Late to the party

This is day eight of Indie Beer Week 2018 and I'm rounding off my series of posts with the beers I discovered during the week itself.

I'm picking things up where I left them yesterday with Praetorian, new from YellowBelly and as far as I know exclusive to its beer club subscribers. "Polaris hopped blueberry weizen" is the unlikely style statement, and it's 5% ABV. It looks like a smoothie, pouring a murky dark purple hue, without a proper weissbier head. There's not much aroma, while the flavour is odd and perfumed: a mix of miscellaneous spices and non-specific fruit. There's a sharpness which could be attributed to the berries, but nothing that really says blueberry flavour. On the other side it's a weissbier by texture for sure, but that's it. I get the Polaris, though: a sharp herbal mint. So one out of three. For all the wowee craft innovation it's quite a plain beer, a lot less interesting than any standard weizen you care to name.

That backed up my notion that weissbier isn't one of the traditional styles amenable to craft hacking, a prejudice which was further confirmed by Lemondrop, just released by Carrig Brewing. The hacking is apparently no more than dry hopping with the titular hop and Denali, but my pint arrived clear and gold in a straight-sided glass, the attempt at a big weiss head making it look like an underfilled pint of lager. The mere 4.6% ABV is further evidence of inauthenticity, but it really kicks in from the aroma: sweet and sticky like a lemon meringue pie. The flavour is pretty much the same, adding a touch of banana foam sweets. The whole thing is weird and artificial. Contrived; and bound to upset any Germans who come to Bar Rua looking for a weissbier. This experiment didn't work out.

Staying in that pub, owner Carrig's other new guy was Basil Blast, a gold-coloured Centennial and Simcoe pale ale of 5.5% ABV, with a purported large helping of basil in the whirlpool. There's definitely something other than the usual in here, but I'd swear it was ginger: that slightly woody, chewy, spice you tend to get from real fresh ginger. It certainly shouts over the hopping, and I am assured that no ginger was involved in the recipe. There is a slight herbal tang on the tail, but it's not the oily green richness of real basil. A dry and tannic finish complements the spicing. This is definitely a refreshing beer, and was much appreciated on a warm sunny afternoon; it's just a little confusing.

Around the corner, last Friday, Stephen Street News hosted the third beer release from Liam, aka Dead Centre Brewing: Seeking Sunshine IPA. He kindly donated a can for me to bring home where I drank it in the last rays of Sunday's sun. It's 5% ABV and brewed with Citra and Amarillo, pouring a pale yellow shade with little head. The aroma is quite dank and funky, though with a little bit of juice thrown in. Its flavour, then, is disappointingly savoury, piling in the caraway taste I associate most with Mosaic-gone-awry. There is a faint juiciness as well on the very end, a tantalising echo of mandarin, hinting at what this could have been without all the honking caraway. The texture is nicely full thanks to the oats in the grist, and the carbonation is low enough to make it easy drinking. It's still a passable IPA, but in need of punching up, I think.

I covered Third Barrel's goings-on on Tuesday. Their last-minute contribution to the week, in UnderDog yesterday, was Juice Bigalow. And yes: juice. Big juice. Mega juice. It opens on a giant bag of mandarins, rendered extra juicy by an effervescent sherbet quality. There's bitter kick on the end, a growing dankness, a metallic tang and... waaaait a minute: this bears a striking resemblance to Tuesday's sensation Two Yards, from the same brewery for someone else. Is it wrong of me to suspect this is a very small variation on it? Very small? It doesn't matter either way to me: I get great beer regardless. Pleasingly full-bodied at a super-sessionable 4.1% ABV, it's properly complex and juicy as all hell. You can call it what you like, sure. (And I am completely wrong to be suspicious; see comments).

Fresh from Whiplash is Shades of Marble double IPA, at the standard Whiplash ABV of 8%, hopped with Galaxy, Vic Secret and Lemondrop, and both looking and smelling like pineapple juice. There's a bit of yeast grit in with the tropical fruit, though that doesn't come through in the flavour. It's still pretty soupy-tasting, however: glutinous floury protein blocking any hop brightness. There's a green veg foretaste, then the bitter liquorice of Vic Secret, and a buzz of alcohol. It's all a bit harsh and unfinished-tasting for my liking, and yes I know that's the style. Clean this one up and it would be very decent.

