Who goes there?

Part two of my account of the Happy Days festival at Rascals last month is about the guest breweries, and six of them in total had something new for me.

It shouldn't be surprising that Dublin 8 neighbours DOT was one of them. I was immediately drawn to something called Big Brett Blend which turned out to be a pale beer of only 6% ABV but blended from liquid aged in rum, Chardonnay and French oak barrels. It came out of that remarkably crisp and clean, with a certain slickness but little weight on the palate. Oddly there wasn't much wood character, suggesting the virgin oak component was quite small, though I got no rum or wine either, really. Instead, the Brettanomyces has control, adding a tasty peach and orange fleshy fruit note. It's decent fare, if not as "big" as the name implied.

DOT also turns out IPAs from time to time, and here they were pouring On Our Way, another 6%-er. Maybe it was the sunshine on the day but this too seemed lighter and more easy-going than expected. It's brewed with Centennial and Mosaic and is somewhat hazy without going full-on opaque murk. The flavour is very much in the New England manner, however, blending juicy citrus with smooth sweet vanilla for that orange ice pop or lemon meringue pie effect that's showing very little sign of going out of fashion. I'm wasn't complaining, for once.

Around the corner from DOT we had Hopfully, who brought a beer which normally only goes to export: the Simcoe single hop IPA called Wolfhound. As such, it expresses what I associate with the hop very well: a dense and resinous funky side that's dank to the point of tasting cheesy; damp silage meeting mature cheddar. It's 7% ABV but not hot or boozy, and I think needs a gravity of that size to carry the hops. It's not really a beer built for balance but there is a dryer side to its malt base: an element of brown breadcrust or rye cracker to keep the oily hops in check. Full-on Simcoe can be a difficult one for me to handle but I got the hang of this one quickly and was having fun drinking it by the end.

A total contrast was on offer at Kinnegar: their third Taproom Only special getting an airing: the 10% ABV Barrel Aged Imperial Brown Ale. Just like with DOT, the barrel (Bushmills, in this case) didn't have a big impact on the final product, but it's still every bit as mellow and sippable as one would expect for a strong dark beer of this nature. Dark chocolate is at the centre, shot through with sparks of dry roast, with a wisp of smoke and a daub of butter. I think it could stand to be richer, and I would have liked more of a coffee element. If they used brown malt, they didn't use enough for my tastes. While it's good, I don't see any reason to take it beyond the small-batch experimental phase.

We cross the yard to visit Wicklow Wolf, who were showcasing a new India Pale Lager, brewed in collaboration with Lost & Grounded and named (of course) Running With Wolves. They've managed to cram a lot into quite a small package here, including brightly zesty lime and grapefruit; a more savoury fried onion and then a weighty herbal dankness. The lager cleanness means that each element is distinct and can be enjoyed separately instead of being smushed together the way they might be in an IPA. 5.6% ABV is on the strong side for an IPL, but since hardly anyone makes them any more, that barely matters. This will do nicely.

The foreign visitors were given one stall between them and I made a point of trying something from each, even though €5 a half was very much on the pricey side.

The Kernel justified it, unsurprisingly, with their Sour Cherry Saison. This is 4.7% ABV and a clear scarlet colour. The cherry is fully infused through it, covering up any underlying saison character there may have been, so you get lots of succulent maraschino as well as a more bitter cherry skin. There's a strong sour side to it as well, contrasting pleasingly with the cherry's sweetness. This is another one of those beers uninterested in complexity but so boldly flavoured that it doesn't matter. Typical high-end Kernel quality.

Beside them was the skull-fixated Lübeck brewery Sudden Death, offering assorted murk. I unenthusiastically picked Synaesthesia Mosaic from the line-up, a 6.3% ABV IPA which was, of course, totally opaque. For all that, it was decently clean tasting and opened with an assertive bitter smack of satsuma and mandarin peel. Later on, vanilla custard and green leafy spinach enter the picture as well, and all get along harmoniously. It's an absolutely typical NEIPA of the sort you've likely drank many times before from breweries like this, but I will concede it's one of the better examples.

My round-up ends there. Cheers to Rascals and the visiting breweries for a fun day out. Festivals can sometimes be overwhelming in their breadth; this one is much more of a manageable boutique affair, which has its place on the calendar too.