazine had an initial print run of 7000 printed…

Beers, Blues & BBQ at Sheary’s

Dublin 12's leading beer bar, Sheary's of Crumlin, is celebrating Irish Craft Beer Week 2014 with the arrival of a range of new beers on Sunday 31st August. The award-winning draught line-up includes Eight Degrees Amber-Ella, Galway Hooker…

Big Grill Festival, Dublin, 15-17 August 2014

The first Big Grill Festival is coming to Herbert Park, Dublin this weekend, 15-17 August. Proper barbecue food has become incredibly popular of late and this is a chance to try the best Dublin has to offer all in one place. A variety of…

Design Our Shirt!

Calling all Graphic Designers, and Craft Beer Fans. We need your help. Beoir is running a competition for an Irish Craft Beer and Cider Festival exclusive tee shirt design. This will only be available for purchase at the event itself which…

Dungarvan Brewing Summer Series

Starting 11th July and running on most Friday evenings through the next two months, the Dungarvan Brewing Company will be holding a series of tasting sessions at the brewery. Participants will learn about the ingredients of beer, the brewing…

Review: Brew Britannia – The Strange Rebirth of British Beer

We all know the story: in 1971 a group of Englishmen on a walking holiday in Kerry created a beer drinkers' protest group to fight the rise of industrialised beer in Britain. 35 years later, a pair of young Scottish home brewers set out…

European Elections 2014: Vote Beer!

Update: The results are in! Click here to view. On 23rd May Ireland will go to the polls to elect 11 members of the European Parliament, to serve a five-year term representing the citizens of Midlands-North-West, South and Dublin. Decisions…

Porterhouse Craft Beer and Spirits Festival 2014

The annual springtime celebration of independent Irish beers and spirits begins across the Porterhouse estate from 10th April, running to the 27th. During this period, beers will be available from Rascal's, N17, Kinnegar, Metalman, Hilden,…

Review: The Home Brewer’s Guide to Vintage Beer

As an authority on the nuts and bolts of beer history, Ron Pattinson needs no introduction. Through his Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog over the last seven years he has left no stone unturned in seeking out primary evidence of past beers,…

Beoir Brewday at Black’s of Kinsale

As a reward in a successful Indiegogo campaign 12 homebrewers from Beoir paid a visit to Black's of Kinsale craft brewery in Co. Cork, Ireland on 8th March 2014, to take part in a brew day. The beer, a double IPA will be where ever great beers…

Ireland Gets 18 Medals At The Dublin Beer Cup – 2014

Beating off tough competition from nearly 300 entries, we had 18 Irish medal winners out of the 125 medal winning beers at the second Alltech Dublin Craft Beer Cup. In fact, three of the twelve gold medals went to Irish breweries. While the…

Beer of the Year 2014

Throughout the month of January, Beoir members voted on the best beers of the previous twelve months. The aim is to find the nation's favourite Irish beer -- not the most true-to-style or technically adept, but the one that the drinkers enjoyed…

International Craft Brews and Food Fair: Dublin 7-8 February 2014

Kentucky-based brewer and distiller Alltech returns to Dublin this February for a second beer festival, following the first last July. Once again, Convention Centre Dublin is the venue and once again an international competition will be held…

Happy New Year – €5 Membership Now Available

We had a brilliant 2013 at Beoir. We exceeded last year's total membership after only 6 months and we still have 6 months to go. Beoir membership runs from the 1st of July for one year. From January, membership drops to €5 to account for the…

The Good Craft Brewery Guide

A special for Christmas, The Good Craft Brewery Guide is a concise summary of Ireland’s emerging small scale brewing industry, it outlines the stories behind Ireland’s emerging craft brewers and details the styles and flavour characteristics…

Brewing Britain: Review

Andy Hamilton is a Bristol-based home brewer, teacher, gardener and forager. His first book, Booze for Free, was a guide to growing and foraging ingredients for making your own beer and wine. Brewing Britain, subtitled The Quest for the Perfect…

It’s December

Christmas is coming and more importantly; not one but two Beoir Christmas parties. The main one is on the 13th of December at the Black Sheep on Capel street. Kicking off from 7pm with free finger food and if you are wise enough to be a full…

