Another Weekend, Another Festival

Another festival?  Boom, as Klopp would say.  Following last weekend's ABV festival in Belfast, this time it was the turn of the Irish Craft Beer Festival at the RDS in Dublin.  Hotel and train tickets booked, Mrs W and I were there on the Friday. It's a fantastic opportunity to see so many brewers in one place who have to listen to all kinds of gubbins from punters like me - the gubbins intensifies the more the night draws on.

Anyway, some top quality beers were had.  (Unlike the awful plastic pint glasses we were handed. Organisers, ditch them. They sucked.)  I'd compiled a list (you need a list) of brews that I thought the cocktail and red wine drinker would like and one for me too.  First up, Metalman's 5.3% ABV Raspberry Chilli Sour on cask.  "Fruity, light and refreshing with a nice kick" was her verdict.  That'll do nicely.

 

You know when most of your list comprises of beers at or over 7% ABV?  Yeah...  7% Lublin to Dublin first from O'Haras (collaboration brew with Polish brewery Pinta).  I'd heard plenty in the past but never experienced for myself.  Matter rectified - oh yeah - Choccy McChocface.

Next, down to see the Wicklow Wolf guys.  New 3.8% ABV session IPA Easy Lover was certainly easy going and a tasty sessionable beer for those who wanted a bit less of an alcoholic punch.

I love a good milk stout and hadn't had anything from Trouble in a while so was quite keen to get my chops around their 5.8% ABV vanilla and choc collaboration brew with Danish outfit Coisbo.  Another smooth chocolate milk stout that smelled stronger than it tasted.

Back up the hall for a sit down and then a welcoming yarn with the Carrig boys who I'd seen a couple of months back when I visited the brewery.  A swift half of their faintly peachy IPA Grand Soft Day.

Of course a photo opportunity arises when I'm sharing the Mrs' plum and ginger cider from MacIvors.

 

Next, a good blether with newish Co Dublin brewery, Hope Beer, and a try at their 6.6% ABV Handsome Jack IPA.  A decent double hopped IPA with a tasty citrus bite at the end.

O Brother next, and the return of the much anticipated dark IPA Bonita.  Their DIPA Brutus was my beer of last year's festival and I was eager to see if the 7% ABV lady matched up to the 9% brute.  Hints of fig and chocolate made for a tasty keg beer though I'd love to have compared it with the cask offering that was pouring the following day.

Finally it was over to torture, sorry chat to, Scott at Eight Degrees who poured me a quality new double IPA, Supernova.  Maybe it was because it was the end of the night, I don't know, but this DIPA seemed to be smoother than a lot of other doubles, yet managed to retain the massive hopkick. I'll have to grab some of it when it's released in bottles in a fortnight.

Didn't manage to complete my list, I missed out on cask offerings of N17's Chilli Porter and O'Hara's barrel aged Leann Folláin stout among many others so only one thing for it, I'll have to stay two nights next year!  Roll on 2017!

Sláinte.

Pumpkin Beer

The Hallowe'en party time has come and gone and kids everywhere have thrown their manky old and wilted pumpkins in the bin.  But what else is a pumpkin good for apart from displaying on October 31st?  
Soup, stew, even ravioli.  What about ... beer? Now bear with me on this, don't screw your nose up like that.

One of my favourite Ulster beers is from Rathmullan in Co. Donegal, Kinnegar Brewing's Long Tongue - a pumpkin beer with added ginger. This review doesn't include that one as it's not yet on the shelves, will be soon though.

Over Hallowe'en I did manage to track down 5 pumpkin beers and here's what I thought of them.  (The quick review is Beavertown's Stingy Jack is the best by a county mile - the longer review is below)

 

TROUBLE BREWING'S PUMPKIN BREW (County Kildare)
4.5% abv
Red ale with strange spice mix.  Could have had more pumpkin flavour and also a bit too sweet for me.

BROOKLYN BREWERY'S POST ROAD (New York)
5% abv
More carbonated than Trouble Brewing and with slight nutmeg spice.  Very fresh and easily downed.

BEAVERTOWN BREWERY'S STINGY JACK (London)
7.2% abv
The Beavertown website website modestly states this as "The best damn spiced pumpkin ale you will ever sup on. Fact."  And batta bing, they're bang on the money.  This phenomenal beer is brewed with maple syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove and cinnamon!  Hunt it down, buy a few and repeatedly enjoy.  Oh yes.

 

FLYING DOG BREWERY'S THE FEAR (Maryland, USA)
9.0% abv
The strongest of the lot here, this rich imperial porter does pack an alcohol punch.  In my opinion, the alcohol greatly overpowered the taste of any actual pumpkin.  Bit of a shame.  It was still a decent slightly spicy beer but fell short of tasting how a pumpkin beer should - that is - of pumpkins.

