Since successfully crowd-funding the project via Kickstarter in 2013 the Belfast-based team at Brewbot have been on a worldwide quest to switch people on to brewing; the team invented a robot that brews beer controlled and monitored using a smartphone app. The app allows users to create, tweak or download recipes while the appliance offers the perfect brewing environment for anyone to brew their own beer.
The team has grown from a team of 5 to now over 20 with members dotted across the globe, some of the newest additions include Cody Badger who worked at Tesla in San Francisco, Lisa Maltman who joined the team from Northern Ireland’s oldest craft beer brewery Hilden Brewery, and Gary Moran who was the bar manager at The Albany and Miel Et Moi. With Brewbot being a hit in the US the team have spent a lot of time in Portland, Austin and San Francisco, all homes to a mature craft beer culture. It was from a visit to Portland—home to over 50 micro breweries—that the team were inspired to begin home-brewing on their return to Belfast. Being software designers and developers they began applying their expertise to the brewing process and now they have done the same with their latest venture, Belfast’s first brewpub and all-craft beer bar, Brewbot Belfast.
There are a lot of great startup stories with humble beginnings; Foursquare’s code was written in New York coffee shops while the idea for Yelp was born over lunch at the Slanted Door in San Francisco. The Brewbot team can trace the origin of their startup story to Belfast’s The Hudson Bar where they’d talked about the pains of current home-brewing solutions over drinks and fantasied about how things could be done better using an integrated approach to hardware and software. During their stints to the US a lot of the work done at Brewbot was carried out between bars and coffee shops, availing of the free WiFi, plentiful caffeine and a beer to unwind after a hard day’s work. This is exactly the kind of place they have attempted to create at Brewbot Belfast. Jonny Campbell, Marketing Director at Brewbot, says,
“We’ve found that in our downtime, over a beer, we get a chance to discuss new ideas and coffee is how we make those ideas happen. We would love for the next big Belfast startup story to be able to trace its roots back to our space.”
Brewbot Belfast is the team’s first bar and is situated in the thriving Ormeau Road area of Belfast. The bar boasts 10 rotating taps featuring the best beer from across the world as well as showcasing local beers. They’ll soon be tapping up their own creations to gather feedback on their recipes before they make it on to the Brewbot app to be brewed by Brewbot owners. In addition to the tap list they have over 100 bottles of beer behind the bar, offer coffee to drink-in or take-out and, of course, free WiFi.
Having a team with a background in software design and development you can find elements of that throughout the bar. For instance, their rotating tap list is displayed on a digital screen behind the bar and instantly updates when a new beer comes on, you can even find a live version online so you can track what’s currently on when you’re not in the bar. You will also find USB sockets scattered all over the bar for customers to charge their phones and tablet computers, they even went to the extent to open source their bar plans, putting the project on to Github.
The team all share a similar set of values, you’ll find community and sharing are important so that’s why you’ll find the seating inside laid out to bring people together, like the large banquet table in the middle of the room, or find a tasting paddle on the menu so you can try up to 8 of the beers on the tap list with friends. The team also shared plans for their food menu, they will be having a chef in residence so, like the beer menu, there will be plenty of variety when it comes to the food. Their first instalment is local gourmet ‘pieologist’s’ Jolly’s Pies.
“The craft beer culture in Belfast has been lagging behind the rest of the UK and Ireland a little but with bars like The Woodworkers and breweries like Boundary Brewing Cooperative popping up it’s an exciting time for beer drinkers in Northern Ireland.” — Jonny Campbell
The bar is now open and the official launch will be happening in the next few weeks, follow @BrewbotBelfast or Brewbot Belfast on Facebook to find out when.
Related: The Pub Scene in Belfast – A Guide to the Best Pubs for Tourists
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Good luck guys!
This place is amazing!! beer tastes great!