This is a blog post about change and challenging the status quo. A post about sticking two fingers up to what society in Northern Ireland expects us to accept, blindly, like sheep. A post which began when this beer blogger walked through a pub’s front door and raised his eyebrows in wonder, disbelief and happiness.
In a small village in County Fermanagh lies the most incredible and unassuming little pub. I’d wager that close to 100% of you reading this blog have never been in Lisbellaw, yet if you’re travelling along the A4 between Enniskillen and Belfast, you’ll bypass it in the blink of an eye. I love Fermanagh and I’ve been down that road many, many times but until this summer I’d never been in the village. To be fair, until this year there wasn’t any reason for me to be there. However, as a fan of good beer, that’s all changed.
Formerly known as Glencar Bar, The Dog and Duck Inn is the incredible vision of Margaret and John Tredinnick and if you follow their Glenwinny Instagram profile, you’ll be treated to photos of how the pub used to look. What’s Glenwinny? Ah, I’m glad you asked. That’s their own whiskey distillery set in the heart of the pub. This place is about more than just whiskey, though.
After many months of incredible transformation the pub opened in 2022 and in August ’23, The Dog and Duck Inn held its first beer and cider event. Outpost Festival featured cask and draught beer from breweries across Northern Ireland (and Sligo) as well as a selection of English ciders – in total for that one day you had a choice of over 20 taps and I don’t expect Lisbellaw had seen anything like it before.
That dazzling array of taps and a new whiskey distillery creates a social venue where the owners are not only thinking of the present but preparing for the future.
While speaking to Margaret for a short time, she said she was so encouraged by how well locals had embraced the pub’s regeneration and its craft beer offerings. There’s no Guinness, no Harp, no Rockshore. You could, however, find beer from Heaney, The White Hag, Lough Gill, McCrackens, Rough Brothers, Hilden, Lacada, Bullhouse and of course, the local brewery Inishmacsaint. They were just some of the beers on offer at Outpost but make no mistake, if you rock up any Thursday, Friday or Saturday you’ll not find a better selection of local beer anywhere in Fermanagh – fact.
The morning of Outpost started off miserably – cold and wet – but when the sun came out mid afternoon it seemed that we managed to catch the entirety of August’s summer in a couple of hours. It was a good opportunity to have a bit of craic with village residents on the bench outside the front door as well as the small beer garden out back. Watching so many locals loving a mini beer festival was heart warming – the atmosphere was incredible and seeing everyone enjoying a ‘different’ drink while also tucking into the most delicious food was next level happiness. Long may it last and here’s to Outpost Festival 2024!
As I said at the beginning, this is a post about change. If a small and unassuming pub in the heart of Fermanagh can develop its beer selection for the better, then you can make an effort to get to it. If you never before had a reason to be in Lisbellaw, I can assure you there’s one now.
