National Homebrew Club Ireland

OK Belfast Homebrew Club......

What activities should we put on the calendar for 2016? (after hosting the first leg of the Nationals)

Reckon we need to

- increase our numbers : we could throw some incentives out there like brewery tours, various kit building sessions (stir plate, stc1000, kegs etc), brewdays etc

if we are going to be involved in regular competitions I'd add to that
- at least pushing ahead with your off flavour kit andy - we had 10 interested people at one point no?
- if anyone is interested, maybe getting some people through BJCP this year (could we even justify running something given our current numbers?)

Regular meets. Oh and a set agenda that will last past "introductions". Or maybe that should be a tradition that's continued.

Quote from: Roo on December 10, 2015, 03:14:15 PM
Regular meets. Oh and a set agenda that will last past "introductions". Or maybe that should be a tradition that's continued.

Soap Box time:

Don't get me wrong; I'm still in favour of the regular meets, and have had several people ask in recent weeks when the next one will be.
Problem is, the attendance was so piss-poor last few outings, I seriously questioned their desirability amongst the members and I, personally, would need to see a veritable deluge of interest before I'd consider organising another one.

I used to organise weekly 4-a-side football in work and used the following model, which evolved through time and bitter experience:
- The day before, get solid commitment from AT LEAST 8 players (and 1 or 2 reserves), before booking anything.
- If someone drops out on the day with a less than genuine reason:
   > If it's the first time - benefit of the doubt.
   > If it's not the first time - never f*****g ask them again.
Note: 'I was playing at the weekend and took a wee knock', 'I was out last night and am feeling a bit ropey', 'I'm totally wrecked', 'Shit; I forgot my stuff',  etc
all translated to these ears as 'I just can't be arsed now'

Extreme, facetious example, I know. However, it very quickly made folk consider what went on in the background before a ball was ever kicked, as they were deciding whether or not to pack their kit that morning :)
(come to think of it, just asking someone else to organise it one week had a similar effect)

I think our approach towards organising meets should be revisited. Maybe try some of the following:
- Less lead time for a meet. No one truly knows what they'll be doing in 6 weeks' time.
- Use the voting poll more as a measure of commitment as opposed to a measure of passing interest
- Get list of definites on the forum the day before. If the count of definites is under a minimum of, say, 5 then don't go ahead with it
or
- Have the meet set to a fixed time every month (e.g. every 1st Thursday) and get a list of definites the day before as above.

Maybe the turnout issues will be solved by Ciaran's first point above i.e. increase our numbers.
Maybe there's just a plain lack of interest in meets amongst the Belfast folk, which is fine also.
Maybe I'm just too old and whiney  :P

Thoughts?

-Barry

Come on, you're definitely too old and whiney but hey you're in good company :)

I'll start by saying I don't think it's fair for yourself and Chris to continuously be the ones to chair meetings and do all the heavy lifting around brew days etc.  I've never been to a brew day though, so I have to own up there (If I remember rightly I played the weekend before it and took a knock :P).  Seriously though regarding the meetings etc I suspect a few are like me and wary of stepping on toes or coming across like "taking control" of anything.  You guys are (and rightly so), the backbone of the club, but I'm sure if push came to shove there'd be others who would be happy to help there if there was a night you couldn't make it.  We need to keep the momentum going after the english ales comp as the nationals are rolling into belfast in 10 weeks time - scary :o ???

So feck it, i'll jump on the soapbox while I'm at it.

Quote from: Bazza on December 10, 2015, 05:02:51 PM
Maybe the turnout issues will be solved by Ciaran's first point above i.e. increase our numbers.

I think getting the numbers up is the most important thing. The more members we get the more likely we'd get enough critical mass who are free on the night of a meet up or a brew day.  The trouble is there's more than one home brewing club in belfast, but the other one doesn't seem to want to affiliate with the NHC and seems happy to stay off the forum thus far.  Maybe we should approach them - would it work if they absorbed us rather than scare them away by coming across like we're looking to steal their members away? Not sure but might be worth chatting about.

