Road Trippin

To celebrate their 20^th anniversary in business the good people at Mc Hughs have teamed up Kinnegar to release a special beer. Road Trip a 6.2% American inspired pale ale. I am a big fan of Kinnegar, their Black IPA is one of the best around.  Therefore, I had high expectations of this beer and the early word was this was a beer to try.

 Colour:  Amber in the glass with a good firm head.  Its darker than most pale ales, but it is a big field to play in anyway. A little hazy, but you are warned of that on the label and in my experience it a help hold some of the more delicate hop aromas. 

Aroma: Big hit of perfumery hops with a touch of an herbal note to it. Underpinning this was candy/caramel sweetness with a dash of maltiness. All rounded off with a very pleasant dank/ piney C hop finish. Very American centric so far as one would expect as the hop listed are Chinook, Summit, Cascade, Simcoe, Centennial and then dry-hopped with a healthy dose of Amarillo, Centennial, and Citra!!

Taste: What hit me initially was the sherbet and grapefruit pith along stick hop oils, that all played very well together.  Bringing up the rear was malt backbone. That did not overplay its hand and overpower the hop flavours. A good but not over carbonation helped meld these entire things together. All in all, a well brewed beer. One I really enjoyed tasting and I would love to see re-brewed again.  Let’s us hope this is just the start of a beautiful relationship between Kinnignar and Mc Hughs. For disclosure, Cathal McHugh very kindly offered to send me a bottle for me to review. 

The Great Woods, Blanchy Spoons

Yesterday saw the opening of the third pub in the latests instalment in the Irish portfolio of JW Wetherspoons. The name that was chosen via a reader pole in the Northside people was “The Great Wood”. The Great Scaldwood is the woods proper title and was old rements of old growth Irish forest. Part of the forest would have been in the area of where the Blanchardstown centre now resides. The old Irish forest that was maintained by the local lords till the coming of Cromwell. With the removal of the local gentry wolfs proliferated, which became a danger to man and beast Which resulted in great cull in 1652. 

While I was out for a walk I decided I would pop along and check it out. The site that was chosen was a form night club. Pure drinking establishment in the Blanchardstown area have not fared to well over the years. But I suppose if anyone can make a go of it, it’s probably Wetherspoons. Targeting the pub, cafe/coffee shop, restaurant and general leisure spend. The same day of the opening of  The Great Wood. Wetherspoons in Ireland decide to increases price, somewhere around 33% on selected products. But that didn't appear to put the punters of, the place was packed on both floors. Even with the price increase it’s still cheaper than any pub in the area as far as I am aware of. Although this increase was not applied to any real ale product’s and remained at 2.50 per pint. But that maybe down Tim Martins tipple of choice. The choices currently are all English real ale Hobgoblin, Doom bar, Ghostship etc. I am hoping over time that we will get to see some Irish micro’s getting some space on the beer engines. I wasn't eating but the  food orders did appear appeared to be moving. There is a good bottle selection of Irish craft beer from 8 degrees, Bru and McGraths. Given the proliferation of pubs offering Cute hoor and Hop house as their "craft "options in the area. An as I was told in one new local pub "that's what Diageo/Heineken offered"! The spoons offering is possibly one of the largest selection of Irish craft beer in the area. But why did it take an English pup chain for this to happen?

Adnams Ghost ship (cask): 

Amber in the glass with a good head and lacing.  From been served though a sparkler as God intended. The aroma was mildly hoppy with citrus lemon and finishing with some lemongrass. Taste wise it started with bready malt, citrus fruit and with a very nice tang hop bitter finish. A beer in very good condition and easy drinker to boot. Its great see some cask ale available in the local area and hopefully some from Irish brewery in the not to distant future.

Descent into Anarchy

A few months ago Barry and Fitzwilliam distributors had kindly asked us to meeting up with the people behind Anarchy Brew Co Brewing at W.J. Kavanagh's. I thought this would be a good opportunity to check out a few place along my route to Kavanagh's. Using Google maps I planned out my route to hit some old and new spots, all with good and interesting beers. Give the number and spatial diversity of good beer bars/pubs around Dublin now. There are now a few good bimble's to be had. Unfortunately, this post is much later than I had anticipated as I lost some of my notes and pictures!

Porter house chocolate stout, Porterhouse Temple bar:

First stop was to check out this year’s release of the Porterhouse chocolate stout. I missed it last year, but the word was that this year was very good and worth seeking out.  In the glass it's black was you would expect with a nice dense white head. The aroma is of big cocoa and sweet chocolate. The chocolate theme is carried over in the taste, dry cocoa and dark chocolate finishing. With a slight bitterness that either came from the chocolate or hops. Great beer and I can see why this was such a hit this years, it’s just a pity I left it so long before trying it!

