Play to winter

Kinnegar's Brewers at Play series reaching 20 coincided with the brewery's tenth anniversary so they celebrated by splitting it into two different lagers.

Brewers at Play 20÷2: Anniversary Pilsner was first out. It's 5% ABV and a bang-on medium clear gold. The bang-on-ness continues in the aroma and flavour. The former is mild and unobtrusive, with just a faint dry hay quality suggesting that noble hops are on their way. Said hops get properly delivered in the flavour: grass, spinach, celery, finishing dry and almost shading towards the unpleasant burnt-plastic effect I sometimes get from traditional German hops, but not here. The taste is buoyed up on a thickly textured weighty malt base which sacrifices the beer's crispness a little but does make it a more complex experience: no simple quaffing lager this. I enjoyed how it treads that line between easy lager and multifaceted sipping beer -- something the best German brewers do effortlessly but is unusual for Ireland. Mission accomplished, I guess.

Pilsner is easy but rauchbier is hard. I was intrigued and a little apprehensive about how they would fare with Brewers at Play 20÷2: Anniversary Rauchbier. It took me a while to find out because it's very foamy and I only have a wee Kinnegar glass. That did give me time to appreciate its deep chestnut colouring. The aroma suggests they've nailed it, all warm soft ham and bacon, with no harsh kippers. On tasting it has a lot of the signature Schlenkerla flavour, and the fact that I find myself trying to find points of difference is a testament to its quality. The smooth richness isn't quite there: it's a little sharp and thin, the carbonation interfering with the taste somewhat. And there's a very slightly harsh edge to the foretaste meaning it takes a moment for the smoke's more genteel side to kick in. But these are inconsequential details; they really have managed to recreate the classic Bamberg rauchbier experience in a very impressive way.

Life can't be all play, however. It looks like number 15 in the series has graduated to being a normal part of the range. Winterland is a new milk stout with vanilla, slightly beefed up from BaP 15, the ABV rising to 5.3% from 4.8%. Although it's sweet and creamy, it goes for coffee roast in a big way so ends up tasting like an Italian coffee-infused dessert: tiramisu or affogato, with a crisp wafer biscuit on the side. The gravity boost hasn't given it the full-on creaminess that I wanted from the previous iteration, but it's definitely an improvement. I particularly liked how the dessertish qualities are balanced by quite an intense roasted bitterness. With this one, they're definitely not playing any more.

Play resumed shortly afterwards with Brewers At Play 21: Barleywine. Just barleywine (or "barley wine" if the creeping Americanisation of European beer styles bothers you): no kooky ingredients or post-fermentation treatments, simply a hefty and warming 10% ABV. In the glass it looks comforting and thick, chocolate-brown, turning garnet when held to the light. It smells sweetly of fruitcake and cola, and the mouthfeel isn't as heavy as I had been expecting; though it's far from thin, there's a lightness of touch which really aids the drinkability. With an American name and an American at the helm, I thought we were in for some big Bigfootesque hopping, but that's kept on the downlow to allow the malt take centre stage. It's glacé cherries and strawberry jam in the middle, with a harder metallic bitterness in the finish. Its olde-worlde stylings might miff a few punters more used to the brasher barley wines, but I liked the understated quality here -- perfect calm winter sipping fare.

Keep 'em coming, Kinnegar! The games are only just beginning.