If there's nothing we could do there, then how we get numbers up for our own meets is speculative.  My feeling is if someone is going to give up an evening it has to me about more than sinking a few dodgy homebrews, you can do that with your mates in the comfort of your own home.  If you are meeting up with the club you're gonna want to leave there at the end of the night feeling like you've learned something.  It doesn't always have to be learning about something big like building a system or a a fermentation controller etc.  Something Evin O'Riordain from the kernel said, he started out in a homebrew club where you weren't allowed to say anything nice about someones beer.  Sometimes we need to be more critical in a constructive way - at least that way you'll leave with an idea of what to change for the next iteration.  If it's unconditional praise you want, ask your mum, she'll tell you it's lovely :) It's no use spending two hours blowing hot air up someones arse if their beer could be improved and they leave none the wiser.  It's a fine line as you want people to come back but from my own experience I've enjoyed learning about what causes astringency recently and am really looking forward to fixing this issue in my next brews.  Personally I'm happy to get constructive criticism.

Other ways we could try to attract people to the club is by arranging things like
- brewery tours
- set up a book library
- off flavour kit tasting nights (which we already have thanks to Andy)
- having some bcjp people in the club - would add weight to any critique of peoples beer
- a brew day where members brew a collaborative beer to be entered into the nationals
- a barrel project (maybe need more members first though)
- push the twitter/facebook/webpage hard
- have a fixed night for it e.g first thurs every month, same location, same time every month.  If it happens that the main chair person(s) can't make it on a particular night,  then some of the rest of us have to step up

Thoughts again?

Soooo..................to the wider audience. Those who do not yet attend, or those who haven't been for a while.......

What activities would attract you to attend a meet / bring you back?

I know a lot of you read the forum regularly, but we need your input...........or we'll all end up bitter n' twisted!

We are hosting the first leg of the Nationals soon........what a chance to take part and meet your fellow brewers. Learn the secrets of the dark arts!

As a club, we should take this opportunity and use the social media pull of the likes of Brewbot and Boundary to get ourselves noticed.

Execuse a 'But-in-skee' but about meetings:

If you leave the "when to have the next meeting" descisions to the last minute or worse stick up a poll then its too late. People have agendas and family committments.  So what to do?

Simples:
Pick a day of the month and state weeks in advance that this is our meeting day, every month its the same day. That way people know 4 weeks in advance that e.g. the 3rd Wedsday of the month is the Belfast HB meet!

It works for the North county ( and has done for the last 3 years)

You are excused Will. Many thanks for the butt- in....I do hope Santa brings you that special pint glass!

We have tried this, but without some commitments from the wider NI brewer community, we struggle to attract more than half a dozen. Brew days vary. A brew day in a brewery, with free beer!!!! Attracted three! So, of course the in-joke is, we couldn't organise a pi## up in a brewery!

We need to know what it is that the wider community want?

Is it a leadership issue? A content issue? A venue issue? Too many awful beers? What?

6 - 8 is actually the perfect size for a meet. When it goes bigger than that, you end up with beers passing you like ships in the night, wondering what it is and who made it.

Sorry, I'll stop the Northside invasion now :D

Will/Molc - any input and suggestions are always appreciated; thanks  :)

Like Andy says, we've tried the long notice thing and it just didn't work. We'd get maybe 6 or 7 people voting for a certain date 4 or 5 weeks ahead but when the day arrived, only 2 or 3 of these folk would turn up. I guarantee you I'd have gotten the same turnout if I'd just posted 'Meet. Spoons. Tomorrow. 8pm'

On more than one occasion when the wife was giving me a lift down to a meet her question 'Who all's going tonight, then?'
was met with 'well, apart from the usual X, Y and Z, not a f*****g clue'
which was countered with 'there's kids in the car; you're teaching them to curse'
'nothing worse than they hear in the playground every day'
'well if you want a family of potty-mouths then go ahead'
'left lane! left lane! Balls! Take a right up at the lights; we can swing back round'
'There you go again with the gutter language'
'I'll walk from here'
...