I finally got to tick off the last of the Hopfully trilogy brewed for the Klaw restaurants (you can find the other two here). Auntie Arthur's is a porter, modestly strong at 4.8% ABV. The presentation was poor: a dirty glass leading to dodgy head retention, but that didn't interfere with the flavour. There's a light and easy-going chocolate foretaste, followed by medium roast and a slightly metallic tang on the end. A long aftertaste brings endless cups of strong filter coffee. This is dry rather than creamy, yet still full-bodied. Solid; by-the-numbers. It went very well with my sweet and spicy prawn poke.

Hopfully also released a new seasonal, described as a "white India Pale Lager" and named California Uncommon. This has the pale and hazy appearance of a witbier but puts delicious fresh and juicy peaches at the front of the flavour. The expected herbal spicing comes after, a little jarring at first but settling out to rosemary and lemon zest, like a slightly adventurous stuffing. While not particularly lager-like with all this going on, it is at least clean and devoid of unpleasant yeast interference. You could just consider it a decent pale ale and be happy with that.

Rascals came out with a sequel to last year's Strawberry Vanilla Shake IPA in the form of Raspberry Sundae IPA. While the former did manage to preserve a considerable proportion of its IPA character, this one throws it all up in the air and runs away giggling. It tastes exactly like raspberry ripple ice cream, warming to lean more towards a jam-and-cream spongecake. There's a certain beery bitterness buried right at the back, and a touch of actual hop flavour on the reflux, but otherwise this is all dessert. It's clean and drinkable despite this: fun, silly and hard to dislike.

A late-evening call to The Hill in Ranelagh yielded a pint of Dolmen. This whiskey-barrel stout is from Western Herd, a Clare brewery whose wares are rarely seen in these parts. It's 7.6% ABV and sweet without tasting hot. Black cherry is at the centre, laced with coconut cream around the edges and given a dusting of cocoa. But there was something else, something not part of the confection construction, and it took me a while to figure it out. Autolysis. A jarring meaty flavour -- Bovril or gravy -- that hovers in the background and comes to the fore at the very end. It's too late to spoil anything, but it does take the shine off an otherwise calm and balanced beer.

Here endeth the week's festivities, for this blog at least. Got your plan ready for the closing weekend of IBW18? Good.

The Belly-go-round

Feels like a while since my last YellowBelly reviews so here's a multi-beer Indie Week catch-up.

It begins with Yellowbeard, a 7% ABV  IPA with added pineapple. Though a murky orange colour, it's no fruit smoothie, showing loads of dank and resinous hops up front, with just a lacing of tropical fruit around the edges.  It's enjoyable but I think I would have preferred it as a straight-up IPA: the pineapple is distracting and, as is so often the case, doesn't actually add anything useful to the beer. I'm blaming the pineapple for the unfortunate dishwater aroma too. Just as I was in danger of thinking that fruit in pale ales was acceptable, along comes one to remind me it isn't. Thanks Yellowbeard!

Throwing a welcome two fingers at seasonality, this was followed with Captain's Table oatmeal stout. I'm fairly take-it-or-leave-it with these usually; there's frequently a putty flavour that I don't care for. Happily it was completely absent in this (yes, I now write about what beers don't taste like) and instead there were lots of classic plain stout signifiers: a soft foamy head atop a pure black body, a strong flavour of dark chocolate of the high-cocoa variety in the minimalist wrapper, and an almost astringent espresso-like roasted bitterness. Everything is turned up to 11, except the ABV which chugs along merrily at 5%. This is a high-grade, no-nonsense, quaffing stout. An excellent antidote to all them fancy beers you get these days.

And speaking of which, that went on tap in UnderDog at the same time as Hammertime , another fruited IPA (passionfruit this time) and again running at 7% ABV. Passionfruit normally tastes like passionfruit in beer, but this tastes orangey. It looks it too: bright and opaque, the citrus effect enhanced by the rounded glass. There's an off-putting sweaty tang to the jaffas in the aroma, while the flavour is sweet, like orange jelly, both of the dessert variety and the sugared candies too. By way of complexity I got a side note of raspberry jam and a dusting of chocolate. Crucially there's no punch here; no bitter tang, and it's not even juicy. I found the whole thing, while not actively nasty, just too sweet and lacking in IPA character.

