Craft Beer Tasting - Burren Brewery at the Roadside Tavern

What to Expect

The Burren Brewery, founded in 2011, runs a guided craft beer tasting inside the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna. The session is led in person by Peter Curtin, the tavern’s third-generation owner and the brewery’s master brewer, who talks guests through the brewing process from grain to glass as each beer is poured. Over roughly 30 minutes, guests taste four beers made on site: Burren Gold Lager, Burren Red Ale, Burren Black Stout, and a rotating seasonal brew currently called Wild Yeast Euphoria. Curtin explains how small changes in method, water and ingredients shift the character of each style, and answers questions on brewing as the tasting goes. The setting is a working gastropub rather than a formal tasting room. The Roadside Tavern has traded on the same site since 1865, and food is available if visitors want to turn the tasting into a full stop rather than a quick call-in. The brewery and tavern share their site with the Burren Smokehouse visitor centre, run by the same Curtin family, so it is easy to combine a beer tasting with a smokehouse visit in one trip to Lisdoonvarna.

Good to Know

• Runs weekdays at 3:30pm; pre-booking is essential as space in each session is limited.
• €50 for two people, €25 for each additional person up to the group cap; solo visitors are welcome and charged at the two-person rate.
• Conducted in English. Book through burrenexperiences.ie, by phoning +353 65 707 4432, or by emailing peter@roadsideandburrenstorehouse.ie.
• The same team runs a separate whiskey tasting at the Roadside Tavern, so visitors can combine both in one visit if they book ahead.

Getting There

The Roadside Tavern is in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, on the same site as the Burren Smokehouse visitor centre. Lisdoonvarna sits on the N67, roughly midway between Ennistymon and Ballyvaughan in the Burren, making it a natural stop for anyone touring north Clare.