The point I was trying to make, whilst throwing the toys out of the pram, yesterday was that if there's not enough interest from the forum then fair enough; no point flogging a dead horse. There's plenty of us who can go ahead and do organise stuff outside of the forum.

But all I'll say is that I learned a hell of a lot at these meets. The first brewday I went to was a revelation and I changed my methods of brewing for the better as a result. So, I was, and still am, keen to continue the tradition so that other homebrewers can reap the benefits.

Ciaran; you've hit the nail on the head - if you want to use the forum for something, do it and don't be afraid of stepping on toes. It's everyone's forum to use as you like.

I also agree with you that sitting round being nice about someone's kack swill helps no one. One of the last meets I brought 2 beers that I knew were shite but needed some help in understanding why. Again; that's what these meets are for: friendly advice and help.

Yeah, Andy - a chance to have a brewday in an actual brewery. To me that's like getting a golden ticket to Willie Wonka's factory (the Gene Wilder one) - 3 of us turned up!! I couldn't look Matthew in the eye, I was that embarrassed. Andy was so disheartened he just put his Oompa Loompa suit back in the bag.

Barrel project, off-flavours, tours, brewday, etc, all great ideas and TBH, if there's no interest from the forum, I still want to do all of them anyway :)

Okay, maybe for starters we state the first Thursday of every month and take it from there.

Also, thoughts on venue. We still happy with Spoons? I have to admit I'm kinda half tempted to approach BrewBot...


-Barry

Quote from: molc on December 11, 2015, 09:21:07 AM
6 - 8 is actually the perfect size for a meet. When it goes bigger than that, you end up with beers passing you like ships in the night, wondering what it is and who made it.

In addition, even if you have about 8 people, I find the meets need a little bit of management to ensure beers get opened in a sensible order (light to dark, low ABV to high ABV etc.) I hate to sound like a "meet nazi", but I think people get more out of the meets when they're managed like this. People just turning up and opening their beers before passing them around doesn't work. This is even more important when you have large numbers.

I've been a member for nearly a year now and it was the overall activity and enthusiasm of the forum that attracted me to the National Homebrew Club. As far as the Belfast Homebrewers go I would've liked more opportunity to cover the fundamentals of brewing like yeast and water at the meets. I like giving/receiving feedback on our own brews but this should be a filler during a more informative discussion. I think these predetermined topics would attract new brewers who want to take their experience from extract and a bucket to the next level as well as those just wanting to fine-tune their process. Supplementing this with brewdays or brewery tours would add even more value to the club.

Haha Barry!

Sorry for the lack of input on this but 100% agree on starting with a regular date and see what happens. Up for spoons but Brewbot is a good shout - they're really keen to stay involved after our comp.

Ciaran - definitely don't worry about stepping on toes. It's always been a collaborative effort and no one's precious about roles.

Would be good to get involved with HOH - I'm sure both clubs could mutually benefit.

I have to agree with Bazza about how you learn from these meets. I live at the edge of the world and try to get up to as many as possible at times these are less frequent than what I want. Anyone who hasn't been don't be afraid. I still know F all about brewing and I've been doing it a few years. No one is a pro....well Quiet Man has pulled a few clinkers out to be fair.

I also agree that too much is asked of the main players in the club. I hate the responsibility of organising shit but know how much of a pain in the arse it is.

I'm happy to stick with a date like 3rd Thursday in the month then spend the weeks before looking to nail down a specific topic.

As an as side how about touring the greater Belfast area on occasion....say for example Ballymena lol

I'm relatively new, I've posted a few times on the different forums on here but haven't made it to a meet of any description. I'm sure I've met a couple of you at "meet the brewer" or "tap takeover" events or whatever. I work shifts so can't be certain that the 2nd Tuesday or whatever of every month will suit, I've bugger all knowledge really to bring to the party, but I'd like to meet some like minded people from time to time. I've favourite-ed this sub forum on tappytalk so I'll be able to keep an eye on the meets etc. hope to meet some of you soon!!!

