All roads lead to the RDS from September 7-9 as the Irish Craft Beer Festival returns for three glorious days (and nights!) to Dublin 4. Over 200 beers, ciders and spirits will be available for your imbibing pleasure with online tickets starting at just a tenner.

As you can see from the panel opposite, the list of participants ranges from tiny micros and boutique distillers to esteemed American guests and major independents like O’Hara’s whose head honcho, Seamus O’Hara (below), founded the festival in 2011 when there were a mere 14 Irish craft brewers as opposed to the hundred-plus there are now on both sides of the border.

Needless to say, we’ll be in the thick of the RDS action with yours truly hosting a series of Hop Press talks on all three days.

“We’re thrilled that along with a great selection of Irish brewers – some new, others veterans at this stage – there’s an extra dimension this year courtesy of all the American brewers that are going to be at the RDS,” Seamus O’Hara enthuses. “As for ourselves, we’re looking forward to introducing two of our more recent releases, the 51st State IPA and Stormburst, another fruity, hoppy IPA, to those who haven’t already tried them. We’re going to bring at least one single variety cider with us.
Normally ciders are a blend, but we’ve a fabulous batch of Michelin apples, which we’ve put to good use! In addition to our own Falling Apple cider, we took over the Craigies business early in the year, so we’re having great fun trying different things out. The coming harvest, which is September/October, will be our big opportunity to let loose on this! You make cider for the year over a couple of months whereas with beer you can brew all year round.”

Other ciders to look out for at the RDS include Scotts’ delicious new 5% Elderflower variety, and Long Meadow’s 4.5% Blossom Burst, a thirst quencher that yells “summer!”

Seamus O’Hara has also been busy recently with the launch of Urban Brewing, a three-story temple of great food, beer and spirits, which has taken up residence at CHQ in Dublin Docklands.

“I was down there earlier sampling the new stout we’ve got on top at the bar, which is tasting good!” Seamus enthuses. “There will be one or two regular house beers, but really it’s about in-house small batch brews and there being something different for people to try every time they pop in. Whether they’re Irish or from abroad, Dublin is a convenient place for visiting brewers to come and work on a collaboration with us. There’s usually a plan, but more often than not it goes out of the window! We’ve done a few collaborative beers already and they’ve been great fun.”

Those RDS-bound American guests we were talking about earlier include Portland, Oregon’s Long Pine who wowed us on a recent West Coast trip with their 7.1% Brightside IPA and 7.7% T-Shirt Cannon IPA and their near-ish Spokane, Washington neighbours, No-Li, who, among other fine beers, will be bringing their 5.1% Crony Brown Ale and 6.1% Slacker Brass Ale with them.

Joining them on the American Brewers Association stand will be fifteen of their beery compatriots including such cult faves as Odell, Left Hand, Wormtown, Ska, Saugatuck, Harpoon and New Belgium.

“The Brewers Association is a not-for-profit trade body that represents the small and independent American craft brewer,” explains Lottle Peplow, a beer sommelier who cordinates their activities on this side of the Atlantic. “We’re taking a big stand to showcase approx. 65 different beers to demonstrate the vast diversity of styles and quality of flavours. We’ll have an organic coffee stout, a Belgian Golden Ale with peaches fermented in oak white wine casks, a Bohemian schwarzebier, a cucumber Kolsch, all manner of East and West coast IPAs and loads of other beers.”

One of the joys of the Irish Craft Beer Festival is getting to meet some of the smaller operators whose wares can be hard to find.

This year’s newbies include Tallaght’s Priory Brewing whose 5.2% Original Sin is one of the finer IPAs we’ve sampled recently; Kildare’s Dew Drop Brew whose 4.2% Bushwacked Red Ale and 4.5% Big Brown Bear both get the Hop Press seal of approval, and Wicklow’s Bonac whose boutique 24 Gin has found a welcome home in our Long Island Iced Teas.

Meanwhile, expect smiles all round on the Sullivan’s (pictured below) stand as the Kilkenny brewery continue to celebrate their return from the International Brewing Awards in the UK with a World Champion Keg trophy for their very fine and highly sessionable 4% Maltings Ale.

Along with their prizewinner, Sullivan’s also have a limited edition Kiwi & Lime Pale Ale that they’re bringing with them to the RDS and if it’s ready on time – some things can be rushed, but beer isn’t one of them! – an Irish Wildflower Pale Ale, which their master brewer, Ian Hamilton, will be telling us all about as part of Saturday’s ‘Hello America!’ Hop Press talk.

In addition to the Maltings we all know and love, Ian will have some kegs of the 5% American export version, which was a smash hit at last weekend’s Great Irish Beer Festival in Cork.

Artisan soakage will be provided by the likes of Jane Russell Sausages, Cillian The Pie Man and Dave’s Wood Fired Pizza, with DJs and live music adding to the fun-filled vibe.

So, early to bed, rest those elbows and we’ll see you this weekend for the biggest, bumperest Irish Craft Beer Festival yet!

THE HOP PRESS TALKS

Thursday
6pm Welcome To The Craft Beer Jungle!
7pm The Beer (And Cider) Necessities

Friday
6pm Hello America!
7pm The Beer (And Cider) Necessities

Saturday
4pm Brew Kids On The Block
5pm The Beer (And Spirit) Necessities
6pm The Craft Beer Revolution: Turning It Up To ‘11’

THE IRISH CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL LINE-UP

8 Degrees
Arthurstown
Black Donkey
Boyne
Bridewell
Costello's
Galway Hooker
Irishtown
Kelly’s Mountain Brew
Killarney Brewing
Larkin's
Mont
N17
O Brother
O’Hara’s
Priory
The Porterhouse
Sullivan’s
Trouble Brewing
Two Sides
Urban
Western Herd
The White Hag
Wicklow Brewery
Wicklow Wolf
Epic
Hardywood Park
Harpoon
Lakefront
Left Hand
Mill House
New Belgium
New Holland
No-Li
Odell
O’Fallon
Port City
Saugatuck
Ska
West Sixth
Wormtown
Craigies
Dan Kelly’s
Falling Apple
Long Meadow
Toby’s
Scotts
Bonac 24 Gin
Dingle Whiskey Distillery
MÓR
Micil