A lager renaissance?

The Irish breweries have been busy as we head into winter. There is much local content in the backlog and in the fridge, but first a random smattering from an assortment of producers, including four -- count 'em! -- lagers.

Third in the Eight Degrees Irish Munro's Series is called The Pilgrim's Path. They've dubbed it an "Italian Pilsner" making it their own take on Birrificio Italiano's Tipopils, and I think the first from an Irish brewery. Loral is the signature hop, according to the blurb. It looks good: an almost perfect clear pale yellow, though the head retention isn't great. A freshly citrus aroma suggests lemon drizzle cake and Jif-sprayed pancakes. Sure enough, spritzy lemon is the headline act here. It shades a little to washing up liquid but not severely. There are sideshows of American pine and Germanic spinach as well as heavy, greasy resins. It manages to stay clean and crisp, however. Latin affectations aside, this is a straight-up dry and hoppy pilsner, and I'm very much here for this sort of thing.

Lager number two is Heidrun, a bock from White Hag. Any Germanic credibility dies with the head which disappeared as soon as my back was turned. The beer beneath where it used to be is a handsome chestnut red and largely transparent. The aroma is roasty and autumnal, hinting at green Germanic hops and toasted rye bread. Wholesome and comforting. There's an extra dimension on tasting, a cherry and chocolate flavour that brings a surprising but welcome seam of Black Forest gateau. The nuts and toast sit behind this, with a little green-leaf cabbage, and it's all set on a lovely chewy base. It's almost a superb example of a dark bock but is let down by that lack of carbonation. It feels lifeless, and I think those flavours would be even brighter and more fun with extra carbonation pushing them out. A good hustle, but not really beating the Germans at their own game.

I'm late to the latest from Dundalk Bay. Haus Party has been around since last winter and is a pilsner of 4.9% ABV. It's quite murky for the style, a soupy ochre colour with a loose head which didn't last long. Vegetal noble hops are present and correct in the aroma, though there's a disturbing solventy kick as well. It's plenty bitter, the foretaste a powerful blend of spinach and candlewax. A crisp grain crunch follows later, and then a building syrupy sweetness. The two sides don't meld very well; the contrast is severe and it jangles. The beer is certainly boldly flavoured, which I value in a pilsner, but I don't think this particular one suits me.

The people who brought you I Will Yeah and Go On So present: Ah Sure Lookit…, a rebrew of the St Mel's Spring Bock from the early days and one I was very happy to see again. It's still 5.6% ABV, a deep shade of amber, and though it poured clear to begin there was a bit of sediment in the can clouding it up at the end. Be careful with this. There's a lovely Ryvita crispness as well as a heavy texture, making it both dry and rich, which must be quite difficult to do. The hops are an afterthought, bringing just enough of a grassy bitterness to keep the malt in check. Its finish is mostly clean, but I detected a little bit of yeasty fuzz from the lees. As I said: pour carefully. Otherwise, this is a classically constructed heller bock, and one of the gentler, more accessible sorts. I would like to see more Irish breweries trying their hand at these, which is to say I'd like to see more Irish people buying them.

My Hoegaarden bucket has been getting a lot of action recently with yet another new witbier needing appropriate glassware. I'm Too Old For This Wit is from YellowBelly in collaboration with Heaney, and the weirdo collab ingredient is rosemary. Nothing too outré there, nor with the ABV at 5.5%. Full marks for head retention here: the white fluff lasting pretty much the whole way down. I loved the mellow sweet and oily effect the rosemary brought to the aroma, like stepping into an empty church just after the pews have been polished. That becomes a little more extreme on tasting, the oils thick enough to scorch the palate but a bittersweet marmalade tempers it, as does the soft wheat beer behind it. This is a fun and boldly flavoured twist on the style, and one which deserves considered sipping more than sunny-day chugging. 

