All over the shop

Here we go with April's random round-up of Irish beer. It's been a busy few weeks so I'll have to split this with Wednesday's post.

From the Porterhouse comes SMASH pale ale, which is what it says, combining Hunter malt with Hallertau Blanc hops for an ABV of 4.2%. It poured a pale lemon-yellow with a dusting of haze. That gentle, breezy, grapes and flowers character of the hops comes through in the aroma and forms the main feature of the flavour too. The foretaste gives way quickly to a mineral dryness in the finish; a little too quickly, perhaps. While I'm being negative, there's a very slight soapy twang as well. As is fairly common with Single Malt And Single Hop beers, there's a lack of complexity here. I don't know what Hunter is supposed to taste like, but it does showcase the features of Hallertau Blanc well, just not very loudly. This one is to be approached as an easy-going pinter rather than the bold and interesting special edition the branding implies.

At the end of March I paid my first visit to The Beer Keeper in Dún Laoghaire, a village that's had trouble keeping a decent offer in the past. Hopefully it works out this time. Well over a dozen beers are on tap, almost entirely Irish with a range of specials from BrewDog as well. The house beer is called Ken, a lager brewed for them by Third Barrel. It's a very straightforward, if sweet, pilsner, soft of texture with notes of lemon and grass. Again, a light dusting of soap is the only off-note, but it's barely noticeable. It does a good job of channelling the ever popular Corkonian Dutch lager, stripping out any of the metallic nastiness of the original. Your rugby jock mates will never know the difference.

While I was there I noticed Chasing Shadows was on. This is the latest from one of Third Barrel's constituent parts, Third Circle. It's a porter of 5.6% ABV and it offers an odd mix of characteristics. They've described it as "Belgian" but I didn't get any of the fruity esters that implies. Instead it's smooth and creamy, stemming from the nitro pour, but while beers of this sort tend to be sweet and chocolatey if they taste of anything, this is very dry and roasty, sparking with flinty burnt grains. The initial sharpness tails off into a more rounded dark cocoa note. While a little severe, it is very enjoyable, narrowly avoiding turning acrid or full-on harsh. There's an old-fashioned porter vibe here, the sort of thing that doesn't get brewed in Dublin very often these days but is occasionally welcome.

It's all go at Third Barrel, of course, and a double IPA comes next: Same, Same... But Different. It's  7.5% ABV, despite a typo on the label indicating it might also be 8%. It looks like juice, appearing an opaque orange, and there's a certain amount of juice in the flavour: apricot and mango in particular. But more than that there's a strong savoury component; quite a harsh waxy bitterness and even some menthol warmth. I found this quite tough going to drink, the sharp yeast bite and the alcohol heat combining to increase the difficulty level, and while the aroma is invitingly fruity, each mouthful brought too much nasty dregginess for it to be enjoyable. I've said it before and I'll say it again: clean up your DIPAs.

Third Barrel is also brewing for newcomer Pleasuredome. The first two beers arrived on cask at UnderDog last weekend. I missed the pale ale but did get to try the oyster stout, revelling in the name The World Is My Oyster. It's a whopper at 6.5% ABV. There's no sign of the titular ingredient in the flavour though I am assured that plenty of molluscs went in. The aroma is very roast-forward but the flavour switches the emphasis onto chocolate sweetness. There's almost a milk stout feel to it: that level of wholesome richness, accentuated by a velvet-smooth texture. A light floral complexity is a bonus amongst all the milk chocolate. A great first effort overall and I'm looking forward to seeing what Pleasuredome does next.

On a Sunday cycle odyssey around the western suburbs I landed in to the Rascals taproom thirsty and sweaty. A taster of a brand new Kölsch-a-like was proffered without even asking. That'll do. It's called Das Beaut and is 4.2% ABV. I don't know that the Cologne style is the best designation for this, however. It is crisp, with a clean mineral finish, so that bit checks out. But I detect new world hops: a hint of mandarin and mango, lasting long into the finish. It doesn't throw the beer off kilter or make it unpleasant -- I would consider it an enhancement; fans of the style might see it otherwise. As a thirst quencher, it provided exactly what I needed.

I had unfinished business at Rascals too. Last time I was here I had one of their Toast contract beers but the second wasn't on yet. And here it was: Born and Bread, an American-style pale ale at 5% ABV. It's a total '90s throwback: dark amber with a resinous aroma and a flavour which mixes sweet toffee with bitter grapefruit. While characterful, it's not extreme: the different sides of its personality held in excellent balance. For something this bitter it's lots of fun; sweet without being cloying, bitter without being acrid. A pint was no trouble at all.