The BeoirFinder App

BeoirFinder is a free, handy geo-location tool for finding pubs, restaurants and breweries in Ireland that serve Craft Beer. There has been a major boom in Irish Craft Breweries in recent years; This App is vital for anyone who values choice…

Europe’s Beer Writers Coming To Ireland

On June the 27th, Dublin will host the 4th European Beer Bloggers Conference. As many of you know, I have attended all three so far and was successful in my attempt to bring it to Ireland to showcase Ireland's growing beer scene. This will…

National Homebrew Festival

This Saturday, our friends at the National Homebrew Club will be hosting what is probably Ireland's first homebrew beer festival. This is a completely free event both in terms of entry and beer. In fact, it has been worked out that there are…

Brewery Corner scoops national award

It's not a brewery and it's not on a corner, but Kilkenny's leading craft beer pub can now boast national recognition having been awarded the 2013 Craft Beer Pub of the Year by Licensing World Magazine. Even though the pub has only been in…

Forget Munich

Oktoberfest season is upon us once again, the annual celebration of strong Bavarian lager served in one litre mugs. It's the time of year when you can expect to find even the most traditional of Irish pubs decked out in blue and white and flying…

We bought a batch!

When Black's Kinsale Craft Brewery launched a crowd funding initiative on the Indiegogo platform it immediately captured the interest of Beoir members. Sam even adjusted the offer listing to allow those who just wanted to buy the exclusive…

Bigger than ever: Irish Craft Beer and Cider Festival 2013

Ireland's biggest festival of craft beer returns to the RDS for a third year, expanding to a four-day event, beginning on Thursday 5th September and running through to Sunday 8th. The expansion of Ireland's beer scene is reflected in the line-up,…

Irish Craft Beer Week at Farrington’s, Dublin

The week beginning Sunday 1st September is Irish Craft Beer Week, culminating in the biggest annual celebration of Irish craft beer, the All-Ireland Beer and Cider Festival at the RDS from Thursday 5th to Sunday 8th September. Farrington's…

Help fund a new brewery

Black's Kinsale Craft Brewery is one of the newest arrivals on the rapidly growing Irish craft beer scene, founded by Beoir member Sam Black. So far one beer has been produced under the brand -- Kinsale Pale Ale -- which already has a medal…

Dates for your Beer Diary

A summary of some of the beer festivals coming up in late summer 2013. Burren Brewery Craft Beer Festival, Lisdoonvarna, 2-4 August Based at the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna, three days of live music, food from the Burren smokehouse and…

Victory for Hilden

Hilden Brewing Company have won a major international award for their Twisted Hop pale ale. The first Dublin Craft Beer Cup was held at the Alltech Gathering Craft Brewing and Distilling Conference at Convention Centre Dublin. The two day…

A Place at the Table

It's heartening that so many of the winners of the 2013 Irish Restaurant Awards are familiar from the Beoir Directory and app as stockists of beer and cider from Ireland's small independent producers. Over the last ten years we have seen a…

Kilkenny Cat Laughs…

Every year I travel to Kilkenny with a group of friends to attend the Cat Laughs comedy festival. It has always been a great festival; and add to that some fantastic restaurants and pubs and a good time is had by all. However, there was always…

Mountain Man: Ireland’s Newest Brewery

Today we officially welcome the newest member of Ireland's craft brewing scene: Mountain Man of Macroom, Co. Cork. The first beer released is called Green Bullet, a 4% ABV pale ale packaged in 33cl bottles. Pending wider distribution and the…

Growth industry: Irish craft brewery expansions

2013 looks to be a bumper year for Irish craft brewing. With Mountain Man launching shortly, to be followed by Holy Mountain, 9 White Deer and several others, the prospective is one of greater choice than ever before for the beer consumer. The…

For The Love Of Hops

When I first received this book I thought that reviewing it would be a doddle; My wife’s uncle is a horticulturist who specialised in hop growing and processing during the 50s and 60s at the Greenmount Agricultural College. However my plan…

