iFest: Ireland in Boston (And Win Tickets!)

In ten days, Ireland will come to Boston  at the iFest, a three-day festival that celebrates Irish culture, cuisine, heritage, hospitality, and entertainment. The festival will be held from Friday, September 26 to Sunday, September 28 at the Seaport World Trade Center. There will be something for all interests, such as Music/Entertainment, Literature/Design, Genealogy, Sports, Tourism, and Food/Drink. If you have any interest in Ireland, I'm sure there will be something here to intrigue you.

For my readers who enjoy good food and drink, the iFest offers much to savor. There will be Chef Demonstrations with several of Ireland’s top chefs, including Darina Allen, Kevin Dundon, Cathal Armstrong, and Euro-toques Young Chef of the Year Mark Moriarty, who will prepare dishes prepared with Guinness stout. These Irish chefs will be joined by some local chefs, including iFest Culinary Ambassador Barbara Lynch, Ana Sortun, Lydia Shire, Ming Tsai, Jasper White, and Colin Lynch. Mixologist Ezra Star of Drink will also demonstrate how to blend the perfect cocktail.

You'll also find an Irish food village with the opportunity to sample Irish produce, cheese, and bread and meet exhibitors from Burren Smoke House, Kerrygold, National Organic, and Crossogue Preserves.

Want something more alcoholic? You can attend a beer tasting at the new, experiential Guinness 20/20 Bar which will show the future of what Guinness pubs will look like, served with samples of Irish food. There will also be samples of Irish cocktails made with Dingle Distillery Irish vodka & gin.

There will also be Jameson Irish Whiskey tastings. In addition, a master cooper from the Midleton distiller will lead a master class on the old skill of cooperage – taking the barrels apart and showing how whiskey is distilled.

For something nonalcoholic, you could attend a Bewley’s Irish Tea Party with a Boston pastry chef, Maura Kilpatrick.

You can order tickets online here, and avoid waiting in line at the event to purchase tickets. A General Admission session ticket costs $60 or get a VIP ticket for $110. There are also special Family package deals.

However, I am also giving away TWO FREE GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS (a $120 value) to the Sunday session. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment here telling me what you like about Ireland, The contest will end on Thursday, September 18, at midnight. I will then randomly select one commenter to win the pair of tickets.

I'll be attending the iFest on Friday evening, and will be reporting back on what I experienced. Hope to see some of my readers there too. We could sip some Irish whiskey together.

Update on September 19: And the Winner has been selected! There were 8 entrants and I used a Randomizer to determine the winner of the free pair of tickets. Congratulations to the winner, JacquelineC. Please contact me to arrange to get your tickets.