My NI Faves of 2016

In case you hadn't noticed, it's that time of year again.  Apart from continuing the strange ritual of putting trees in our living rooms and seeing plenty of overweight men in ill-fitting red polyester/velvet outfits, mid December means a review of our favourite Northern Irish beer of the past twelve months.  Of course I didn't have every single beer that was locally brewed this past year - though I did have a fair few - so this list isn't exhaustive.  It's also my opinion, yours will be different.  And that's good, so don't be gurning if your favourite isn't listed.

Best Porter -  KINNEGAR in collaboration with The Sunflower Pub - CAGE FIGHT

Celebrating the Belfast bar's independence from Diageo et al.  Although Kinnegar hails from Co Donegal, this has an NI influence as the bar staff helped in the brewing so it counts in this list.  Also available in keg but I preferred the bottle (yes I did have both to make a comparison).  A bitter chocolate start with the faintest of sour cherry but this is swept aside soon after with a lingering chilli heat that stays on the better side of tasty rather than overpowering. 

Best Stout - LACADA - UTOPIAN STOUT 

A cracker of a stout from the north coast co-operative, this appeared as part of Lacada's Limited Edition Salamander Series range.  Rich with hints of chocolate and coffee.  It's also available in cask sometimes if you're lucky - I prefer it in cask just marginally more but others prefer the bottle.  More on this later...

Best IPA - FARMAGEDDON - MOSAIC IPA 

This is also available in bottle form but it's a much better beast in cask, and I had the privilege of enjoying plenty of it in the Ulster Hall where it won overall beer of the Belfast Beer and Cider Festival.  Lots of smooth passion fruit and mango up front with a delicious bitterness that reminds you this is a beer, not a fruit juice.  Praise also for their Citra and Gorse IPAs earlier in the year.

Best Pale Ale - ARDS - HIP HOP 5

Ards Brewing Co from Greyabbey in County Down turned five years old this year (in 2011 Northern Ireland had 5 breweries compared to 30 today) and to mark the occasion, brewer Charles created - in my humble opinion - an improved version of his Hip Hop pale ale.  This one was brewed using five different hop varieties which made the beer a touch sweeter and more aromatic than the original.

Best Red - FARMAGEDDON/RENEGADE - RED EYE 

Collaborative brew between Farmageddon and English outfit Renegade Brewery.  Slight citrus fruits at the start give way to a great Columbus/Galaxy/Centennial hop bite with a slightly sweet biscuity malt remaining constant throughout. 

Best Amber - MOURNE MOUNTAINS - COAST 2 COAST

Mourne Mountains Brewery in Warrenpoint brewed this amber to celebrate the race event of the same name that starts in Co. Sligo and ends in the Mournes in Co. Down.  Tasty chewy hoppiness with a light caramel and butterscotch aftertaste.


Best Speciality - LACADA - IVY HONEY

Another one in the limited edition Salamander Series range, this was launched at the Belfast Craft Beer Festival at Custom House Square.  Shame it was in short supply as I found this to be an outstanding beer with the addition of ivy honey from brewer Laurie's own bees.  Could another one be on the horizon for 2017?

Best Irish But Not Northern Irish -  McGARGLES - FRANCIS' BIG BANGIN IPA

There have been so many great beers from across the border in the past year, coming from the likes of Galway Bay, Yellowbelly, White Hag, Brehon and Eight Degrees among others. But for me McGargles Big Bangin' IPA blew me out of the water.  Hoppy as you like with an aftertaste that oozes subtle citrus fruit - superb.

Overall Best Northern Irish Beer of 2016 - LACADA - UTOPIAN STOUT

If you're drinking this in the company of someone from Portrush and they turn to you and say "it's a wheeker, sham" then it's a good beer.  When I first had this in January I described its qualities as bitter, then sweet, then chocolate.  I've had it quite a few times since and still stand by those words.  A great stout from the Lacada co-op and deserves to be in its core range in future.

This is just a small cross section of the range of styles now available in Northern Ireland.  As well as the list above, expect saisons, sours, wheats, smoked oaks and many more.  And fair play to all the brewers brewing them.

Again I emphasise this blogpost details some of the best Northern Irish beers I had in 2016, there are plenty more.  Go find them!  

Pick of the Crop

It was that time of year again, when around 130 real ales and cider became available at the Belfast Beer and Cider Festival.  One of the biggest single bars in Ireland was constructed over a couple of days inside the majestic Ulster Hall in Belfast - all done by Campaign for Real Ale volunteers.

