After the hops of summer have gone

It's time for another round-up of pale ales from Irish breweries, this lot covering releases from the tail end of summer 2021. One of them even came in a pint glass in a pub!

But we'll begin in Lidl. Brehon has rebranded five of its core range beers as "The Kavanagh Collection" with labels paying tribute to the curmudgeonly Monaghan poet and his best-known works. Among them is Fair Day, an edition of their Seisiún pale ale, which I've never had. It is/they are a mere 3.5% ABV with Citra and Mosaic the hops. It's a fizzy devil, taking me a few goes to get it carefully poured into the pint glass. In there it's a rich-looking rose gold colour, and perfectly clear with it. The promised passionfruit and mango is right there in the aroma, with a drier biscuit malt behind it. That dryness is mostly in charge of the flavour, and particularly in the foretaste, accentuated with a flinty mineral spice. It's clean, thirst quenching, but not very interesting, like a mid-tier English bitter. Something more fun happens in the finish where the tropical fruit reappears in candy chew form adding just the right amount of complexity for a low-gravity sessioner. The mouthfeel also manages to escape thinness by the barest amount. Brehon do pop out the odd cask from time to time and this would be ideally suited, I think.

A Heliocentric Orbit takes us up to 4% ABV courtesy of Metalman's new session IPA, the fourth in their retro-future-branded Galactic Voyager series. It smells very orangey, like fresh jaffa segments or bitty Orangina. This is from a combination of El Dorado, Hallertau Blanc and Citra hops, which strikes me as an excellent combination for getting both pith and juiciness. The flavour bears that out, though it makes you wait for the juicy zing; before it there's a very sharp bitterness to get the mouth watering, turning almost waxy and hard before giving way in the finish to the candy-chew fruit fun. That too fades after a moment and it's back to a severe acidity for the lingering aftertaste. This is no easy quaffer, and a high level of carbonation doesn't make it any easier. That said, it has its charms: big bold flavours in a small package definitely has a place.

For Molloy's, The Porterhouse has created a post-pandemic tribute beer to, well, everyone: there's a long list of the parties to whom they're grateful on the back, and the beer itself is called Thanks! It's a sessionable 4.2% ABV and clear spun-gold colour. The aroma offers bitter grapefruit with some herbal, mineral, bathbomb complexities. The complexities disappear from the flavour and the crisply sharp grapefruit is in the ascendant, turning waxy and grassy in the finish. I guessed correctly that Cascade was involved but suspected the presence of something German which turned out to be actually done with Simcoe and Ekuanot. The texture is smooth and full with no wateriness and the whole thing is refreshing and easy drinking once you get used to the powerful bitterness. It's always nice to have something high quality and distinctly old-school in these run-downs.

They're a bunch of good sports over at Britvic, and seemingly have given Rascals permission to create an official Club Rock Shandy Pale Ale on a strictly limited basis. It's 4.5% ABV and goes the New England route to create the base sweetness, adding orange and lemon, of course. I'm generally sceptical about these novelty beers designed to taste like something else, but honestly this one really does get there. Up front it's pure zest, the cloudy, bit-laden quality of Club Orange and Lemon (I should note that because I'm from the 1970s I refuse to recognise the validity of pre-mixed Rock Shandy). Under the initial citrus there's an entirely complementary soft pale ale, sweet to offset the fruit acidity while also tasting of actual bitterly oily hops. This is designed to be fun and absolutely nails it. Perhaps the recipe could be quietly repurposed without Britvic noticing.

Lough Gill has done another of its sparsely-branded monochrome cans for Aldi. Paddle is a light IPA at 4.7% ABV and single-hopped with Citra. A golden colour, it's lightly hazy in the glass. Oats are included in the grist but it no more than nods to New England, with the added body giving it substance but that's it: no vanilla or garlic or whatnot. Instead there's a pleasing kick of lime, in both the bitter fruit and dry alkali sense. Only in the finish is there a mild dose of watery thinness but by that point you've had your fun and that's all that matters. For a supermarket cheapie this is fine fare.

Six beers in and we're only now hitting 5% ABV: everyone has been taking it very handy this summer. Hazy in Love is the one to bring us over the line, a new addition to the core range at Rascals. First impression: it's not all that hazy, being a thin-looking translucent orange. The aroma is strangely savoury: wholegrain toast and bitter herbs; nothing about it says hops, juicy or otherwise. I was both intrigued and apprehensive going in to taste. That revealed a beer very much not for me. The grainy thing I picked up in the aroma is central to the flavour, dry and husky, leaving an acrid burn in the back of my throat. A stale and funky sweatiness sits alongside and does absolutely nothing to help. I just about managed to pick up a little orangeade sweetness, but not much of it at all. Rascals doesn't normally drop the ball on flavours this way (see two beers up) so I'm quite prepared to believe I'm missing some receptors that make it a more normal-tasting hazy IPA. Either way, I think it'll be a while before I give this one another go.

