Virtual Beoirfest, Mia Tobin supporting Irish businesses during Covid-19

Interesting interview with Mia Tobin

1 min pitch for what you do?

I started Brewery Hops in 2012 in response to a boom in craft brewing in Ireland. I wanted to provide tourists with a unique experience to visit small craft food and drink producers. Almost every tourist makes the Guinness storehouse their first stop in Dublin. Brewery Hops aims to showcase that we are more than just the home of the black stuff, we have a really strong beer offering using top quality Irish malted barley. Irish brewers produce a wide variety of excellent beers.  The highlight of the tour is meeting the person behind the brewery, hearing their story whilst touring the facility, and of course tasting different styles of beers.

My focus has been to visit hidden gems and off the beaten track sites, as well as a few big hitters like the Cliffs of Moher and Rock of Cashel. I started with a 5 day tour offering to the South West of Ireland and now offer a range of different tours all with a focus on craft food and drink production.

How was the last year, what worked well, what didn’t move as quickly as you would have liked /  how have you adapted to the current corona times?

2019 was good, it was a combination of scheduled tours for anyone to join and private bespoke tours.

I introduced a new tour incorporating Irish Whiskey called Pint and a Half one. It’s a 6 day tour and is a combination of brewery and distillery visits.

Irish whiskey is currently enjoying a renaissance. In 2020 I was due to expand the whiskey offering by running the first Angel’s Share 6 day tour.

The Northern tour didn’t run last year but 2020 was showing strong interest.

All 2020 tours have been postponed until next year due to Covid19. It’s an extraordinarily difficult year for the Irish tourism industry.

What are your plans for the future?

This year when people start getting back to normal, the focus will be on the domestic market. I offer a Meet the Makers 1 day experience to Wicklow. The bus leaves from Dublin and visits 4 food and drink producers in Wicklow for private experiences at Killruddery House, Wicklow Way Wines, Wicklow Wolf Brewery and Powerscourt Distillery. The day involves behind the scenes tours at each location with the Maker. The tastings offered are food and drink pairings.

Until then, I’m focusing on improving my website and online presence.

Virtual Beoirfest, Mia Tobin supporting Irish businesses during Covid-19

What will you be talking about at this event? 

Beoirfest offers the opportunity to take what I normally do to a virtual level. I organise itineraries for guests and then drive and guide these tours all over Ireland. The tours encompass history and culture and these will be part of the tour offering at Beoirfest. I will host a virtual tour of Ireland using photos and videos of previous tours and talk through the experiences.

I will drop-in to all the brewers booths for brew chats and inform attendees of local areas of historical interest.

What inspired you to attend it?

Brian got in touch to give me more information about his plans for the first Beoirfest. I think it will appeal to many of my international guests who have visited these breweries previously to re-connect. Of course, all my 2020 guests have not been able to travel to Ireland so it’s a good way to keep in touch with them and offer a virtual experience. A returning group of Swiss home brewers were due to attend the Hagstravaganza beer festival in White Hag brewery in July so they will enjoy taking part in a virtual festival.

We hope it will become a more regular online festival.

Which influencers and websites do you follow to keep up to date with the latest developments?

I keep up to date with all the breweries and distilleries individually and follow people like Marie Claire Digby, Corinna Hardgrave, Katy McGuinness all food and drink writers as well as Pol O Conghaile for travel.

How can people find out more about what you are working on?

Check out my websites www.breweryhops.com and www.meetthemakerswicklow.ie for 2020 tour dates to Meet the Makers in Wicklow. Also available for private groups to run bespoke tours. 2021 tour dates are available now.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Now more than ever, we need to focus on supporting our Irish food and drink producers to make sure they survive post Covid19. There are many Taste the Island initiatives all over Ireland to learn more about what’s happening in your local area. I would love for every Irish person to take 1 food or drink experience this year, the passion that goes into small batch production is immense.
Instagram:@breweryhops
Facebook:@BreweryHopsOfIreland
Twitter: @breweryhops

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