A group from the Irish Guild of Sommeliers visited the White Hag Brewery, Ballymote, Co. Sligo on 12th April. Thanks to Amy O’ Callaghan and Do the Brewer for giving the group a most informative tour of the brewery and an excellent tasting of a diverse range of craft beers. https://thewhitehag.com/
A presentation was made to Amy O’ Callaghan by Oliver J. Murtagh, President Irish Guild of Sommeliers on behalf of the visiting group.
The White Hag Irish Brewing Company is an award winning craft brewery from Sligo, Ireland. A young Irish team and a master brewer from Ohio, US, exploded on the Irish brewing scene in 2014 with a huge range of unique beers. Over the past 4 years they have grown to have their beer available in good pubs, beer shops and hospitality across Ireland, the UK, Northern Ireland, France, Russia, Germany and Italy.
The White Hag has been voted Best New Irish Brewery 2015, Beoir Best Irish Brewery 2017 and best Irish beer 2017 by Global ratings platform RateBeer.com. Since commencing brewing in June ’14, they have had beers in the top 3 individual Irish beers of the year for 2015, 16 & 17.
So, whats with the name?
The White Hag is a mythical character and entity, who is essentially Mother Nature. The area of the north west and indeed Ireland is steeped in mythology and lore, with most place names and landscape features linked to characters and happenings from ancient times. The mythology of our area represents Ireland and Irishness like no other aspect of our culture, and we see it as a credible way to present our brand of brewing and beers. The main reason for our exact location of the brewery in Sligo is the water from Lough Talt, which is just the right PH balance for making great beers. The lake itself is fed by streams from the 600 million year old Ox mountains.
HAGSTRAVAGANZA at The White Hag Brewery
Since we started the brewery in 2014, we have met some brilliant characters and brewery crews across world. It struck us that when two or more breweries get together the atmosphere turns into a collaborative, collective aspiration to work together in pursuit of endless possibilities.
We also noticed that the best events are run by breweries hosting other breweries, and we’ve wanted to create that type of event since we’ve started out. Our Second Birthday allowed us realise we could do it properly when 260 beer fans turned up at two weeks notice, to drink with us and our favourite breweries. Last year 23 of the best breweries we’ve met on our travels brought beers never poured in Ireland, and joined over 1000 punters in descending on Ballymote to create a magical festival, HAGSTRAVAGANZA. So we’re doing it again.
We are focusing on bringing sixteen breweries from ten countries leading the way in craft beer, pouring three beers each. We will also have a select crew of the best Irish Breweries pouring a unique beer each. Aside from breweries who we’ve done collaborations with, ALL of the breweries are new to HAGSTRAVAGANZA, and ALL of the beers have never been poured here before.
So, lets get you some tickets… https://www.eventbrite.ie
When: 28th July 2018, 2pm – 10pm
Where: The White Hag Brewery, Ballymote, Co Sligo.