Plenty for us to think about over the holiday season.........we should bump this thread occasionally and see if we can pick up a bit more input........

The focus in January / February, has to be on delivering the Belfast leg of the Nationals and I would encourage others to put their names forward and volunteer to help out.

An easy one of the list, and one we have talked about for a while, is the book list / library.

What is the best way to host this? Just a list on the forum, or is there a simple / accessible / and easily updatable way it can be hosted up in the clouds? Over to you guys who know these sort of modern technology things..........

Right, firstly a happy new year to all of you and secondly an apology for my piss poor attendance last year - I am going to seriously be better at attending meets and posting on the forum.

As for 2016, I have already finished my first brew - a Belgian Witbier, I will have to bring long a couple bottles for the first/second meet.
I would also be keen for some build days as I want to start upgrading my equipment.

Anyways, looking forward to see some of you old hands as well as some of the new folk in the club.

Cheers
Andy

Good to hear from you BrewBilly!..........and great that you are still brewing.

Hoping to get more organised this year with brew days / build days as well as meets.

Belfast is hosting the first leg of the 2016 Nationals on Feb 20 at Brewbot on the Ormeau Road.

Kellie has a call out on the Competitions page for Volunteer Stewards - if you are interested? If not, it would still be great to see you there and a great chance to meet with the wider NHC Community.

Andy_B

Happy New Year! I'm definitely going to make an effort to make it along to the meets this year! Already put myself down to steward the Belfast leg of the Nationals and got a couple of entries to put in and a few brews planned.

Quiet_man you mentioned about a lending library. I can set up a spreadsheet on Google Docs or something to share with the group. I also have a stack of brewing eBooks i'm happy to share a list of.

I'll see you at the nationals then robotmonkey! I'm definitely committed to the meets as well! Are we having one first Thursday of February then? I have most of the gear to build my kegerator so that my first goal for 2016. I have a session IPA due on Saturday and will probably bottle condition so will bring a few along with some judging score sheets to our next meet for the craic!

Anyone brewing anything for the Nationals?

Quote from: banjobrew on January 11, 2016, 09:30:20 PM
Anyone brewing anything for the Nationals?

Don't know.

I'm currently experimenting with fermentation under pressure so the only brew I've done since October is a 17L mish-mash of stuff which has been sealed in a corny at 15 PSI since last Wednesday, so I can't see it, smell it or taste it to see if it's any good or not.

The rest of my stocks got seriously hit over Christmas. Kegs are currently running on vapours.

Also, still not quite got to grips with bottling from kegs using the beer gun. I bottled a variety of brews from the kegs a few months ago and, while some stayed good in the bottle, a number went a little stale pretty quickly, while they're still fine in the keg. Wouldn't be happy to get a load of scoresheets back with the word 'oxidised' plastered all over them.

Anyone else got any prize-winning entries lined up?

Cheers,

-Barry

Got a Black IPA carbing at the moment and got a roggenbier, weizenbock and American wheat beer to be bottled next week (hoping they'll be ready in time). Also, might put a mead in.

Quote from: banjobrew on January 11, 2016, 09:30:20 PM
Anyone brewing anything for the Nationals?

Have a cali common and a flanders red. Had an APA but it's definitely too old now. Also have a hefeweizen brewed with my bro-in-law on christmas eve so not sure which of us will be entering it.

Quote from: Bazza on January 12, 2016, 08:23:19 AM
I'm currently experimenting with fermentation under pressure

Interesting! Had never heard of this until now - what are you brewing?

If his spunding valve (viz.) sticks its called a bomb!

Steady on Will_D..............we don't do that stuff anymore up here!

"Anyone brewing anything for the Nationals?"

.........but, of course! Couple of recent brews, two new ones, and one experiment (which could go either way?).

Sorry for the secrecy...........but Will_D reads these pages!

Quote from: Quiet_Man on January 12, 2016, 11:47:15 PM
Sorry for the secrecy...........but Will_D reads these pages!