Panti Bars House Pale ale:

Next stop was to try Panti bars house Irish craft beer, Panti’s pale ale. Its brewer by Trouble brewing, so from the out it has a very good pedigree to fall back on. It poured amber in colour, a bit reminiscent of an English bitter. With an aroma of light citrusy hops. On the palate, there was a firm bitterness and hop resin from the hops. As the half warmed up, toffee/caramel and malt notes came to the fore. Given it's priced in at  4 euro a pint or 11 for a pitcher, it represents good value and a solid beer to boot. 

Respect your elders Galway bay brewery, The Black sheep:

This the 16^th pilot batch out of  Galway Bay Brewery and  it was on cask at The Black sheep. Deep brown in the glass with a tight white head from been served through a sparkler. The aroma is clean, with a slight caramel/toffee and malt. Taste wise it’s a well attenuated beer. No big sugar/ caramel candy bomb, which something used to describe the style. Smooth melanoidins that is balanced out with the hop bitterness. A well brewed beer and served in good condition. 

My final stop and the main event was W.J. Kavanagh's. There were three  beer from Anarchy  available. All of them on keg, which it turned out unusual as they are manly a cask brewery.  First up was Anti-Vemon  IPA

Anti-Vemon  IPA:

In the glass, it was had a  slightly hazy yellow. The aroma was of mango and sweet American hops. The bitterness as lighter than I expected which was followed by slight malt sweetness, easy drinker of a 6% beer. 

Citra star:

Lighter than Anti-venom, weighing in at 4.1%. Big tropical fruit on the nose, with a very pleasing mouth feel and hop flavour. Overall a more balanced beer than Anti-venom   and a one that I have a few pints on the night.

Sublime Chaos:

A big stout (7%) and possibly off all the beer I would have really like to try on cask. The tread decription describes it as “ a stout infused with Ethiopian Guji natural coffee beans, balanced delicately with New Zealand hops.” It was as black as the ace of spades in the glass with a big cocoa noise. On the plate, there was a tsunami of dry cocoa and a light coffee and a chocolate sweetness finish. I did not really pick up the much in the way of the New Zealand hops. All in all a good stout.

Smoke Saison:

My favourite beer of the evening, it poured a pale hazy straw colour from the bottle. This beer is all about the aroma, up front bacon and beach wood finish with the classic Belgian/ saison phenols. On the palate there is the initial pepperiness from the saison yeast. Then creepy behind came the smokiness from the Rauch malt. This beer was perfectly balanced, something that is very had to achieve. Considering there are the phenols/ pepperiness of the yeast to marry with the acrid beach wood flavour. Nevertheless, they did manage to do it and I was told around 20% ruach was used. Which is also the class percentage for a very good smoked porter.  A very good beer and worth seeking out.

A big thank you to  Barry and Fitzwilliam, Anarchy Brew Co and W.J. Kavanagh's for have us all.

Hop Adventure

I picked up O'Haras  new release. The first in a series of Single hop IPA's from my local Molloys off license. Single hop beers appear to be very much in vogue with Irish brewers these days and I say I can't complain.

For their first in the series they opted for the Japanese hop, Sorachi Ace. Developed by Sapporo its been around since the mid 1980's but came to the for with the hop crises of 2007-2008.  O'Haras has used it  for all bittering, aromatic and dry hop additions to maximise its potential in the beer. I have had a bit of a mix bag of experiences with this hop over the last few years. But proof is on the eating or in this case in the drinking.

Colour: Its pours a light yellow with a good head.

Aroma: Up front with a big citrus hit of lemon-grass, following a more subdued and smother gorse wild-flower.

Taste: It has the body of a west coast IPA with a rather pleasant slick hop mouth feel. Muted sweetens is the followed with lemon, hop acids and bitterness. The crystal malt has been retained allow the hop to shine through. A little reminiscent of a lemon margarine pie filling in a strange way and could be quite refreshing on a hot day. For those that are unfamiliarly with this unique hop it worth checking out.

