Another bit of normality

The Open Gate taproom at St James's Gate has re-opened with some changes to the layout to aid social distancing. It's all-seated, of course, and they've made good use of the yard outside, installing colourful and comfortable pods for groups of various sizes. I was invited along for the soft launch and was pleased to see the high turnover of special edition beers is still rolling along.

The only kind of flight I'm likely to take any time soon involved four tasters from the six new ones on the board. Following the house-mandated drinking order, working from left to right, I begin with Triple G Sour. Ginger and gooseberry are advertised; the third G is left to our imaginations. I pray it's something wholesome. The beer itself is a pale golden colour, its citrus and herb effect creating a bathsalts sensation. There's lots of zesty lemon though the bitterness stays low and the tartness arrives late, leaving it quite a sweet affair. There's ginger flavour, as in a ginger ale, but alas no spice. At 4.5% ABV it does the job as a summer refresher while being just complex enough to be interesting. Let's call it a good start.

A 6% ABV stout as the second beer? I double checked, and yes: this was indeed the sensible drinking order. It's called Black Forest so I'm assuming cherries and chocolate were involved, though that's not how it tasted to me. A peppery foretaste is followed by a broad roastiness set on a thick creamy texture, and while there's a touch of bitter dark chocolate in the aroma, it's not the dessertish concoction I was expecting. That was a little disappointing, but it's an unarguably well-made stout and by the time I'd figured it out I had finished my sample so no harm done.

Tropical Pale Ale is beer number three. This is a big-hitter at 6.3% ABV yet appears, and tastes, a lot like a lager. It's a misty gold colour and the flavour centres on a clean pale grain taste. You have to hunt a bit for the fruit, and yes, if your mind is focused the right way you can just about pick up hints of mango and lychee but it's very subtle. Also subtle is the alcohol: I would never have guessed the strength. A powerhouse novelty beer wearing the clothes of a session lager? I'll take it. I'd be disappointed if I'd bought a whole can of this though. There's just not enough happening in it.

On the end is something called Smoothie IPA. Is this supposed to be a milkshake sort of thing? Well, it's not hazy, it's amber rather than yellow and it's assertively bitter, so if milkshake was the goal it has missed the mark considerably. The texture does fit the bill, however: it's thick and smooth, with plenty of heft at 6.6% ABV. There's a powerful floral perfume foretaste, contrasting and complementing that bitterness. This fades out to fruit chews and a sharp lingering pith. Maybe if you like the idea of milkshake IPA but find them all too sweet, this might be the beer for you. I certainly have never tasted this combination before and I think it kind-of works. Let's put this in the "interesting" category and move on.

I picked two beers for larger measures, beginning with Summer Pilsner. This hit all the style points for the German variety bang on: 4.8% ABV, perfectly clear, superb head retention and a faultless grass and nettle aroma. It faltered just a little in the flavour, with a mildly soapy fabric-softener twang, but it's far from disastrous. The house reckoned it might have been a little young. Clearly lockdown wasn't long enough for some. Nevertheless the flavour pulls back to a clean and crisp finish. It lags a little behind the many excellent lagers Open Gate has turned out over the years but is still better than many small Irish brewers manage in this space.

One of my all-time favourite Open Gate beers was the Botanical Ale they did for Taste of Dublin back in 2016. The copper-coloured herb-fest appears to have been appropriated by one member of staff as it returned as Pete's Botanical Ale. I didn't see a list of what went into it, but I think a lot did. There's a warming ginger aroma and then a flavour which offers a unsubtle mix of basil, sage, rosemary and all of that sort of thing. I'm guessing the hopping is minimal, if present at all, because it's quite sweet and got a little cloying towards the end, even though it's only 4.5% ABV. Still, it delivers everything it promises and I enjoyed what I got.

So at least on the brewing front it's business as usual at Open Gate, and there were some intriguing coming attractions marked on the fermenter blackboards. Cheers to Padraig and the team for giving us a much-appreciated evening out at a time when such things were in short supply.