Mayo brewery opening its doors to fledgling brewers

THE fascination with beer and brewing is rooted deep in our culture and Mayo's Mescan Brewery is opening their doors to fledgling brewers with a series of brew courses.

The next Learn How to Brew a Belgian Beer takes place on Saturday, April 20, in their brewery near Westport. The course covers all aspects of brewing, from ingredient selection to packaging the finished beer.

“We had people constantly ringing up and asking if they could come to the brewery and give us a hand,” explains Cillian O’Moráin, who runs Mescan with his partner Bart. “We realised the obvious thing to do was to design a one-day course so they would get a really good grounding in brewing Belgian beers.”

It's a hands on course where attendees make a beer in the brewery with Bart and Cillian as well as covering all the theory. Everyone receives full course notes and even a Mescan t-shirt as a sort of initiation into the brewing world.

The course covers in depth discussions on beer flavour components and beer styles and participants taste a range of Belgian beers throughout the day.

People are invited to come back and collect samples of the beer they have made. Follow up support is also offered to anyone who wishes to put their new found knowledge into practice.

Lunch and dinner are included in this full day course. The cost is €110 per person and advance booking is absolutely essential as numbers are limited to 20.

Booking is online through www.mescanbrewery.com.