Alliteration and lactose

Today's beers are from the Larkin's brewery in Wicklow. It seems to have been through a tumultuous time lately, including a change of ownership, I believe. But the beers are still coming out and someone is doing artwork for them.

We'll get to those presently, but an early move by the new owners was to introduce Rí-Rá, a basic lager which initially was only available by the case, via their website, in the region of the brewery. Perhaps they didn't realise that Tesco already provides such a service, but a few months later, home delivery was "paused" and Rí-Rá appeared in the general trade, where I picked it up. And it is indeed a basic lager, 4.5% ABV and a little on the sweet side, with hints of clove, pear and lychee. A lack of hop bite puts this more in the Helles category than pilsner, but it's by no means a classic of that. You ordered a lager; here's a lager: make do.

There's a new sequence of Acid Passion fruited sour beers, and I'm beginning with Passionista, with passionfruit, obviously enough. The visuals are very typical: a bright but opaque orange, the head instantly crackling away to nothing. It's 6.2% ABV, with added lactose, and I feared thickness and sickliness, but neither features, I'm happy to say. The aroma is passionfruit, of course, but not too loud, and with a pleasant mineral backing. Its flavour goes that way too: quite a serious tartness, a light but unmistakable passionfruit taste, and then a neat and quick finish. Despite the strength it's beautifully refreshing, and while one could accuse it of being rather two-dimensional, I'm happy with the overall product and hoping for more of the same from the sequels.

The next one looks the same and has very similar specs but uses two fruits -- papaya and guava -- so might be a bit more complex. They've called it Island Fusion. It certainly tastes a measure sweeter, dialling back the tartness and ramping up the syrupy tropical fruit salad. It's not difficult drinking, however: still refreshing and not thick or hot. I do miss the sharper sourness, though. Still, if you came to it looking for a mixed-tropical-flavoured sour beer then that's what you get from this, no more and no less.

More of the same from Acid Passion Pineapple Peach? I  guess they'd given up trying to find names for them at this stage. Hazy orange? Check. No head? Check. This is the dullest so far, lacking a strong sourness but also low-balling the fruit. I'm not sure I would be able to identify either the pineapple or the peach. It does the basics but no more than that: clean, light-bodied, vaguely tart and slightly fruity. Maybe drinking these in sequence wasn't a great way of doing them justice.

Anyway, what were the chances of something radically different from the fourth and final Acid Passion? This is Tropic Thunderberry and, well, for one thing it's pink, thanks to the inclusion of blueberry with mango. It certainly smells berry-like, though I'd have guessed something more normal, like raspberry or black cherry. Perhaps because of the fruit choice, I get more of a sense of the dreaded lactose in this one. It's in the others too, but this is the only one with a creamy, yoghurty texture and taste. That's not overdone, but is a feature. While again I missed the more intense sourness of Passionista, I appreciated the extra richness in this one. It's no jammy sugarbomb and expresses the 6.2% ABV rather better than the others.

On, then, to the IPAs. Each of these is named for a hop so is, one assumes, single-hopped with that variety.

The label of Belma Blast shows an orange and a strawberry, and it's the latter that's Belma's rightly-earned signature flavour. This hazy job definitely smells summery, though as much of meadows and fruit punch, as strawberries. The strawberry is right at the front in the flavour, though: it tastes pink, with elements of raspberry and red cherry too. There's barely a trace of bitterness, with the only minor citrus note being akin to lemon drops or candied orange peel. A gummy texture accentuates this, and fits in with the punchy 6.3% ABV. Overall, this is a joyous confection; a perfect antidote to the gritty, too-cool-to-be-fun sort of hazy IPA. And charging €3.50 a can, not €6+. Further, I contend that Belma is a criminally underused hop.

Had they the beatings of that? Proceeding alphabetically, next out of the fridge was Cashmere Crush, a smidge stronger at 6.5% ABV and looking identical. The aroma is faint, offering a vague mandarin zest, but nothing more. It's certainly drier than the foregoing, but offers a subtle and interesting mix of pear or lychee with a sprinkle of nutmeg or paprika. Throw in some coconut and marshmallow, for the full Mikado biscuit effect. Again, bitterness is not a feature, and while it doesn't have the loudly fruity multidimensionality of the Belma one, it's tasty and drinkable, with no off-flavours. On we go...

Ekuanot Eclipse is our penultimate. Are those blood oranges or red grapefruits on the label? No matter, here's another 6.5%-er, and hazy orange-yellow again. And here's the bitterness we've been waiting for, or so I guess from the pithy, zesty aroma. Ekuanot wasn't in my Rolodex under "Citrus", but that's what's presented. Let's continue. It's still big and soft and fluffy, just like the other two, and that appears to have turned the zest into a sweet cordial or smoothie effect. The slick texture makes it stick around on the palate, and as it does, the cordial gradually curdles and turns into more of a citric acid burn. It's... a move. I don't think it works as well as the ones which stayed sweet and smooth throughout. This one, stylistically, is in that weird mountain zone between east and west coast, which never works as well as going all-in on either.

The set of four ends with another at the same strength: Motueka Madness. It looks the same too, and smells similarly of citrus zest with hints of sweeter vanilla. Usually, Motueka doesn't mess about, being strong to the point of tasting medicinal. Here, it's been muzzled somewhat: Motueka without bitterness is a damp squib. The usual punchiness has been drowned out by a boarding-school dessert mix of blancmange and hot jam. I liked the way the others dealt with being non-bitter IPAs but this one doesn't quite pull it off properly. Yes, it's flavoursome, but the flavours point in the direction of a kick which never comes and it ends up seeming bland as a result.

To quibble about the lack of fireworks in any of these is, I think, to miss the point. With all being sold at less than €4 a can they represent very good value, and serve as low-cost introductions to the sour fruities and hazed IPAs which make up so much of beer's high end these days. I have no idea if the brewery is going to continue in this tack, but I would very much like if the market made room for such a proposition.