Rejoice for great beer at Jubilate!

Our very first office was in Portview Trade Centre - Caroline and I will always have a soft spot for the place as we still remember the excitement of getting our keys to our new office! We only moved out in 2020 due to COVID and we loved being part of the community that Portview had become.

One of the excellent businesses located there is Boundary Brewery. I remember first seeing a crowd funding campaign featuring a guy with a MASSIVE beard (now my friend, Matt) over 10 years ago when IPA was just one letter away from a tricky conversation in Belfast. Their first beer was an American Pale Ale, the likes of which we really hadn't seen made on this island before and they went on to release a range of beers that were really at the cutting edge of brewing.

They used to run a popup taproom event once a month, and I was always a wee bit later home on those days because it was impossible to walk past without popping in for just one...

Back in early days of Taste & Tour we used to run a Brewery Tour by bus where we showcased some of the incredible breweries we have here. We'd always stop at Boundary back when it was just one small room with 2 beer tanks, pipes everywhere and steamed up windows. Fast forward 10 years and they've knocked more walls through than I can count, have a seriously impressive brewery setup, a beer cold room that you could only dream of, and have opened a first class taproom on the Newtownards Road. With the famous Flout Pizza a mere 20 steps away, it's a pretty dreamy combo to sit and chill in the taproom eating the best pizza around.

So, when I saw they were holding their first beer festival in Portview itself, I was buzzing to go and bought a ticket right away. It was held in the massive upstairs unit which has incredible views of Belfast. They invited the guys from Base Arcade in so you could play retro pinball whilst sipping on a 9% beer loving life.

Jubilate itself was a sold-out event and it was just a really chilled day out - nothing pretentious, no beer snobbery, just 20 breweries from all over UK and Ireland serving up their very best beers. My first beer of the day was Boundary's Jubilate beer itself - or as my friend pronounced it, Jubilaté, which still has me in creases. It was a refreshing IPA and a great way to kick off proceedings.

Standout visiting breweries that I tried were Kernel, Land & Labour, Modest, Cloudwater and one of my favourites, Kinnegar, manned by our very own Crafty Beer & Tasty Bites tour guide Johnny. I tried everything from Grisette to a whiskey aged salted caramel stout to a smoked lime sour. I did always find my way back to my favourite IPAs though!

All in all I had a blast drinking beer in really cool surroundings, bumping into so many people I know, including our team member Michael who took these brilliant photos, and playing arcade games as the sun streamed in through Portview's massive windows.

I am already looking forward to next year's Jubilate, but I may stick to below the 11 percenters this time.

Want to get your own craft beer fix with us soon? Book our Crafty Beer & Tasty Bites tour now!

Words by Phil Ervine.