From zero to loads

It's catch-up time for me with Wicklow Wolf. In my defence, Locavore Summer 2023 arrived late, only showing up on shelves near me in late August. This year's twist on the all-local ingredients spec is the inclusion of Kilmacanogue raspberries in a sour ale. Shame they didn't have a go at spontaneously fermenting it, for extreme local character. Regardless, it's very nice. The raspberries taste fresher and realer than they do in most raspberry beers, almost bursting on the tongue the way the fruit does. There's no sugary, syrupy jam here, just a cleanly medium-pitched tartness, again similar to what you'd get from actual raspberries, building to a slightly puckering finish. While it's only 4.2% ABV, I can't see this working well as a refreshing summer beer -- it's too intense, with lots going on it. While I definitely liked it, I'm glad I waited until a dull day in October to drink it.

Also a bit late for summer is Raindrop 0.5, a (virtually) non-alcoholic version of their sour mixed berry beer. I dinged the original version for being a bit watery, so maybe the transition to unleaded is not such a big jump. Raspberry, blackberry and blueberry are still the fruits, and none of them really holds dominance: it's a proper foresty blend. Yes, it's very light and fizzy, and maybe a little un-beer-like, but so are the full-fat ones of these. It therefore doesn't offer anything that you wouldn't get from a similarly-flavoured soft drink, but it's perfectly pleasant for all that. I'm a little surprised to see it's part of the brewery's limited series: I'd have thought this might have enough of a niche to be permanent, or at least indefinite.

A new draught-only session stout arrived recently: Eclipse. This looks firmly pitched at the mainstream, being 4.2% ABV and not doing anything strange or startling with the ingredients. Still, it's far from bland, and like most properly good Irish stouts has a chocolate centrepiece. A basic roasted dryness is overlaid with milk chocolate specifically, with a hint of even-sweeter coconut right on the finish. It reminded me of O'Hara's Stout in particular, but could possibly pass for Murphy's either. The only slightly distinctive thing I noticed was in the mouthfeel: as well as the smooth and gummy nitro bubbles, there's a prickle of carbonation too. It's a little unsettling, no pun intended, but not upsetting, and if it helps makes it taste of more then I'm all in favour. I've no idea what the plans for this are, but like almost every microbrewed take on the style it deserves to do better than the industrial ones.
 
Before the Rugby World Cup ends on us, here's their commemorative beer, the only one I've seen from an Irish brewery. Named Tryfecta, it's a collaboration with Devil's Peak in South Africa and Fierce in Scotland, both countries being group mates to Ireland in the tournament. The beer is a 4.5% ABV hazy pale ale, hopped with Motueka, Sabro and Idaho 7. It is indeed hazy, and yellow, the aroma quite sweet with a little zest, like a pavlova. The zest is firmly built up in the flavour, where it's a juicy citrus explosion of fresh tangerine and satsuma. That finishes quickly with little malt base to support it, so it's at risk of being watery. I think we can say it's sessionable instead: there's enough diversity of flavour to make opening another seem like the best next move.

The subsequent round of releases brought us Bouquet Bandit, a double IPA, though a modest one at 7.2% ABV. Although it's hazy, it's not the fashionable beaten-egg-yellow kind, but more of a yolky orange. Not that it's oxidised or any way unfresh: a week and a day after canning the aroma was banging, shooting out juicy mandarin, pineapple and grape, with extra syrup sweetness to complete the fruit salad effect. The flavour goes just as hard, adding slices of Golden Delicious apples and squishy ripe pears. There's a proper balancing pinch of rind bitterness and a sprinkle of nutmeg spice, before it rounds back to the mandarin we came in on. I was instantly reminded that Wicklow Wolf took its initial inspiration from the beer scene in Colorado, because this channels high-end American IPA better than any Irish beer I've tasted recently. For anyone interested in the hop technicals, Yakima's experimental YCH 303 Cryo Hops x Phantasm stuff is how it's done: an experiment worth repeating.

And slightly more seasonally, Locavore Autumn 2023, a barley wine aged in Fercullen whiskey casks and beefed up to 15.2% ABV. It's a very dark brown tone, looking almost like a heavy stout, down to the beige-coloured head. The aroma opens with sweetly plump raisins and a hotter spirit note. Its texture is another way it resembles stout, being thick and creamy, with only a faint flicker of carbonation. The alcohol is well hidden in the flavour, and it begins on a bright and innocent floral taste. It turns more herbal and bitter after this, invoking vermouth or a spiced fortified wine. There's a backing of chocolate and caramel, so really it is only a shot of coffee away from being a stout. Regardless, it's very nicely done: sumptuously luxurious but quite balanced and approachable too.

And not a hint of a trace of a dud amongst them. Wicklow Wolf remains a brewery at the top of its game.