All stations

Today's the day. The Alltech Craft Brews & Food Fair opens at the Convention Centre in Dublin at 5pm and runs through to Saturday night. In today's post I'm catching up with the host's brewery, Station Works in Dundalk, and for a change I'm looking at their own brands rather than the ones they brew for supermarket chains. All were bought in chain supermarkets, though: that's just how this segment works.

Foxes Rock has long been the signature brand. I'm revisiting the very first in the series, Foxes Rock Pale Ale. I first reviewed this off the back of the 2015 Fair, and pronounced it lousy. A new brewery and a new brewer later and I thought it deserving of a second look, although I couldn't find it in its snazzy new green livery. It poured a murky shade of orange and smelled artificially fruity, like a boiled sweet. Bracing myself for a malt-bomb, I was pleased by the sharp zing of citrus -- classically American and very refreshing. That lasts all the way through, too: I expected the hops would fade at some point to let sweet biscuity malt in, but it doesn't; it's juice all the way. If anything it gets bitterer, the satsuma and kumquat intensifying to grapefruit and lime by the finish. This beer has come a long way. I'm glad I gave it another go.

Foxes Rock Red Ale was entirely new to me. It proved a very much down-the-line interpretation of the style, the ghosts of Macardle and Moore passing the baton to Cambrickville's new incumbents, perhaps. So. You get a deep red glassful and an ABV of 4.5%. Summer fruit and spiced roasted grains mix in the aroma, though the flavour is somewhat less complex. Toffee first, creating a very sweet foretaste on a surprisingly light body; and then a somewhat harsh bitterness: vegetal and metallic, like the more severe kind of brown English bitter. The roasted spice from the aroma returns to add a little complexity in the finish. Nothing is overdone or off-kilter about this, and there are no creative bells and whistles. The lad who likes his large bottle of Macardles will find this familiar, if rather more full-on.

The latest in the line-up is Foxes Rock Session IPA, 4.1% of sessionability. It's quite dark by the standards of the style, a hazy ochre, almost brown. There's a strong bitterness in the aroma, all punchy lime-shred marmalade. And that's all it really does in the flavour too. Good session IPAs (thinking of you, Little Fawn) have a rounded and juicy fruit quality to balance the bitterness. This skips that bit, ending up simple to the point of cheap-tasting. There's a savoury bite too, which I'm guessing is from that residual yeast, and it doesn't go well next to the extreme hops. It's far from offensive, and in no way a return to the bad Foxes Rock beers of yore. It's just not very good as a session IPA either.

Before there was even Foxes Rock, Station Works produced a pilsner called Finn. That's still around, and has been joined by two new brandmates. I don't know what it means that these were priced about a third cheaper than the Foxes Rock. Perhaps I shouldn't get my hopes up.

Finn Pale Ale is 4.3% ABV and quite dark. There's a haze which, on close inspection, proved to be a solid curtain of suspended lumps. The aroma is a mix of eye-watering citrus pith and caramelised malt. It tastes sweeter than I expected: lots of malt candy right at the front. The hops bring fruit -- juicy citrus, leaning almost to tropical -- but no real bitterness, beyond a familiar and vaguely metallic tang in the finish. I think this would be recognisable blind as a new-wave Station Works beer, certainly to anyone who has tasted the Foxes Rock Pale Ale above. It's fun, simple and easy going. I see no reason why you would trade up to the more expensive flagship.

We conclude with Finn Stout, This looked very handsome in the glass, its heading looking almost nitro-creamy, and lasting for the whole pint. Flavourwise it's absolutely classic in the Irish dry style. There's a solid roast-grain backbone balanced with hints of chocolate and finishing with a bite of what I'm guessing are English hops: tangy and earthy. No single part of the flavour jumps out particularly: all is calm and harmonious. Its best feature is the texture, tiny bubbles giving it a beautiful smoothness and making it very easy drinking. This is very much a beer for sessioning, perfectly fitting for 4.3% ABV and €1.99 a bottle.

To say Station Works has come on in leaps and bounds since the bad old days is an understatement. I'll be front and centre to see what they've brought to the Convention Centre later.