Galway Hooker has also taken a Belgian turn for the third in their Seafarer Series of fruit beers (I'm not sure if the series is specifically of fruit beers, but they've all had fruit so far). Berry is a saison with added blueberry and raspberry. That has given it a distinct pinkish tone, to both the body and head. It smells lovely: dry and peppery, just how I like saison, with a subtle raspberry and banana note in the background. Unsurprisingly, the fruit jumps to the front on tasting, and the banana in particular, giving it weissbier vibes. As usual, I couldn't identify any blueberry but the raspberry is there, and relatively restrained. This is far from a syrupy mess and still tastes like a saison, albeit one of the more fruity, estery sort. While no masterpiece, it's decent, sunny-day fun.

A third Belgian-style beer? It has to be Mescan, with that rare bird, an Irish tripel. The Mayo brewery's Seven Virtues series has been progressing slowly, with the first two landing in February 2019, and now here's the third: Carnal Knowledge (a well-known virtue). 7.1% ABV is barely acceptable for a tripel, but it's the appropriate hazy orange colour, and definitely smells the part, all spicy and warm. That heat, impressive given the strength, is the principal and best feature. Disappointingly, the spices don't really come through to the taste so you're left with a flavour of shredless marmalade on wholegrain toast but nothing more complex than that. Still, facing into a winter of drinking beers at home, this will be a sturdy companion.

A day after I posted my last DOT catch-up, they dropped another new one, exclusive to Stephen Street News. What could you call a foreign extra stout brewed for a newsagent except Extra Extra? It's very extra indeed at 8.95% ABV, having been aged in ex-rum and ex-rum-ex-whiskey barrels. That rum past really shows in its rum character: a sweet rum-and-raisin ice cream sensation that completely pervades it, making a very grown-up beer out of lovely kiddie flavours. You can keep your Supersplit IPAs. Additional complexity arrives after it warms a little: bourbon biscuit, dark chocolate and espresso. There's a lot of booziness with that, though the texture is quite light given the strength. On the one hand the novelty flavour doesn't render it cloying, but it's also missing a comforting, filling, warming quality which should always be part of the brief for a strong stout. This offers too much of an impression of barrel aged imperial stout, while not being one, and priced like one at €6 a can. Still tasty though.

"But what about the hazy IPA?" you cry. Fear not, O Brother has us covered, as always, with Love Hurts "oat cream IPA", brewed with Strata and El Dorado, and oats and lactose. It's on the paler, more translucent, side of hazy, and smells as milshakey as the ingredients imply. The flavour brings a powerful blend of old-style hop resins and more contemporary dessert-trolley fruit. The cream effect of the lactose is very apparent. But there's a lightness of touch despite 6.2% ABV that makes it very approachable, even refreshing. The bittering also is just enough to contribute to balance without disturbing the tinned pineapple or Bob-Marley-gig parts. I think the brewers have let the hops do the main heavy lifting here and it's a better beer for that. Strata and El Dorado is a combination to keep in mind. You can decide yourself what to do with the lactose.

Not an IPA, but a pale ale: No Road Trip is the latest in the series of commissions from McHugh's off licence, this one from their nearest brewery, Hope. Yes it's hazy, but not yellow, presenting instead a deep shade of orange. There's a lovely aroma of fresh tropical juice: passionfruit in particular, with side orders of mango and pineapple. Its flavour is a little closer to home, bringing mandarins and orangeade. This is done, the can tells us, with Azacca, Citra, Strata and Cashmere. It really should be the the definitive evidence in the case against putting fruit in pale ale: they taste fruitier if you just use the right hops the right way. At only 4.8% ABV it's refreshing and quaffable too, the spritz of carbonation adding to the fizzy-drink effect.