And this space was reserved for Praetorian, the second beer in the brewery's Beer Club series. But logistical difficulties mean it hasn't arrived yet and will have to wait until my attention turns to the 'Belly once more. I'm sure it won't be long. Sit tight. Afternoon edit: It just landed. Review tomorrow. 

Indie and Urban

Indie Beer Week continues with a return visit to hyperactive Dublin brewpub Urban Brewing to see what strange novelties they have for me this time.

There's a rosé theme to the off-kilter offerings, beginning with Pink Peppercorn Weisse, and this one's not even that off-kilter. It's an easy-going 5% ABV and a sunny witbier yellow colour. The banana aroma brings us straight to Bavaria, however. Banana continues in the flavour, except after a second or two there's a sudden jolt of spices. It's not out of keeping with how some weissbier yeasts add clove and nutmeg notes, though the pronounced sharpness tells me it's really down to the peppercorns. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the two elements complement each other -- peppercorns and weissbier is not a combination I thought would work. The whole thing makes for a decently refreshing summer weisse, still wholesome and classic despite the twist.

That was followed by Hibiscus Wheat, and this one was at least glaringly pink coloured. The ABV goes up to 5.5% and the weissbier character remains: clove spicing and lighter banana this time. A light cherry candy character is all the hibiscus contributes to the flavour and the end result is quite a plain tasting effort with the bright plumage its most interesting feature.

A plain old dubbel next, titled Belgian Forest. Except this one leaves the style's norms far behind. It's only 5.5% ABV, for one thing, and a murky orange rather than rich brown; the colour of a long-abandoned cup of milky tea. Caramel makes up the aroma, while the flavour offers an odd mix of apple, damson and mixed berries. It tastes purple. That, along with the name, suggests that there has been a fruit addition, but I saw no indication of that written anywhere. I deem this one confusing but not unpleasant. The various flavours would work if it were bigger, darker and more serious. Y'know, like a dubbel.

Last up, the unexcitingly named Barrel Aged Sour. Oh, except there's another surprise in store here: it's very exciting. It took a while to get to as it was on a portable tap behind the counter (quite possibly still is) and a gas tank had to be located and hooked up to it. I understand some other punters weren't afforded the same level of service later that weekend. It poured a medium orange colour, exuding a sweet and spicy aroma. The flavour brings the oak first -- winey cork and smooth vanillins -- before settling into sumptuous and juicy peach and grape. It's all very soft and sweet, with a charming funked-up maturity. Not sour, not sharp nor crisp; it's calm and refined, like a cool Fino sherry. The complexity and poise here are first rate and I really hope it's merely the first in a long line of expertly aged beers from the basement barrelstore.

Another day and another brewery to catch up on tomorrow.

Who wants some?

I've not visited the Third Barrel Brewery, but outbound traffic must be brisk, what with three in-house brands to keep stocked, plus numerous proxy arrangements for other beer makers. In my second post for Indie Beer Week 2018, I'm going to be looking at a varied handful of beers from the D12 brewer.

You rarely have to wait long for something hoppy, and the latest in that line under their own labels is Shut Up Juice pale ale. It's a dense opaque orange colour, 5% ABV and primed with Citra, Vic Secret, El Dorado and Simcoe hops, promising a smörgåsbord of citrus and tropical flavours. Juice is to the fore in the aroma but the flavour is more severe — sharply acidic lemon and lime plus a strong hit of yeast, almost to the point of tasting smoky. There's a great beer under here but I think it came out a bit rough and rushed.

Subsidiary brand Third Circle released a wholly unexpected golden English bitter recently, named AK, which turned up on cask at UnderDog. Bang on at 3.8% ABV and absolutely bang on with its waxy bitter opener — almost Landlordesque. There's a more modern lemon rind kick lightening the mood a little after that, and then it all fades away quickly, ready for another sup. Served a little cooler, somewhere with an outdoors option, it would be a summer belter, and the sort of beer no Irish brewery makes any more. As-was, it was still pretty authentic tasting, and much better than most of what goes through the pumps at Irish Wetherspoons.

I was also happy to chance upon Third Circle's Our Daily Brett at The Beer Market, having missed out on the event where it first appeared. This is another 3.8%-er, and a hazy pale orange. There's a highly perfumed aroma: sweet jasmine and heavier incense. The attractive exotic smell turns to a full-on musk on tasting, loaded with woody resins, all sandalwood and cedar. There's a slight peach tang, injecting a little sweetness, though it doesn't have the gummy thickness that often comes with Brett-derived fruit notes. An unfortunate savoury yeast twang sounds a bum note towards the end. It finishes quickly, entirely in keeping with the low ABV. This is decent, and cleaned up it would be superb.

