The first edition of the ABV Beer Festival Belfast – which was completely sold out – took place in the iconic Titanic Drawing Offices building over two days at the end of May 2015.

ABV Beer Festival – which was the last event to be held in this unique location before it is turned into a hotel – was separated into three sessions; one on Friday evening 22 May and two on Saturday 23 May.

ABV Beer festival is a clear indication of the rapidly growing interest in different types of beer in Belfast and a sparkling endorsement of the creativity, resourcefulness and community which fuels this exciting industry in the North of Ireland.

HOW IT CAME ABOUT

“Myself and Darren Nugent from Pokertree Brewing Company really felt Belfast needed a good beer festival,” says Felicia Matheson, who owns the NI based beer distribution company, Prohibition. “Both of us have travelled and lived abroad and wanted to try something different.”

After 15 minutes we were all on the same page and decided four heads are better than one.

They weren’t the only ones in Northern Ireland plotting to start a new beer festival. “I happened to mention this to Beer Club Belfast and it turned out that Matthew Dick and Michael Kerr at Boundary Brewing had been working on pretty much the same concept at exactly the same time,” Felicia says. “It was a discussion between the four of us. The first meeting was very quiet because nobody wanted to give away their ideas but after 15 minutes we were all on the same page and decided four heads are better than one.”

The result of that meeting was ABV beer festival.

SOLD OUT IN FOUR DAYS

Darren Nugent – who is the head brewer at Pokertree Brewing Company in Co. Tyrone – acknowledges that the idea of putting on a festival in Belfast was daunting and that there was a huge degree of uncertainty when they began organising the festival.

We sold out in four days, without any advertising whatsoever.

“We didn’t really know if there were enough people who appreciated this type of beer in Belfast and we didn’t know if there would be enough people for a festival,” he says. “But we sold out in four days, without any advertising whatsoever and we have 500 people who wanted to come tonight but couldn’t get tickets. It really bodes well for the future and gives us real confidence.”

BUILT ON COMMUNITY

A celebratory atmosphere in the final few hours of the festival was a clear indication of a sense among the beer community in Belfast that they had achieved something special. The successful delivery of this festival may prove to be a major moment in the continued growth of the industry in Northern Ireland.

A perfect example of that strong sense of community was the large number of enthusiastic, warm and incredibly helpful volunteers without whom the festival would not have been a success. Their passion for beer and their sense of camaraderie infected every ticket holder who came in to the room and contributed to an upbeat vibe throughout the two days.

This sense of community has been built upon the hard work and time investment of groups such as Belfast Beer Club and Belfast Homebrewers as well as distributors like Prohibition taking a risk in bringing in a range of new beers to the NI market. It’s also testament to the vision of many bars and restaurants in Belfast and throughout the North who are offering people new tastes and capitalising on people’s growing desire for adventure.

ABV Beer Festival highlighted the fact that the beer community in Belfast pays no attention whatsoever to traditional lines of division on the island of Ireland and that both men and women of a huge range of ages and from across all communities in Northern Ireland have forged friendships for life over their enthusiastic passion for beer.

HOW IT HAPPENED: ABV BEER FESTIVAL

Returning home from a trip to Indy Man Beer Con in Manchester, Matthew Dick and Michael Kerr wanted to replicate the structure of that festival (albeit on a much smaller scale) and so the organisers divided the festival into three sessions of 400 tickets – one on Friday evening and two on Saturday – each of which featured two separate rooms with 22 taps on rotation, around 50 beers from 32 breweries, an offering of various craft ciders and a range of ‘special tastings’ in private rooms which included ‘meet the brewer’ talks, cheese and beer pairings and some tasting sessions based on beer cultures from other parts of the world.

One of the pillars for me was doing a festival that all the brewers would want to come to.

For Matthew, brewer at Boundary Brewing – who crowdfunded £100,000 in 8 days last December and sold out his first batch of beer in Belfast within 7 hours – it was important that the event be attractive to brewers. “One of the pillars for me was doing a festival that all the brewers would want to come to; making it easy for them to get here, to send the beer that they are most proud of, and to come and pour it and spend as much time hanging out with people and tasting other beers.”

There were certainly plenty of superstar brewers there to interact with the public.

Cam Wallace and Scott Baigent from Eight Degrees Brewing came along to support the festival and chat with the ticket holders. Matt Howgate and Harriet Carr of Marble Brewery in Manchester were there too. As was Joseph Ince of Magic Rock.

“It adds to the experience for the person coming to ABV beer festival,” says Matt. “It makes it more of a fun festival for the beer geeks to meet their heroes.”

