Athlone Beer Club’s Brew Day in Bo Bristle Brewery

image

Athlone Beer Club was invited out to Banagher’s Bo Bristle Brewery to brew our own special beer. We weren’t going to miss out on a golden opportunity like that so we met at the crack of half ten in Athlone and a fleet of ( two ) mini buses ferried us to Offaly.

image

While we were waiting for the water to heat up we had a beer, isn’t that what Bank Holiday weekends are for?

image

We had decided on a dark session bitter and Dave worked out a recipe for us.
Rob from The Malt House helped Rob from the Beer Club to measure out the malt.

image

image

I volunteered to pour the malt out while Blaithin added the water.

image

I was a bit over enthusiastic with my pouring so Brewer Dave had to give the wort a good stir.

image

image

The beer will be a similar colour to this.

image

image

James and Rob were charged with cleaning out the mash. Some of it may have ended up on the floor.

image

image

Tom was given the job of adding the Galaxy hops.

image

image

I think the ladies were having fun, Michelle Doyle from The Malt House was sporting her favourite Bo Bristle t shirt.

image

The Bo Bristle Stout was tasting gorgeous. We all had a bit of craic  pouring our own.

image

Eamonn transferring the almost finished brew.

image

It looks good to me! Dave measured the gravity and was satisfied that it will end up at the 4% ABV we want for our Dark Session Bitter. We may call it Athlone Bitter Club.

IMG_2705
After an arduous day of graft we made our way up to Brosna Lodge for a delicious  bowl of Bo Bristle Stout and Beef Casserole. The chef was very proud of his Bo Bristle IPA and garlic butter on brown bread. It was very tasty.

IMG_2710

Vegetarians were catered for with Bo Bristle IPA onion rings!

IMG_2709
Deirdre reckoned we couldn’t visit Banagher without calling in to JJ Hough’s.

IMG_2712

We called for a round of Bo Bristle Pilsners and someone found a guitar for Sean Lightholder. Sean kept us entertained with classics like ‘The Tippler’, ‘When I Grow Up I Wanna Drink’ and a reggae style rendition of ‘Seven Drunken Nights’.  The craic was mighty. Thanks to Dave for giving up his Saturday for Athlone Beer Club, thanks to Andy for letting us amateurs have a go on Bo Bristle’s brilliant Brew Magic kit. Thanks to Brosna Lodge for the food and thanks to JJ Hough’s for not throwing us out. Sláinte!

IMG_2715

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *