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.

Beer Place Names Part 1

It all started with Inishmacsaint. 

I’ve been a fan of the Fermanagh beer for a while now and wanted to know more about the Lough Erne island here in Northern Ireland which bears its name, the cross and 6^th century monastic remains.  Also, as I live over two hours drive away I had no idea of exactly where it was.  Praise the Lord for the internet.  After much searching I found its exact location.  I became intrigued by the island and thought it would be a great idea to take a photo of the beer bottle in front of the church sign on the island. 

Then in a second I began planning similar photos for other Northern Ireland locally produced bottles of beer. Thoughts like Ards Ballyblack stout on the Ballyblack Rd Newtownards,  the malty mild Hilden Halt at Hilden railway halt near Lisburn, the citrusy Cathedral Quarter beer at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast etc…

A bit nerdy and sad, yeah, but what the heck.  It would be a bit of fun to do.  What was even better, my new wife and fellow ale drinker Gillian said she would come with me on my placename quest, so surely it couldn’t have been that pathetic an idea?

So the adventure was on.  First two to be done were Belfast Lager at a “Welcome to Belfast” sign (there’s a similar sign on the M2 motorway outside the city but maybe that wasn’t the best place to stop for a photo!) and College Green Belfast Blonde at College Green, Belfast (technically yes, College Green is the brewery name rather than the beer but this is my quest, right?)

Others followed in a matter of days like Ards Ballyblack, Whitewater’s award winning deep fruity Clotworthy Dobbin at Antrim’s Clotworthy Arts Centre; the fresh Clanconnel Weaver’s Gold at Weaver’s Court; and a quartet of Hilden after indulging myself and taking a trip to the Hilden brewery. Hilden Halt; Scullions at Scullions Rd, Mallusk; Cathedral Quarter at St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast and Titanic beer outside the Titanic Visitor Centre.

After talking to Charles from Ards Brewing at the Belfast Beer Festival, I’m hopeful that he’ll produce another batch of the hoppy Pig Island pale ale soon - I've just to find out where it is!  According to him, it’s one of the smallest islands in Strangford Lough and the name reflects the size of his business.  It’s quite small.  So my fun continues… Anyone got a boat?

Oh yeah, I still haven’t been to Inishmacsaint!