An incredible sixty Irish beers, yes 6-0 (from North and South) were on tap from seventeen breweries.  This year pleasingly saw a noticeable increase in i) Republic of Ireland brews, and ii) keycasks/keykegs - thirty of which were available with the help of drinks distributor Prohibition.

Here's a quick resumé of some of the beer that caught my eye and tastebuds.  First off, 8:01 Mint Choc Stout (6% ABV) from Rascals Brewing Co in County Dublin.  When I initially had this on the first night the mint was quite subtle with the chocolate dominating, but when I returned to it 24 hours later the mint was more prominent and what I had originally hoped for.  To steal a line from an old After Eight advert, it's cool, dark and sophisticated.  It justifiably jointly won the Belfast Festival's new category of Best Irish Beer along with a Farmageddon/Renegade collaboration - Red Eye - a lovely hoppy red IPA.

Staying with the Farmageddon crew, last year their 6.3% ABV Mosaic IPA was my favourite beer of the festival - as you would expect from Mosaic hops plenty of passion fruit and mango with a delicious bitterness - and this year the judging panel crowned it overall Champion Beer of the Belfast Festival.  A superb achievement considering the competition.

Moving on to North Yorkshire and Rooster's Baby Faced Assassin, a delicious 6.1% ABV American IPA bursting with Citra hops that oozed mango, grapefruit and pithy orange.  Already an award winner from the Society of Independent Brewers, the Assassin was itself annihilated by the festival public and sold out quite quickly.

 

The festival saw the return of Pokertree's cascadian ale/black IPA, Dark Nirvana.  It had been off the radar for a wee while and was one of my favourite new brews of 2014. I believe it had a new improved recipe this time around and I have to say it's bang on the money.  At 6.5% ABV, there's a very faint smokiness - some coffee coming through but not overpowering (the way I like it) - and evokes a reaction that makes you open your eyes a little wider and smile to the person beside you while saying "Oh yeah!"  Definitely the best from Pokertree's range.

Then from Nottingham came Flipside's Russian Rouble, a 7.3% ABV stout that was as smooth as Roger Moore's one liners.  I could actually imagine him sipping one of these (if vodka martinis weren't his thing) enjoying the bucket load of roasted malt interspersed with a creamy chocolate and coffee blend.

So far I've given a little snippet of five beers that I really enjoyed at the Belfast Beer and Cider Festival and with a little trepidation I have to confess that this beer blogger's favourite drink in the Ulster Hall was .... um ... a cider. *where's the embarrassed smiley?*

I'm not the biggest cider fan but this just blew me out of the applewater.  From Lisburn, Tempted's 6.4% ABV unpasteurised and unfiltered Festival Scrumpy was just a beezer of a tasty brute.  It's based on their bottled Medium Dry, but with less added apple juice so the alcohol and flavour is more prominent.  Owner Davy Uprichard told me that night that half the bittersweet apples used in the festival scrumpy are French which gives a slightly more rustic and smokey flavour.  This flavour is then balanced by being sweetened so it ends up medium sweet as opposed to medium dry.
The end product is so smooth, no sharpness or tangy bite at all.  Just imagine a liquid apple pie that is missing a generous dollop of warm custard.  Yeah, that's where we are with this one.  I was so Tempted, I had a second glass.

(Honourable Irish mentions also go to Knockout's Sorachi Ace IPA, Lacada's Devil's Washtub, Eight Degrees Amber Ella, Mourne Mountains Festival Export Stout and Northbound's Magnum 70 IPA.)

Old Kid on a Different Block

The first Belfast Craft Beer Festival took place recently at Custom House Square.  Run by the same folk who are responsible for the Irish Craft Beer Festival at the RDS in Dublin, it was good to see another festival in our capital.  Great to have so many Irish brewers from both north and south of the border all in one place - as well as beer, cider and whiskey there were some tasty food selections on offer too; pies, curries, burgers, pizza, cheese. That'll do nicely.  Thankfully the rain stayed away although it was still baltic! Maybe next year have an enclosed marquee?

Below are a few of my highlights of the festival...included in the list but minus photos are Farmageddon's cask Impy Porter and keg Wolf IPA .

First up and on cask, a new barrel aged red from O'Hara's.  As you would expect, smoother than the standard red with lots of vanilla up front.

