As above...

At the beginning of the month it was off down to Cork for the first festival of the year, Cask Ales & Strange Brews at Franciscan Well. As usual, before I could enjoy any of the beers, I had to partake in the judging of the best ones in show. Tasting blind, it's a handy way of putting together an honest assessment of what was on offer. I just had to match the numbered reviews to the listings once judging was over. I got through twenty beers at the gig and I'm dividing them geographically, beginning today with all the ones from not-Munster.

And I may as well kick off with the winner, the Baltic porter from Dublin's own Rascals: Absolutely Baltic. This was brand new out and otherwise only available at the brewery. It's an orthodox 7.5% ABV, properly brown-black, though a little flat from the cask. The banana aroma was a surprise but not jarring, leading on to a subtle caramel flavour. There's a lick of liquorice and then a wholesome walnut effect. Nothing is too extreme in this even though it's full of character and cheering winter warmth. Just a smidge more fizz would have perfected it.

The Inchicore brewery also had a dubbel in the running, the fruit flavoured Cherry Poppin'. I've said before that flavoured dubbel doesn't do the style justice and this one, while nothing was wrong with it, at no point reminded me of dubbel. It's only 6.1% ABV, for one thing, a clear and deep ruby with an aroma of dark biscuits. There's a little syrup in the vapours too, and that turns to cough mixture in the flavour. I couldn't identify cherries specifically, just a general sweet and dark fruit, like you'd find in Málaga wine or PX sherry. A touch of dark chocolate brings Raspberry Ruffle bars to mind. It's fun, and a bit silly; treat it with the lack of seriousness it deserves and you'll enjoy.

Staying with the Dubs, DOT had some superb beers on the go, all of which somehow failed to win any awards. I know none came my way for judging. Pick of the bunch, and my personal favourite of the day, was a Barrel Aged Imperial Saison. Wisely, I came to this late in proceedings. It's a whopper 10.4% ABV but is clean and smooth; warm rather than hot. The dominant flavours are a mix of dry Sauvignon Blanc turning to dryer Fino sherry, allied with some sweeter Sauternes. The grape fun is accompanied by the peppery spice found in my favourite saisons. It's a great example of taking the features of a base style and building something different yet amazing from them. I imagine it's more difficult than just squirting fruit syrup in the fermenter, though.

At the opposite end of the scale there was the modestly-named General Sour at 3.5% ABV. It's a hazy yellow colour, and perhaps that contributed to the impression of custard I got from the aroma. Add in the sourness of the flavour, and you get a stick of rhubarb with your custard, the creamy texture enhancing the dessert effect. The sharpness is nicely balanced here: unmistakably tart but rounded and easy-going too.

At the same strength (related recipe?) there was a Session Pale, also with a bit of a vanilla quality in its flavour and a thick-set texture. Sweet orange cordial and a pinch of white pepper also feature. Despite that tiddling ABV I'm not sure a session on this would actually be possible. I was glad I only had a half to enjoy, but enjoy I did.

DOT's blip was a barrel-aged amber-brown yoke called Assorted Nuts. It tasted hugely of hazelnuts with a touch of wafer biscuits. Simple and smooth; clean and easy, there was nothing technically wrong with it, but at 9.4% ABV there really ought to be more happening. It's a strength at which "only OK" is not OK.

There was one beer in competition that I swore was a DOT offering when it came my way for assessment: it had that spicy, pithy oak-and-citrus taste that DOT's barrel-aged pale ales generally show. Except it wasn't DOT, it was YellowBelly's presumably experimental Mixed Fermentation Barrel Aged Special. Coconut/gorse and vanilla come out in the aroma, while the flavour is warm and herbal, like a spiced barleywine, with the weighty mouthfeel to match. Amazingly it's only 5.5% ABV. There's fantastic complexity here, though not the kind I expected. "Mixed Fermentation" means sour to me. Shows what I know.

Just one other YellowBelly beer today: Kazbek Dry-Hopped Ale, showcasing a Czech Saaz-a-like hop I've never encountered before. There's certainly a lot of grass going on; too much really. Steve reckoned it was the hallmark of a beer that's been left to dry hop for too long and I think he's correct there. Behind that it's a decent but unexciting grainy beer, the ABV 4.6%. If I had to put it into a style category I'd suggest a basic English bitter. It left me none the wiser about what makes Kazbek unique, if anything.

New beers from Barrelhead are all too rare, which is a shame. For this gig they sent along a thoroughly unfashionable but quite delicious English-style Strong Ale. It's a very pale example, its appearance resembling the Belgian sort of strong ale. I got no aroma from my judging sample and found the flavour quite hot, but in a clean-burn Duvel sort of way. It doesn't have the Belgian fruit esters, however: the taste settling to a very English bitter wax before some simple candy sweetness and a green weedy spice. No fireworks, no gimmicks, and not too dangerous at 6% ABV. This is one of those beers I wish there was more of a market for. Replace every milkshake IPA with it.

Two Ballykilcavan specials next, both veering away from classic styles, in the spirit of Strange Brews. The first was my second of the day in the blind judging and I didn't care for it at all. Murky, soupy, dreggy and hot; green apples, cheese and feet. None of those descriptors fit the profile of what turned out to be a Peach & Passionfruit Pale Ale. I could tell there was a decent beer at its core, a simple affair with fresh and juicy orange flavours. I blame the serving method for making a mess of it.

My last beer at the festival was their Cherry Chocolate Stout, a bit of a beast at 6.7% ABV. Cherry cough syrup, pie filling and cheap Black Forest gateau say my notes: altogether more wholesome than the previous one. The jammy sweetness is one side but it's balanced by a cherryskin bitterness that was the making of the beer. The base stout takes a bit of searching to find, but it's there too, making this a well-balanced effort, with two complementary aspects to enjoy.

This post began on the festival's official best beer and I'll finish on the official second place: Bullhouse Margarita Gose. Yes the concept is the worst thing to happen to Leipzig since 1943 but I genuinely liked it. It was lovely and smooth from the cask, and an approachable 4.5% ABV. From a red-apple aroma it goes on to be very salty -- the best part of a margarita -- with a jolt of real lime juice and plenty of coriander, something lacking in even straight-up craft-brewed gose these days. It's unsubtle, and risks turning cloying before long, but a judging sample was just right to spark joy. Built for the flight, and that's OK sometimes.

That's all the beer that travelled down the motorways to get to Franciscan Well. The next post will be strictly low mileage.