Moving to the client brewers, but keeping that UK vibe alive, here's C'mere T'eme (should be "T'me", surely?), the second release by Crafty Bear Brewing. Though badged as an amber ale, I had it on cask at The Black Sheep and that very much turned it into a dark English bitter. It's smooth and fantastically tannic. Behind the tea there's an exotic spicing of sandalwood, frankincense and peppercorns. If it stopped there, it would be another great one, but the tannins just keep building out of control, becoming harshly astringent by the end. It was frustrating to see it just miss the mark, but it's an experiment worthy of repeating.

Established client brewer Two Sides has teamed up with Brickyard for two Third-Barrel-brewed offerings so far. The first is Two Sides's second coffee porter, called Bricks & Porter. It's on the high side for a pintable sessioner at 5.5% ABV but makes good use of the extra legroom to pack in loads of milk chocolate and coffee notes, with a sweet dash of hazelnut adding an extra, complementary, dimension. The texture is creamy and yet the body is light. A rock-solid coffee porter, and ideal if you value sweetness over dry and bitter roast.

Finally, for the sort-of heatwave we're currently going through, Two Yards, a 4.3% ABV session IPA. Details are scarce, but it's hella juice-looking and hella juice-tasting, beginning on real oranges and then calming down and thinning out to more of an orangeade thing on the end. In the middle there's a bright floral jasmine spice as well as a mild hit of alium and a naughty buzz of dankness as well. It's extremely satisfying when a beer packs all of this into just a light and easy-drinking package. Maybe there's something to this collaborative brewing lark after all.

The Indie Beer Week posts continue with more Dublin beers tomorrow.

Look around you

Indie Beer Week is upon us! Events kicked off on Friday and run through next weekend too. Have a look at the calendar to see what's happening in your part of the country. I did my bit locally on Saturday by visiting the new Porterhouse brewery, and all week I'll be blogging about Irish beer, starting with this rag-tag assortment of random samples.

The second in Rye River's Limited Edition Series was Miami J, a New England IPA. At the launch event in 57 The Headline, head brewer Bill talked us through the process, one involving Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic, Lemondrop and Amarillo, with all the bitterness derived from the whirlpool. It's up to you to actually find the bitterness, of course: the first flavour I got was a huge and juicy pineapple. There's a slightly slick and gummy vanilla note after this, which is also the dominant characteristic of the aroma, and is possibly the beer's weakest aspect but entirely in keeping with the style. The finish is grassy and just a little hot, reflecting honestly the 6.5% ABV. Overall it's spot-on for the style and largely lacking in flaws and imbalances. If you like your IPAs sweet and juicy get some of this, and soon.

Staying canned and juicy, the newest one from Whiplash at time of writing is called Clap Hands. It describes itself as an American wheat beer, a style that used to mean something quite specific: wheat-based beer fermented out with neutral ale yeast. That has all but been abandoned by the brewing industry now, Carlow Brewing's Curim being the only extant example I can think of. "American" now means highly hopped, and this employs a tropical supergroup of Mosaic, El Dorado and Lemondrop. It pours a milky opaque orange colour with only a short-lived head. The aroma is fabulously juicy from the get-go, however: an enticing swirl of mango and passionfruit with just a cheeky seasoning of garlic. The flavour continues largely along those lines, emphasising the savoury side a little more as the yeast bite kicks in, but but placing the hops front and centre, displaying fresh and zingy juice alongside a sharper herbal bitterness. This is all done at only 5.2% ABV, which means it's expensive at over €5 a can, but if you have the money, buy a couple and drink them side-by-side. More from Whiplash later in the week.

Along still similar lines is Five, the lowest alcohol offering in Rascals's 759 series. This popped up at the spritz festival organised by Wallace Winebars in the Millennium Walkway last month. It's a pleasant balanced chappie, covering what's expected from the flavour profile, with a garlicky hop burn contrasting with softer vanilla. I thought it had a lot in common with Trouble Brewing's excellent Ambush pale ale, though it's perhaps a touch punchier and less fruity. Very decent, though. Bring on the Nine!

