After the successful first edition of the Fidelity Beer Festival in 2019, little did the organisers know that they would have to wait three years to do it again.
That’s the fate that befell organisers Whiplash Beer and The Big Romance bar, but with a sold-out weekend in store for July 15-16 at the Mansion House on Dawson Street, they are ready to make up for lost time.
“There was a lot of anxiety initially: are we going to able to do it this year?” says Alex Lawes, co-founder of Whiplash Beer, who reveals that they had to cancel the festival twice due to the pandemic. “Now, everyone's going to be able to properly go for it.
“The excitement is palpable from everyone who has been contacting me in the beer industry, who's really raring to go on this party. The same thing comes back from brewers again and again: this is the most fun beer festival to be at. So we have a lot to live up to.”
Fidelity 2022 welcomes over 40 of the very best craft breweries from around the world to Dublin city centre – up from 30 in 2019 – allowing craft beer enthusiasts the opportunity to sample a mind-boggling array of beers across the two days, with their all-inclusive tickets.
“I think the experience in Ireland up until we'd done Fidelity, with beer festivals, has been a little bit of a trade show feel,” says Alex.
“What we wanted to do with Fidelity was to have a more broken-down connection between consumer and brewer.
“So the way we do it is very similar to what's been established in the US and on the continent – everyone has the same pouring units, everyone has the same space. There's no branding or point of sale from any breweries – you know exactly who is there, you can speak directly to a brewer."
Alex adds that in a lot of cases, it will be the first time the brewers themselves have even visited Ireland, never mind being able to showcase their wares here.
“We've got Cerebral joining us from Colorado in the US, so we're extremely excited about that,” he says. “We've got guys like J. Wakefield Brewing from Miami coming back; Other Half, our mates from New York; Finback and Barrier – they're all coming back, which is fantastic.
“And we put a good focus on folks from the UK like Donzoko, who are joining us for the first time and really focused on making fantastic quality craft lager.”
That stellar international line-up will be joined by the likes of Dublin’s own 3FE coffee and some of Ireland’s best craft breweries.
“We've got our friends from Mescan in Mayo, and our friends in Trouble [Brewing], Third Barrel and Boundary,” Alex reveals. “It is great to position Irish breweries with the best breweries in the world.
“They're all going to make great connections and expand their horizons and chat to other brewers, and the rising tide raises all ships.”
Unlike some of the more fusty and crusty beer festivals of times past, Fidelity aims for a party atmosphere, with the organisers’ music connections ensuring a line-up of Dublin’s best underground DJs to entertain the crowds.
“All of our beers are named after tunes,” says Alex, “and we all have that connection with the music industry and promoting parties, so if we were doing it without music, we wouldn't be doing it our own way.
“There's definitely going to be a bit more dancing. We're going to turn up the speakers a little bit louder this year. That's what everyone has told us that they want, so they'll have it.”
It’s been a difficult three years for everyone in the beer industry – as with so many other walks of life – but Alex and his colleagues are confident that Fidelity 2022 will be worth the wait.
“We're delighted that Irish consumers are just so up for a really, really high-end, craft beer festival of this nature – a real international beer festival,” he says.
“When we first wanted to do it, we never thought Ireland would be ready for this and now we're looking at sold out shows every night, tickets are flying out in advance, and we're just delighted to deliver.”
