Ongoing restrictions force cancellation of sold-out event at Athlone brewery

A sold-out Oktoberfest event, which was due to take place in an Athlone brewery this Saturday, had to be cancelled as a result of the Government's decision not to lift public health restrictions on the hospitality sector.

The Oktoberfest gathering at the Dead Centre Brewing premises in Custume Place, which was to have included a brass band, pretzels and German-themed beer, sold out quickly after tickets went on sale last month.

Some 250 tickets had been made available for it on the basis that it would be happening after the scheduled lifting of all restrictions from tomorrow (October 22).

The owner of Dead Centre, Liam Tutty, said Tuesday's Government announcement on the continuation of many of the current restrictions, such as a requirement for all attendees of live events to be seated, meant the Oktoberfest celebration could not go ahead.

"We had an Oktoberfest in 2019, and it was such a great night. We missed it last year, obviously, and we thought we were going to miss it again this year," said Liam.

"But then when we heard that every restriction was going to be lifted on October 22 we said, right, that's a Friday night, let's have Oktoberfest on the Saturday, and have a knees-up."

He said the requirement for everyone to be seated would have halved the attendance had the event gone ahead.

"The weather for Saturday is meant to be horrific, so you would have been looking at trying to seat as many people as you could inside. We actually lose a large area of seating to the brass band that we bring in, so it meant that, realistically, we were only going to be able to seat maybe 120.

"When we had more than double that number of tickets sold, it would have been very difficult to go back and tell half of the people that they could come and half that they couldn't. That wasn't really an option.

"The other thing as well is that we don't really make any money from ticket sales. All the ticket sales income is reinvested into the entertainment, the band, the beers, the pretzels. To be able to operate properly we needed more than 120 or 130 to be able to attend. So, financially, it wasn't viable either."

The brewery announced the difficult decision to pull the plug yesterday (Wednesday), and it apologised to those who were disappointed by the cancellation.

When asked for his thoughts about the continuation of restrictions in general, Liam told the Westmeath Independent the situation was "disheartening" but he understood the need for measures to be taken in response to the pandemic.

"I think anyone who has been in to the brewery since we've been able to reopen, under the current restrictions, will know that we've been very stringent. There are plenty of places that maybe don't run by the letter of the law, and that's fine, that's their prerogative.

"But I'm very much about making sure that the people who come to Dead Centre, and the people who work in Dead Centre, are kept healthy and safe.

"The news that some of the restrictions were going to be kept in place was frustrating, but we do also feel that we have an obligation... if people are going to come to our premises we have a duty of care to make sure that they are well looked-after while they're here.

"It's a two-sided thing, because it is frustrating, and it is definitely starting to wear on me, but at the same time, if health professionals are saying this is the safest thing you can do, then we want to do the safest thing you can do."

On a more positive note, Dead Centre has been continuing to come up with innovative and interesting new beers, one of which is an upcoming batch of a Blackberry Cream Ale made with blackberries foraged on the Athlone to Moate stretch of the greenway. The beer is expected to be ready in time for Halloween.

Liam, who is in the process of moving to Moate, said he got the idea for the unconventional brew while out walking on the greenway.

"I was walking along on the greenway one day, picking berries from the hedges and eating them as we went, so it just seemed like an obvious idea!" he said.

"We make a beer every year for the Midlands Craft Beer Festival at Don's Bar in Moate. It's called 'Moaterboat' and it's a cream ale made with raspberries, so it pours a vivid pink colour.

"This is basically the same beer but, rather than using raspberries, we jumped on a couple of bikes, went out on the greenway, and filled up two satchels of blackberries that we picked along the way.

"We're going to call this one 'Moatercycle', after the cycleway," he said.