Then I was completely wrong-footed by the second beer from Martin's Off Licence's 40th anniversary series. The Portrait Project Juicy IPA was brewed at Hope with collaborative input from DOT, and the name implied it would be hazy. But no! It poured from the can a clear dark gold. The aroma isn't exactly juicy: there's the invigorating sharpness of fresh American C-hops. The flavour is in the middle. It's dank and resinous: herbal, finishing bitter; but there's a New England thickness to it, and a layer of milkshake vanilla and spun sugar. I don't think "juicy" is the appropriate word. "Sweet" would probably do. Overall it's OK: nothing is really distinctive about it and it falls into line with a hundred other modern IPAs. In its favour it's only 5% ABV, so no nasty hotness. An ah-yeah-grand sort of juicy IPA.

But if you really want to go trend-chasing, how about Ireland's first brut IPA? I had genuinely never heard of this sub-style before Black's of Kinsale made one, and I still couldn't tell you the name of the archetype. What I do know is that Black's SuperDry is 6.5% ABV and showed up on tap in 57 The Headline on June bank holiday weekend. The hazy pale orange colour was normal enough, but the taste is weird. Yeasty grit was the first thing to come out, then a loud spicy and floral jasmine or hibiscus thing. After a moment that settled into a genuine Champagne flavour: white grape and toast, building gradually in sweetness until it's more like a Muscat. Once I'd had a good walk around that, turned it over and kicked it a bit, I decided it wasn't really for me. There's not enough proper hopping to it, and despite the complexity, that basic yeast dirt never really goes away. Still, I guess I'd better brace myself for more of these.

Belgian IPA, another twist on that genre, is a tricky style. The Americans tend to do it well; the Belgians struggle a bit. How would the Irish get on? This is Immram from The White Hag, a touch light on the style spec at 6.8%. It smells plenty full, though: a powerfully sweet peach and mango effect. Caraway creeps in in the flavour, as well as a severe plasticky bitterness. The Belgian esters are just about apparent but aren't the dominant feature, yet neither is there the fresh bright zing of the American hops. My biggest gripe is the carbonation: it's rather flat, which contributes to the overall sticky and sickly cloying effect. I can see the beer this is meant to be but it has come out a bit too rough and unready for my liking. Raging Bitch has nothing to worry about.

My one nod to the north comes in the form of Hillstown's The Crazy Horse double IPA, opened and shared round by Sean at UnderDog one evening. This leaves no one in any doubt about its 8.5% ABV: it's hot and heavy. From the dark ochre body arises a soupy yeast aroma infused with high-octane sherry and marker pens. The flavour adds an unsubtle metallic bitterness to this, though there is some token gentility in the hints of coconut. Overall, though, it's round, unfinished and quite amateur tasting. Definitely not in the same league as most Irish double IPAs these days.

What the heck is this? Copper Moose by Lough Gill, "Raspberry Vanilla Lactose Sour"? I was apprehensive. It's a hazy orangey pink and does smell like a proper framboise, fruity and tart with no sugary additions but a classy touch of mature oak on the end. It's a little sweeter to taste, yet not excessive: the raspberries taste real while the lactose, and the vanilla in particular, balance the sourness. To adapt a sour beer cliché, it cleans the teeth without stripping the enamel completely off. It's light too, only gently fizzy, and I was pleased to see the ABV matching that with 4.7%. The whole thing glides gently off the palate leaving a faint mouth-watering juiciness behind. Overall it's a pretty decent, balanced, and largely gimmick-free offering.

And speaking of gimmicks, here's a ginger beer as the Porterhouse's first summer special release. Bobblehead is all of 5.5% ABV so I don't get why it's so thin and insipid. It might have got away with the lack of substance if it had piled in the spices, but it hasn't, resulting in a soapy and watery effort. More of anything would have improved this, and kept it from tasting like nothing very much at all.

But back to fruit and sourness for a moment, and Dead Flag Blues, one with blueberries from Galway Bay Brewery. The odd twist here is the use of wine yeast, which lends it a lager-like cleanness and none of the stickiness you often get from mixing berries and malt. There's a crisp Champagne sparkle, though it is a little thin, even for the modest 4% ABV. It really is a beer that's more about the feels than the flavour, though it definitely does have one: tangy blueberry juice and drier skin tannins. It's simple and refreshing, reminding me a little of Prosecco with a raspberry dropped in it. It might be an interesting one to hack with barrels and Brett and whatnot.

