A to Z of the European Beer Bloggers Conference

A is for the Archaeology of beer, think particles of space dust falling to earth and fermenting that mushy bread you left out in the early days of yore brought to you by Declan Moore. A is for the apricots added to the sublime Cascade Apricot Ale shared by Beer Daddy. A is for Andrew Savage brewer at Guinness who shared honest insights - 200 road tankers a week taking Guinness out to be packaged in cans and bottles. A is for Artisan Brewers Society – I like the fact they haven't used the 'c' word. A is for Aer Lingus who managed to fly me back to Manchester after I drank lots of Pilsner Urquell unfiltered goodness and discovered the merits of using Wordpress (check the radio station I embedded for you to listen to whilst reading this). Then gulped down N17's 'Oatmeal Stout' (yes you can gulp a stout), visited Gallway Bay Brewery's The Black Sheep pub and relished their take on double IPA - 'Of Foam and Fury'; enjoyed a three course beer and food matched meal soundtracked by Shane Long of Franciscan Wells, supped Irish red as it should be by Carlow Brewing in the form of their O'Hara's - a caramel malty bitterness of a gem. Visited the Temple Bar beer monolith, aka brewpub, known as the Porterhouse (Dublin's original beer oasis from 1996) and ended up dancing till the teeny hours with beery odd (bod?) fellows @CSHallWriter, @CraigHeap, @LordoftheBeers and @TotalCurtis.



B is for beer bloggers drinking 'Black IPA' from Blacks of Kinsale as they say in Ireland "charged with hops and ready to rock".



C is for camaraderie or calamari deep-fried and dusted in wasabi and sesame flour accompanied by Franciscan Wells’ Friar Weisse. C is for their Chieftan IPA – whether you call this craft, artisan, micro or not (after their recent acquisition by Molson Coors) you can't deny the beer is packed full of hops and bursting with flavour. A question continually asked by all troubled teenagers - does size matter?


D is for donkey….....well Black Donkey Brewing’s farmhouse style saison. A tasty dry saison treat, not sure on the "lock up your sheep" tagline...? But I do get the passion of husband and wife team Richard and Michaela.

E is for essence or the Guinness special sauce secret – Guinness Essence Flavour. It's about consistency - you hear macro breweries say repeatedly. It's not much of a secret either.



F is for beer flavour wheels and Dave Seldon's 33 Books Co. Where beer, a pen and paper meet in a harmonious union.



G is for Galway Bay Brewery killing it on the beer and pub front in Ireland with their combination of real beer and honest food.

H is for Hairy Goat, a beer not made by goats or for goats.



I is for Irish craft beer or IBUs which by the end of the weekend had been smacking me over the head to assimilate the two terms as one.



J is for the tenth letter of the English alphabet or Jade as in Pacific Jade hop or jape as in a jaunty beer jape across the Irish sea.

K is for all the places in Ireland, which there are many, beginning with the letter K - Kilkenny, Killarney, Kinsale, Kenmare, Kilrush, Killaloe, Kells, Kilcormac, Kilcullen, Kildare, Kilkeel and Killorgin. Kinsale or Ceann-saile being the highest point to which the tide rises. I hope Blacks of Kinsale aren't in risk of flooding anytime soon.
L is for the River Liffey, the life and soul of Dublin.



M is for macaroons little fluffy pillows of tasty meringue.



N is for N17 where Everything = Value with the formidable and inspiring Sarah Roarty as it's driving force, I look forward to finding her stout in more places than just Ireland over the forthcoming years. N is for Diageo's employee homebrew competition winner Night Porter and wishing they released this commercially.


O is for Oysters and Guinness Extra Stout. Dark molasses meets the sea with a kick of chilli and coriander.





P is for The Porterhouse a Dublin brewpub beer gem with an old school band in the wall stage (think drummer, guitarist and singer crammed onto a ledge hovering betwixt beer fuelled crowds).




Q is for quandary over this whole craft beer, after a twitter rant and a pointer (thanks Jeff Boss!) I've settled on graft brewing as a more appropriate partnership. When you meet those involved in this brewing landscape at such events you often find they are the brewers, the marketeers, the accountants and the dray all in one.
R is for Rascals Brewing and their Wit Woo, a pale hazy delicious Belgian style white beer.



S is for Shane Long at Franciscan Well sharing his brewing stories over Saturday night’s meal.




T is for Tim O-Rourke’s guide to Irish craft brewing, a well put together little 'zine outlining the emerging Irish indie beer story.





U is for unadulterated beer talk, getting geeky without feeling guilty about it.


V is for Vaclav the Brew master at Pilsner Urquell who’s been in attendance and supported the beer bloggers conference throughout. A legend in the brewing and hosting game. Tapping his own unfiltered cask collection day in day out for thirsty beer lovers. V is for versus - keg v cask, bottle v can. To which for me isn’t a versus at all. It’s about what package suits the beer.






W is for Wordpress yes I've finally gone and got one! Take a look HERE

X is for the X in Vortex…..after you’ve been sucked into a bottle swap including this Fort George Brewery IPA.

Y is for Yorkshire beer and the influence on the Irish scene called out by @BeerMessiah as we sampled Black Sheep Brewery's ‘Progress’.

Z is for Zythophile or Martyn Cornell beer historian and author of the fine 'Amber, Gold & Black'. Z is for zombie and the way I stared at Martyn, a lot. Finally Z is for Zephyr Adventures the conference organisers and to the unflappable optimistic buoyance of Allan Wright.