Leuven and Brussels, April 2013

I report on my recent trip with TheBeerNut to Leuven for the (main) purpose of acting as Beoir delegates at the 47th EBCU (European Beer Consumers Union) meeting. I was unable to fly to Brussels until the evening of Thursday so by the time I…

Short hops: drinking by DART

It seems that every few months there's news of a new Dublin pub stocking Irish craft beer, either as a specialist or alongside the mainstream offerings. Trying to keep up with them all, especially the suburban outliers, is an impossible task.…

Spring Seasonals 2013

Some new seasonal beers recently arrived, and on the way, from Ireland's craft breweries: Voyager IPA by Galway Bay Brewery Expected to come in around the 6% ABV mark, this IPA has been thoroughly hopped with Pacifica and Pacific Jade. Available…

Irish Craft Beer Village: 13-18 March

From Wednesday 13th March right through the St. Patrick's Day holiday weekend there'll be an opportunity to sample a wide range of Irish craft beers at the Craft Beer Village on George's Dock in Dublin's IFSC. It will be open daily from 12…

Shakespeare’s Local: Review

The recent surge in craft brewing and specialist pubs in London means that the Borough of Southwark is perhaps not the standalone beer mecca it once was. That said, it remains home to such luminaries as The Rake, Brew Wharf, The Market Porter…

Spring Festivals

Now that the days are beginning to get longer it's time to look forward to some of the beer festivals coming your way over the next few months. Cask and Winter Ales Festival, Cork, 15-17 February At the opening event of the 2013 Irish beer…

New IPA from Trouble Brewing

Kildare-based microbrewery Trouble Brewing have just launched the third beer in their regular line-up: Sabotage IPA. This is a 5.5% ABV India Pale Ale which makes extensive use of Galaxy hops, a variety prized for its tropical fruit flavours. Trouble…

Give Me One Year.

"Give me one year" asks Shane Long, co-founder of The Franciscan Well. As the news officially broke last week regarding the Molson Coors buyout of the Well, speculation and opinion has been rife regarding what this means not only for the Well…

‘Tis the season!

With the festive season upon us, several Irish microbreweries have released winter beers for the dark evenings. For the second year in a row, Eight Degrees has a dark spiced beer called A Winter's Ale. This is 7.5% ABV and available bottled…

Pre-budget submission

Ahead of Budget 2013, Beoir has made a submission to the Department of Finance requesting a re-think on the minimum pricing issue. As an organisation, Beoir stands behind any genuine effort to tackle problem-drinking in Ireland. However, Beoir…

The Brown Paper Bag Project

The team behind award-winning Dublin pubs L. Mulligan. Grocer and W.J. Kavanagh's have recently created their own beer brand. Titled The Brown Paper Bag Project, the emphasis will be on innovation and experimentation, covering a wide range of…

Belfast Beer and Cider Festival 2012

The 13th Belfast Beer and Cider Festival, organised by the Northern Ireland branch of the Campaign for Real Ale, opens at the Ulster Hall on Thursday 22nd November and runs through to Saturday 24th. Over 100 beers and ciders from all around…

Beoir joins the European Beer Consumers Union

Beoir has become the newest member of the European Beer Consumers Union, Europe's umbrella group for organisations which promote beer culture and drinkers' rights. The unanimous decision was made by the delegates of the EBCU's existing member…

New Look For Dungarvan Brewing

The Dungarvan Brewing Company has launched a redesign of its branding with the new bottle labels due to hit the shelves in November, to be accompanied shortly by a new-look website. The Co. Waterford brewery was founded in 2010 and its original…

Farmhouse Cheese and Craft Beer Weekend

Over the October Bank Holiday weekend for the second year running, Bord Bia has organised a nationwide celebration of Irish farmhouse cheese and craft beer. Over 20 tasting and demonstration events will be taking place around the country,…

Review: The Oxford Companion To Beer

The Oxford Companion to Wine was first published in 1994 and is now in its third edition. It is widely regarded as the authoritative work on wine by both connoisseurs and those in the trade, with contributions from the most well-respected writers…

Beer of the Year 2012

Voting has closed on the 2012 Beoir Beer of the Year Awards. We are delighted to announce that Shandon Century Extra Stout from the Franciscan Well Brewery in Cork City has been chosen as the Irish beer drinkers' favourite beer for this year. Second…

