TOPIC:

"bigears":1t2oltr7 wrote: For those who don't know, the Black Box is not a pub, it's a theatre venue. The organisers presumably have to pay to rent it out. As for the name of the festival they wouldn't be the first to use a bit of hype to sell a gig. I say fair play to them for organising it, if it doesn't turn out to be a good event then criticism is valid but it's a bit harsh to have a go at them at this stage.[/quote:1t2oltr7]

Fair enough, and perhaps we're being a little unjust.

"Adeptus":1ggtzjau wrote: No, not yet. We were offered a stand at this however (very generous), but my feeling is that its short notice to do anything that would do justice to it or us. [/quote:1ggtzjau]

Absolutely. A rushed job would be of no benefit. As a matter of interest, how much notice did the breweries get? Is it going to be a rushed job for everyone?

email sent to breweries on Wednesday 19th last. Another prob I have with the event is that it will probably end up with a small number of stands as the distribution list for the invite was small enough.

I'd like to have seen aome UK or even European brewers invited.

I get the sense this is going to be a novelty event and I'm not sure if it would reflect the professional approach some of us would like to project.

It seems that they'll be aiming to have at least 500 people at the event. I don't know the venue in question so don't know if it'd hold more? What was the attendance of the Franciscan Well festival and the Hilden ones?

I was at the Franciscan Well one but I'm hopeless at estimating numbers. If they could match the turnout at that they'd be doing alright I reckon.

It would remain to be seen how professional the actual set-up is...

[quote:22y4cu56]email sent to breweries on Wednesday 19th last. Another prob I have with the event is that it will probably end up with a small number of stands as the distribution list for the invite was small enough. [/quote:22y4cu56]That's interesting. It does sound like the notice was a bit short. Hopefully it will be a decent first attempt that can be built on in future years.

[quote:22y4cu56]I'd like to have seen aome UK or even European brewers invited. [/quote:22y4cu56]
This seems at odds with the idea of promoting Irish craft brewing - I've no idea whether this is the aim of the organisers but I would have thought that as part of the Irish beer scene a predominantly 'Irish' event would be more beneficial to you and other exhibitors.

I enjoyed the Franciscan Well festival purely because they showcased Irish breweries. I'm sure the first festival wasn't as 'professional' and wide ranging as the current well established one but you have to start somewhere. I'd like to see more events like this and I find it strange that Cork and Galway can do this while nobody in Dublin, with it's huge catchment area is doing anything similar.

Maybe someone has an email contact for the organisers and they can tell us what to expect?

Only contact details i have for them is

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Brenda O'Donovan
Great Irish Beer Festival, Event Coordinator.
0879729120