Lacadaisical

As I was leaving the pub, several cans of Lacada beer fell into my bag. It's strange how often that happens when Simon is in the vicinity.

Once brought home and duly chilled, the first to be poured was Tide Line, a table beer of 3% ABV. These tend to be pale and hazy but this one is interestingly dark: rose gold or amber. For all that the gravity isn't up to much, they've loaded it with interesting hops -- Citra, Galaxy and Vic Secret -- which starts to pay off in the beautiful mandarin-zest aroma. The flavour doesn't quite deliver on that promise, though if it did, the whole thing would probably end up tasting like another pale ale. Instead, there's a more serious bitter earthiness flecked with jaffa rind and some rough wood bark. There's no quick finish for this lightweight either, with everything lasting long into the finish in a nicely satisfying way. This is not an easy-drinking thirst-quencher, but requires a bit of time to drink and consider. Your liver will thank you for that.

Slemish is, of course, a mountain IPA. This is supposed to be a hybrid of east and west cost variants but this example looks very eastern, being an opaque yellow colour. The aroma, too, is only lightly citric but big on tropical juice. So all the pine and grapefruit must be in the taste, right? It's not. The fuzzy New England mouthfeel might well have made that impossible. There's a faint hint of lime, but it's not clean or even properly bitter. The rest is a sort of grainy mish-mash including sesame seed, chalk and butane. The latter brings a heat that I think is excessive for 5.7% ABV. I fear that in trying to hit both coasts that they've brought the worst of each: the grittiness of New England IPA hitting the hot harsh bitterness of the other sort.

From IPA to double IPA. Ciento was one Simon was pouring samples of while we were still in BrewDog Dublin. The name references that it was their 100th brew. It's 7.5% ABV and west-coast styled, deep orange in colour and heavily textured. Tastewise it's another serious one, as of course it should be: IPA is altogether too frivolous these days. Thickly dank resin and clove spice is the aroma, turning to marmalade on biscuit as the flavour. I got a tiny rubbery twang as well which upset the equilibrium but thankfully didn't ruin it. By and large they've nailed what they set out to make here: proper west coast from the actual north coast.

We hit the properly strong stuff with the barley wine Port Na Spaniagh at 10% ABV. It's a dark amber in the glass, murky and headless. It smells fruity, like an autumnal orchard, all plum and fig and blackberry, with a rich and cakey malt undertone. The texture is very thick and it's one of those beers you have to pull past your teeth with considerable physical effort. Your reward when you do so is a beer that puts its strength right at the top of its profile, all chewy fruitcake, sticky dates and jammy damsons. While filling and warming, it's not inappropriately hot or headachey, without any of the phenols or higher alcohol that can spoil this sort. You needn't expect much by way of hop, but there's a certain herbal aniseed quality providing an old-world balance to the cake. Once again Lacada has brewed something serious that demands your attention, and it's worth giving it.

And so, inevitably, we're down in the dark at Jonsey's Locker. This imperial stout is 13% ABV and aged for a year in Irish whiskey barrels which I suspect may have come from the brewery's local megadistillery. In the glass it's purest black with a heavily nicotined head. The aroma is sweet, sticky, and slightly burned, like caramelised sugar or treacle. It's not terribly smooth, the silkiness of the texture compromised by slightly too much fizz. I missed the creaminess when I found the beautiful moccha/latte foretaste, shot through with generously-poured espresso. It turns more to milk chocolate and vanilla at the end, a gentle finish where some beers like this go all out for the spirit burn. This is refined and very classy, showing all the wallop of a silly American pastry stout but with nothing gimmickier than an Irish whiskey barrel involved.

Slemish aside, this is quite an impressive set, with the stronger beers showing a talent for packing the flavours in where there's room to accommodate them. Cheers Simon!