The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 10: O Brother

We pay our third and final visit to a Wicklow-based brewery for this year's Twelve Brewers: the ever-so arty O Brother.

IPA of various stripes is the brewery's stock in trade and we begin with Deep Love at a relatively modest 6.9% ABV. It's dense and eggy-looking in the glass but smells inviting: a gentle waft of ripe tropicals. The taste is... familiar. Yellow fruit chews, more realistic mango, a little vanilla and an abrasive chalky minerality in the finish. Very much fan-service for the New England IPA crowd, with nothing even close to real bitterness. There's a substantial heat too, which I think is unjustified: the hop flavours aren't big and bold enough to warrant it. For the record, Azacca, Galaxy and Amarillo are the under-performers here. It's not a bad beer but those fruit-forward hops don't shine, and I blame the haze for that.

The IPA ABV gets a boost with Exploded View, 8% and single-hopped with Simcoe. That's clear from the aroma: a heady mix of lemonade, lime peel and hot fermenting grass cuttings. I thought I was in for a severe experience but the fluffy New England yeast stops that from happening, giving it a soft mouthfeel and turning the citrus zest into meringue pie. There are no sharp edges here, and no heat. Amid peach and white plum there's a slightly savoury side of red onion and garlic. This is Simcoe with manners on it, and while I appreciated the lack of harshness, I confess I missed the bad-boy edge it usually shows. A further point or two off for not marking it as New England style, which it very definitely is. Overall, a mellow sipper offering considerable complexity with just one hop.

Of course they had to go one better on themselves, hence the 10.4% ABV triple IPA Bat Country. It's hopped with Strata and Mosaic and smells beautifully Mosaicky, all melon and passionfruit. Flavourwise it's hot and heavy, as one might expect, but the bright and fruitsome hops are the saving of it. There's a certain jamminess and lots of resins but very little bittering: O Brother's grá for hazy softness is fully represented. A pinch of white onion balances the tropical juice. While not especially complex, it's a relaxing and sippable beer, presenting few challenges to the palate. That's pretty much what I want from a triple IPA, so thumbs up.

Enough IPAs for one post, then. A hefty porter finishes things off on a properly wintery note. One Beating Heart is 7% ABV. Blackest of the black; shiny with a deep tan head, it looks like it promises a good time. The aroma is fairly mild, but gives you all the cocoa you could want from a porter. The flavour is where it really excels. Well, flavour and mouthfeel: the two are inextricably linked. Big and creamy, and a little chewy is how it rolls; cakey, gooey. On that texture rides dark chocolate and liquorice for two kinds of sweetshop bitterness: a rich coffee roast and then a fruity plum pudding thing at the end. It's sumptuous, and one of those strong dark jobs that makes you wonder why breweries even bother with barrel ageing. More biggity-big no-gimmick porters please!

I guess I'll forgive O Brother any amount of murk if they can turn out the likes of One Beating Heart now and again.