200 thirsty reasons to go to beer and cider festival
The festival, now in its fifth year, will be held over three days in the RDS, and the organisers are bracing themselves for another record turnout.
Last year more than 12,000 people visited the festival to meet the producers and discover new tastes in beer and cider.
The craft beer and cider industry in Ireland has witnessed explosive growth over the last year and this is reflected in an increase of over 25% in the number of breweries attending.
The festival that opens next Thursday will also offer an array of Irish artisan food and musical talent.
Among the producers attending will be Cuilan Loughnane, the head of White Gypsy Brewery in Templemore, Co Tipperary, which opened in August 2009.
Mr Loughnane, a native of Templemore, has been involved in brewing craft beers since 1997 when he worked as a brewing assistant in Dwan’s brewery in Thurles, Co Tipperary.
His ambition has always been to bring back a local beer to North Tipperary. Since the demise of Perry’s in Rathdowney, Co Laois, in 1966 there has been no local ale available.
“We brew a couple of draft beers for the local market, which is nearly 80% of our business. We also do a range of strong bottled beers for the restaurant trade and off-licences.
"Our long-term aim is to make good beer from malt and hops grown locally and to sell as much of it within 40 miles of the brewery door.”
Mr Loughnane said micro-brewery production represented almost 2% of the entire beer market. “It’s still very small but it is significant,” he said.
At the end of the year he predicts there will be close to 50 micro-breweries operating in Ireland.
The White Gypsy Brewery has three full-time and two part-time employees and is hoping to increase its workforce to five full-time and two part-time employees in the next year-and-a-half.
“It takes time to grow the industry — that’s why it took so long to achieve a 2% market share because we are bringing in customers one at a time. Now those customers are telling their friends.”
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