Brewing beer for a wedding - questions?

[Garry]

My sister-in-law is getting married this time next year and she asked if it would be possible for me to brew some beer for the reception (before the guests sit down for the meal).

I'm sure someone on here must have done this before. I'm wondering what is the hotel's policy on giving out homebrew (or does it depend on the hotel).

Would it be easier for the hotel to serve from bottles or cornys?

Any advice appreciated 

[irish_goat]

You'll need to get sister-in-law to check with the hotel, normally they don't allow anything that will damage their bar takings.

My brother got married in August there and the hotel said that it would cost €1 corkage per bottle or we could give out small bottles for free (by small they meant <200ml). Obviously sourcing 200ml bottles is near impossible and I didn't fancy bottling that many for such a small amount of beer. On top of that the idea kind of fell through because half her side barely drink and I didn't want a load of my beer going to waste (being brutally honest). Initially I had planned to have a table beside the wedding cake and allow people to grab a bottle after the cake was cut but the hotel didn't like this idea either. The reality of it was that the wedding organiser at the hotel was being very difficult to deal with (not just with regards to the beer) and it never really got off the ground. If it was my wedding I would have kicked up more of a fuss but I couldn't really in this case. I have heard of other people who've been able to bring in homebrew as part of the toast.

Incidentally they allowed us to bring in craft beer and only charged €1 corkage so at least we had decent beer to drink all night. (plus it worked out far cheaper than the hotel drink)

[Shane Phelan]

Talk to Dr. Jacoby. He is brewing for a wedding at the moment.

[sub82]

+1 for checking with the hotel.

We got a keg with a beer engine for our wedding and the hotel worked out a corkage price for the full keg. I think it was based on how much they would be expecting to make if the guests were drinking the hotel's beer plus the amount of time a member of staff would be serving it.

[Garry]

Thanks lads. I wasn't sure if there were legal hurdles or not.

It looks like it's up to how cooperative the hotel are so.

[donnchadhc]

For my wedding I brewed a batch, the wedding planner was cool with the idea. However it was vetoed by the bar manager on H&S grounds. I thought this was idiotic, but when I talked to him he explained that the hotel has to keep a sample of everything served (like the cake and the courses etc) for a period of time (a week I think or something) and tested. As my beer was not produced by a commercial enterprise it would fall under this. I thought it was fair enough.

[DEMPSEY]

For my wedding I brewed a batch, the wedding planner was cool with the idea. However it was vetoed by the bar manager on H&S grounds. I thought this was idiotic, but when I talked to him he explained that the hotel has to keep a sample of everything served (like the cake and the courses etc) for a period of time (a week I think or something) and tested. As my beer was not produced by a commercial enterprise it would fall under this. I thought it was fair enough.

Jeez they must have had a few lawsuits in the past and so are protecting themselves against a claim of food poisoning. I personally think we need a leash on this H&S madness. It is destroying so much can do.

[Padraic]

For my wedding I brewed a batch, the wedding planner was cool with the idea. However it was vetoed by the bar manager on H&S grounds. I thought this was idiotic, but when I talked to him he explained that the hotel has to keep a sample of everything served (like the cake and the courses etc) for a period of time (a week I think or something) and tested. As my beer was not produced by a commercial enterprise it would fall under this. I thought it was fair enough.

Jeez they must have had a few lawsuits in the past and so are protecting themselves against a claim of food poisoning. I personally think we need a leash on this H&S madness. It is destroying so much can do.

Sounds like a line to me!

[Dr Jacoby]

I brewed beer for my own wedding a couple of years ago and I'm currently brewing beer for a friend's wedding in December. My reception was held in Finnstown House in Lucan and they allowed me to give one 330ml bottle to each guest as a favour at the dinner tables. They wouldn't allow any kegs. For my friend's wedding in Middleton Park House near Kilbeggan there will be two types of beer on the menu served in 330ml bottles. I'm brewing more than is needed to make sure anyone who wants more than one bottle can keep going. Neither venue was too concerned about giving out beer as a gift, but there was no way they would allow it to be served all night. 

[donnchadhc]

For my wedding I brewed a batch, the wedding planner was cool with the idea. However it was vetoed by the bar manager on H&S grounds. I thought this was idiotic, but when I talked to him he explained that the hotel has to keep a sample of everything served (like the cake and the courses etc) for a period of time (a week I think or something) and tested. As my beer was not produced by a commercial enterprise it would fall under this. I thought it was fair enough.

Jeez they must have had a few lawsuits in the past and so are protecting themselves against a claim of food poisoning. I personally think we need a leash on this H&S madness. It is destroying so much can do.

Sounds like a line to me!

It wasn't, there was no corkage for our wine.

Don't be so cynical ;-)

[Padraic]

It wasn't, there was no corkage for our wine.

Don't be so cynical ;-)

Me cynical, never!

No corkage means they found a sneakier way to screw ya :-P

I'm at my most cynical when it comes to weddings!

[Tom]

Ha, no issues you want to get off your chest re weddings, then, Padraic?

I did beer at a wedding. Some 500ml bottles, nearly enough for one each at the toast. The hotel were fine, with no corkage.

Incidentally, I did offer a 'champagne' beer, Brut de Falcon or something, but the hotel would've charged corkage on that because it's a champagne. I guess they refer more to method Champagnoise than region or ingredients. Or maybe they just dislike the French. Either way I was relieved to not have to produce it.

My note of caution is DON'T leave it too late. I made the first batch in plenty of time, which got infected from a borrowed bucket, the second batch got acetic in that hot weather. The third batch was ruined because I reused the yeastcake from the second before realising the error, and the fourth was only any good after a solid week of praying. I'm not saying you'll mess up as chronically as I did, but you never know what will happen when it comes to a deadline.

Sorry for waffling.

[mr hoppy]

I'm at my most cynical when it comes to weddings!

You're dead right too.

[St. Fursey]

I brewed beer for my wedding last year. The hotel was cool with it. I left a bottle at each setting as a wedding favor. The hotel even suggested serving beer on tap at the reception but I didn't bother as managing taps, gas, kegs and cooling was too much like work. As long as you're not planning on serving your own beer all night it shouldn't be a problem but in the end its very much down to the hotel

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

[Will_D]

Why not hold your reception at the GBS - great outdoors and theyt are cool about homebrew!!