O'Hara's Barrel Aged Irish Red - 7.5% ABV

Next, another new one from co-op brewery Lacada in Portrush.  Made with the addition of ivy honey from the brewer's own beehive.  Some honey beers have a hint of sweetness, not this one.  Boom!  Honey to the fore, a real cracker.

Lacada's Ivy Honey - 7.5% ABV

Another corker and at this strength, a triple red IPA to be greatly respected.  So called as it's the first brew by new Galway Bay head brewer Will and last by outgoing Chris.  A total hopbomb.

Galway Bay's Change of the Guard - 11.5% ABV

One of the few bottles I had during the fest and I was so happy to see this as I'd been wanting to have it for a good while.  From Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan, Brehon's Shanco Dubh porter is as smooth as Roger Moore's Bond with lots of coffee and dark chocolate going on and a hint of sweetness.  More please!

Brehon's Shanco Dubh Porter - 7.7% ABV

From just outside Derry/Londonderry (whatever, ffs) another wee hop sensation.  70 represents its IBU bitterness (as do all Northbound beers - 08, 26, 33, 34, 47 & 70)

Northbound's Magnum 70 - 6% ABV

Bar of the tent goes to Hillstown Brewery.  

Again congrats to the organisers and thanks to all the brewers for the craic and pints.  Here's to 2017.

My Best of Northern Ireland 2015

Here it is again, the end of year thought process as to what were my favourite Northern Irish beers.  I've written another blogpost here about the new NI breweries that opened in 2015 and another post on my overall Golden Pints of Ireland so I'll not go into detail about that here, hence to say there were a lot more beers available in 2015 than 2014.

You may agree with some placings, you'll probably not agree with lots.  But that's the way these things work.  Remember I can only vote for brews I've actually had.  I'll admit I've tried quite a lot of Irish beers (North and South) over the past year but couldn't have them all.  If your favourite beer isn't listed, it could be that I didn't get the chance to try it.  So to quote @thebeernut from last year, here's my "tiny and twee" list of NI winners for 2015 :-p

Best Porter/Stout - MOURNE MOUNTAINS Pumpkin Porter

Controversial to start, my top dark of 2015 goes to a pumpkin (love it or hate it) beer from Warrenpoint's new brewery Mourne Mountains.  Also praise due to new co-ops Boundary's Export Stout and Lacada's Stranded Bunny.

Best IPA - FARMAGEDDON Mosaic IPA (cask)

This was in great condition at the Belfast Beer Festival, as was Northbound's 47 IPA.  The Mosaic cask outing was better than the bottled output in my opinion and the Farmageddon gang also did a great Hopburst IPA earlier in the year.  Shout outs too for Whitewater's Maggie's Leap, Lacada's Giant's Organ and Boundary IPA.

Best Pale Ale - WALLED CITY Boom
If you ever get a chance to visit the Walled City brew-restaurant at Ebrington Square in Derry/Londonderry, grab it.  James brews a good selection including this quality pale ale and it was my favourite Northern Irish pale of the year.

Best Red/Amber Ale - WHITEWATER Hen, Cock and Pigeon Rock

I've admitted before elsewhere that reds aren't my favourite style and there weren't many NI amber ales, though I did like this one.

Best Irish But Not Northern Irish - GALWAY BAY Two Hundred Fathoms

I can't say much more about 200F that hasn't already been said by many others, it's such a great beer.
2nd - O BROTHER Brutus
Joint 3rd - GALWAY BAY Buried At Sea / O'HARA Leann Folláin

Best Northern Irish Beer of 2015 - MOURNE MOUNTAINS Pumpkin Porter

2nd - FARMAGEDDON Mosaic IPA (cask) 
3rd - FARMAGEDDON Hopburst IPA

I started controversially and I'll end controversially.  It really was a close run thing between Mosaic IPA and Pumpkin Porter for my NI beer of the year.  Maybe on a different day the result would be reversed but that's my final answer...for today.   It's good to see new breweries like Mourne, Walled City, Lacada and Boundary entering the list here and good luck to all new and existing Northern Irish brewers for 2016.

Irish Golden Pints 2015

This is the first time I've nominated beers for the Golden Pints awards and I was initially torn between doing a UK list or Ireland list, then quickly realised I've had a lot more Irish beer this year than ones from England, Scotland or Wales.  So that's sorted then.  Also please remember when reading this that it's what I think.  You probably won't agree with a lot here but that's ok - next time you see me you can buy me a beer and we'll talk about it like reasoned adults. 

