Mourne-full

A visit to Sainsbury's when last up North yielded a couple from Mourne Mountains Brewery, a Co. Down operation I've tried a few beers from, but never properly tasted the core range.

Mourne Mist is a pilsner, and despite the name is a deep and clear gold colour. The aroma is quite malt-forward, showing sweet golden syrup predominantly, with hints of cut grass. It's much hoppier to taste, however, with a very dry bitterness. The grassy flavour is a bit lacking but I enjoyed the balance between big fluffy malt and sharper hops. There's almost a burn from the latter in the aftertaste. This is a very proper pils, and tastes convincingly like a real Czech one to me.

East Coast IPA has been around longer than that has been a beer style, and indeed specifically states on the label that it's an attempt mimicking beer from America's west coast. It's a pale amber colour, and quite hazy. There's a distinct hit of grapefruit in the aroma, and some candy malt as well. The flavour is rather astringent. I get that leafy-earthy effect that Cascade tends to bring, but in a slightly stewed way, like it has been dry-hopped for too long. The body is very full and that spreads the hop napalm out across the palate, adding a layer of toffee more appropriate to an amber ale. This one is not subtle. I still kinda liked it: there's a certain nostalgia factor in such punchy Cascade-and-Crystal IPAs, the sort that turned the style into the world-beater it is today. I was glad it was just a 33cl bottle all the same.

I'm stupidly far behind on where the Northern Irish beer scene is at the moment. It was good to put at least these two small dents in the backlog.