New Things

Oxymoron kiwi Wit: 8 degrees Belgian inspired wit beer, pours hazy yellow with a big fluffy head. The aroma is of big classic Belgian phenols and pepper. Following with floral, tropical and citrus fruits. I got to sample both the keg (via Against The Grain) and bottle form. I did notice a slight difference between the two. The bottle had a little more of the phenols punch, whereas the keg I though edged on the tropical hop aromas. Medium bodied, with a softness that come for the use of malted wheat. Not the classic form of wheat for a wit. But one that works very well to balance out the yeast phenols and when you want hops to a play role. All of this was closely followed up with the Belgian yeast flavours interplaying with hop bitterness, lemon and a pleasant pepperiness in the finish. 

Grand Stretch:  I picked up a bottle from my local Malloy’s off-licence the latest beer from 8 degrees, a session IPA. It pours a clear orange in colour. On the noise it hits with mango, citrus mandarin, pine and ending with a dash of sherbet from cascade.  Medium body, it’s bigger in mouth feel that you would expect from a 4.2% season IPA. A firm hop bitterness and a dose of hop acid balances out the beer nicely. A well brewed session IPA that drinks like a bigger beer, with out the side-effects.   

Equinox SMASH: On what start out with me dropping of Beoir Magazines to a few place around Dublin city centre. I happened upon a few Beoir member and bloggers in the Brew Dock. Preparing to head do to the Killarney beer festival, more on that in another post. Forward on a few venue drop offs and a few beers later, Des De Moor, Steve Lamond and myself ended up at the Butchers bar in the Bull and Castle. Des and myself order a glass of Trouble brewing new Equinox SMaSH (single malt and single hop). At this stage of the evening I was not taken a huge amount of note! But the aroma was truly memorable , one of the highlight of the evening. All big tropical fruit on the noise, papaya and finishing with a hint of lemon. An at 4.5% it is something you can enjoy a few without worries. It good to see such great brewers releasing such  full flavoured  low abv beers

"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

I  picked the one of three available bottles of Brewdog's new Double IPA, Born To Die from my local Molloys off-licence. At 11 euro its not cheap, but you do get 650ml of a 8.5% for you money though. 

Colour: Clear light golden, with a nice neat head 

Aroma: Big mango, C-hop with a very health does of tropical fruit. Finishing with little sweet malt

Taste: As you probably would expect been a double IPA and and beer from Brewdog. Hops would be expected to play canter stage if not hog all the limelight. It initial hits with a big volley  of mango and papaya. For a 8.5% beer the alcohol is very will hidden  allow all those aromas and flavours to come to the for.  There is a good body to the beer with plenty of  hop resins with every mouth full. Almost have a oily feel to it, but   all but in  a good way. The hop is bitterness is there but is not a prominent as you would expect for a 100 IBU beer. But this does not detract from the beer. 

Way back in the mid noughts there was  some  debate been beer among the beer nerds Beerinati and home-brewers. As to whether double IPA's were just American barley wines by another name. In fairness there where a few that possibly were at the time, with lager percentage of crystal malt. But Born To Die is certainly not one of these. Once all those lovely tropical aromas fade. Leaving nothing more than a skeleton of malt backbone holing up what was the delicate aromatic structure. An that is just the way it should be for double IPA's. Drink fresh and enjoy. 

   

Hopster

A new kid on the block, Radik ale released his first beer, a couple of weeks ago. A single hopped (Chinook) american pale ale. 5.2% ABV and 36 IBU and places it in the drinking range for many of the public.  Alain had very kindly dropped of a couple of bottles for me to try at the 57th The Headlines. 

The urban homebrewing legends say's that one of the most famous Chinook single hop beers is Stone's big Arrogant Bastard. A big American strong ale and certainly not in the session range that Hopster is aimed at.  Single hop beer can be a great learning tool to understand what aromas and flavours certain hops can contribute to the beer. 

Colour: A dark amber, heading towards the red range., with a nice white head. Darker than most other pale ales on the scene, but a welcome addition.

Aroma: Upfront with dark/dank C hops, pine a little caramel and finishing with some light grapefruit. Not over powering, which kept it still a very approachable beer. 

Taste: My impression of this beer is of  a clean  and well brewed beer.Following with a good dose of dark fruits, rich caramel and a malt finish. As the beer warmed up the presences of the crystal malt was kept way  in check by the spicy/ grapefruit Chinook hops. The use of Chinook hops and a dark crystal malt, its hard not to draw parallels to that very famous west coast American strong ale. Great first beer from Radik ale. Hopster, a beer that has something for the hop fan right though to those looking for more from their red ales. I am looking forward to their next release.    

All was quiet on New Year ’s Day!