Best Irish Cask Beer - Farmageddon Mosaic IPA

Cask is a rarity in Ireland, north and south.  The best tasting cask beer I experienced this year was at the Belfast Beer and Cider Festival in November and goes to Farmageddon's Mosaic IPA.  A cracker of a beer, fresh, crisp, fruity and one of the few beers I tried more than thrice, ahem. 

Best Irish Keg Beer -  O Brother Brewing Brutus

My winner by a long way.  I fell in love with it at the Irish Craft Beer Festival in Dublin's RDS in August and I still love it.  Very much.  Also shout outs to The White Hag's Black Boar and 8 Degrees for their new Belgian stout, Signal.

Best Irish Bottled/Canned Beer - Galway Bay 200 Fathoms  

A Teeling Whiskey barrel aged imperial stout is right up my street.  Their chocolate milk stout Buried At Sea is also high up the list as is O'Haras Leann Folláin.

Best Overseas Draught - Brewdog IPA is Dead Citra

I'll class overseas as mainland GB in this list and first place goes go the juggernaut that is Brewdog, had in their self-named bar in Liverpool.  Titanic's Plum Porter and Fallen Brewing's Platform C are crackers too.

Best Overseas Bottle Beer - Williams Bros Froach 22

Loch Ness' 10%abv Double Cask Prince is fantastically smooth but it is pipped to the top spot by the 11%abv Williams Bros Froach 22, a heather ale matured in ex-sherry casks which were previously used to mature Auchentoshan single malt (it just sounds good!)

Best Overseas Canned Beer - Beavertown Gamma Ray

The two top spots here go to Beavertown from that there London town with the American pale ale Gamma Ray coming 1st.  Also look out for their stunning triple IPA Power of the Voodoo, it's a beezer.

Best Collaboration - Galway Bay Goodbye Blue Monday

Another winner for Galway Bay. Brewed in collab with Begyle Brewing from Chicago, it's a hoppy oatmeal IPA.

Best Overall Beer - Galway Bay 200 Fathoms

I've been dreading this category...but had to narrow it down to about 5.  And then 3. 

And then finally 200 Fathoms.  Maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that guff but it pains me to have had it only once this year - I miss you 200F.

Best Branding - 8 Degrees

Respect is paid to Northern Ireland's two new publicly owned co-ops, Lacada and Boundary for having something different but the boys at 8 Degrees take the crown.

Best Pumpclip - O Brother's Brutus.  

Loved it.

Best Label - Red Hand Pale Ale

Small brewer Red Hand pale ale from Co Tyrone - a child's hand.  So simple.

Best Brewery - Galway Bay

Another one for the GB massive.  Although 8 Degrees and O Brother did run them close.

Best Overseas Brewery - Beavertown

Hmmm... Loch Ness, Isle of Skye and Brewdog are right up there but again it goes daaaaan saaaaf to that Landan taaaan brewery Beavertown.

Pub of the Year - Kiwi's Brew Bar, Portrush

I thought I'd venture out of a city and award this to a cracking wee bar with a really good range of bottles in a town not overly known for its craft beer selection. Plus it shows football on tv. Well done Kris and the team.

New Pub of the Year for 2015 - The Woodworkers, Belfast.  

Although it opened in December 2014, it's a winner here. Regular meet the brewer events, great rotating taps and a fantastic food selection to boot!

Best Festival - Irish Craft Beer Festival

Despite being involved in the Belfast Beer and Cider Festival my favourite festival of the year was the ICBF in the RDS in Dublin last August.  So many brewers selling their Irish beer, so many great food stalls out the back with ample seating and a good DJ doing his thang..

Supermarket of the Year - None

A lot of them are still quite rubbish so I'll pass on this until (some chance) they reach somewhere near the level of independents.

Independent Retailer of the Year - The Lighthouse

Within 10 miles of Belfast, it's this fantastic place in Whiteabbey. Also great to see others like The Vineyard, Gap Wines, Lavery's, Wineworks and Neill Wines have a wide ranging selection too. 

Online Retailer of the Year - www.drinkstore.ie

I've used a few but the winner is Drinkstore, primarily for their discount policy!

Best Beer Blog or Website - http://thebeernut.blogspot.co.uk

Always informative.

