Hag-in-a-box

25th July would have been the fourth Hagstravaganza festival at the White Hag brewery in Sligo. As a workaround, the organisers gathered together a mix of local and international beers (and one cider), most of them not otherwise available in Ireland, and sold them by the box. Boxtravaganza was born. On the day there was a full program of livestreamed edutainment, and since then I've been gradually getting through the package at a sensible pace.

I noticed two distinct strands in the beers: the pale ales and then the sour, farmhouse and whatnot. That's how I'm splitting the reviews, beginning today with the former.

We start soft -- it says so twice on the front of the can -- with Cloudwater Pale Ale. It's a de rigeur hazy yellow at 3.7% ABV. A new take on English bitter? There is a decent bitterness in with all the sherbet, mixing a spinach greenness with lemon meringue pie filling and honeycomb candy. The texture is absolutely as advertised, all pillowy candyfloss yet still light and easy-drinking. It's rare, for me anyway, to find a beer of this nature that's properly pintable, but here it is. The balance and simplicity is beautifully pitched. One to convert the murk-sceptics, perhaps. Had the festival been running for real this wouldn't have worked half as well in a small sample serving.

Things turn weird very quickly with the next English pale ale: Much Ado About Muffin from Siren, described as a "blueberry muffin pale ale". Feedback on the day was that it was quite an accurate recreation. It's a clear purple colour and rather lacking in carbonation, as indeed is a muffin, I suppose. The aroma is spicy rather than fruity and this unfolds into cinnamon and clove in the flavour. Lemon, vanilla and blueberries are all promised in the description and I got none of that. I get a certain sweetness, but it's secondary to the spicing, and there's definitely nothing I'd call hop character. There's nothing cake-like about the texture either, it being quite thin, even for 5.5% ABV. This isn't a bad beer, or one ruined by brewers getting over-creative, but it doesn't have a whole lot to say and certainly doesn't live up to its own hype. Moving on...

Brewfist's Zona Rossa was created to mark Lombardy's dubious honour as the first part of Europe to enter lockdown. It's a pale ale, surprisingly pale in fact. I maintain a belief that if a beer colour appears in the name, the beer should be that colour. This isn't red, it's a clear and sunny yellow. The aroma is gently spritzy -- a squeeze of lemon and some lighter honeydew. It doesn't taste much more exciting. A bite of lime rind bitterness, a rougher but not unpleasant herbal side, and then a honey thickness for balance. It's a little old-fashioned, fitting more on the hoppier end of English blonde ale than American pale, I think, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.

Then we're back in England and bang up-to-date for my first beer from Salt in Yorkshire. They're offering a Sabro Vermont Session, which tells you up front all you need to know. Sabro is that hop that tastes very similar to Sorachi Ace to me, so I was intrigued to find how it works in a fluffy pale ale. The aroma is lovely, a blend of sweet and citrus like key lime pie. A deeper sniff brings the pithy Sorachi-alike to the surface. There's plenty of substance for just 4.2% ABV; a proper New-England softness, but light too. Rather than sweet vanilla or tropical juice there's a strong citric bitterness contrasting the meringue sweetness, turning to mushroomy umami in the finish. That sounds like it shouldn't work, and it's definitely unorthodox, but quite tasty with it. It would be good to see more breweries playing around in the hazy IPA space. This is a demonstration that it can bring us to interesting places.

Round Corner from Leicestershire is also new to me, and their contribution is a west coast IPA called Hopping Spree. My busy backdrop doesn't show off the colour very well but this is a beautiful pale copper shade and bright like polished brass. Phwoar. The aroma is only lightly citric, not what I'd expect from the crowded mix of Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. A waxy bitterness is the front and back of the flavour, delivering an initial punch and then a long dry finish. The middle is fruitier, however, and I'm guessing that's Mosaic holding its own against the high-alpha heavyweights while adding softer notes of cantaloupe and apricot. A hint of crystal-malt caramel contributes a different sort of balancing sweetness. Despite such subtle flounces this is still a proper, serious, west-coaster -- 6.6% ABV lends it plenty of heft. You really get everything you could ask of the style from it, unless your tastes run to silly 100 IBU throat-scorchers. Mine don't. I really enjoyed this.

We're off to Milano next, to Birrificio Lambrate and their double dry-hopped American-style IPA Fà Balà L'Oeucc. This is a middling 5.8% ABV and a typical hazy yellow. The aroma is exceptional, though: jumping with tropical fruit and dank weed. I figured I was in for a treat until I caught that crunchy savoury side that too often comes with it. That kills the fruit in the foretaste, giving instead a dry sesame seed bite alongside the thick and bitter oily resins. Peach and mango make a late appearance, wafted up on some sweet vanilla. This beer is a bit all over the place with a couple of nice features but too much interference, mainly from that dry caraway/sesame seed thing, the scourge of so many supposedly juicy beers.

Alefarm of Denmark follow that with their Union & Hyde IPA, 6.2% ABV and brewed with Enigma and Topaz. Its appearance is the new normal: eggy yellow with a meringue head. The aroma is an enticing fruit salad of pineapple, white grape and tinned peaches and that comes straight through into the foretaste. There's a middle which is harder -- the acidity of kiwifruit, gooseberry and a certain weedy dank -- then the sweetness kicks in again for a fruit-chew finish. The gravity is well used, making a beer that's filling without turning cloying or hot. This is a good example of how hazy IPA can be done cleanly, so even if the flavours and texture aren't to one's taste, one can still appreciate that it has been well made.

One of the major coups pulled by the organisers was the inclusion of a Kernel beer in the set. With none of us planning a trip to Bermondsey to get our fix any time soon it was very welcome. IPA Nelson Sauvin Vic Secret is the beer. Though shot through with a few skeins of yeast on pouring, it's no London Murky. The head is perfectly formed and lasting, something very often absent from most modern IPAs. A concentrated dank hop funk greets the nostrils, with the promise of fruit-flavoured candy behind. It's very heavily textured, even at 6.5% ABV. There's a velvety smoothness that again is atypical. The flavour, though hop-forward, matches that weight. There's a concentrated grape overtone, a lot of oily resins and a dusting of white pepper on top. I found it pleasingly old-fashioned if unspectacular. It's an IPA-drinker's IPA: strong, bitter and displaying the hops for hops' sake with no silly twists from the yeast or other ingredients. I think I expected something with more punch but was very happy with the mellow affair I got instead.

Today's set finishes back in America, with Green Cheek's Member' IPA, another can of west-coast nostalgia. Though a full 7% ABV it's a very pale golden colour topped by a crackling white head. The aroma is funky, even a little cheesy, which is not what I'd expect from all-Mosaic. Unfortunately, they have used Evil Mosaic in this, the one that tastes of dry sesame seeds and caraway instead of luscious peach and melon. That's a real shame. This is another dense one too, which concentrates the jagged taste, spreading it waxily across the palate. As a single hopper no other nuance is on offer here, so if you don't like the main flavour then tough.

A bit of a bum note to finish round one on. Tomorrow we'll follow the event's other track, of beers that aren't pale ales, and see where that gets us.