Club Profile: Galway Home Brewers Club
Representatives:
Enda Cleary (St. Fursey)
Kevin Connell (Kevco5)
Number of brewers: Approx. 15-20
Calendar: We usually meet the last Friday of each month in the Oslo Gastro Bar and Microbrewery, located in Galway’s seaside resort of Salthill.
Our meets are published to the NHC Calendar and the Galway homebrewers sub-forum as well as announcements on Twitter and Facebook.
About the Galway Home Brewers Club
Galway Home Brewers club was formed by when Galway native Enda Cleary set out to find local likeminded people who share his passion for good home brew.
Our first meeting was held in local homebrew store, Homebrew West in December 2011, where 6-8 people gathered with no beer! Looking back I think we all drove to that meeting so there wasn’t much sampling of the Finlandia kit which Brian had brewed in the store! If anything it showed that there were locals out there home brewing and wanted to get more socially involved.
After a dry-spell of meets that lasted nearly six months which nearly condemned the club, a reprieve of a new venue was offered by local makerspace 091Labs who were based in Eyre Square at the time, the promise of a few pints afterwards was a clear hint to leave the car at home! A turnout of about ten brewers who all thought to bring their brews for a good tasting session combined with the offer of hosting further meets by 091Labs ensured the survival of the club.
Currently our meetings are held in the Oslo Gastro bar home of the Galway Bay Microbrewery where we have been blessed by the odd brewery tour and a nice beer garden which played host to the clubs inaugural brew day last May. Locally brewed goes hand in hand with home brew at these meets and the offerings from the Galway Bay brewery are not to be missed!
The staff at the Oslo also have to be commended for looking after us during our meets providing sampling glasses for our brews, water to cleanse our palettes and finger food to keep our energy levels peaked!
Currently we regularly get about ten members to our tasting sessions with a total size of up to 20 members. Recent projects include the National Homebrew Club Barrel Project with ten local members involved and a brew day demonstration given by club members Tom (Hop bomb) and Enda (St. Fursey).
New members are always welcome and it certainly isn’t a requirement to bring brews to our meets but it helps! Feedback is offered on all brews and all questions, queries or troubleshooting will be serviced as best as possible!
The Venue
The Oslo Gastro Bar and Microbrewery derives its name from the buildings origins when it was known as The Oslo Hotel. Famous for its dancehall during the 1960’s it was the Galway’s most popular dance spot. Undergoing many changes of name over the years Asylum/Legends/Bogarts to name but a few. These days a large beer hall fills the rear of the premises. Recent renovations and expansions mean that the legendary dance hall plays host to a different form of dancing that takes place exclusively inside the huge stainless steel fermentation chambers of the Galway Bay Brewery as yeast gets busy during the brewing process!