On a wet New Year ’s Day, with the Year not even 12 hours old I had my first brewery tour. It could possibly be the some sort of record, but who knows. Gordon of 9 White deer was very kind to agree to show me around the brewery. On our way back to Dublin, after spending New Year ’s Eve in Kenmare, we passed through Ballyvourney. The home town of 9 White deer, we stopped off to meet Gordon and have a look around the brewery. 

The brew house its self is a 22 HL system, Gordon was very active in the design and build of his brew-house. Which can be seen reflected in the design of the heat system. The kettle is heated via a steam powered external wort boiler which to maximizes the entire kettle. Which I was told is fairly unique for a system of its size. Something you’re more likely to seen with the bigger boys. As the external boiler is kept at 105 deg C there is no scorching of the wort. 

A glimpse of the rakes within the mash tun

They have range of different fermentation vessels. Four double brew 45 HL and two single 25HL. Which in total give a capacity of 300 hectoliters or 30,000 litres.  Gordon added his own cooling system to the fermentation vessels. Copper coil was placed around each fermentation vessel that supplied glycol for cooling/heating.  Which was the insulated to maintain the correct temperature.  

Walkway for ease of access to the fermentation vessels. 

They have added a state of the art bottling line can fill 1700 by 500ml bottles per hour. There is very little oxygen pick-up as each bottle is double flushed with carbon dioxide. Give the rate of bottle, I suspect it keeps the people working on it very busy.

The Home brewing system, from which it all started with. I was very envious when I first was the system over on Beoir. Gordon’s ability to fabricate such a system and having it to play around with. It has now been promoted to become the pilot brew house from 9 White deer and an assist to the brewery 

Lots of lovely shiny kegs. They went with the brewery name on the kegs over the somewhat traditional method of a color code on the kegs 

  

Stag Ban a 4.5%, 30 IBU's. It’s a pale- gold beer with a nice white head. The aroma is of citrus and lemons, which finishes with a little fresh cut grass. The hops used are First Gold, Amarillo and Cascade. Which would add the citrus notes noticed the nose. It has a medium body, dry, with almost with a clean enjoyable lager quality to it. Ban very much reminded me of some of the classic golden ales and a very drinkable beer.  I suspect Ban as a base beer would be a good platform to experiment with some single cask hopping.  

Stag Rua a 4.5% Irish red ale. It’s a dark ruby in the glass, with some caramel aromas. But this much dryer beer than some Irish reds would suggest. There is a little caramel flavour which is then firmly backed up with a roastiness from the grain paired with hop tannin's and bitterness. Some different for the Irish red ale lover and welcome addition the Irish craft beer scene.  

Photo via 9 White Deer

Thank you very much to Gordon for venturing out on a cold and wet News Years morning to show me around the brewery.  For disclosure I did receive beers to review. 

Go West

In mid-January Beoir members were invited down to have a look around Galway hooker's new brewery. In Oranmore  just outside of Galway. The first of the new generation of micro-breweries after the Porterhouse. They began brewing in 2006 on the site of the previous Emerald Brewery just outside Roscommon town.  In May 2041 they moved to a much bigger site and kit in Oranmore. Their flagship beer Irish Pale ale (IPA), a clever play on the common IPA acronym. Which is a firm favorite of mine. Hooker have gone on to launch a few other beers such as their Stout, IPA, weiss and a dark lager. 

With one of the most iconic tap handles around,their "sail" counter mounts are made from larch by the Adrian Qualter. It is also used the same wood that the Galway hooker boats are made from, a nice use of traditional materials. 

The new brewery 40 hl brew-house,  is a cathedral of steel. That is just over 24 UK barrels in old money. This in comparison to the previous 650 litre system. The brew-house is a combination of a combined  mash/latuer tun (right) and kettle/whirlpool vessels (left). The malt  and auger, are just out of shot to the right.

There is plenty of room in the facility to expand if need. The brew-house was designed with the option two additional vessels (mash/lauter tun) if required. The fermentation vessels and bright tank (foreground) are double volume (80hl) allowing for increased capacity. The operation also captures the heat for the heat exchanger, which is feed back to the hot liquor tank. Making the system very green in operation. 

Yeast storage and collection system, which allows the brewery to re-pitch in a safe and clean fashion.  

While on the tour we got to try fresh from the fermenter their new Sixty knots IPA. Aidan kindly drew off a few liters  fresh  from the fermenter. It tasted bitter, was would expect from such a fresh beer. But it was all about the aroma, all citrus and pine in spades too.

