A long spoon

JD Wetherspoon's arrival in Dublin city centre meant I was able to get a head start on the 2019 Autumn Real Ale Festival. The Silver Penny, on its first Festival, had one of the collaborations on right from the start: Nut Brown, brewed at Shepherd Neame with Alesmith. It's not really nut brown coloured, more a chestnut red. The aroma promises autumn leaves and dark berries though the flavour is less complex, blending that into a sweet and tart whole: milk chocolate-coated raisins. 5% ABV gives it a texture that's warming, rounded and full, and the fruit side brings a balancing tartness. There's not enough going on to make it one of the great brown ales, but the good points of the style are all present.


Greene King offered a brand extension on Abbot with Ruby Abbot and I'm honestly not sure what the difference is supposed to be. It's 5.2% ABV rather than 5%, but that might be it. I'm guessing it's paler: a polished copper rather than Abbot's usual, well, ruby. And it tastes like Abbot too: sweet yet acrid like fruitcake with too much peel in it, accompanied by a cup of overstewed tea. Thinking of it non-comparatively, it's a mediocre brown bitter, and an unnecessarily strong one at that.

Flagships aren't really what this event is about, but everything's exotic when you're drinking traditional English ale in Dublin 1. So no qualms about ordering number 4 in the programme, 3B from Arkell's in Swindon, first brewed in 1910, though presumably not to the 4% ABV which it is now. This is yet another red-brown one, and here the lower ABV is to its credit: the texture is light and it doesn't hang around on the flavour. I was afraid of something twiggy and dull but there's a beautiful mix of light malt flavours here, including succulent strawberries, marzipan and light whipped fudge. A balancing dryness appears in the finish but nothing I can identify as actual hops. My glass was served colder than typical and that really helped, as I began to find it a little sweet and cloying by the end. Perfect for  a swift half.

Not in the festival line-up, but looking like the most promising offer on this first trip was Lost in Mosaic by Loch Lomond brewery. The aroma from this golden 5%-er was super: a honey sweetness laced with fresh lemon zest. It unravelled a bit on tasting, turning to a hard wax bitterness with overtones of herbal urinal cake. Even the malt base is sharp and difficult, bringing a hard dry-cracker effect. The finish shows a little of that original citrus promise, but also a soapy twang which ruins the romance. I thought I was in for some clean and hoppy fun but this beer didn't deliver. Perhaps it was past its best.

Second sitting at the 'Penny two days later brought a plethora of new ones. I made a beeline for Tring's American Ruby Mild. This one is definitely ruby: an almost unnatural shade of garnet. It is a little watery, even for 3.8% ABV. The dry coffee roast of good mild is there, overlaid by a slightly brash new-world citric spritz. Floral lavender and dark chocolate are how it fades out. It's not mild perfection, but is an interesting spin. At least it's there's no fruit pulp or lactose.

Long Man Brewery next, and their Man Down golden ale. Flavour down, more like: there's really not much going on in this despite a substantial 5% ABV. There's a general wheaty cereal effect and a punchy bitterness without the hop flavour to justify it. There's maybe a sliver of bubblegum in there too, but that's as complex as it gets. Bland drinking overall.

Last of this trilogy is a 3.9% ABV single-hopped pale ale from Rooster's: Rakau. It's a bright golden colour with just a tint of haze. Like the mild this is a smidge watery and I feel the hops could have achieved more if they'd been given a bigger base to work from. The Germanic grassy bitterness of Rakau is there in the finish but in front of it is a bubblegum sweetness acting as balance. Although it's a little harsh, it is tasty; in spite of the exotic hops, leaning in to the waxy northern bitter style.

Next up was Daleside's Grapefruit IPA, a lovely pale gold colour. The grapefruit is gentle but present, the zest adding just a slight astringency to the picture. The base beer is sweet, much more a golden ale than an IPA, this borne out by just 4.2% ABV. It's fun: light and spritzy; unchallenging with just enough of a novelty factor.

"Californian Steam Ale" is a combination of words that doesn't quite look wrong as regards beer styles, but isn't exactly right. Anyway, this is Steaming On by Hook Norton. At first I was disappointed by how watery and dull it was, before I realised: whatever about the production method, this is essentially a lager. There's a light white-bread fluffiness with a gentle spinach kick -- all things that would have me deeming it fine stuff, IF it had been carbonated to keg level. On cask it just feels flat and sad. It's rare to find a good and well-made beer utterly let down by the brewery's choice of dispense, but this is it.