RED HAND BREWERY'S PUMPKIN ALE 
(Co. Tyrone)
4.5% abv
I first tried this just after Hallowe'en and I have to admit I wasn't impressed. Very sharp and bitter (Mrs W even made a comparison with TCP).  I tried another a few days later in case I had a bad bottle.  It was the same - so bad I had to throw it down the sink.  And I hate doing that.  
(Edit. Simon from Red Hand saw this review after publication and very kindly contacted me to apologise for the beer being off. It had obviously become infected and should not be been sold he said. Thank you for your honesty and kind apology.)

Anyway, I hope you had a good Hallowe'en and here's to enjoying the Kinnegar offering when it appears.

Cheers
Roy

www.twitter.com/roywillighan

Beers and Bikes over the Border

Last summer I embarked on a wee tour around Ireland with some fellow biker friends.  We do a tour every year and on previous occasions have visited the Isle of Skye, Inverness, the Lake District, Wales and Cornwall. However we’ve never done Ireland and I’m ashamed to say that I had never been as far south on this island as counties Kerry or Cork.  Time to put that right we thought.  And at the end of a great day’s riding why not try and source a half decent beer?  Now of course we all know that whether north or south of the border, availability of good brews is not widespread and most pubs offer the usual bland multi-national dross whether in Coleraine or Clonakilty. 

So here’s a little non-comprehensive review of what we managed to find on our way.  While travelling through County Waterford we opted not to venture to Dungarvan Brewing Company as dark clouds were looming overhead and I knew of a great pub near our accommodation in Cork.  We arrived late afternoon, changed out of our leathers and eagerly made our way to the Franciscan Well Pub and Brewery.  As it was a Wednesday evening, the bar was quiet and our eyes lit up as we stepped into the place.  Behind the bar are 3 tanks each holding 300gl and the beer menu, yes beer menu, has 7 pump brews made in-house as well as an extensive list of bottled ales.  Blondes, reds, lagers, wheat beers, stouts, ciders and pale ales are all available.  Heaven!

My first taster of the evening was Friar Weisse, a delicious 4.7% ABV German-style unfiltered wheat beer with citrus notes on the palate and a powerful aroma of banana and clove.  Interesting mix.  The ladies in the group loved it and although I’m not usually a big fan of fruit-based beers, I agreed with them.  The banana was very subtle and not dominant in the taste. I could imagine a lot of folk sitting at a barbecue in searing heat supping a few thirst-quenching Friar Weisse.

My favourite of the night though was the 5% ABV Purgatory Pale Ale.  Using Cascade hops from the USA it has a floral flavour, which leads to a deep bitter orange taste.  Not unlike one of my local favourites Pig Island from Ards Brewing Co.  A great night’s craic was had in Cork’s Franciscan Well Brewpub.  The beers are amazing, the staff are friendly and to top it all off they allow you to order in pizza so what’s not to like?

Another place of note is in Lisdoonvarna, County Clare.  Originally established in 1865, The Roadside Tavern do the most a-maz-ing food (order the bacon and cabbage or maybe the lamb and stout stew to see what I mean – it wasn’t Munster’s Best GastroPub in 2012 for no reason) but what really made me smile was they also have their own microbrewery onsite. 

Set up in 2011 The Burren Brewery have 3 ales – Burren Gold, Red and Stout.  Each is tasty in its own right but for me the best of the trio was Burren Red – slighty sweet with a spicy smokiness it stands head and shoulders above anything else of that category that you can buy in any bar in the area.  If you’re in County Clare, pop in for lunch and enjoy a good yarn with locals and visitors alike.

The final place our group stopped into that had a varying array of beers was Galway city’s Bierhaus.  With hundreds of Irish and worldwide beers to choose from you're sure to find something to suit your taste.  I was in a bit of a porter/stout mood that night so started off with a porter from Co. Kildare brewery Trouble Brewing.  The unfiltered Dark Arts uses a good mix of black and chocolate malts and cleared the cobwebs away after a day of the odd torrential rainstorm and twisty Co.Clare roads.  

That was followed by a smooth and welcoming bottle of the 5% ABV Knockmealdown Porter from Eight Degrees Brewing.  A deep roasted coffee malt flavour exudes from this porter and although I’m not a fan of 33cl bottles (I prefer a pint) I felt it tasted better that the Dark Arts. 

As I said at the beginning it’s not a comprehensive guide but a little taster of what can be found in a few counties down south.  Maybe if you come across a good pub post your comments below.  Next year we're off to Scotland. Oh, in total I covered 1200 miles riding the Irish coastline on my beloved Honda CBR and raised £1,600 for a children's charity in the process.  

I’ll drink to that, sláinte!