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer

@thebeernut for his dry wit or @twattybeer (Twatty Beer Doodles)

Best Brewery Website/Social Media - ......

Anyone who doesn't retweet 50 fecking times a day. 

NI's Best Beers of 2014 (In My Humble Opinion)

Northern Ireland's craft beer scene is expanding to mouth watering levels.  There are now fifteen companies producing more varieties than ever before in our wee country.  So with this in hand, accompanied by the fact that awards ceremonies are happening left, right and centre at this time of year, why not have a little bit of fun and select Northern Ireland's best beers of 2014? 

Here we have the inaugural 'Quare Swally Northern Ireland Beer Awards for 2014'.
(in my humble opinion).  A bit of hush at the back please...

Best New Beer
1st - FARMAGEDDON Mosaic SMASH
2nd - POKERTREE Dark Nirvana
3rd - FARMAGEDDON India Pale Ale

Best Porter/Stout
1st - POKERTREE Dark Nirvana
2nd - POKERTREE Seven Sisters Treacle Oat Stout
3rd - WHITEWATER Clotworthy Dobbin

Best Golden Ale
1st - FARMAGEDDON Mosaic SMASH
2nd - HILDEN Twisted Hop
3rd - ARDS Citra

Best Red Ale
1st - WHITEWATER Hopplehammer
2nd - HILDEN Halt 
3rd - POKERTREE Red Earl Ruby Ale

Best Irish But Not Northern Irish
1st - WHITE HAG Black Boar Imperial Oatmeal Stout
2nd - 8 DEGREES Amber Ella
3rd - GALWAY BAY Of Foam and Fury

Best Northern Irish Beer of 2014
1st - FARMAGEDDON Mosaic SMASH
2nd - POKERTREE Dark Nirvana
3rd - WHITEWATER Hoppelhammer

Many congratulations to all breweries mentioned here especially Farmageddon and Pokertree for not only being two of the best newcomers to the local scene but also producing two of the finest beers (in my humble opinion) of 2014.

And with up to another seven new local breweries in the pipeline for 2015, there's going to be even more competition this time next year.  Bring it on.

Cheers.

Down on the Farm...

The past twelve to eighteen months have been fantastic for the Ulster beer scene. 

Alongside the established and newer breweries, since late 2012 this small part of the world has seen the introduction of Sheelin, Pokertree, Red Hand, ClearSky, Kinnegar, Muckish Mountain and Donegal Brewing (I referred to Ulster instead of Northern Ireland as I wanted to include the last three there from County Donegal). 

Add to that list the newest baby to the fold, Farmageddon Brewing Co-op.  Based just outside Ballygowan in County Down, they have just last week released three new brews to the eternally grateful Norn Iron following.  So how do they fare?  Let's start with the Gold Pale Ale.

This 4.2% ABV gold pale ale is well carbonated and light and floral on the nose.  The floral theme continues into the taste combining with elements of sharp grapefruit citrus.  The citrus continued to develop with each mouthful and although I enjoyed the Gold, I don't think it's a beer I could enjoy over and over again in one go.  If you're a fan of light ales that pack a punch of grapefruit flavour, then this is for you.

I was much more satisfied, however, with the deeper and darker India Pale Ale.  It has a higher alcohol content at 5.5% although it really isn't noticeable.  
What is noticeable though is the mellow sweetness of the India compared to the Gold.  Where the Gold has a citrus bang, the India is much more rounded and smoother.  Caramel tones exude from this beer and it's an ale that I could enjoy frequently in one session.

Finally the 5.2% India Export Porter.  I'm a fan of porters and I was looking forward to this one most. Excellent carbonation, a great dark brown colour with a not-overpowering aroma of coffee.  On tasting, dark chocolate and bitter espresso came to mind.  This was polished off in no time at all, another quality brew.

By their own admission, Farmageddon have big plans for the year ahead. They're planning specials such as a Cascadian Dark ale, Single.Malt.And.Single.Hop aka S.M.A.S.H (various different hop types) as well as a Rye pale ale, a dubbell, double IPA and Imperial stout. 

They've also planted 360 heritage cider apple trees and hope to reap the rewards of that in the next year or so!

I always thought 'armageddon' meant 'end of the world' but after tasting their three new brews I really hope that rather being the end, this is the start of a great new chapter for the Ballygowan business. Maybe they should be renamed ... Genesis?