German Beerfest weekend report

[brenmurph]

HI All.
Words cant describe what it meant to us to see such a great turnout from NHC members who were in a position to make it. We are aware it was a bank holiday weekend and also the traditional 'builders holiday' and many were away at other events but NHC were well represented among friends, collegues, neighbours and our local brewers.

Here goes.

Weather:

jesus...thanks lads and lassies for staying I wuldnt have expected anyone to turn up let alone stay with a happy smile through 7 hours of non-stop torrential rain. By our estimations we PUMPED via our 600 gallon / hour pump about 3000 gallons of water from our yard.....however everyone ducked and dived the rain to get to the bar, the fab chill pad ( ye know ye spent all day sat) and the BBQ of course queing in the rain with a smile for what I believe was the best BBQ quality cooked food Ive ever seen to date ( thanks John our chef)

Pressies, gifts and contributions to the day:

While we done expect our (in the thousands now!) brewday guests to pay anything for our hospitality, ye al know us know....we are so happy to see peoples creativity and effort to help the party...so here goes. ye know who ye are....hand made speciality cakes, VERY rare Whiskeys, specialist beers, heart shaped ice cube thingys, cheese, 4-wheeled airmiles, great foods, beer clocks, a range af great beer glasses from Tigers to special events, backup keggies just in case, photo frames...right Im only human....Kellie will fill the missing gaps later.....her and Gonky are on a chill day in IKEA after two days cleanup..... Thanks a million ye excelled again

Behaviour and comradery:
Several of yer stayed over friday. If ever there was an excuse to be pissed off and a sad face it was saturday when we were up to our knees in water. We had a big blitz when the final short term weather was announced and we had roofs to put on our bar, sandbags ( there was a flood warning for kildare and its first time the weathermen were right!!!), health and safety roping and signage, big car park to floodlight and prepare signage ans so on, extra indoor space to prepare and digging a hole for the submerible pump.. great comradery ye all were super helpfull.

Drunkeness...

I DID not withness any example of offensive behaviour despite the volume of beer that disapeared....smiles and fun all-round right up to 7-30 am by the fire when (I HAVE TO COMMENT THIS MAN) Beerfly you came joint first with me for stamina...Still drinking cask stout at 7am from 1pm the previous day. fair Flucks to ya....
A CREDIT TO OUR NHC MEMBERS WHO SURELY ARE THE BEES KNEES RE BEHAVIOUR KEEPING IN MIND THIS ALSO WAS FAMILY, NEIGHBOURS AND FRIENDS IN ATTENDANCE y ye deserve a special mention for this.

Right the food...

This will be brief...ye are PURE savages, John the chef said 50 half pounders were gone in 25 minutes along with 150 german supersized sausages..... thank ye all...please include in your feedback / comments our friends who supplied, prepared and cooked this masterpiece of a feast deserve a special mention

OK The bit ye are waiting for  BEER BEER BEER BEER....

I spent a month brewing for this event including 3 advertised brewdays..

Drinking started 6pm friday
Drinking finished with the Zoiglbier 2pm sunday...well done all

The menu in order of tapping

90 pints of altbier
75 pints of cask shilling
90 pints of Irish pale
80 pints of oak aged Kolsh served from the fabulous oak cask
36 pints of North English brown ale ( lasted 25 minutes, thanks for that vote lads)
30 pints of irish Red (remainder is for bottling the comp)
36 pints of lovely lager
36 pints of Cask stout
10 pints of Zoiglbier on Sunday
10 pints of miscelanous tasters that didnt make it to tap

Right as we had a sensible drinking policy we asked people to drink from 330 ml and the more seasoned drinkers from half litres and the fact that all beers were served german style with a proper head we have calculated that we consumed 1000+ drinks totaling 473 pints

I said circa 1000 drinks were served totalling FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY THREE FULL PINTS...THANKS LADS AND MOST CERTAINLY LASSIES...A STRONG CONTENDER FOR BEST DRINKER WAS DOROTHY FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY STEPHEN, REUBEN AND MASTER BREWER DODGE ....LADS / LASSIES PLEASE LEAVE YOUR LIVERS TO SCIENCE, THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL WILL BENEFIT!!

