Return flights

After Rascals, the next stop on my Dublin brewery staycation was Open Gate, now living up to its name and accepting walk-ins. Despite a gap of over two years since my last visit, it's much the same as always, except the flights are down to three beers now, though I got a welcome taster of a fourth on arrival.

So, we begin with a Gin Botanical Lager. Pale, clear and headless it smelled like lemonade with a faint herbal lacing on the citrus. The flavour was a surprise. They've really brought the gin to it, dry as hell and packed with perfumey herbs and fruit, juniper of course, plus savoury basil and rosemary, pomegranate, lemon peel and much more besides. Making it a lager was an excellent idea as after the busy rush of competing tastes it calms down and cleans away promptly, and that's despite a fairly thick and resinous mouthfeel from all the oily botanicals. Above all it is fun, exactly the sort of messing I come to Open Gate for.

While I've long been a cheerleader for Open Gate's lager, the sour beers haven't hit the mark for me in the same way. The latest is Yuzu Citrus Sour, and it's very plain fare. After the previous display it was like moving from colour to black and white. I could barely detect the fruit, and like its predecessors it's not in the least bit sour. What it is, more than anything, is savoury, with a kind of green onion and peppery rocket, plus a weird and jarring hint of vanilla. It's not terrible, but it's not fun. I demand fun, Mr Guinness.

Gin Botanical, Yuzu Citrus, Summer Fruit Porter, Boateng Mango & Lime

A Summer Fruit Porter you say? That's more like it. This 5%-er is pale for a porter, very much red rather than brown or black. A bit like the gin lager it delivers exactly what's promised: lightly dry roast and thirst-quenching fizz from the porter, with a dollop of raspberry and strawberry, concentrated enough to give it a jammy, cordial effect. It's an unorthodox mix but it works, and channels carefree summer vibes in a way that dark beers generally don't. Maybe dialling up the porter side would have improved it: give me a shot of espresso with my raspberryade, but still it works very nicely in an unfussy and understated but still fun way.

My on-arrival sample had to wait while I got through that lot. Boateng Brew Mango & Lime Brett Beer had been launched earlier in the week as part of the brewery's summer programme of music. It's a hazy looking fellow, and the Brettanomyces gets to work immediately in an aroma full of peach and lychee, drowning out the actual fruit. There's a modicum of funk in the flavour, but also a sweet and concentrated lime bitterness giving it a very Caribbean kind of vibe. This is another fun one, though the wild yeast is the only indication that it's a beer at all. It's only 4.8% ABV and I can see it going down well with the cocktail crowd, should any show up to James's Gate in the coming weeks.

Mexican Lager, Garnet American Amber, Cold Brew Coffee Stout

So that was the "Experimental Flight". There's also the "Seasonal Flight" which starts on style of the moment, Mexican Lager. It's a pleasing amber colour and backs that up with a big malt flavour, all golden syrup and oat cookies. For balance, a very Germanic hop bittering, full of cut grass and dried basil, finishing acridly dry and almost harsh. This is much more flavourful than any actual Mexican lager I know. It's a workout for the palate, akin to a bock. A pint would have been hard work but I appreciated the boldness on display in my third.

I was apprehensive about the Garnet American Amber before I ordered it and by God it was ugly when it arrived, a sludgy opaque terracotta shade. It smelled OK, a perfumed floral sort of vibe; rosewater and lavender. The beer is a lot cleaner-tasting than it looks, and lightly textured too, for a big 5.7% ABV. There's a little toffee and chocolate and then a big resin and citrus kick, with the floral side performing an encore in the finish. As such it's a very decent expression of the style but they really should sort out the appearance if they're doing it again.

Finally, something not from the Open Gate. Guinness Cold Brew Coffee beer has been launched on the US and UK markets but so far is only available in Ireland here at headquarters. It looks like a normal stout, like an innocent stout, black with a head that was turning a wholesome yellow by the time I got to it. Yeah it's nitro but the aroma is gorgeous, freshly brewed coffee, the sort of scent they waft out of cafés to entice punters in. It's only 4% ABV and that pays off, in a bad way, in the very thin texture: any sense that this is a stout stout immediately disintegrates. The base beer is presumably Guinness but there's very little trace of it under the coffee. It is at least real-tasting coffee, of the oily bean sort, with a spoonful of brown sugar and a modicum of lactic creaminess. That's about it, though. It's simple, gimmicky and not really an improvement on basic Guinness, or a proper coffee beer. The Brits and Yanks can keep it.

Still, that was a fun couple of rounds and the Open Gate creatives are doing sterling work. I will definitely be wandering back in when other new beers take my fancy.

Disclosure: My visit to Open Gate Brewery was not at the invitation of Diageo and all of the beers were paid for from my own pocket, except that free one they gave me when I sat down.