Card carrying

I had been keeping up with the beers from the revived Post Card brand but somehow missed their Custom House pale ale. When I noticed, and bought one, it was only a couple of months from the best before. It still had plenty of aroma, though: a zesty lemon freshness coming from the clear pale yellow liquid. It's a light 4.8% ABV and designed for easy drinking, aimed at, according to the can, "those who might not like too many hops". It tastes a lot of hops, however, presenting a sharp bitterness and thickly resinous oils. The dankness leads on to a more savoury white-onion effect. This is decent but definitely not the free-wheeler it's marketed as: for proper hop aficionados who don't mind a bit of old school bitterness.

It's perhaps surprising that more Irish breweries don't have a potato-starch stout, but here's one now: The Forty Foot. They claim it's not a gimmick but helps "balance the flavour" between malt and hops. Hmm... It looks well, being properly black, and there's a considerable bitter and herbal hop aroma. The flavour changes direction somewhat, introducing dark chocolate and sticky treacle first, with the hops -- green and vegetal -- arriving later. The texture is dense and satisfying, feeling like more than its 5.5% ABV. Gimmicky ingredients aside, this is delightfully very old fashioned, classic even. Perhaps the spuds really have balanced the sweet and bitter sides, because there's lots of both and they don't get in each other's way. Nicely done.

Last summer the brewer released a pair of one-off seasonals which included a black IPA. It looks like that one might be back under a new year-round label, as Bull Wall black IPA is the same 6.8% ABV. Does it suffer from the same lack of hop wallop? Yes, a little. They do state on the can that it's in the New England sub-genre because of the yeast used, so perhaps I shouldn't be expecting much bitterness. I would still like some, though. There is at least some decent hop flavour in with the roast: floral and perfumey. It's pleasant as it goes, but is just missing that extra poke that makes black IPAs a favourite of mine.

It's all very maritime so far, but we move inland for the last one: Broom Bridge, a "wee heavy" that was produced for Christmas but has been languishing in my beer fridge ever since. It pours thickly, reflecting its 7.5% ABV and more. I didn't get much of a sense of it from the first sip so allowed it to warm up a while. The aroma is quite dry: I expected toffee but got brown bread instead. It is sweeter to taste, however, just not to the extent I thought it would be. Sipping gingerly I get jam and candy -- sweetly suggesting fruit without tasting of any specific ones. With that comes a lightly tart tang and a little bonus warmth. This is subtle in a way that strong Christmas beers tend not to be, and it's up to the drinker to decide if that's a feature or a bug. I have to say, cliché and all that it is, I would have liked more of the toffee and caramel side. The jammy fruit is fine, but it needs company.

Before I sign off, just to note that the brewery seems to have kicked that lumpy phenomenon which was making some of the earlier releases look awful: these were all spotless in the glass. I hope the arrangement with Farrington's is working out for them because I'm enjoying the results. Where will they take us next?