I'll be happy if I just have something good enough to enter!

Quote from: sub82 on January 12, 2016, 08:41:59 PM

Quote from: Bazza on January 12, 2016, 08:23:19 AM
I'm currently experimenting with fermentation under pressure

Interesting! Had never heard of this until now - what are you brewing?

Just a regular pale with leftover chinook, cascade, galaxy and Wilamette hops, munich & pale malts and US-05.
Only brewing to 17L to avoid blowoff in the corny.

After cooling and pitching, I removed the gas post and attached a blowoff tube in its place for the first 2-3 days, then reattached the gas post, fired in a shot of CO2 at 30 psi to seal the lid, then attached a newly-acquired spunding valve to the gas post with a view to keeping it at around 15 PSI for the remainder of fermentation. She's been holding steady at 15 PSI since Sunday, without me having to open the spunding valve. I'll carefully monitor for any rise in pressure between now and next Sunday (when I plan to cold crash), so you're still safe to enter the big bad North, Will  :P

Plan is this day week to transfer, using CO2, from the fermenting corny to a sanitised serving corny, via a pipe joining the liquid out posts of the cornys.

Advantages of this system are supposed to be that there's minimal exposure to O2 between pitching yeast and serving the first pint, the whole wort to glass process is quicker and you, in theory, have naturally carbonated beer right away due to CO2 produced by the fermentation, so no need to prime or force carbonate.
Disadvantages are, you have to brew smaller batches, you can't see what's going on inside a closed corny during fermentation and, since I haven't shortened the dip tube in my fermentation corny, there's a risk of clogging the posts with trub when racking to the serving corny.

Could be a winner or a complete waste of time (and money on a spunding valve); have to wait and see.

Either way, it helps me through the bleak, hopeless tedium that is January....so dark.....
...and now over to Doc, who's got a humorous photo of a carrot that resembles a penis.


Cheers,

-Esther

Just thinking laterally here, could you put some kind of filter on the end of your dip tube, along the lines of a tea bag that lets the liquid goodness through but stops most of the solids?

Quick update. Fermenting in cornies works!

Write-up to follow.

-Barry

Belfast leg of the Nationals 2016 - Done.

Back to our local calendar guys.

When is the next meet? Are we thinking of changing the venue to Brewbot?

Anyone heading to Dublin on the 5th?

Brewcon?

I know we probably talked about this last night, but head is a bit fuzzy this morning!

Hah. Know what you mean about the fuzzy head, Andy.

Well, it's official: Brewbot is our new meet venue. Had a chat with Stephen last night.  Only thing is we'll have to change the night to a Wednesday as it suits them best. But sure that won't interfere with any of our Champoins League plans  :(

March 5th - can't do.

Brew con - we did have the chat and looks like there's a few of us keen to go.

Next meet - early March?

-Barry

Sweet, if it's on a Wednesday night I might actually be able to make it to a few meets  :)

March 5th - still don't know whether to go down or to go to the Boundary Tap Takeover

Brew Con, I'll be heading down but most likely getting the late bus back up to Belfast

Currently any Wednesday is good for me in March expect 23rd.

Dublin leg I can't go to.

Any night suits me for meets usually.

As far as Brewcon goes, I'm not sure. I might go and take a bus back like robomonk.

Next venture for me is to use these Slovenian hops and try out my keg now that I've the CO2 sorted.

Brewbot suits me for any wednesday in march at this point unless work messes that up for me.

Have registered for Brewcon, hoping to be able to go this year. Day return on the train and few beers after?

Sounds good to me!

Yeah seriously thinking about BrewCon. Train or bus down and back would be good!

Re Brewcon, I deffo could sell the back home same night thing better so looks like there's a good few of us of similar thought.

Did not know you had to register already so have I missed the boat?

-Barry

Don't think you need to register. Think that's only for updates but the tickets for members go on sale today I think?

Tickets on sale probably end of this week exclusively to members first one week before general sale
This one is gonna be good and like the Nationals we expect a sellout.

