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I only made it on Friday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hard to try and pick out the beer highlights, I was like a kid in a candy store. It was fantastic to have a chat with some of the brewers in the brief lulls. I brought a few none-Beoir mates and they really enjoyed it as well.

Well done to all in organising this and I hope it picked up over the Saturday and Sunday in order that it was a success. In hindsight the date might not have been ideal (after Diageo day, post All-Ireland final & egg chasing, there may have been some potential visitors whose wallets or livers may not have been able for another night of beer).

In terms of organisation, it was fantastic. Beer tokens meant that the brewers could focus on dispensing their delicious wares and the fact that you were re-using your glass was nice as well.

My only minor gripe was with the entertainment. I can see the rationale- the organisers obviously wanted to give people some "bang for their buck" but on Friday most (if not all) those there were busy concentrating on the wares available and having a chat. I thought it was the beer nerd in me making this call, but my non-beer nerd friends were even more adamant that it didn't really add much and the noise levels at points made it hard to have a conversation. Minor gripe really.

But fantastic fun, I hope it got the numbers it deserved and fingers crossed we get some more Beoir members after the weekend. Well done to all the Beoir members who chipped in on the door.

Raging i missed this...
All along i thought i wasnt going to be able to make it.
BUT at the last minute it turned out i would be able to get in at the last minute, so there i was, got the DART to RDS, 8.30pm sunday night, im outside the RDS and i realise i left my wallet at home!!!

Good job I had a return ticket for the DART (which i paid for with change from my pocket). Anyway - as a consulation i went back and had a couple of pints of 5am saint in magpie inn in dalkey. Nice pub, 5 am saint was lovely, nice n fruity smell, might have been served a little bit cool for my liking though. But ill definitely be back <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> and hopefully i'll make next year's beerfest!

A big thank you to the organisers of this great event. Everyone seemed to have a great time and there were some wonderful beers on offer. Hope to go to an even bigger All Ireland Craft Beerfest next year.

A big thank you also to the Beoir volunteers. A lot of people found out that we exist and that they can use this website to find a pub that serves craft beer in their area. Well done.

Had a great time on Friday evening again like others have said I was like a kid in a sweet shop.

2 beers that stood out for me was the Brew eyed Amber ale with Vanilla and the Clothworthy Dobbin (Whiskey cask).

Great talking to the brewers and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Looking forward to the next one <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

It was great to put faces to names at last. I missed out on the Raven stout because I didn't want to ruin my palate too early and left it too late. Otherwise I was not sold on the Clotworthy, I felt it was left too long in the cask and took on too much whiskey flavour. The vanilla beer wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I still wouldn't drink more than a taster of it.
I liked Dungarvans cask bitter though I'm not normally a fan of the style. All the beers were excellent really and for some reason I could still taste Metalmans Alternator this morning even though I hadn't had any since early yesterday.
The big plus for me was being able to drone on about beer for 2 days without anybody raising their eyes to heaven <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->

It was a great weekend, the highlights for me were Raven and Mustang from White Gypsey and the Comeragh Challenger bitter from Dungarvan. It was great to meet so many people who were enthusiastic about their beer, and hopefully there'll be a few new Beoir members joining us thanks to the festival.

My congrats to everyone involved, looking forward to next year already.