The White Hag Brewery in Sligo will once again host an International Brewery Festival on 29 July.
Fans of craft beer in Ireland will descend on Sligo for an International Brewery Festival later this month.
The festival will take place at The White Hag Irish Brewing Company in Ballymote, officially the best brewery in the country, having won the inaugural Oliver Hughes ‘Best Brewery in Ireland’ award from Beoir, the national craft beer organisation, earlier this year.
‘Beers not poured in Ireland’ is the theme for the event, which will see over 60 beers from around the world available for the first time to Irish craft beer fans.
White Hag will be bringing 22 breweries from 11 countries to Ireland to pour their beers for the first time, with 85% of guests at the event expected to come from outside Sligo.
A capacity crowd of 1,000 people is expected at the festival, but with almost 70% of public tickets already sold, you might want to act fast to avoid disappointment.
While obviously a crucial part of the festivities, tasting beer will not be the only activity for those in attendance, with the following events also lined up by organisers.
- Live music from Sligo band Rackhouse Pilfer, just returned from three gigs at Glastonbury
- A chance to meet some of the world’s best brewers, featuring experts in barrel aging, wild yeast fermentation, sour beers and much more
- The National Cornhole Championship Finals live at the brewery
- The best of local food from the Sligo Food Trail and the Strandhill People’s Market, as well as the Wild Atlantic Oyster Cart
- Private train into Sligo Town from the Brewery
- Craft beer crawl in Sligo town, culminating in the festival club in 5th on Teeling
Commenting on the festival, White Hag Managing Director, Paul Mullin, said: “We’ll also be hosting the first tasting of our crowdfunded barrel programme, with funders getting to visit their barrel on the morning of the festival for the first time. We will also be bringing nine breweries who have never been here before, and four who are bringing back beers for the first time.
“Last year we had 260 attendees for one of the best parties we’ve seen in this part of Sligo, so we’re expecting a huge crowd this year. Being located right beside the train station means we get lots of beer fans jumping on at Connolly station and getting straight here quite easily. So we’ve gotten Irish Rail to sponsor a train into Sligo town on the night.”
The entire list of breweries represented at the festival can be seen in full below:
- The White Hag (Ireland)
- Oersoep (Holland)
- Basqueland (Spain)
- Haandbryggeriet (Norway)
- Brewfist (Italy)
- Beavertown (UK)
- White Frontier (Switzerland)
- BRLO (Germany)
- 40FT (UK)
- Brasserie De La Senne (Belgium)
- Azimut (France)
- Lervig (Norway)
- Stone Brewing (USA/Germany)
- Paname Brewing (France)
- 8 Degrees (Ireland)
- Rascals (Ireland)
- Black Donkey (Ireland)
- Yellow Belly (Ireland)
- Trouble Brewing (Ireland)
- Mac Ivors (Ireland)
- Kinnegar (Ireland)
- Stu Mostow (Poland)
All details for the event, including information on tickets, travel and accommodation are available here. Tickets are €25 and include a festival glass and four drinks, as well as a free train to Sligo from the brewery on the night. All other drinks are €2.50, regardless of style.
The event is subject to licence.
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