BEFORE I FINISH THIS SECTION... WE CLEANED UP FOR 2 DAYS. IN THE DEBRIS FROM THE PARTY WE FOUND THE FOLLOWING

4 x coors cans ( Shame on whoever that was :-)
11 x 330ml bulmers bottles ( Good man chef... not bad in four hours)
13 x Weihenstephan 0.5% bottles ( 6 used in the das boot comp)
2 x Unertl 0% alc bottles. ( Im aware someone was pacing alc intake with theses and the weihenstephan Fair play!)

This is a great reflection on our brews that so few commercial bottles / cans were discovered, thanks all involved.

OUR WEDDING CELEBRATIONS

Ye know we got married in Weihenstephan as per our video presentation. we did have legal commentators in Weihenstephan and at the party so that was cleared up hopefully.

Kellie is Fab..( make sure she is included in your comments) no better host and no better wife is available on the planet) Party animal, uber competant party organiser and a great craft and homebrew fan i think ye will agree, Other than in the girl cave at 5am with the girls on their vodka/ wine adventure for an hour or so, Kellie has drank nothing but homebrew and craft brew for over two years that says a lot!

We provided a well planned day which was also quite organic..no real rules or plaND. WE PLANNED NO SPEACHES, N0 FORMAT, NO OFFICIAL BAND START, NO FORMAL ANYTHING, WE WANTED ORGANIC RELAXED FEEL.
I hope ye enjoyed my presentation the plan was to reflect on how beer met love and all that and our wedding in Weihenstephan was unrehearsed and surreal but real.

GERMAN THEME,
From the umpalumpa music to the sausage to the german beers ( Alt, Zoigl, Kolsh and pilsner) to our lederhosen, the scarecrow's attire to the pisseur and the german oak cask.. we done our best, hope ye enjoyed this aspect of it

Finally.............

We would love to hear your feedback to see how we can make the next event even better....Is this possibe? I'm not sure, but let us know

Once again....thanks, we wont forget august BH weekend 2014 any time soon.........hope ye wont either 

[Dunkel]

Sounds brill - sick me and the missus couldn't make it   

[DEMPSEY]

Well done to both Brendan and Kellie. You put alot of work and effort in to this weekend and the rain did not deter anything. Beers were also top notch

[Partridge9]

We were only there for the afternoon - but it was magic - loved the German Music !! and titanic effort you guys made - great beers

You praise your friends for their behavior - but perhaps you should look in the mirror - its your friends, and yourself and Kelly's example that led to that.

Fair play to you guys for having us all !

Now wheres that boot !

[johnrm]

I'm sorry that I missed it. Sounds like a great weekend was had by all.
Congratulations to the pair of ye!

[Dodge]

Brendan and Kellie,

Such a great couple to put up a fantastic party!!It could be seen from when myself and the family arrived what a great job yourselves and the various helpers did to make a dull day into a bright lively party. Great effort to all involved.

The 2 of you made us feel very comfortable and our kids had a great time. Thanks for the accommodation.  I was worried that I wouldn't get the time off to attend the celebrations.

Thanks to Paula for rallying around the kids with the plastic bags as rain coats and shower hats along with the numerous pairs of socks to keep their feet warm and dry.

From start to finish I had a great time with lots of great beer. After finishing the night shift that morning and only getting a couple of hours sleep till we left for yours, I'm surprised that I managed to stay up till 6:30 that morning (that's 2 hours sleep in 38 hours ). Goes to show what great company was there.

Food, Entertainment (both music and competitive sports!! by the way I don't want to see another cracker in my life!) and friends, that day wont be forgotten

Brendan, your are truly a master brewer and I'd take my hat off to you any day for what you have achieved.

Thanks Again to the both of you,

[brian_c]

Brendan and Kellie, thank you so much we had a wonderful time. Rain, what rain? From my perspective, a lot of people worked hard to make it all happen, food, bar staff etc. I'm sorry I don't know all the names to thank them individually.

You know how to throw one hell of a party! Even if I was one of the first to fall, going to bed at 4am!

[irish_goat]

Jesus lads, next thing you know you'll have the VHI protesting that you're putting them all out of business. 

Sounds like it would have been great craic anyway. Congrats again!

[brenmurph]

There wasnt one sore head among the beer drinkers. Must b all the vitamins and minerals in our fresh hop beers :-). As brianC says he was an early finisher ( if ye can call 4.30am early. We were around the campfires til 7.30 am most nearly all made it till 6am ish and all were up at 10am cheerfull enjoyin a great breakfast....id say vhi are on to a very good deal

[irish_goat]

Agh...I meant VFI(the vintners!).