TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN paid to Alex Lawes, the co-founder of Whiplash brewery and Fidelity Bar, after his passing.

In a social media post, Fidelity described Alex as “infectious, brilliantly funny and a genius in all senses of the word”.

“He was our friend,” added the statement.

“Alex’s magnetic personality touched so many people across the globe and in so many communities here in Dublin.”

The statement added that the team at Fidelity and Whiplash will “digest this news over the course of the next few weeks and understand how we can honour the man that gave us so many smiles and good times”.

Whiplash was founded by Alex and Alan Wolfe in 2016 – Whiplash went on to open Fidelity in 2022, in collaboration with The Big Romance on Dublin’s Queen Street.

Alex featured in a New York Times feature earlier this month which looked at the rise of alcohol-free options in Ireland.

Last year, Whiplash began selling its first zero-alcohol beer, Never Drinking Again.

Rascals Brewing remarked that it was “completely shocked and saddened by this awful news” and described Alex as a “great industry colleague and a peerless brewer” whose “passion and enthusiasm was boundless”.

O Brother Brewing meanwhile said that Alex was “such an inspiration to so many of us starting up our breweries here” and added that he was “always incredibly generous with his time and encouragement when we were finding our feet”.