When you’ve got a large group of beer bloggers from across Europe in one room, all drinking beer and talking about the blogosphere for an entire weekend, it’s no surprise that some of that activity makes its way online.
This was the case at the European Beer Bloggers Conference 2014 which took place in Dublin at the end of June.
EUROPEAN BEER BLOGGERS CONFERENCE
Whether it was during any of the conference sessions, on the organised tour or at one of the many parties hosted by the Church venue, participants were microblogging all weekend, letting their followers know in 140 characters or less how the conference was going.
Here are ten great tweets that demonstrate how it all went down:
TWEET 1: THE ‘DUTCH ARE COMING’ TWEET
On our way to Dublin. #ebbc14 here we come! #ebbc pic.twitter.com/x9Oi6bEaTt
— Hayo en Arnoud (@bestetotnutoe) June 26, 2014
This was a European conference. While the majority of bloggers in attendance came from the UK and Ireland, there were participants who had come from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. There were even some who had travelled from America and Australia.
Arnoud and Hayo, two beer bloggers from near Utrecht, were making their fourth appearance at the conference, having previously travelled to London, Leeds, Edinburgh and now Dublin.
The conference being to Dublin was important for the Irish brewing industry. This was a chance for beer writers from across Europe to learn about the rapid growth of the beer scene in Ireland and to meet some of the people leading that movement.
Rumours on the final day of the European Beer Bloggers Conference suggest that the roadshow will continue to move with bloggers suggesting Brussels in 2015. Discussion will no doubt continue over the next few months.
TWEET 2: THE ‘BREAKFAST BEER’ TWEET
Chocolate Bock for breakfast, and an idiot. @totalcurtis pic.twitter.com/xppAYKRJoB
— Christopher_R (@Christopher_R) June 28, 2014
There was a lot of beer. That’s a given.
The chocolate bock in question in this tweet was served at 10am on the second morning of the conference during the session with Dean McGuinness of Premier International Beers.
At 7.5.% ABV Marc’s Chocolate Bock from Maisel and Friends, was a nutritious way to start the day.
TWEET 3: THE ‘BEER IRELAND CREW’ TWEET
Beer Ireland crew after a successful afternoon at the #ebbc14 pic.twitter.com/thR0o3NfAA
— Beer Ireland (@Beer_Ireland) June 28, 2014
One of the things about hosting the conference in Dublin was that many of Ireland’s new breweries could get involved. Not only did we have the opportunity to taste wide selections of new beer, but we could meet and talk with the one or two person teams from these new breweries.
Take for example the story of Cathal O’Donoghue and Emma Devlin from Rascal’s Brewing Company. They went on a holiday to Ghent in Belgium last year, tasted some Trappist beers and a St. Bernardus Wit and went home full of inspiration to brew their Ginger Porter (4.8% ABV) and the Wit Woo (4% ABV), a Belgian inspired wheat beer. They entered the beers into two different home brewing competitions. Both won. They got some help to buy an old brewery from Galway and commercial brewing has just started.
The Belgian influence doesn’t stop there. Black Donkey Brewing poured their interpretation of a Belgian Saison in the 5.5% ABV Sheep Stealer. The beer was unleashed for the first time to the public at the conference and the husband and wife team of Richard Siberry and Michaela Dillon were on hand to explain how they had moved back home after 20 years in New York City.
Sam Black from Blacks of Kindle was there too, the brewery who worked with the Irish beer consumer group to produce a crowdfunded Double IPA called Beoir #1.
We heard from N17 run by Sarah Roarty who focuses on “squeezing every last drop out of the brewing process” and Mark Nixon of Trouble Brewing about issues with the naming of your brewery.
TWEET 4: THE ‘#VINEDIARIES’ TWEET
Day 2 #thevinediaries https://t.co/fisXeXjzvl
— Matthew Curtis (@totalcurtis) June 27, 2014
Kudos goes to any blogger who can do something a little bit different.
Hats off then to Matthew Curtis of Total Ales who embarked on a Vine experiment throughout the duration of the conference. Vine is a mobile app owned by Twitter which enabled Matthew to create 6 second looping video clips and share them to other online social media services.
Sometimes on his own, and often with the help of his pawky gang of (self-titled) #craftwankers (Mark Dredge of Pencil and Spoon; Chris Hall of The Beer Diary; Chris Routledge of The Ormskirk Baron; and Craig Heap of Craig Heap), Matthew both confused and intrigued with his 6 second video clips capturing random moments of the conference weekend.
