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.

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!

Maiden Visit to Walled City Brewery

I'd been wanting to get up to Walled City Brewery in Derry/Londonderry/whatever for quite a while and finally managed it one recent Sunday afternoon.  Not just any Sunday but the Sunday after the Club MTV concert right outside the brewery in Ebrington Square. I'm quite ashamed to say that as someone who used to follow the Top 40 religiously in the 80s and 90s, I had not one clue as to who any of the acts were. Nada, nil, zilch. Ah well, it'll come to all of you sooner or later.

The restaurant opened at 2pm and this particular day was interesting as most of the staff seemed to be bleary eyed from the work exertions the night before. It was used as the concert's VIP area and was bunged to the gills apparently.

Ten fantastic taps are on offer and not one of them from any of the usual bland big boy suspects - you know who I mean. The day I was there with the wife and 4 year old son, they had guest offerings from Beavertown (London), Kinnegar (Co. Donegal), Magic Rock (W. Yorkshire), The White Hag (Co. Sligo) and Mad Hatter (Liverpool).

Pic courtesy of Stephen Byrne

Meals were ordered and after a long delay (which was acknowledged by owner James) we were given a free tapas of olives.  None of us like olives so maybe it would have been better to ask us rather than have me pass them over to the grateful diners opposite.  Having said that, when lunch arrived my beer braised pulled pork with house coleslaw in a brioche bap as well as Mrs W's grilled steak in a bap with rocket and goat's cheese were delicious.  Be mindful that as this is a restaurant, you must order food to be able to avail yourself of any beer.  And so to that beer...

Walled City Brewery usually have a two or three of their own brews on offer and James later told me his plan is to occupy half of the ten taps with his own beer.  The 4.2% abv American pale ale, Boom, is their signature beer and one of the best I had that day.  Fresh with a light citrus edge I could have had this all afternoon. This was followed by the pilsner, Kicks at 4.5% - I'm not a great fan of pilsners or lagers but appreciate that it ticked all the boxes required of that style.  Conditioning in the back but not yet ready were also a wheat - Wit - and IPA - Stitch - and I'm sad that I missed their chilli and lime infused beer called Beerito. If only it hadn't run out the week before I landed up.

It's great to see a flurry of activity in Northern Ireland's north west beer scene.  Three breweries, Walled City, Northbound and to a lesser extent O'Connor have now entered the Derry-Londonderry market over the past twelve months.  Here's hoping they all go from strength to strength.

And if you're a Derry wan or happen to be visiting the city sometime soon, do yourself a big favour and cross the Peace Bridge to Ebrington Square for some seriously tasty grub and a fantastic beer selection.