From sour to saison, and and the fancy-canned No. 40 by White Hag, brewed in collaboration with Brew By Numbers and no friend to the exciseman at just 2.6% ABV. They've designated it a "table saison" and it looks like a witbier, a thin watery yellow colour with a head that crackles out of existence in short order. The aroma is a mix of lemons and yeast, smelling a bit like cold Lemsip or rustic lemonade gone wrong. The lemonade vibe is to the fore on tasting: sharp and tangy, but not severe. There's a chalky alkaline grit and then a funky phenol finish, a mild melding of barnyard and disinfectant. The lightness is apparent throughout -- with a low level of fizz it's easy to throw back, and it has much in common with a radler, minus the nerve-jangling sugar rush. That farmhouse funk is something I could do without: this is three quarters of a really good table beer, spoiled for me just at the very end.

There's a tendency among IPA-namers these days to highlight the on-trend juiciness of their product in the title. The reciprocal appears to be in effect with the double IPA Galway Bay released last week: Sans Juice. I guess "You Can Shove Your Super Split Up Your Hole" wouldn't fit on the badge. This is a full 9% ABV with an equally full body and a strong west coast vibe from the aroma: piney Pliny sprung immediately to mind. There's barely a wisp of haze in the pale amber body. The flavour? Yes, it's bitter: powerful and resinous with volatile herbal notes: spearmint and eucalyptus, befitting the use of Simcoe and Chinook. But it also has a fruity side, Amarillo bringing intensely sweet Seville orange, the vapours from which outlast the punchiness in the aftertaste. It's a fun beer, brightly flavoured and a great contrast to what double IPA has mostly become. Maybe it'll start a trend.

Also writing a big cheque with its name is Hop Central, created by Carlow Brewing for Tesco and billed as a dry hopped lager. It's a rather wan looking pale orange though with a proper craft haze, suggesting it hasn't been processed to within an inch of its life. No sign of dry hopping in the aroma while the flavour is dominated by savoury caraway with a dash of red onion. Yes, those hops. No zing, no juice and not really a proper bitterness. This does at least have character, and more than might be expected at 4% ABV. It lacks the power to refresh, however: a basic requirement of this sort of light lager.

Dublin's second-oldest microbrewery, JW Sweetman, has a new lager out for the World Cup in Russia. Bear Beer is billed as an amber lager but my pint was distinctly golden-looking. The accompanying copy mentions that the recipe is a nod to the reigning champions Germany, and that's certainly apparent from the aroma: a subtle waft of peppery green veg. On first taste I thought it a little characterless, expecting a dark malt richness that never arrives. I was a third of the way down before I figured out what was going on. It's smooth and clean, like a helles, and with that sort of subtle spun-sugar full-bodied sweetness. Those peppery hops lend it a late-arriving balancing piquancy. As a match-fit quaffing lager, this is ideal: easy drinking, unchallenging and avoiding the wateriness that the big brewers tend to feature in theirs. But there's something here too for the fussy lager bore: an authentic-tasting German helles. Leave the word "amber" to one side and enjoy it for what it is.

An amber ale to take us out: Showdown, which is new from Carrig. 5.5% ABV again, but this time properly chewy, the medium-dark malts bringing gentle toffee and tannins. Like the best amber ales, this is then livened up by the hops, here bringing herbal resins and juicy jaffa oranges. There's an air of good English bitter about it, and also a distinctly American zing too. It's refreshing and very moreish. If the brewery is planning a revamp of its slightly tired bottled line-up, this would fit well in it. As would most of their recent offerings really.

A closer look at what some other brewers have been up to in the next few posts.

Wild things

The latest UK brewery to join Carlow Brewing's import portfolio is Wild Beer. The event was commemorated with a tap takeover and tasting at 57 The Headline in May. It afforded me the opportunity to catch up with a several Wild offerings I hadn't previously taken the time to try.

Wildebeeste imperial stout was in everyone's hands when I arrived and, fearing it was going to run out, I started on that. It's an 11% ABV job, with added coffee, chocolate and vanilla. I found the additions made it taste a little powdery, but that's a minor bug, and there's plenty going on in its favour. I was surprised by a warming and fruity red wine note, plus the floral sweetness of Turkish delight and cherries, finishing on a tobacco-like bitterness. All of it holds together well with none of the contrasting elements throwing it off balance. A great start.