THE BREWERS

One of the brewers in attendance was Rick LeVert of Kinnegar Brewing in Donegal who believes it is important for breweries to support new festivals like ABV. “It’s our responsibility as a brewery and as brewers to help people discover new flavours and discover new beers and to help grow the market,” he says.

The people who have organised the festival and know their beers have put together a really nice selection of beers for people to choose from.

“We’re all in the same boat,” Rick continues, with a joking nod of his head to the SS Nomadic behind him on which he has just delivered a beer and cheese tasting. “We survive if craft beer survives. And the people who have organised the festival and know their beers have put together a really nice selection of beers for people to choose from.”

Chris Treanor from Galway Bay Brewery was there to support the festival as well. He believes that ABV Beer Festival is only really the start of it for Northern Ireland and that the event will grow with the maturing of the industry.

“We just see a really young market with genuine interest so we want to get in on that and get involved,” says Chris. “We’re really impressed by the people who know our beers beforehand. We’ve only just started exporting up north so it’s a really exciting time and I wouldn’t miss it for the world to be involved.”

MORE THAN BEER

The list of breweries involved was enough to get beer geek hearts racing – from the big UK superstar brewers such as the Kernel, Beavertown, Magic Rock, Partizan and Mad Hatter to Irish craft heavyweights such as Galway Bay, Eight Degrees and Trouble Brewing. Local interest – every Northern Ireland brewery had been invited to pour – was balanced with international flair, including Danish offerings from Evil Twin and To Øl.

But it wasn’t just beer. ABV Beer Festival featured an impressive list of beer cocktails. The ‘Bloody Mexican’ had at its base Beavertown’s Bloody ‘Ell Blood Orange IPA with blanco tequila, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, sugar and orange bitters. The aptly named ‘Pushing the Boundary’ included Boundary American Pale Ale, vodka, lemon juice, raspberry syrup and orange bitters.

And the food on offer was as tasty, interesting and artisanally produced as the beers themselves, including Jolly Pies, Pizza VanTastica, Rocket and Relish and Farm & Food. Mike’s Fancy Cheese brought some amazing cheeses to be paired with the beers, there were snacks from Serious Pig and for those who wanted to take a break from beer, Established provided fine coffee and Square Root London sold small batch sodas handmade in Hackney.

AN ICONIC LOCATION

If the beers pouring and food being served were special, then so too was the location of the festival – the dilapidated Titanic Drawing Offices where Thomas Andrews designed the famous ship by hand, complete with its evocative architecture and crumbling walls. It offered a perfect setting for the festival straddling history and modernity, amongst the old cavernous Thompson Dry Dock & Pump House and the shiny new Titanic Building.

It did, however, pose some challenges for the organisers, being a listed building and involving restrictions, presenting difficulties when you need storage space, access to running water, and power and infrastructure for beer lines. However, it was invaluable for ensuring the event was unforgettable.

Attendees at ABV Beer Festival were also offered the opportunity to buy a limited number of tickets at £5 each for special tastings in private rooms on the SS Nomadic – known as Titanic’s ‘Little Sister’ – a small ship which was built by the same men who built the Titanic and using the same materials. These tastings included the pouring of 3-4 more rare or special beers which were not available in the main festival as well as explanations and stories from people in the industry and the brewers themselves.

We’ve got to search for somewhere as iconic as this place.

Michael Kerr, a photographer, self-confessed beer geek and one of the organising team, emphasised just how special the venue was. “This is going to be the last public event held here at the Titanic Drawing Offices before they refurbish this whole building and turn it into a hotel. It’s like the end of a chapter here and a one-off unique event for us,” he says.

The Titanic Drawing Offices will now undergo a complete change in a £27 million boutique hotel project. So if this is the last event in the building, where are they going to have the ABV Beer Festival in 2016?

“We’ve got to search for somewhere as iconic as this place,” Michael says. “But there are some plans afoot already so we’re pretty excited.”

#ABV16 – PLANS FOR ABV BEER FESTIVAL IN 2016

The organisers of ABV Beer Festival were keeping the plans for next year’s event quite close to their chest, although I would imagine one of their main goals will be to increase the number of rooms – and perhaps to even ‘theme’ them – with a view to offering a greater range of pouring breweries and increasing the capacity of the event. There also seems to be an appetite to develop the special tastings on offer and to continue supporting businesses in the craft sectors of coffee, cheese, cocktails and food.

It’s an important festival for Belfast and Northern Ireland. And it looks like it’s here to stay.

You should go.