1 blond, 1 hooker

I finished the Beerhall Challenge today while watching the election results come in. The last noteworthy beer was Vedett, a lager from the Duvel people which comes in a Duvel-shaped bottle but green rather than brown. It's a quite strong (5.2%) lager with a high malt character, reminiscent of Beck's. Dunno if I'd buy this one again. It's good, but lots of people make this kind of thing.

ICB put the word out yesterday that a single test keg of Galway Hooker had been tapped at the Bull & Castle. Having only recently heard about this one I had been dying to try it and was not disappointed. This is an amazing beer and all the more astounding for being made in Ireland. The makers claim "Irish Pale Ale" is a new genre, which I was a bit sceptical about but now I can see where they're coming from. This has a touch of the caramel of the classic Irish red, but also a whole lot of the green, vegetal hops of the textbook IPA. Galway Hooker is amazing stuff. The sooner this is in every bar in the country and exported worldwide as the real taste of Ireland, the better.