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. 

2015's New Brewers

I would imagine that Northern Ireland's beer scene has never experienced the like of it before.  Five years ago we had 5 micro/nanobreweries.  At the start of 2015 we had the impressive total of 15 breweries selling beer.  Now at the end of the year that stands at 26.  Eleven have appeared in the past 12 months - crazy but fantastic.  Here's a quick roundup of those making an appearance in 2015.

The biggest entrant has to be BOUNDARY co-operative from East Belfast who launched with an export stout, IPA and American pale, followed by loads of festival and seasonal specials such as Berliner Weisse and sour ales.  At the moment if you look really hard you might find Tis the Saison (a collab with NI's Shortcross Gin)

KNOCKOUT BREWING, also from East Belfast, launched in January with an IPA and red ale. Along came an American pale Ale late in the year and there are plans for a wheat beer in 2016.

BARRAHOOLEY from Martinstown near Ballymena currently have a red, black IPA, pale and dry stout on the market.  Production is small scale at the moment with plans to upscale soon.  Look out for a new oatmeal stout hitting the shelves shortly. At present bottled output is found mainly in the Ballymena area and Kiwi's Brew Bar in Portrush.

Heading up to the north west and May saw the opening of the brew-restaurant WALLED CITY. The Ebrington Square establishment sells its own numerous brews onsite from tap including pale ales, IPAs, wheat beer and one off specials such as the fantastically named fruit beer Cherry London Cherry.

Similar to that, BREWBOT bar opened on the Ormeau Road in Belfast this year. Most of the beer sold is from other breweries but they occassionally brew limited edition specials such as imperial red ales, pales and Baltic porters.

The second co-op to launch in 2015 was LACADA from Portrush.  Their golden ale, IPA and porter is available in mid and north Antrim with more stockists being added further afield in Belfast, north Down and mid-Ulster.  The man behind the magic, Laurie Davies is in the process of brewing a 'proper big stout' which should be available early January.

NORTHBOUND from Campsie have had a good festival presence this year - being represented at Belfast Beer & Cider Festival, Sippy of Culture, ABV, Irish Craft Beer Festival in Dublin and others.  They currently have a kölsch-style, sticke alt, pale and IPA for sale.  Head brewer David Rogers says a smoked wheat beer is conditioning at the moment and expect to see some more German session beers as well as a bit of Japanese influence!

Not far from them is very small brewer O'CONNOR from Faughanvale who produces a blonde ale. There may be a red or porter from them later in the year.

At the other end of the country in Warrenpoint in County Down is MOURNE MOUNTAINS brewery.  They first appeared in the spring with a wheat beer, then red and golden ale - followed soon after with bottles of pilsner and American IPA.  They've also produced seasonals such as a pumpkin porter and a Christmas spiced lager.

A word on a couple of beers not currently produced in Northern Ireland but are registered here.
NIGHT CAP BREWING brew under the GALLOPERS brand and currently produce a golden ale which comes from Sadlers Ales in the West Midlands.  Declan from Gallopers says he hopes to expand their product range in the spring.

SAILORTOWN (representing the old dock area of Belfast but brewed by Carrig in Co Leitrim) have a trio of beers at the moment -  a red, pale and pilsner.

Now on to a few in the pipeline for 2016. BULLHOUSE brewery near Newtownards hope to open in the next few months with head brewer Willy Mayne unleashing a farmhouse saison, imperial porter and hoppy session pale ale while there could also be an IPA and golden ale in the spring from The Speckled Hen pub in Derriaghy near Lisburn...

Good luck to you all in the coming year especially those dealing with the export market.

Happy Christmas!