I caught finally caught up with the bottle version a few weeks later. 6.5% abv and 60 IBU’s, very much a big brother to the pale ale. The colour was a dark amber, more that the sample from the fermenter would have suggested. But the aroma is big pine/grapefruit. Taste, there is a mix of the hop bitterness and crystal/biscuit malt. Which I found played a nice foil to each other. It reminded a bit of Hilden’s Bucks Head, a classic English style IPA finished with lots of American hops. 

The highlight of the trip for me was the cask Galway hooker stout, hand pump and sparkler. You couldn't have ask for more. Coffee and chocolate aroma, medium body with a nice soft finish, in top condition. There is not much more fun to be had than in a brewery, been able to pull you own pint via a beer engine. 

There the third addition to their permanent line up was the release of Galway Hooker dark lager. Not as dark as I was expecting, it  reminded more of an Alt or Veinna lager. Aroma, sweet cereal with a slight nuttiness. Flavour wise some Carmel finishing with a pleasant hop bitterness. A different and welcome take on a classic style. The image below is courtesy of The Beer Nut  blog post The west.....

Thank you to all at Galway Hooker, for a great and fun day.

Dinner at 57 The Headline's

The annual birthday dinner was coming up and decided on some where we would dine. Usually it would be some in the city center that also had a good craft option in house or very near by. This year I had one or two in mind, more for the food, as their craft option was not great. But then there was a very good blog post by Ruben aka Tale of Ale  Big Bullies. In short looking at the "downward" pressure some of the big brewing corporations and conspiring pubs are placing on the Irish consumers craft select. Read his post is very good. So I thought about places that my wife and I had not dined before. Also somewhere that would tick the Irish craft supporting beer box. So the, 57 The Headline came to mind. Not that I not been there before for beers. But it was somewhere that is a little out of way for us and neither of us had eaten there before. So off we went, normal I can do the quays to The Headline in around 20 minutes of a fast walk. But was my Emer, my wife was in heels we opted for a cab.

When we arrived, I was lucky enough to catch the end of the Kinnegar tap take over. I opted for their Black Bucket, a 6.5% Black Rye IPA that I had Irish Beer Whiskey Festival a few weeks before and loved. Cool, tasty and it hot the spot, Emer when with a white wine. I can’t remember which one but there was a good menu to choose from. We were impressed with the relaxed atmosphere in which we could peruse the papers and enjoy our drinks before look at the dinner options.

 

After our drinks we looks at the food options. We opted for the 2 starters, 2 mains and the choice of two drinks for 40 euro. I went for the Lamb meats balls. Three large Turkish meatballs, bulgur wheat salad and some warm flat breads. Emer opted for the Calamari, served with a well put together salad and cumber and mint dip. Both dishes were large, tasty and well-arranged. The Calamari was perfectly cooked, which can  all to easily be overdone. The offer cane with a choice of a drink each. There are eight wines to choose from. Great for those that are not into craft beer.  An with thirteen Irish crafts beer to choose, there is something for every Irish craft beer fan.  I opted for Trouble brewing Dark Arts a personal favorite of mine and I find a good beer to have meaty dishes.  For mains we bother went for the burgers, large and well-cooked. Which were  accompanied by  a side of some tasty chips and it was just what  I was looking for. Prompt and efficient service round of a very nice meal of us both. 

Up next on the beer front  was the new release from   Trouble brewing's Hop Priority. A  Triple IPA weighing in at 11% ABV via keg and hops were Mandarina Bavaria, Amarillo, Equinox and Vic Secret hops. But its one beer I   missed at the Irish beer and whiskey festival 2015. As it was on cask but not in condition at the time. It's  a huge big juicy hop bomb, of tropical fruit and pineapple.  A hop potpourri for any craft beer fan. There is a big body but it's not cloying or over sweet, just perfect. There is some considerable skill of brewer in keeping this 11% monster very drinkable. 

We finish our meal and decided on one last drink down at the bar. Last beer of the night was Kinnegar white rabbit (Keg) a 4.8% American wheat beer. Hops possibly citra, sadly I did not take a picture of it.  But I did take one of the bottle version I had a few days later. It is interesting to compare the two, I found the keg version to have much clearer tropical hop profile, soft wheat ending with a pleasant bitterness's. The bottled version was a some what hopped up wit feel to it. With more of a lemon citrus noise ans taste to it. Both were well brewed version of the beer, but I felt that the keg version was the winner.

I spotted this handsome fella at the bar and had to take a picture. Well that wraps up this post, great food, value and choice of some excellent Irish craft beers.Well worth a visit or possibly two for libations, food or a combination of both .