Yep. I'm in.

Well that's my ticket for BrewCon booked

Booked as well :)

-Barry

Ticket sorted :)

Sounds like time to start a list......

Belfast Homebrewers Grand Day Out @ Brewcon 2016

1· Bazza
2· Robotmonkey
3· Ciaran
4· Quiet_Man

What's the plans? this one I might make.

Quote from: Roo on February 23, 2016, 11:02:40 PM
What's the plans? this one I might make.

Talking possibly of early train down and back same day. Enterprise day web ticket type thing. Toilets on trains being a plus.

You in?

- Barry

It's certainly do able. Getting to Belfast for the early train might cause an issue with the countryside not waking til after 8am. Tried to source tickets and signed up for email notifications but nothing yet. Thought yesterday was pre sale.

1· Bazza
2· Robotmonkey
3· Ciaran
4· Quiet_Man
5. Banjobrew

Quote from: Roo on February 24, 2016, 03:36:28 PM
It's certainly do able. Getting to Belfast for the early train might cause an issue with the countryside not waking til after 8am. Tried to source tickets and signed up for email notifications but nothing yet. Thought yesterday was pre sale.

Roo did you get sorted?

Not yet. No mail

Please PM those mentioned in conf thread straight away

Got the email today thanks.

Plans for 2016 sorted 

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15190.0/topicseen.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15190.0/topicseen.html)

1. Bazza
2· Robotmonkey
3· Ciaran
4· Quiet_Man
5. Banjobrew
6. sub82

Gonna be class!

Yup, the office colour laser printer has been busy today!

Quote from: Ciaran on February 25, 2016, 09:44:26 PM
Plans for 2016 sorted 

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15190.0/topicseen.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15190.0/topicseen.html)

Quote from: sub82 on February 25, 2016, 10:52:32 PM
1. Bazza
2· Robotmonkey
3· Ciaran
4· Quiet_Man
5. Banjobrew
6. sub82
7. Roo.....whoop whoop
Gonna be class!

That's me onboard, just got my ticket :)

1. Bazza
2· Robotmonkey
3· Ciaran
4· Quiet_Man
5. Banjobrew
6. sub82
7. Roo.....whoop whoop
8.ShaunG89

Quote from: Ciaran on February 25, 2016, 09:44:26 PM
Plans for 2016 sorted 

http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15190.0/topicseen.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,15190.0/topicseen.html)

Ingredients picked up from geterbrewed today.......Dead Pony coming up first!

Think i'll give the lizard bride a bash some stage this year.   Tried it in edinburugh and it was awesome.

Quote from: ShaunG89 on March 01, 2016, 09:25:56 AM
That's me onboard, just got my ticket :)

1. Bazza
2· Robotmonkey
3· Ciaran
4· Quiet_Man
5. Banjobrew
6. sub82
7. Roo.....whoop whoop
8.ShaunG89

We all planning on taking the early choo choo?

I'll hard boil some eggs the night before so we can have a picnic. Who prefers cress and who prefers onion in their egg sarnies? Salad cream or mayo?

-Barry

That's the plan. Tickets don't go on sale through the website until 27th March (I think).

Egg n Onion for me Bazza! Crusts on!

Will be a Grand Day Out......................

Beer, cheese and egg? That carriage home will be rather.....pungent lol

Egg, light mayo, a bit of chopped back bacon and some wholemeal bread cut into triangles for me please.....if it's not too much bother. Grease proof paper rather than tin foil or cling will keep them nice and fresh. Throw in a packet of pickled onion thanks. Yer a good man Bazza

Slow down lads. Don't all talk at once. Let me get a pencil and paper...

Just so you know I have a medical condition whereby I can only write in French.
Tragically, I have a further medical condition whereby I find it impossible to understand written French.
Not looking good for the egg sandwich orders.

Also, I need to spend the next 6 or so weeks in intense therapy, conditioning my brain to the concept that this is NOT a stag do we're going on, and to leave the Tequila at home.