Matthew’s Vine experiment saw completion in a 12 minute film which links all his vines together and tells the story of the conference weekend. Warning: parts are quite disturbing.
TWEET 5: THE ‘GUINNESS’ TWEET
Unprecedented tour of @GuinnessIreland brewery with @beerbloggers #EBBC14 pic.twitter.com/tlaArfQBYm
— irishbeersnob (@irishbeersnob) June 27, 2014
What’s the first beer that comes to mind when you think of drinking in Ireland? As part of the conference we were taken on a visit to the Guinness brewery, Dublin’s biggest tourist attraction. We were introduced to the newly constructed brewhouse – Brewhouse #4.
They plan to show off this new brewhouse publically in September of 2014 – probably to select groups with whom they work.
TWEET 6: THE ‘SELFIES’ TWEET
More and more #EBBC14 selfies! pic.twitter.com/JH2jVIYVrK
— Joan Birraire (@birraire) June 28, 2014
One of the best parts of the European Beer Bloggers Conference was the chance to see past the twitter handles and blog rolls.
Photographing themselves while sharing some Franciscan Well – the brewery that hosted a beer and foodpairing dinner on the second evening (with special words from head brewer, Shane Long) – are Brian Yaeger of Red, White and Brew, the Catalan beer bull, Joan Villar-i-Martí of Barcelona based blog Birraire, and one of the two real Belgians in attendance, Krishan Maudgal.
TWEET 7: THE ‘VACLAV’ TWEET
#rockstar status – @VaclavBerka taps the cask at chilled party to close a top Dublin #EBBC14 day. Thanks @Pilsner_UK pic.twitter.com/FuT39JWibY
— Susanna Forbes (@DrinkBritain) June 28, 2014
This wasn’t the only tweet about Vaclav Berka. And it wasn’t the only time during the course of the weekend that he tapped open one of his casks.
Only the sixth man in Pilsner Urquell’s history to hold the title of head brewer, Vaclav can often take on superstar status at these conferences.
TWEET 8: THE ‘VIDEO’ TWEET
Video blogging shopping list:
– camera for high quality video
– surgery to have face for video
– voice coach to sound like sexual chocolate— Chris Hall (@ChrisHallBeer) June 28, 2014
Enhancing posts with media is the new thing and there were sessions about how video can enrich your content.
As this tweet demonstrates, it is also a challenge, given how nerve-racking speaking to camera can be and considering not many have this technical expertise. Mhairi McLeod of the Lux Agency explained the importance of using video in attracting interest from various brands in the beer industry and Tomasz Kopyra of Browar Kopyra told us his story about how he generated 29,000 YouTube subscribers.
TWEET 9: THE ‘O’HARA’S PARTY’ TWEET
Thank you @OHarasBeers for a great finale to this year’s #EBBC14 https://t.co/gP8kODs5VZ
— Beer Now Conference (@beerbloggers) June 29, 2014
Carlow Brewing Company threw a party for us on the final night of the European Beer Bloggers Conference. This involved tasting beers including their barrel-aged brew and their flagship O’Hara’s Irish stout, chats with the brewers and live Irish traditional music (the evening even finished with ‘The Parting Glass’).
Even though it only started up in 1996, Carlow Brewing Company are one of the pioneers of the Irish beer scene.
TWEET 10: THE ‘PERKS’ TWEET
All the things from #EBBC14. Fantastic conference, thanks to all! Met some lovely people and learned a lot. 👍👍👍 pic.twitter.com/pmxLka36ij
— Dorothy (@DubBeerGirl) June 29, 2014
Doerthe Woltermann who is the Vice President of the Dublin Ladies Craft Beer Society and author of Craft Beer of the Week for the Lovin’ Dublin website listed out all her goodies.
NEXT YEAR’S TWEETS: #EBBC15
Is it too early to start tweeting about #EBBC15? pic.twitter.com/SNIb38rmhP
— Belgian Smaak (@belgiansmaak) June 30, 2014
DISCLAIMER: I availed of a discount in purchasing my tickets for the European Beer Bloggers Conference by agreeing to write about EBBC on this blog. Participants are free to write about whatever aspects of the conference they choose and to be openly critical if they so wish.