Mauldon's Cherry Porter caught my eye as soon as I sidled up to the bar: it seems quite a retro concept for the pastry era. It's good though. I didn't get the cherry at first, thinking this just tastes like chocolate, like chocolate cake, like the creamy chocolate cake with... oh: Black Forest gateau. The cherries sneak up on you but they're there: a little dried and raisiny but still properly cherry tasting. The base beer is warm and smooth; sweet without being cloying and with a spicy, peppery quality that I associate with English family brewers and their house yeasts. This is definitely a dessert beer, but not an overwrought or overcomplicated one.

Come Saturday morning, the festival fairy had not visited Dún Laoghaire at all and there was a paltry two cask beers on, neither from the list. And both stouts too. I began with Lancaster Black from Lancaster Brewery in Lancaster. It's black, or at least very dark red. The texture is perfect: a smooth silky mouthfeel making for very easy drinking at 4.5% ABV. There's a little dark roast, some bitter high-cocoa chocolate but the main flavour, delightfully, is hops. There's a quite an American buzz of citrus, the sort of sherbet and liquorice effect you're more likely to find in a black IPA. It's just a flash, though, then it's back to stout business as normal. It works really well. If you're going to limit the selection, this is a good one to have on.

With Grafton Caramel Stout I was anticipating something sweet and candified. While there is a caramel tang here, it's not the main act, going instead for roasted grain, a pinch of coconut and a little summer berry. I suspect it had been on a while as I got a vinegar twang as well, though not strong enough to ruin it, thankfully. At least not yet. Overall it's plainer than I expected. I should be happy it's not a sticky mess, but I was kinda prepared for a sticky mess and not getting one is a bit of a let-down. Never mind. Time to see if The Three Tun has its house in order regarding the festival.

Yes and no. The number of festival beers was small, but hooray: a collaboration, and double bonus points for it being the Adnams one. Minagof Juicy IPA is from regular participant Toshi Ishii. The flag on his clips has migrated from Japan to Guam. This is a very pale beer, and a reasonable 4.5% ABV. I don't know if I'd describe it as juicy myself, but it does go big on fruit: peaches, apricots and nectarines in particular. There's too strong a bitterness to classify it as juicy, but that same bitterness provides excellent balance for the syrupy hop candy. It is still a little heavy, but brightly flavoured and very enjoyable overall.

I hadn't gone running for Belhaven Barn Dancer when I saw it in The Silver Penny because, well, Belhaven, but it was the only other new option at The Three Tun so a pint was got. It's a brown ale, which is a cheery style, and properly brown with an element of ruby. The flavour is rather bland, with none of the coffee, chocolate or caramel that brown ale is supposed to provide. Instead there's a broad floral flavour: rosewater, honeysuckle and general meadows. A slight mineral effervescence makes it very easy drinking, and I had downed most of the pint before putting any thoughts together. It's fine but a long way from exciting, even for a stolid style like brown ale.

To Blanchardstown next and another of the collaborations: Short Fuse an IPA brewed at Banks's with Ballistic from Queensland. This was the strongest of the 40 specials at 6.5% ABV. It probably shouldn't have been surprising, then, that the cask ran dry as it was being poured. My kindly server let me take the two-thirds pint buckshee: can't say fairer than that. It's an amber colour and murky, though that may be because it was the dregs of the barrel. There's a definite alcohol heat here: heading towards solvent nail varnish remover. Maybe a whole pint would have been a bad idea. This is in parallel with a juicy stone fruit effect: the peach and lychee typical of Australian hops (Ella, Galaxy, Topaz) with some even lighter honeydew. In comparison with the Adnams beer above, the fruit flavours are quite muted, however. I would have sacrificed the alcohol for more of that.

The downside of the bonus beer was that the one I actually bought had to wait. By the time I did get to Wadworth's JD Boss Hogg, a good fifteen minutes after it was pulled, it was still showing a generous head, so full marks for retention. The beer itself is a bright golden colour and 4.7% ABV. The flavour is not untypical for an English golden but it still tastes... odd. Sweet malt biscuit is overlaid with an intense perfume sweetness, the sort that tips over into an intense bitterness. There's a metallic saccharine kick, lots of grain husk and again a solvent burn. It's not awful, but it's far from a good beer either.

A final Shepherd Neame beer back at the 'Penny to bookend the festival: Sheps Light. This is a dark blonde or pale amber, depending on the light, and has a lovely lemondrop flavour from the UK-grown Cascade hops. The candy effect is helped by a significant malt element but it doesn't get sticky, and a full 4% ABV stops it getting watery too. A clean and dry tea note in the finish rounds it out neatly. There's no sign of the Shepherd Neame house flavour I dislike. This is a pretty good light bitter, with no surprises or wrong turns. It might be time for me to give the whole brewery a reassessment.

It has been quite a while since anything really amazed me at the Wetherspoon festival, but at least I'm getting more beers in. And there should be yet another new venue for the spring one, if we're all still here. Stand by.