Next up was Tepache, a Brettanomyces-fermented beer with pineapple and spices. There's a definite Orval funk to the aroma while the flavour is cleanly sour and sharp. The fruit comes through in a savoury, roasted, sort of way, rather than as sweetness or juice, and there's an additional bonus lychee and peach flavour, though that's as likely to be from the yeast as the pineapple. This is another complex and well-balanced offering.

Things take a bit of a silly turn next, with Rhubarber, an attempt at instilling rhubarb and custard qualities into beer. It's 6% ABV and a murky yellow, so at least it looks like custard. The flavour has lots of vanilla with only the faintest tang of rhubarb. They added ginger as well, which lends a ginger ale mixer note: the dry flavour without any actual spice. Overall it's an interesting beer, mixing the heavy and creamy side with tart refreshment. It's nowhere near as complex as the other two, however, and while enjoyable does come across as gimmicky.

Sleeping Lemons Export, apparently. It's a gose, and another 6%-er. There's a decent level of sourness, but the dominant flavour is the dry and crisp wheat. Despite the strength it's a bit watery, and my notes don't even mention any lemon flavour, but I guess there must have been some. This one is a little vapid, which makes me curious about the non-export 3.6% ABV version.

The inevitable fruity pale is called Pogo, and is brewed with passionfruit, orange and guava. It's another thin affair, though that's more excusable at 4% ABV. The fruit makes it taste like a lemon and lime soft drink, with a sugar hit at the front, then tailing off more dryly. It's simple and refreshing, reminding me more of lager than a pale ale, and certainly lacking in hop character. The absence of syrupy fruit stickiness is to be lauded, however, and I can see it working as an unchallenging by-the-pint sessioner.

I finished the night on Nebula, Wild Beer's take on New England IPA, or possibly just pale ale as it's only 5% ABV. Yellow and murky: check. Poor head retention: check. Creamy texture: check. Diesel heat: check. Onion and garlic flavour: check and check. Yep, they've pretty much nailed the style and what people expect of it. If you like your New Englands perfunctory, hit this one up.

That was it for the evening, and thanks to Wild, Carlow and The Headline. I did also encounter another Wild beer in UnderDog not long beforehand. This was Jambo, a raspberry imperial stout. It's one of those instances where the name affects the flavour, because this immediately tasted jammy to me: concentrated berries with a mild tartness on the end. There's a dusting of light milk chocolate on top of this, and that's pretty much it. This is simpler and more elegant than most any fruited imperial stout I've tried, and tastes nothing like the 8.5% ABV it is.

Wild Beer has a prodigiously huge range of highly varied beers, so I look forward to seeing more of them landing in the months to come.

In with the old, in with the new

The launch of DOT Brew's latest happened at Molloy's off licence on Francis Street at the beginning of the month. One of the guys in the shop produced a bottle of DOT's Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, release 001, from just over two years ago. As it happened I missed it first time out so was very glad of the opportunity to tick it off. It's a beaut too, mixing still-fresh chocolate with maturer tobacco and leather notes, sweetened with a touch of port or dark sherry. If you have a few stashed it could be worth opening one now, but equally I'd say it's safe to cellar a little longer.

What we were there for, however, was Fridge Art, DOT's first can release. Three weeks' fermentation at 12 Acres Brewery, three hours in the can and ready to go. It's a hazy orange session IPA, though a little on the strong side for that at 5.2% ABV. There's rye in the recipe, something quite apparent in both aroma and flavour as a distinct peppery bitterness. That sits next to juicy citrus, ripe lemon, mandarin then finishing on sharper lime. The whole thing has enough of an edge for a west coast vibe: there are certainly no milkshake notions here, which is refreshing. Overall a decent and thirst-quenching session IPA, one worthy of a spot in DOT's core range.

I've called that the latest, but three forthcoming DOT beers made a pre-release début at a beer dinner in L. Mulligan Grocer last week. Then one of them was available for tasting at the Teelings Distillery birthday celebrations at the weekend, which is where I got to try it. Chaos is the final form of the barrel aged cherry and honey imperial stout I covered in last month's DOT post.

