A right bunch of prinks

This Saturday sees the first ever Mullingar Wild Beer Festival at Smiddy's Bar. It promises to be quite the event and I'm really looking forward to seeing, and tasting, what the brewers have brought. This post is a mood-setter, highlighting some recent beers from the headlining acts.

We're not starting wild, though: Wide Street has a straightforward Vienna lager, named in the most straightforward fashion, Vienna Lager. It's got Magnum and Saaz hops, Vienna malt, and you can argue with someone else about whether the crystal malt is required or not. The result is a murky ochre with a parchment-coloured head. It smells quite rough, with a sweet estery pear effect meeting red wine and chocolate rasins. Not what I was expecting from the style. The flavour is altogether cleaner, but the strange and slightly sharp red grape effect remains. There's a certain roasted crispness, but not of the rich melanoidin taste that ought to be the hallmark of something like this. I give it a cautious welcome. It's drinkable, and by golly it's interesting, but it doesn't fit my idea of anything that goes by the description of Vienna lager, and if you're going to name the beer after the style, it ought to.

The next one is even tamer. Middle Lane from Otterbank is one of their straight-up offerings brewed by Third Barrel. It's a pale ale of 4.4% ABV, dry hopped with Citra, plus some Chinook and Centennial. That sounds quite old-school but it's also hazy, and smells deliciously juicy. Befitting the strength, the body is quite light, on that cusp where some would say it's pleasingly drinkable; others that it's annoyingly thin. I'm going to both-sides that one. The flavour is fairly clean, dominated by lemon peel and grapefruit flesh, with a hint of vanilla and a touch of dry murky grit on the finish. It's not a beer which demands a lot of attention, but does live up to its name in incorporating aspects of both the east and west coast sub-styles. Clever.

Otterbank also got on board with the international campaign to support humanitarian aid for Ukraine by brewing a beetroot stout called Resist. I gave an account of Ballykilcavan's 8% ABV version recently here. Otterbank's is stronger still for extra resistance at 10.5% ABV. It's not quite black, being a very dark chocolate or bromine brown colour. I've drank a fair few beetroot beers in my time but never one where the vegetable add-on leaps out of the aroma as much as it does here, all raw and crunchy with a lacing of purple sweetness. The roasty stout side of the smell takes a secondary position. The flavour brings the roast out more: concentrated espresso and a vegetal bitterness which is entirely appropriate for the style but also dovetails neatly with the earthy beetroot. A tiny umami soy-sauce twang finishes it off. The strength is most apparent in the dense texture but there's no heat. In fact it's all rather subtle and balanced for a powerhouse novelty stout. I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed that it does good. Buy it if you see it.

Things get a wee bit wilder with the saison, Little Nelson, by Wide Street. The name comes from the New Zealand hop it uses, along with the fact it's only 3.7% ABV. It's a pale and fuzzy yellow colour with a fine froth on top. The aroma absolutely sings of Nelson Sauvin: cool and juicy white grape meeting a harder flinty bitterness. It's very light-bodied, even given the strength, but the hopping has been toned down accordingly for balance. The flavour offers a funky grassy foretaste, finishing dry and crisp. The saison side of the equation is muted, with only a mild earthiness giving away the style. Overall it's a tasty thirst-quencher and great vehicle for the hops. If Nelson Sauvin is a favourite of yours, don't miss this.

Now it's time to get the bugs out. First up is Idol Eyes from Wide Street, a golden ale fermented with mixed yeast varieties and aged in Chardonnay barrels. It is indeed brightly golden with lots of lambic-like spicing in the aroma, plus a serious eye-puckering acidity. That big sourness is the main feature, given prominence by an excessively low ABV of 4.8%. Opposite the sharp side there's the Chardonnay, luscious and juicy. You only get a flash of it, however, before the acid is back to scour your palate on the finish. I whine about beers like this when they're too strong, turning sweaty and cloying, but this goes too far in the opposite direction, with a little of the harshness often found in big-flavoured beers that lack the malt base to carry it. I can't be too cross with it, however, as it has lots of great sour and spicy features. Being low strength doesn't make it sessionable, however. One 75cl bottle was plenty.

Back to Otterbank for the finisher, a 9% ABV red ale called Time Will Tell, first in a new collaboration series, this one with -- oh surprise -- Third Barrel. Brettanomyces fermentation and wine barrel ageing all feature, as do Mosaic hops but I wasn't expecting too much of those. We're in Belgian oud bruin territory here, with the dark brown body and an aroma that has more than a hint of high-end balsamic vinegar about it. The texture is beautifully smooth, though with very little sign of the prodigious strength. That mutes the sourness somewhat, so instead of sharp cherry, or even vinegar, it's richly fruity, with raisin and plum plus a little chocolate and pudding. This works well as a dessert, where you might otherwise put port or a liqueur: smooth and calmly warming, and a nice place to finish. For now.

See you in Mullingar.