Meet The Brewer at Against The Grain

Against The Grain (11 Wexford Street, Dublin 2) are running a 'Meet The Brewer' series every Friday for the next 6 weeks (and possibly longer). Go along and meet brewers from Carlow Brewing, Hooker, Fischer and more. The current calendar is: 3rd…

Pre-Budget Submission 2011

In keeping with its remit to support native Irish microbreweries and defend drinkers' rights, Beoir has made a pre-Budget submission to the Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners. The document sets out a three-point plan for encouraging…

Troublemaker 2 – This Time It’s Beoir…

After a good four and a half minutes of soul searching, we made the momentous decision to revisit the Troublemaker competition for 2012. We've also made a few tweaks to the rules and regulations after feedback from the inaugural competition…

Irish Craft Beerfest 2011

Friday: It starts with a trade session. A good number of people come through the door. Many are pubs looking for new options for their customers. They've picked the right place to come. With the major exceptions of Hilden, Dingle and Clanconnel,…

Review: The Complete Homebrew Beer Book

The title of this book is ambitious, and the author’s credentials are certainly impressive enough to back up the book's claim to completeness. George Hummel is a home brewer and writer from Philadelphia. His shop, Homebrew Sweet Homebrew,…

A Visit to the Meantime Old Brewery, London

Having previously told us about Bateman's of Wainfleet, James Keane was back in England this summer and took the Meet the Brewer tour at the Old Brewery premises of the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich, London. We arrived to Greenwich and we had…

Review: Beer is Proof God Loves Us

Professor Charles W. Bamforth is the author of several books on the science and history of beer and brewing. His Lancashire roots, long career in the industry and current role as Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences…

Is Irish Pale Ale a new style?

Is there a new beer in town? A purely Irish drink from the Irish craft breweries that we can claim as our own? The BeerNut first described Galway Hooker with "The makers claim 'Irish Pale Ale' is a new genre, which I was a bit sceptical about…

Confessions of a Trouble Maker

Trouble Brewing launched their Trouble Maker brewing competition last summer with the closing date for entries at the end of October. All entries were judged by a panel of experts and the winning beer was to be recreated on a commercial scale.…

The Year in Beer

Coinciding with the growing number of microbreweries in Ireland, and the pubs that serve their beers, there’s also an increasing number of special events around the country where Irish craft beer can be tried. Often, the brewers use these…

Kegging: An Illustrated Guide

There is uncertainty in the unknown. Kegging a beer sounds easy but to the beginner kegger it can be a little mind-boggling. So many questions come to mind from what gear is needed to how to operate your chosen set up. Well, as they say, "Superior…

Quick Reference Tables

For the amateur brewer in a hurry, we present seven important ready-reckoner tables, covering attenuation, alcohol content, hydrometer correction and yeast pitching rates. All files are in PDF format. The tables were produced using the online…

Kit vs. Extract vs. All-Grain III: Battle of the Blondes

After the inconclusive previous rounds of testing for Kit v Extract v All-Grain (round 1; round 2), it was decided to have a third round, for the purpose of answering such crucially important questions as: 1) Can you tell the difference between…

The Irish Red Paradox

It's a style that is quintessentially ours, yet is recently evolved from a foreign progenitor. It has been a mainstay of dumbed-down Irish macrobeer for decades, yet has seen a revival at the hands of newer craft breweries. Just what is the…

Shepherd Neame: And the Ultimate Question?

I am a somewhat frequent visitor to Kent so I thought I should take the time to visit Faversham and the oldest surviving brewery in the world, particularly since I do enjoy many of their offerings and eagerly await the start of each new season…

Welcome to Beoir.org

Welcome to the new Beoir.org website. Launched on July 1st, 2010, Beoir is an independent group of consumers which seeks greater choice, quality and value-for-money for beer and cider drinkers on the island of Ireland. Our primary goal is to…

Kit vs. Extract vs. All-Grain II: The Stoutening

All did not go according to plan. The post-mortem of the first Kit/Extract/All-Grain blind comparison decided that the brewer's proficiency with the various methods was affecting the outcome. It was therefore decided that for round 2 there…

Trouble Maker – Brewing Competition

For those who weren’t at the ICB brewery tour at Trouble HQ recently, we announced a tentative plan to hold a brewing competition. The competition will select a home-brewed beer to be scaled up to a commercial batch size in our Allenwood brewery…

A Visit to Bateman’s of Wainfleet

I made the tour but missed the food - though luckily due to a few people being absent we got our tour given by the very knowledgeable Dave Phillips. The tour starts in the reception and a quick history of the brewery is given. This began with…

Review: Clone Brews (2nd ed.)

