We're here at Electric Picnic! And we brought a gate crasher...👀👀 @ballykilcavan.com

I am not physically at Electric Picnic with some of my podcast chums, but I am there in spirit in my @ballykilcavan.com shirt.

@ballykilcavan.com hits #EP25. Cheers all.

Mission accomplished. @ballykilcavan.com at the main stage Electric Picnic. Maybe I could get KNEECAPCEOL to shout Free, Free Ballykilvan! Cheers all. #EP25

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

Thanks to Martina Mulhall from LaoisToday for the chat about my career path to date and the motivation behind opening the brewery. Full article at www.laoistoday.ie/2025/07/23/m... #Ballykilcavan #Laois #LaoisToday

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

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

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

And we are BACK. We're putting the spotlight on one of our own (again - we can't help ourselves!) as we talk about @braciatrix.bsky.social's SECOND book, the amazing FILTHY QUEENS. Come get your #beerhistory on! shows.acast.com/beerladies/e...

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

There are some great publicans in Portlaoise who have supported us from the start, and PJ Kavanagh is one of them. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal

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

Of all the county mottos, Laois is the LinkedIn-iest.

It's bottling day again in the brewery. More fresh Brickyard red ale ready for delivery this afternoon. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I haven't had much success with The Big Irish Writers, with the exception of Joyce's Dubliners, but I'm giving this a go and so far I'm on board with the mustard, cayenne and ripe gorgonzola sambos at least ...

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

Scorchio! 😎 #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Sun #Sunshine

Mild out, again ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bluebells in full bloom in the Tunnel Acre woodland at Ballykilcavan. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Bluebells

The doorway into the stables from the old farmyard leads to where all the farm horses used to live. The hole at the bottom is for the cat to get in and out to keep the mice under control. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast

Starting off with this great 4.8% abv IPA by Ballykilcavan farmhouse brewery from Co. Laois #BskyBeer #CraftBeer 🇮🇪🍺 😋🍻

Absolutely delighted to have been shortlisted in three categories in the 2025 Laois Business Awards. - Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality - Outstanding SME of the Year - Best Marketing and Communications Initiative Best of luck to all the finalists! #Ballykilcavan #Laois #SupportLocal

Irish Dark Mild, served through a sparkler ...

Lovely morning for putting in the strings in the hop garden. They're looking well this year, but going to wait until after the frosts until we start training them. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #DrinkIrish #IrishHops

A big thank you to Nina Carberry MEP for calling into the brewery and visitor centre today. Good discussion about the challenges of running a farm and small business and the benefits of European trade. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #SupportLocal #NinaCarberry #SmallBusiness

It's saison season - perfect for the warm weather, our current limited edition beer is an easy drinking, dry, peppery saison. Available in cans and pouring at the Mullingar Wild Beer Festival on Saturday. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IndependentBeer #SupportLocal #DrinkIrish #DrinkResponsibly

Amazing growth in the barley in the two days I was away. The main trick with growing malting barley is to give it the best start possible, and this crop couldn't have had a better one. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #FarmBrewery #IndependentBeer #Farming

As the old saying goes, making beer is 10% brewing, 10% cleaning, 80% deleting emails from people asking you to provide free drinks for an art exhibition in exchange for putting your logo on their Facebook page.

Thanks to Ronan Berry for having us on Midlands 103 Radio last night to talk about Meitheal and bringing tourists to the Midlands. Full story at www.midlands103.com/news/midland... #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast #Meitheal

Killarney looking spectacular in the sunshine yesterday evening and the local IPA was tasting great as well. Last day of Meitheal today and then back to the day job. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast

Down in Killarney to attend the Meitheal tourism trade show. It's the largest gathering of tour operators and suppliers in Ireland, and a great chance to sell Ballykilcavan and Laois as a destination to over 30 different operators from all over the world. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #IrelandsAncientEast

The Electric Picnic organisers have applied to Laois County Council for planning permission for this year's festival, so if you would like to put in any submissions about how you would like to see the festival being run, now's your chance. Link: consult.laois.ie/en/consultat...

Great strike rate on the barley seed, and with warm, damp soils, it's flying out of the ground. Just the start it needs. #Ballykilcavan #Laois #FarmhouseBrewery #Farming

The schedule for @capitalcrime.bsky.social is up! Hugely looking forward to moderating this event on Friday 13th June but check out the rest of this incredible festival at capitalcrime.org