We return to more traditional programming with Black's of Kinsale's Wild Atlantic Way, an avowed west coast IPA though only 5.2% ABV. It's Sculpin/Pliny-pale but hazy with it. Am I weird for thinking "west coast" should always mean clear? The aroma is quite east-coast sweet too, though candy chews rather than sticky vanilla so all is not lost. For all my concerns about its west coast credentials it is beautifully clean-flavoured, almost like a lager. It's neither classic citrus-bitter nor juicy-tropical sweet, but somewhere in the middle and it works brilliantly. I was prepared for something severe but this is gentle, accessible and very tasty: fresh pineapple and grapefruit on a cream cracker base. Complex it's not, but it is very enjoyable and perhaps better built for pints than tiddly cans.

I got a late blast of summer from Sullivan's 2021 Summer Ale, a 5.5%-er, amber gold with a thick and lasting head and hopped with an Anglo-American combination of First Gold and Amarillo. The aroma is very much that of an English golden ale, earthy and floral with a hint of lemon zest. Vienna malt is mentioned on the label too and I guess that's what provides the sweet richness that's at the centre of the flavour: no light and easy drinking beer-garden quaffer here. The chewy malt biscuit is spiced up with candied lemon and pink bubblegum. There's a little bit of dryness in the finish, but I think it could do with more. As is, it's a little unbalanced in favour of the big malt. At least it'll still be well suited for drinking when the nights begin to draw in.

The White Hag has a new pale ale series. Following on from the Union Series single-hoppers come the Duo Series: two hops at a time. I'm not sure that has the same educational potential but let's see what the beer is like. First up is Idaho 7 & Citra and it's 5.5% ABV. I guess the malt side has been kept out of the picture as much as possible as it's a pale yellow, with a little haze. The aroma is a gorgeous tangy tropical candy thing, a pic 'n' mix of Tangfastics, Starburst and other fruity, zesty fun items. It's a bit more grown up to taste, with a fruitcake mix of orange peel and sultanas. That finishes quite quickly, without living up to the promise of the jolly aroma. Citra's token punch is well padded-out, leaving with only a gentle tap of lime oil in the finish. As a refreshing pale ale to throw back it's very pleasant; as a sensory education, I'm less convinced. There'll be more from the Duo Series later in the week when I take a look at this year's Boxtravaganza offerings.

Clancy's Cans #6 is Ballykilcavan's contribution to today's set. It's an Australian style IPA, and for some reason I always expect these to be orange in colour. Maybe it's because Galaxy hops taste of orange, or maybe it's because the example I've drank most -- Boyne Brewhouse Born In A Day -- was pretty orange. Anyway, Clancy Sextus doesn't disappoint: it's dense looking and very, very orange. With the Galaxy they've employed Vic Secret and Ella, in quantity, it seems. There's the concentrated leafy hop bitterness of a sample straight from the conditioning tank; harshly sharp in both the aroma and flavour. Getting past that, there is indeed the sweet and oily jaffa I associate with Galaxy, and a herbal bitterness from Vic Secret. These are set on a heavy base: 5.6% ABV but feeling like more. The whole thing is hard work. I can't shake the feeling that it's unfinished and needs to attenuate out more, and drop bright more. The fresh bang from those hops can't be argued with, but that's not enough on its own.

TwoSides normally pops out the easy sessionable pale ales but has thrown some malt weight into the latest, the 6% ABV Shiny Hoppy People. It was wonderful to be back in 57 The Headline to try it on draught as intended. It's your standard hazy orange and shows lots of heavy, oily hop dankness. My pint was cold and I got the impression of something that may get a little soupy if allowed warm up. The high notes are savoury rather than fruity, opening on dry sesame seed, before proceeding through zesty citrus to that resin on the end. It's a bit of a workout, and one pint was plenty for me. I think the lighter stuff suits me better.
 
Eight Degrees waited until the second half of the year before starting into their annual limited series. This year it's called Original Gravity beginning on Juicy IPA. Best to get it out of the way, I suppose. First surprise was that it's not hazy, but then nobody said it would be. The aroma isn't particularly juicy either, with Sabro coming in hard and heavy, producing oodles of coconut and pith. The juice arrives on tasting. To start it's nicely full-bodied, feeling all of that 6.5% ABV. Then instead of the pithy bitterness I expected there's a tangy and delightfully realistic mandarin and satsuma effect; sweet without being thick or sugary, and very very juicy. A week after canning this was a joy to drink. I hope it's still as good by the time you get hold of it.

"Crypo Pop™" is the latest blended processed hop product from Yakima Chief and O Brother has put it to the test in a double IPA called It Was All A Dream. It's possible they don't fully trust it as they've added some Idaho 7 too, just to be safe. It's medium hazy by O Brother standards, a dull orange colour rather than bright yellow. The hop merchant promises tropical and stonefruit qualities, and I get a decent amount of that in the aroma here, along with more traditional zesty tangerine. 8% ABV renders it thick and heavy, with a substantial heat, but still on the satisfying-to-drink side of the equation, rather than unpleasantly cloying. That does dampen the hops a little, I think, and shock horror there's even an element of malt in the taste. Hopwise there's a vaguely sweet mix of mandarin, pear, cantaloupe and mango, but nothing especially bright and distinctive. Maybe double IPA isn't the best showcase for trying new ingredients like this. A mild buzz of citric acidity forms the full stop. It's quite nice, but definitely more of a comforting warmer than a hop exhibition.

Only the one double? We'll leave it there so. Perhaps this chronic malt shortage will have been resolved in time for the next round-up.