It's twelve years since Tess and Mark Szamatulski published the first edition of Clone Brews, a slim volume containing detailed instructions on how to recreate 150 different beers from around the world. The book was a hit with homebrewers,…

Kit vs. Extract vs. All-grain Brewing

Experiment: To compare the flavour profiles generated from different brewing methodsThe premise for this experiment is to investigate the link between how beers rate in flavour when produced in three different methodsa) Kit beer, where hopped…

Lager in the Park

TheBeerNut scuttles past me whispering 'cops' and I'm 16 again, hanging round with my mates in a world where having a beer is an adventure. I was just about to open the first bottle for an al fresco taste test when the guy who minds the park…

Beer Destination – Copenhagen

If Carlsberg were in charge of tourism for the city of Copenhagen, “Probably Eastern Denmark’s Best Beer Destination” might be the slogan that they would choose to advertise to the rest of the world. Even though Carlsberg (and Tuborg)…

ICB Awards: Rated by Members 2010

On Saturday April 3rd, the fourth and final Irish Craft Brewer Beer of the Year Awards were announced at the Franciscan Well Easter Beer Festival in Cork. As with 2009, voting had been open to all members of the community and every beer brewed…

The Oslo ICB Tour – Galway, Feb. 2010

Flushed with success from our first meeting in Connaught we spent some time talking to the nice people in The Oslo about a tour of the brewing operation and a chance to meet the brewer. It wasn’t long before they put us in contact with John…

Review: The Home Brewer’s Recipe Database

Despite its name, this book by ICB’s own Les Howarth is not a recipe book. It says as much on the back cover: “It is a database of ingredient information that should assist the home or craft brewer in creating their own recipes in order…

Beoir: A beer consumers’ group for Ireland

Irish Craft Brewer is pleased to announce the establishment of Beoir, a consumers' lobby for beer drinkers on the island of Ireland, and for all who seek to improve the variety and quality of beer available here. The new group will concentrate…

White Gypsy Opening Party

Cuilan from White Gypsy is not what I would picture as a champion of fair-trade eco-aware local produce. But behind the Munster jersey is a very clear vision of where Irish brewing should go. And I mean vision. Here is a brewery that avoids…

Beer Destination – Barcelona

I know what you're thinking: this is not a city for lovers of beer, and in some respects you'd be correct. You won't find any cask ale here and for the most part the beer on offer is very bland and very cold, but happily the beer consumed in…

The Recession Session

€13.40? They wanted €13.40 for two pints? This was completely inexplicable, none of the bar staff were topless, the beer was the same cold fizzy muck everywhere serves and the pub itself had all the charm of herpes. But what choice do…

Review: World’s Best Beers

There's no shortage of reference books about beer on the market, from the wordy official guides published by the house of CAMRA to the glossy encyclopedia-style tomes that come from the likes of Dorling Kindersley, more often than not bearing…

Beer Destination – York

I recently had the opportunity to spend a day or so wandering the streets of the city of York. What a treat it turned out to be, and I discovered for myself that York is a fine destination for great pubs with a range of fine ales. My first…

The man in the pub is more discerning than you

That's it. Hand in your pipes, shave off the beards and get rid of the beer nerd t-shirts the game is up. We are all at Irish Craft Brewer a mockery of a travesty of a sham as beer tasters. It turns out a random collection of pub goers were…

Review: Hops & Glory

No beer aficionado needs to be told what India Pale Ale is -- the style is brewed anywhere there's a market of drinkers who really care about what's in the glass in front of them. American craft brewers have made it their own, with their signature…