-Barry

awwwww *puts the lemon and salt away*

Lads fair feics to yez for making the effort and you won't be disappointed.
I'm sorry though with sterling crashing you won't be able to get as many Mexican Dollars   for Coke and Hookers but probably twice as many as after Brexit.

Hi guys,

Train tickets on sale now on translink website.

A few of us have booked the 6.45am (ouch!) from Belfast Central and the 8.50pm from Dublin Connolly. £12 something day return Web fare. Can't beat that.

Cheers,

- Barry

Fair fekks to the railway people - I couldn't even drive from Malahide into Dub, park for ONLY 3 hours and then drive home!

Quote from: Bazza on April 02, 2016, 02:33:45 PM
Train tickets on sale now on translink website.

Thanks Bazza....just purchased mine.

Cheers bazza that's me booked on. Can't wait for it now, should be a great day!

Quote from: Bazza on April 02, 2016, 02:33:45 PM
Hi guys,

Train tickets on sale now on translink website.

A few of us have booked the 6.45am (ouch!) from Belfast Central and the 8.50pm from Dublin Connolly. £12 something day return Web fare. Can't beat that.

Cheers,

- Barry

Keep an eye out for some Wee County Brewers hopping onboard in Dundalk and Drogheda. A giant carpool is called for!

[/quote]
Keep an eye out for some Wee County Brewers hopping onboard in Dundalk and Drogheda. A giant carpool is called for!
[/quote]

Think we will be easy to spot. Barry will be the one sporting the exotic underwear neckng Tequilla. The rest of us will be proudly sporting our new Belfast Homebrewers Grand Day Out Polo Shirts thanks to Gareth.

9 sleeps!!!

Quote from: Quiet_Man on April 14, 2016, 08:38:11 PM

Barry will be the one sporting the exotic underwear neckng Tequilla.

Be careful what you wish for, Andy  :P

Here, we deffo bringing the banner with us? If so I may need to rethink how to pack it, as it's currently in a long cylindrical cardboard tube. Otherwise, Helmet and co, just look out for Max Boyce and 6 blokes in green shirts :

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86457308/84999058.jpg)

-Barry

You'll fit right in there will be loads of girls wandering around Temple Bar on Saturday night with inflatable mickeys.

CH, If that's your idea of what a mickey should look like I'd seek immediate medical help  :P

-Barry

Have you never seen a "Welsh tickler" before? Loads on here have them 

Listen Boyo!

Quote from: Will_D on April 15, 2016, 08:25:18 PM
Listen Boyo!

....sayeth  the Welsh Tickler  :P

The Welsh taught the French all they know about ticklers!

Baaaa!!

Quote from: Bazza on April 15, 2016, 09:53:16 AM
Here, we deffo bringing the banner with us? If so I may need to rethink how to pack it, as it's currently in a long cylindrical cardboard tube. Otherwise, Helmet and co, just look out for Max Boyce and 6 blokes in green shirts

Could always open it up and wear it like a cape?

So is the banner coming or not? In the interests of weight alowance it's the banner or the tequila.

- Barry

Banner has to come all the other banners will be there and hung beside each other ;)

Sound.

Only dilemma now is what shoes go best with it.

-Barry

The ones you had at the Belfast leg of the nationals were alright and will complement your polos

(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160416/d6dfd31208c3bf0cf0ad1d37f2a63a06.jpg)

As per usual there's a dilemma in my agenda. So Friday night I'm working the craft ale thinymabob at Titanic finishing at midnight. The brother lives on the upper upper Lisburn road as is putting me up Friday night. The 8:50pm train from Dublin makes it impossible to connect to Ballymena and to be fair I need to be home Sat night. So I'd have to take the car Friday night and not drink Saturday.

However if I take the 6:50pm train from Dublin not only will I be able to connect on to Ballymena but I'll also be able to consume a few bevvies....And I'm "quare craic when I'm half cut". (Sic Bazza).

Will I be lonely pint on the train home at that time or will one of my comrades fall on the sword?