Cask central

Time was, the twice-annual Wetherspoon Real Ale Festival meant setting off on two wheels to the outer suburbs of Dublin. Its post-pandemic return has seen a change in the dynamic, however, with central Dublin boasting three branches (and counting) and the original Blackrock flagship sold on to new owners. Now I can do a crawl while getting barely any exercise: win win! Newest addition The South Strand did not seem to have got with the programme on the day I checked, so first stop was The Silver Penny on Abbey Street.

Number one on the festival roster was Malt Crush from Manchester stalwart JW Lees. Despite the name, its bright gold appearance made it look like a properly bitter Manchester bitter. It's certainly not big on the malt front, though is far from a hop bomb either, displaying just a mild lemonade lemon character. The accompanying notes call it a golden ale and that's fair enough -- there's a certain lager crispness, although the condition of my half wasn't great. This is an easy-going 3.7% ABV beer where any drama is confined to the pumpclip. An acceptable starting point, I guess. 

Robinson's of neighbouring Stockport is a brewery I've never really got on with so was a little trepidatious about one of theirs next: Hoptimus Prime (with all us Gen-Xers running breweries, how many beers of that name must there be now?) It's another golden one and 4.1% ABV. It's fine too, and very unexciting. There's a touch of Robinson's's signature soapiness in the aroma, and very little that I'd call hops in general, only tiny metallic tang on the end. With most other breweries I would castigate this one as boring; here I feel I've got away with something. It could have been a lot worse.

To London next, and Sambrooks. Their contribution is an American-hopped red ale called, with some no doubt unintentional racial insensitivity, Tomahawk. It's a dark garnet colour and the hops and malt meld in the aroma to create a bittersweet black liquorice effect. The flavour is dank and resinous, but smoothed out with strawberry and milk chocolate. There's a lot going on at first, and then a tannic dryness ties everything off neatly. You get a great deal of flavour complexity here for just 4.1% ABV. It's not a style I would have thought lent itself easily to cask but it works beautifully, keeping the hops front and centre where other cask reds drown them completely. Excellent work, apart from the name.

Keavan's Port had a sizeable range on, so it was thirds all the way. I began on Cairngorm Red Mountain, one which is suspiciously un-red. Mixing up the lines is not unknown here, though I did go looking for pictures of it elsewhere and what they served me checks out. It's pretty malt-forward, but not like a red: rounded and biscuity without caramel or toffee. From the middle to the finish there's a spiky hop kick, all grassy and noble. It's quite nice, but that's at least partially because it fits the profile more of a bitter, or even a German pilsner, than a red ale. I'll take it.

Shepherd Neame is next, with a sassy and modern-looking "light amber IPA" called Crossfire, using modern hop variety Ernest. There's a fresh oily-orange quality to the aroma, while the flavour is spicy more than anything: bergamot and jasmine, finishing with a cleansing tea-like effect. I regretted only having a third of this: it's one built for big and quenching draughts, the sort of pint that's gone in three gulps. Sipping a tiddly tumbler felt wrong. Regardless, I enjoyed it: clean and unchallenging, but with plenty going on in the flavour -- exactly what English cask ale does best.

The final part of this second trilogy is Jekyll and Hyde from Vale brewery, strongest of the lot at 5.2% ABV. "Deep red" says the description but it's definitely amber. It's weirdly strongly flavoured: a heavy floral perfume which starts at rosewater and proceeds through incense and patchouli oil to a rasping lemon rind finish. It's all a bit much for me and impossible to relax with. Here I was glad I only had a third, but shout-out to the boldness on display anyway.

That was a pretty efficient way of ticking off six new cask beers, poor service and inaccurate app data aside. Negotiating these is all part of the Wetherspoon adventure now. I look forward to an extra node being added to the crawl when the Aston Quay branch opens.