A new Endangered Species landed from Wicklow Wolf, celebrating the arrival of a new brewer. Here's Johnny is an American-style IPA of 7.4% ABV, dry hopped with Nelson and Citra. Before pouring, the aroma delivered the scent of fresh C-hops from the can opening. It turned out quite murky in the glass, which isn't very west-coast of it. There's an odd savoury tang at the front: red onion, turning to burnt rubber. I was all geared up for bright and clean and bitter, but it's actually quite dirty. Nelson is doing that diesel fumes thing it sometimes insists on. The finish is brut-level dry with a strong acidity coming from, I guess, the Citra. This did not live up to its promise. The least-attractive aspects of both headline hops feature prominently and it's tragically light on redeeming features. Maybe a bit more fridge time would help settle it.

A few weeks ago, at the Alltech festival, I tried an unusual American-Belgian hybrid from Dundalk Bay. They had another strange one up their sleeves and kindly sent me a bottle of it. The name is Hogs Head and it's a "cask aged weiss". As if that wasn't odd enough, the label adds that there's orange oil and ground coriander, making this more a wit than a weiss. Intriguingly weird, and I hadn't even got the bottle open yet. Oh yes, it's also 7% ABV. What? I shouldn't have been surprised to find it looked nothing like a weissbier either: clear, red-brown, and with virtually no head. The flavour is a strong mix of nuts and fruits and alcohol, somewhere between cream sherry and a vodka and Coke. It's not jarring, though: the bourbon has given it a smoothness and while it's very obviously strong, it's not heavy or sticky. I could see this working as either an aperitif or digestif -- a negroni or an old fashioned. Not for pairing with weisswurst, anyway.

Also pulling unusual moves with citrus essence is Miruvor, the latest in YellowBelly's Beer Club limited series. This calls itself a "New Zealand inspired gose" and is 6% ABV, hopped with Huell Melon, El Dorado and Nelson and including lime purée and salt, but no coriander. It is powerfully sour, and I think that's the lime's doing more than whatever souring culture was used. There's a concentrated hit of Rose's lime cordial and a spiciness that made me think there was ginger in here too, but there isn't. While this is fun in a loud and extreme sort of way, it's not easy drinking, every sip inducing a wince. There's a stickiness too, which reduces the refreshment power, and also none of the luscious hop fruit I had been hoping for. I'm sure it was a worthwhile experiment but I wouldn't be in favour of something like this going into regular production, and I'm not averse to a bit of lime.

It's not often we get something new from YellowBelly's cuckoo-in-residence Otterbank but recently, and unexpectedly, there was Snapback Saison. This is on the strong side at 6.1% ABV, and appears a dark and murky orange. A dense texture comes with that but it's smooth rather than heavy. Fresh mandarin and satsuma opens the flavour in a cheery way, leading to a more serious rye crispbread middle: juicy and dry is an unusual flavour combination but it manages to pull it off well. There's none of the fun spiciness of good saison, alas, so it's not the most complex of examples. It's good, though: easy-going and surprisingly refreshing.

A week ago we took a trip across to the Dead Centre brewery taproom in Athlone. It's a beautiful space down by the Shannon, bright and modern, with a superb line-up of guest beers alongside Dead Centre's own. I took the opportunity to further explore a couple from Belfast's Boundary (I promised you I would), beginning with the double IPA It's Like The Circle Of Life Only Better, a hazy double IPA of 8.5% ABV. It's dense and hazy with a delicious tropical aroma. The texture is slick and slightly gritty, but not unpleasantly so. There's a bit of grit in the flavour too, but again it's not a problem -- thanks hops! There's lots of lovely peach-and-pineapple juicy tropicals, plus a more intense garlic burn. None of it is excessive, though: it's not hot, it's not savoury, it's not sickly. Balanced double IPA is something I'll happily wave a fleg for. A clean finish takes it out and meant it was perfectly possible to taste the next beer after it.

That was Imbongo, one Boundary have been offering for a while but was new to me. It looks the same: a dense juice-orange, the ABV being a more modest 5.5%. The aroma is brighter, friendlier, mixing apricot and coconut in a fun way. The flavour is spicy more than juicy, throwing out pink peppercorn and nutmeg with just a twist of orange peel. A juicebox it is not, but it's accessible, tasty and clean. Can't say fairer than that.

My last one before the train hone was Ballykilcavan's Gingerbread Beer. This is 5% ABV, a dark red colour and smells... well, like gingerbread. The flavour and texture continue that theme: unctuous, with a herbal spice and lots of cake sweetness. It is, in effect, an excellent recreation of gingerbread in beer form. Beery? No, not really. It's an enjoyable novelty, however.

That's it for today but the notebook isn't clear yet. I'll be back with more later in the week, with an emphasis on what Dublin's breweries have been up to.