The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 7: Original 7

An impromptu trip to Cork a few weeks back gave me the opportunity to catch up with the draught beers from Original 7. As mentioned when I reviewed their Christmas special last month, this is the afterlife of the brewkit at the Franciscan Well pub, distinct from the Molson Coors-owned main Franciscan Well brewery.

I started with Original 7 Lager, a straightforward affair of no specified substyle, 4.2% ABV and an exceedingly pale and limpid yellow. Though while it looks the part as a no-frills Bud substitute, the flavour heads off in its own direction. I get pear drops first and foremost, apparent in the aroma and even stronger in the taste. There's a buttery wallop of diacetyl behind it, making the whole thing a little too sweet for comfort. I suspect it's meant to be dry, and while it's not a bad beer, it's very far from a precision-engineered lager. Yes, the kit is small and likely not designed for beers like this, but on the other hand they've had twenty-six years to either get lager correct or abandon the attempt. If they need a lager, they might be better asking someone else to brew them one.

Staying core-range, Revolution IPA is next. This is where an intention to make accessible beers for a mass pub audience becomes really apparent. It's 5.4% ABV but comes across as much lighter, helped a little by the cold serving temperature. Amber-coloured, it's lightly fruity with a persistent bitterness, beginning on grapefruit zest, leading into a headier pine and resin in the finish. There are echoes of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale here, but scaled significantly back, to the point where it becomes an Irish pub session beer. Perhaps the Revolution referred to here is where independently produced Irish beer turns full circle and goes back to accessible see-through pints as the primary product once again.

I assume Revolution was the basis for Shelby Dascher, described as a "spiced IPA" created for Cork's Shelbourne Bar. Ginger is, I think, the extent of the spicing, and that lowers it a point to 5.3% ABV. The lightness of the base beer really stands to it, and the result is refreshing and spritzy, ginger meeting lemon to create a kind of throat-lozenge soothing quality. There's a clean crispness, like ginger cookies, so while they may have launched this as a winter offering, it will be just as appropriate in high summer. I reckon that Revolution could provide the required base for any number of additions and enhancements. I'd throw some fruit in to see what happens next.

The nod to contemporary brewing is Original 7 Hazy Pale. It's less of a nod when we see it's only 4.1% ABV. This isn't how they do it at Trillium. It is, in fairness, almost opaque, and an orangey yellow colour. The flavour opens with sweet orange juice, which is fair enough, but proceeds indecently quickly to a harsh dreggy grittiness. With this comes side notes of garlic and scallion, so it has a lot of the downsides of the haze craze but without the fresh tropical side. As such it's a bit by-the-numbers. It tastes like Hazy Pale Ale from a brewery that knew they had to have one but lacks any enthusiasm for it. You're better off not bothering. This needs more everything to pass muster for the style, though that's not likely to work at a Smithwick's-adjacent gravity.

Last of the set is Rockafeller Weisse. I think Franciscan Well was the first commercial brewery to bring weissbier to Ireland, with the variable, but generally decent, Friar Weisse. Once again we are below the strength that this sort of thing would have in its native land, a very unBavarian 4.7% ABV. Again, cold and clean pintability is the gain, but it's at the expense of body and flavour character. What you get is a very straightforward banana kick, with refreshing hints of lemon and orange zest on the side. It's all very jolly and summery, tasting like a weissbier while giving the overall feel of a sunny witbier.

I think I see what they're doing here. It's odd to find what's technically a newly-founded Irish brewery not copying the American/global trend for big-flavoured, big-bodied, quite strong craft beer. But these very obviously have their roots in the 1990s, and earlier, when Irish beer was meant to be served in pubs and by the imperial British pint. Fair play to Original 7 for keeping the torch lit, but it's a bit of a niche and, from this drinker's perspective, I'm not sure it's one worth preserving.