NHC stand at the Hilden festival

[Bazza]

Hi All,

As per Hilden's wishes we hope to have the NHC stand up and running before the 2pm kick-off on Saturday 24th. I'll be leaving various bits of equipment, along with the NHC stand & materials down at Hilden some time next week & will be down to set up some time between 12 and 1 on the day. I reckon I'll be fine getting the stand set up on my own but if anyone out there (I'm not referring solely to the Nordies here) wants to lend a had I certainly won't knock back the offer.

As for the manning of the stands, given that Hilden want us set up for 2, we might as well start manning it from 2 onwards. End time is still TBD; can't see a need for us to go on till 11pm. If I'm still there at 11 it'll be more of an NHC stagger than a stand (hahahaha).

So I'm looking for volunteers to do shifts at the stand. Might be better if we worked in pairs; Wise to a Morecambe, Cannon to a Ball, Little to a Large, etc

Probably don't need to know exact times you can help; a list of names would do for now.

I'll start the ball rolling:


1.Barry (Bazza)


Cheers,

-Barry

[sub82]

1. Barry (Bazza)
2. Il Tubo (Shane) (Dunno what I can commit to but I will be there to help)
3. Chris (Sub82) (Count me in for setting up and manning the stand earlier in the day)

[matthewdick23]

1. Barry (Bazza)
2. Il Tubo (Shane) (Dunno what I can commit to but I will be there to help)
3. Chris (Sub82) (Count me in for setting up and manning the stand earlier in the day)
4. Matthew

[Bill_00]

1. Barry (Bazza)
2. Il Tubo (Shane) (Dunno what I can commit to but I will be there to help)
3. Chris (Sub82) (Count me in for setting up and manning the stand earlier in the day)
4. Matthew
5. Bill (License reinstated!! It seems months that have 5 weekends result in my head disappearing up my arse)

What sort of time are folk jumping on the train?

[iain_todd]

1. Barry (Bazza)
2. Il Tubo (Shane) (Dunno what I can commit to but I will be there to help)
3. Chris (Sub82) (Count me in for setting up and manning the stand earlier in the day)
4. Matthew
5. Bill (License reinstated!! It seems months that have 5 weekends result in my head disappearing up my arse)
6. Iain

Hi lads,

yes I will be onhand to help out, however a good friend of mine is moving to England to work and his leaving do is the festival. So although I will be preoccupied, I will be able to spend an hour or so manning the stall, doing bar runs etc...

[@geterbrewed]

We hope to be there to have some equipment to show folk how to brew from kits, should anyone want any orders brought up to save on delivery, just drop me an email info@geterbrewed.com

[Quiet_Man]

When you've all sobered up - how did it go at the Hilden festival?  Much interest in the NHC? Any new brews we should be aware of?

[Bazza]

Hey Andy,

Never really got drunk TBH, so able to give a quick update:

Hilden was pretty good. Decent selection of English ales (Black Sheep, Sharps, St. Austell, Exmoor, etc) as well as the Hilden's own selection.

Logistically the NHC stand was a little to one side from the proceedings i.e. inside instead of outside. We got a few interested punters in at various points asking questions. Whether we'd have gotten more interest had we been positioned outside in the thick of things is open to debate.

Think I missed your intro posts. You're in the Ravenhill area, then? There's a fast-growing Rosetta/Galwally/Ormeau contingent to this group, by the look of things


-Barry

[sub82]

+1 on the festival being good! Some interesting beers on display, although I would've liked 1 or 2 higher ABV hoppy beers to sample. They all seemed to be in the session beer category.

Definitely think we and Geterbrewed would've benefitted from being amongst the festival crowd rather than inside the building.

[Bill_00]

I overdid it on Friday night...sorry lads

Glad it went well though!

[iain_todd]

Everyone seems to be being very kind to Hilden, however I have to say this year's festival seriously paled in comparison to previous years.

Firstly, the free-before-four policy was dropped, and entrance was 12 quid all day. Then it was 2.50 for the glass - minus the double sided beer menu of previous years - and another 3.80 for a pint.

So it was essentially twenty quid before the first sip of beer touched your lips.

Selection-wise, there wasn't really much there to test the palate.

Sub and I were at the Fyne Ale festival in Scotland this summer, and it was a plethora of different styles, from the cucumber and mint beer, to dark, thick stouts, to hoppy IPAs and a vinegary Brett.

The Hilden festival this year was essentially CAMRA territory - nothing really beyond mildly hoppy blondes and low-strength, brown ales.

That, combined with the increase in entrance prices, made for a pretty disappointing day, I thought.

And RE the stall - yeah it was good - Bazza and I manned it for a bit until I had to go and meet friends and Shane arrived. But I think it was particularly frustrating for Get Er Brewed, who were there to promote their business.

Why, when MAC's cider stall was given a prominent outside location, we didn't get to put our stall outside, is anyone's guess.

But there you go!

[iain_todd]

Yeah I agree Shane.

I'm pretty sure that, had you been at least year's, or even the year before, you might have got a better impression of the Festival.

It seems to be to be indicative of my experience of craft ale and beer in Ireland. You really have to turn to Scotland or England for inventive, risky, challenging beers. In Ireland we seem too happy with malty, 3.5% brown ales or hopless red beers.

There is definitely a niche in the NI market at least!

[Bazza]

Yeah, Ditto to Shane. The most enjoyable part of the day for me was meeting up with folk, both familiar and new. (Shane - you HAD to go and mention Tyrone )

Regarding the positioning of the stands, poor as it was, I guess Hilden were under no obligation to us. I hope that it wasn't a complete waste of time for GetErBrewed; they deserve support for their undertaking.

As for the festival itself, I have to admit it's a real struggle for me to get any of my mates interested in craft beer, and can't see that changing any time soon, given that our only access to a reasonable selection up here is at over-priced festivals and JD's Wild West Saloon. The one or two lads who might have come along on Saturday were immediately put off by the £12 price tag. I couldn't blame them. It's a lot of money to spend before you even buy a pint, or a glass to drink it out of.

It's a sad reflection on Belfast that I was the proverbial pig in shit with what was on offer selection-wise. It was admittedly modest,  but in this country we've really honed the talent of  'making do'. I take Shane's point about the complete lack of Stout. Whitewater didn't even offer any of theirs.

Would I go again next year? Mmnnnggg.... maybe, after some convincing. My overall feeling of last Saturday was one of flatness, though that may just have been down to the effects of unexpected sobriety.

-Barry

[irish_goat]

As far as I know only O'Hara's, Porterhouse and Dungarvan have the legal stuff done to be able to sell in the North. Although, that's plenty of beers to choose from. With a bit of effort Hilden could have sourced a few other breweries as well. I know Metalman got into the Belfast beer festival by "selling" their beer to Dungarvan who then sold it on in Belfast.

There may have been an issue with price as well though. A cask of session ale from the UK will come in at a lot cheaper for Hilden than a cask from the south.

[irish_goat]

I read an article online a while ago about a UK brewery closing because of the wholesale price of casks. The brewer was saying that some pubs are buying casks for just under £60 and he couldn't compete. You'd get a lot of recognisable English ales for £60-80 (Hobgolin, Hooky, Greene King, Adnams).

By comparison, Irish casks come in at €140+.