I was very surprised that this wasn't whiskey-barrel aged. Turns out that if you mix beer, cherries and honey in virgin American oak it imparts a flavour a lot like Irish whiskey. This is smooth and warming, tasting all of the 11.1% ABV but completely without sharp edges. The well-integrated flavours include that honey and a subtle sweet berry note, again of the sort that sometimes appears as an analogue in whiskey tasting notes, but which is here down to the cherries. A liquorice bitterness sits at the front of the palate as a reminder that one is definitely drinking a stout, and there's a Christmassy old-world spicing of cloves and nutmeg, with a few plump raisins thrown in as a treat. This won't be officially ready for drinking for another few weeks, but it tasted perfectly matured to me. Look out for it, with its companions Creation and Evolution, later this summer.

Profiles in mediocrity

Ahead of the June Bank Holiday weekend, Lidl got the beers in: a selection from three different countries on the lower-right side of Europe. Normal procedure on this here blog would be to work through them on a national basis, but since some of the styles are in common between the breweries I thought I'd do it that way instead. I do try and keep things interesting for you.

A standalone lager before we get into that. Voreia Pilsner is from the Siris brewery in Serres in north-east Greece. It's a limpid dark gold colour, 5% ABV and generally thick and heavy. The flavour is malt-forward, flashing golden syrup first before it turns dry, then roasty, and finally almost smoky. There's a certain vegetal sharpness, but no proper hops, while the finish is husky, musty and stale. It's not completely awful but neither is it a decent pils by any measure, and certainly not happy summer drinking.

Two witbiers next, beginning with another Siris beer. Voreia Wit Beer looks typical enough: a sunny hazy yellow. The ABV is way off, however, at a frankly unreasonable 7%. This is obvious from the taste too: it's thick and hot, lacking the refreshing zip that the style is designed for. Banana esters more typical of a weissbier, or even a weizenbock, are present, and while the added orange is discernible, it doesn't provide any spritz, just unnecessary sweetness. The whole is a cloying mess, disappointing, even for €2.

Let's see if the Slovenians handle it any better. Tektonik is based in Ljubljana and its Hercule Witbier is a more reasonable, if still somewhat excessive, 5.9% ABV. It looks quite watery in the glass: a pale unhealthy yellow with an excessive amount of head. Coriander spicing is to the fore, with an almost gose-like briney dryness on the end. It's not as awful as the previous one but still isn't a good witbier. By the end of the glass all I could taste was a harsh and waxy bitterness, so still no zing here, and precious little refreshment. Time to switch styles.

Everything else is IPA. Sticking with Tektonik, perhaps inadvisably, and their IPA is called Dizzy and is 6.1% ABV. It's bright and pale, with a generous topping of tight white foam. The aroma is strangely savoury, almost smoky, though the flavour is predominately sweet. I got ripe red apples, apricot, lychee and white grape: quite the fruit salad. Everything fades very quickly, however, leaving just a sharp acidic residue. The flavours really need to be bigger, bolder and longer-lasting for this to be considered genuinely good. As-is, it's passable and inoffensive but left me wanting more.

Going back to our Greek friends for Voreia India Pale Ale we get a copper-coloured 7%-er. It's very dry, with a metallic aspirin-like twang. And... not much else. There's a touch of black tea tannins and a slightly spicy cedarwood note, but no citrus or other hop fruit. I don't usually object to old-fashioned big-bittered IPAs but this isn't a good one. It tastes musty and old: never a good look for an IPA.

Central-Italian brewer Target 2000, known previously for the Arcana range from last summer at Lidl, has brought us a beer starkly titled Italian IPA, with the follow-on description that it's a pale ale. This is 6.1% ABV and pours a lovely clear pale golden shade. It's as heavy as the ABV suggests, while the flavour offers a bathbomb of citrus and herbs. A gentle lemon opens it, followed by dried grass and then moist and chewy cookies. It's clean and simple; not wildly interesting but solid and classy. I could see it working very well as a food accompaniment.

Its companion, to bring us out, is an Italian Red IPA. It looks lovely in the glass: a limpid chestnut colour. The flavour is a bit dull, however, more red ale than any sort of IPA. There's a soda-water mineral thing, some caramel, but then a watery finish. The label says 5.2% ABV but it tastes much weaker. Nothing about it says IPA to me. This one really tasted like €2 worth of beer.

Conclusions! Well... I don't think there were any massively pleasant surprises in this lot, no Drinker 1, Lidl 0 situations. The Italians are probably the most reliable out of the lot.