I performed the necessary incantations and chalked out a protective circle before opening the new one from Western Herd. This brewery has a tendency to overpower me with hop intensity, and Forge IPA uses arcane varieties Olicana and Harlequin, doubtless plucked from the non-euclidean hop fields of dread Yuggoth. It looks nice: a cheery fuzzy orangeade colour with a persistent head. The aroma doesn't give much away, just a vague lychee-and-diesel effect. My palate did not fold into a distant and eldritch dimension on tasting. It's quite nice. There's a fun strawberry and kiwi foretaste, moving on to a more serious incense resin with a smatter of pineapple, red apple and mandarin fruit salad. 7% ABV gives all of this a certain intensity, but it's not extreme. I enjoyed how different it is. The hop combination offers nothing I've tasted before, but in a good way. Genuinely innovative IPA is a rarity, but here's one of them. Buy a can and prepare to have your horizons broadened but there's no need to be afraid.

I have a couple of non-hazy IPAs for you this time too. We begin at session-level with Tokyo Calling by Rascals, one they have flavoured with yuzu and lychee. It's a bright and pale golden colour and smells tropical in a way I would believe is entirely hop-derived. Likewise the flavour: melon and mango softness with a peppery spicing in place of bitterness. I would guess a lot of Mosaic was involved. There's an unusual edge of lemonade or lurid yellow chew sweets which may be the fruit additions kicking in, but overall it's well integrated and devoid of jarring novelties. 4.5% ABV means it's light enough to quaff heartily but there's no wateriness or thinness. This is a bang-up job and I hope the seekers after syrupy fruit silliness aren't too put out.

Lineman has tried its hand at a double IPA and I can't express how much of a delight it was to pour it and find it pretty much clear. Not that Amplify is weak or wan: this is a full 8% ABV, weightily textured and smells of all the pith and resin you could want. The whole thing coalesces in flavour to a smooth and fruity combination of serious jaffa and grapefruit softened by mango and pineapple with a hint of chocolate around the edges. While it's mostly a classic west-coast take on late-noughties American DIPA, it doesn't chase the IBU numbers and there's a subtlety that brings (honestly!) English bitter to mind. The soft and fluffy carbonation might be contributing to a cask effect, as well as the banging-fresh hops. However you pick it apart, this is another Lineman classic: complex, rounded, interesting, and a reminder of a world in which double IPAs were more polite.

Wicklow Wolf have another sequence on the go, with their no-nonsense oatmeal stout Apex getting nonsensified with beans during the summer and now they've candied it further, making Apex S'mores, with marshmallow and chocolate. So it's going to be sweet yeah? It is sweet. The aroma really does smell like s'mores, and if you've never had the pleasure, that's a sticky mess of burnt marshmallow and runny low-grade milk chocolate sandwiched in crackers. It's one of the myriad confections that Americans insist are good but objectively aren't. Liquefying it and putting it in a glass does at least make it easier to manage. On tasting, there's still a trace of hop bitterness from the underlying stout but you get a big heaping helping of chocolate candy on top of that. Pink fluffy mallow? Check. There's even a slight dry burnt note to represent the whole thing catching fire and sloughing off the stick while everyone laughs at you. In short, I have a history with s'mores, and it's not a good one, and this beer brought it back. So full points for accuracy of gimmick. You need to like your stouts thick and sweet to enjoy this, however. Apex Tiramisu is on the way next. Lord help us.

Back to Lineman for today's finisher: Gigantic, an imperial stout living up to its name at 10.4% ABV. It's a beast all right, and not easy going. There's a lot of burntness in the roast, and a slight beefy quality, so it's no smooth dessert. There's a considerable hop bitterness which is at least fitting for an imperial stout. Also on the plus side: coffee liqueur, cigars and very dark chocolate. Lineman's whole thing is eschewing fashion and making grown-up beers for adults. This is very much in that milieu, though you need to be tolerant not just of a lack of s'mores, but a fair whack of astringency as well. This might lose a few points in a to-style competition but I liked what it offers, and it offers a lot. No pastry meant I was able to finish the can without assistance too.

This is a diverse bunch, with rarely a misstep to be found. Is the relative dearth of murky hop-saturated IPAs a factor in that? I couldn't possibly say.