The John Hewitt Bar

June 13th, 2009

The John Hewitt Bar and Restaurant will be running the 1st “Great Northern Irish Beer Festival” from Wednesday the 1st until Thursday the 9th of July inclusive. The one week Festival will be opened by the 3 piece indie folk band ‘The Corncrakes’ and the rest of the week will feature wonderful live Northern Irish acts playing Folk, Jazz, Blues and Soul.

 

The main feature of the festival is of course to celebrate the superb handcrafted Beers sourced and brewed here in Northern Ireland.

 

 Hilden Brewing Company was established in 1981 by Seamus and Ann Scullion.  This was somewhat of a revolution in Ireland being the first brewery to reintroduce real ale and is consequently Ireland’s Oldest Independent Brewery. From Hilden we will be selling such favorites as Scullion’s Irish Ale, Silver and Molly Malone, from the cask. Titanic and Cathedral Quarter Beers and the wonderful Belfast Blonde in bottles.

 

From the Oldest to the Newest of the microbrewery’s ‘Clanconnel’ Brewing Company a dynamic and innovative company based in Waringstown, Co Down Founded in June 2008 by Mark Pearson, an enthusiastic and proficient craft brewer, with a desire to create more choice and alternatives to the mass produced beers that exist in the marketplace. They produce a beautiful beer called “Weavers Gold” this is one you just have to give a go.

 

 The award winning Whitewater Brewery was established in 1996.  Whitewater is Northern Ireland’s largest microbrewery. They are situated amidst the spectacular scenery of the Mountains of Mourne and their aim is to produce quality handcrafted beers made from the finest ingredients, with no additives. They produce a fine selection of cask beers, a lager in keg ‘Belfast Lager’ and three bottled beers. All of which will be available during the Festival.

 

 College Green Brewery is located in the old coach house of College Green House behind Queen’s University; it was opened by Hilden Brewery alongside the family owned restaurant Molly’s Yard. The brewery produces the very popular ‘Molly Chocolate Stout’ and ‘Headless Dog’ both of which will be available during the festival.

 

A special menu during the festival will feature some of these ales and stouts as part of the ingredients in our very popular lunchtime menu.  

 

 

May 29th, 2009

The John Hewitt is very pleased to be serving BELFAST LAGER from Whitewater Brewery on tap! This award winning lager, a Gold Star winner at the Great Taste Awards 2008 and named as one of the Top 50 Beers in the World is a crisp and full flavoured lager rich in aroma and taste.

 

 

 

April 11th, 2009

Last year the John Hewitt Bar was delighted to be a runner up at the GO Belfast Awards, so a big thank you for all your votes. Well the time has come round again to vote for use and hopefully pick up the coveted trophy for PUB of the YEAR. So vote for us at www.gobelfastawards.com and a big thank you for all your custom and support.   

 

                                                                                                                      

November 4th, 2008

The John Hewitt Bar has just won the “Best Pub Award 2008” at the recent ‘Hospitality Ireland Awards’ held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin. The John Hewitt Bar in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter was the only Winner from the North at the Dublin awards Ceremony.

 

Judges praised the bar for its excellent and varied selection of beers, including many from small local independent brewers, great friendly service from the staff and the overall ambiance of the bar.

 

The panel of judges at the Dublin Ceremony on Thursday night (30/10/08) also highlighted the bars community links. The john Hewitt Bar first opened its doors in December 1999. The bar is unique in its ownership as it is owned by the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre. The Resource Centre managers had always relied on various grants to fund its work, when in the mid nineties, they came up with the idea of generating some of their own funds by going into business……….and why not a pub! John Hewitt, the late poet, socialist and Freeman of Belfast officially opened the Resource Centre on Mayday 1983, hence the name of the bar.

October 25th, 2008

The John Hewitt Bar recieved the CAMRA Pub of the Year Award on Wedensday 22nd October 2008. Competition was strong, with the 21 Real Ale Pubs across Northern Ireland surveyed by the local CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) members. “Beer quality is the prime consideration in making the award, along with general ambience and attractiveness of the pub. The John Hewitt staff are making a real contribution to bringing Real Aleback to Northern Ireland by putting in that extra bit of work needed to serve a quality Real Ale Pint. CAMRA is delighted to be presenting the Northern Ireland Real Ale Pub of the Year Award 2008 to the John Hewitt”.

September 29th, 2008

The John Hewitt has taken its first delivery of Erdinger’s Schneeweisse (Snow Beer).A Hefeweizen by Erdinger Weissbräu in Erding, Germany. Sold in 500ml bottles this wonderful fresh winter beer will compliment our already excellent German beer selection.

June 20th, 2008

On Tuesday night, 17th June 2008 the management of the john Hewitt were at the prestigious Theme Bar & Restaurant National Awards at the Battersea Evolution in London. The Bar was up against very strong competition from bars in London, Glasgow and Wakefield. But when the time came to announce the Winner of the Best Beer Venue in the Uk and Ireland, it was the John Hewitt’s turn to be in the limelight and pick up the trophy.

April 21st, 2008

We are pleased to annouced that Nevada Blues will be playing every Thursday night at the John Hewitt. See our entertainmment page for more details.

November 12th, 2007

The John Hewitt Bar will be the first pub in Ireland to sell ASPALL SUFFOLK CYDER on draught. We will be taking delivery of the first kegs by the end of this week. The John Hewitt Bar is very pleased to be working along with Hilden Brewery who is the distributor of Aspall Suffolk Cyder (Kegs). The John Hewitt Bar has always had a great reputation for sourcing the finest beer’s wines and spirits and giving our customers the best choice of drinks in the City. So it gives us great pleasure to stock this fine Cyder from Aspall. Aspall Cyder has been established since 1728 and is still owned and managed by the Chevallier Family, now in their eighth generation, making it the oldest direct lineage Cyder maker in the UK.

September 7th, 2007

The John Hewitt was the first and still the only bar in Ireland to have this wonderful Black Lager on draught. A fresh delivery has just arrived from Eastern Germany, it is served in a very elegant stemmed glass.