Ballykilcavan Farm and Brewery
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ballykilcavan.com
Ballykilcavan Farm and Brewery
@ballykilcavan.com
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Family farm for 13 generations since 1639, with on-farm craft brewery and visitor centre. Beers brewed with our own barley and water. Tour details - http://ballykilcavan.com/tours.html
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Just about to open up at Forest Fest. Fantastic to have our bar here, and if you want some locally produced, award winning beers, we're in our usual spot just opposite the Fleadh stage. Hope to see you here.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly
July 25, 2025 at 3:23 PM
ballykilcavan.com
Barry from the Laois Barn Owl Project called out yesterday evening. Delighted to share that he found two very healthy female chicks in our box. At least one of them looks like she's out flying already and both are in great shape.

📸 - Photos taken by Barry under licence by the NPWS.

#Ballykilcavan
Young barn owl being held in front of a stone wall.
July 17, 2025 at 5:12 PM
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Very wet in Laois today, but here's a bit of sunshine for you - our Gatecrasher IPA has finished fermenting and we just need to cool it down and carb it up before it gets canned in early August.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly
Sample glass of IPA.
July 15, 2025 at 7:18 PM
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Three quarters of the way through my project to take a photo of the black walnut tree in each season. Just need to remember to get one in October.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast
Picture of a large black walnut tree in winter, spring and summer.
July 14, 2025 at 8:33 AM
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Niall has done a great job raking the gravel in the old farmyard. I was going to show you a picture of it, but every time I tried to take one, I got a photo bombing spaniel instead.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Cleo #SpringerSpaniel
Cleo the Springer Spaniel doing a downward dog position in the old farmyard at Ballykilcavan.
June 19, 2025 at 7:36 PM
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Great visit yesterday to the farm and brewery by our Italian distributor Marco, who brought a group of publicans from North East Italy with him. We already have more draught taps in Italy than we do in Ireland, and I'd be very hopeful that we'll be getting some more soon.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois
Two photos of a group of Italian publicans at Ballykilcavan farm and brewery.
June 12, 2025 at 7:58 AM
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It's bottling day again in the brewery. More fresh Brickyard red ale ready for delivery this afternoon.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly
June 6, 2025 at 6:48 AM
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Quality control on the nitro stout before the first customers of the day arrive at the Bloom Inn. Can confirm it tastes as good as it looks.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly #BordBiaBloom
A pint of stout in a Ballykilcavan Brewery glass
June 1, 2025 at 10:33 AM
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Breakfast of champions after a full bar restock in Bord Bia Bloom: pain au chocolat from the Bretzel Bakery and delicious Killadoon Farm chocolate milk.

#Ballykilcavan #BordBiaBloom
June 1, 2025 at 9:14 AM
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Lots of great food and drink combinations up in Bloom this weekend. Here's one of our favourites - Blanco Nino blue corn tortilla chips with our very own Back Lawn lager. Just haven't worked out how not to finish the whole bag in one go yet.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer
A bag of Blanco Nino blue corn tortilla chips in front of a Back Lawn lager tap badge.
May 30, 2025 at 6:40 AM
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We are up and pouring at day 1 of Bord Bia Bloom in the Phoenix Park. We have our lager, pale ale, IPA and new nitro stout on tap, and the crowds are coming in already.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly #BordBiaBloom
David Walsh-Kemmis in front of the Ballykilcavan bar at Bloom.
May 29, 2025 at 10:04 AM
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A big thank you to everyone who came along to our Biodiversity Week walk this morning. The highlight for me was this Poplar Hawk moth that we found under the black walnut tree.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Biodiversity #BiodiversityWeek
Hawk Poplar moth with its wings extended.
May 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM
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Despite the drought, the brewing barley is still looking pretty good. The first awns are just starting to appear in the crop, so the next few weeks are critical for yield and quality.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #Farming #FarmLife #Barley #IndependentBeer
Green barley field under blue skies
May 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM
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Our first ever batch of nitro stout sold out in record time, so we brewed a fresh batch last week for Bord Bia Bloom. This was it bubbling away at the weekend, but fermentation is done now and it's just ready to nitrogenate for kegging next week.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal
Black and white photo of a bubbling airlock on a fermenter.
May 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
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Another cracking day at the brewery. To be honest, the barley isn't really enjoying the lack of rain, but all the tourists are loving it. We just have to explain to them that it's not always like this here.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #IndependentBeer #VisitLaois
Bright blue sky above old stone buildings, with slate roofs and red doors
May 15, 2025 at 11:27 AM
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All dressed up for the Laois Business Awards, where we are nominated in three categories. Great to see a packed ballroom of talented Laois people and successful businesses, and best of luck to everyone.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #LBA2025 #Awards #LoveLaois
David and Lisa Walsh-Kemmis in black tie and purple dress at the Laois Business Awards.
May 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM
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Scorchio! 😎

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Sun #Sunshine
18th century millhouse at Ballykilcavan Brewery. Bright blue skies and sunshine.
May 8, 2025 at 6:51 PM
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Back at base today after a great weekend at the Greenfields Festival. Time to get the mill race and farmyard ready for a busy week of tours.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #VisitLaois #LoveLaois
Mill race and stone farmyard at Ballykilcavan
May 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
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Introducing our first ever nitro stout, which will be pouring at The Greenfields Festival in Athy tomorrow, and will also be on the tap list at Forest Fest in Emo in July.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly
A pint of nitro stout in a Ballykilcavan Brewery glass.
May 2, 2025 at 8:17 PM
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Just two days to go until the Greenfields Festival in Athy and we've been busy kegging up our beers to bring in. The forecast looks great, so I hope we'll see you there.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #Athy #GreenfieldsFestival #SupportLocal
May 1, 2025 at 6:36 AM
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The barley had a great week in the rain, but is now very much looking forward to a bit of heat and sunshine.

We finished sowing this day last year, and I have to say, it's much less stressful looking at a field like this in late April.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #Farming #FarmBrewery
Barley crop at four leaf stage in a field with woodland behind it.
April 28, 2025 at 8:53 AM
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Delighted to host the launch of the 2025 Gordon Bennett Classic which will be running as usual over the June Bank Holiday weekend. Some lovely old cars in the old farmyard this afternoon.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #GordonBennettClassic #LoveLaois
Old car in the 18th century farmyard at Ballykilcavan. Old car in the 18th century farmyard at Ballykilcavan. Old cars in the 18th century farmyard at Ballykilcavan.
April 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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If you're looking for something to do tomorrow, we're running a brewery tour here at 2pm. Have a look around the 18th century farmyard while I share our family stories, see where and how we make our beers and then taste three of them in the old mill house.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast
Four pictures - the old farmyard at Ballykilcavan, fermenters in the brewery, the visitor centre and a pint of Endurance dark mild.
April 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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More woodland flowers from this morning. We don't cut the paths in our forestry from March to November to allow them to flower and set seed and it makes a huge positive difference to the amount that appear every year.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #WildFlowers
Purple orchid, cowslips, primrose and bluebells in the woods at Ballykilcavan, Co Laois.
April 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM
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Bluebells in full bloom in the Tunnel Acre woodland at Ballykilcavan.

#Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Bluebells
Bluebells in a young beech and walnut woodland.
April 23, 2025 at 7:22 AM