Portrush - Land of Barry's, Chips & Beer Festivals

Make no mistake, I love Portrush.  It's where the family would take day trips when I was a child and it's where I now take my family for the same - driving the dodgem cars and sliding down the helter skelter at Barry's amusements, eating a 10% meat (probably) sausage supper in a chippy and generally enjoying life.  Life got even better last weekend when the town's co-op brewery Lacada hosted the 1st Portrush Beer and Food Festival in the impressive town hall. As well as the host, north coast local breweries Northbound, Glens of Antrim and O'Connor were present alongside Farmageddon, Knockout, Co. Donegal's Kinnegar, 8 Degrees from Co. Cork and Yellowbelly from Co. Wexford.  Add to that Bushmills and Long Meadow cider.

First was an interesting new brew released for the festival.  Lacada already have a sour, Eldersauer, but Sauer Beans has the addition of coffee beans in collaboration with Portrush's harbour cafe, Babushka.  Putting it gently - beardy hipsters look away now - I'm not the greatest fan of sours, but Sauer Beans (4.2% ABV) ticked some of the boxes that most sours don't tick for me.  It wasn't overpowering and there was a gentle belly tickle of coffee.  Mrs W really liked it and I must confess I sort of liked it too - it was interesting mix of light gooseberry and coffee bean (is there another Irish coffee sour on the market?)

It was great to see three well respected southern breweries represented and fair play to the organisers for securing them.  Kinnegar from Rathmullan in Co Donegal already have a very visible presence in Northern Ireland but less so Yellow Belly from Wexford.  The brewery lies beneath Simon Lambert & Sons pub and they brought a seriously impressive range of nine beers with them - from fruity sours and pale ales to imperial IPAs.

My choice of Yellow Belly's was the cask Imperial IPA Queen Lizzie (8.3% ABV) - a single dry hopped English ale. Some hints of citrus fruit at the start following on with a welcoming dryness. Congrats to Yellow Belly for their branding - every one of their pumpclips is, literally, a work of art.

It was also great to see County Cork's 8 Degrees at the festival.  Co-brewer Scott is from New Zealand and I wonder how much influence one of Lacada's founders, Kris of Kiwi's BrewBar in Portrush, had in their appearance?  Anyway, on tap when I was there on the Friday were the Amarillo IPA, Kolsch style Going Out Out, DIPA Supernova, which I'd tried at the recent Irish Beer Festival in Dublin, and the always tasty Full Irish - brewed using 100% Irish malt.

A tip of the hat to Michael O'Connor of O'Connor Craft Beer near Greysteel for the Game of Thrones inspired A Beer Has No Name.  He confessed that after brewing the amber he still didn't have a name shortly before the festival started.  However his GoT loving brother came up with the title, much to Michael's confusion as he doesn't watch the show.

Again congratulations to all involved with the creation and smooth running of the 1st Portrush Beer and Food Festival.  I've only mentioned a small snippet of what was available so if you fancy seeing more I'm sure the organisers are already planning 2017's festival ... aren't they?

It's great to see another reason for heading to the Port - man cannot live by chips and roller coasters alone.

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!