A second chance

There's hope for us all, I like to think. Today's beers aren't the first to come from a brewery premises whose earliest wares I didn't care for and thought poorly made, but under new management seem to have been turned around. Investment in better equipment? Less corner-cutting? Or just a more highly skilled brewer? I don't know. I do know that the beers from the Hillstown brewery in Co. Antrim were usually a raft of off-flavours, of the homebrew rookie sort. It seems that there's a new broom about the place now, going by the friendly and approachable name of Modest Beer.

It's hard to guess where on the label the name of the product, as against the description, is. For the first, I'm going with Fruit Salad, the can label also would like us to know it's "tart & refreshing" and "mango & strawberry". That's plenty to tell me what to expect. In the glass it's a densely opaque orange, looking like mixed tropical juice. Is it tart and refreshing? Not really. There is a decent kick of tartness, I will grant it that, but even though it's only 4.8% ABV it's not light bodied and the mild sourness does not translate to palate-scrubbing cleanness. It's a bit gloopy; a bit fruit-concentrate. Not sweet, but thick and chewy. More fizz would be welcome, instead of the slightly soupy effect we get instead. I couldn't taste either fruit distinctly, the mango lost in a fleshy mish-mash that could be anything; the strawberry arriving late and easily missed by drinkers who weren't looking for it. This doesn't work for me. It's a bit rough: sharp and difficult. As fruit beers go, it's not the classy sort.

My standard way to judge any unfamiliar brewery is with their pilsner, and Modest gave me two of them. The simplest offer is Fragrant & Refreshing, which is 5% ABV -- generous for an Irish take on the style. In the glass it's almost totally transparent, with just a tiny level of acceptable haze. Despite Magnum, Saaz and Hallertau Mittelfrüh, the aroma is more malt-forward than hop: crisp cracker, with only the faintest of damp vegetation in the background. The fireworks begin with the mouthfeel: gorgeously smooth and creamy, taking full advantage of that above-average ABV and doing a superb impression of how top-tier German breweries do the style. The flavour they've set on it is also beautiful, the hops to the fore, at once tangy and spicy: a squeeze of citrus, a smear of stonefruit flesh and then Saaz's warm damp grass effect. Yet it's not busy or any way weird. All is balanced and integrated, again, just like the Germans do it. It's maybe a bit strong to quaff litres and litres of it in one sitting but... I think I might like to give that a go. Great Irish pils does not come along very often and I'm delighted to have found this one.

That had me expecting great things from Sweet As: Pilsner. It looks to be a similar deal: a pale and slightly cloudy 5% ABV pils, except here the hops are Motueka and Riwaka. For all that these are German-derived varieties, the experience is quite different. The aroma is massively fruitsome, giving off mango and cantaloupe to beat the band. Its flavour is a little more restrained: still tropical, but bringing back the crispness and a clean dry finish, to remind you it's definitely a proper pilsner and not simply another IPA. While tasty, it's somewhat simpler than its stablemate, and I don't think that's only because there's one fewer hops in it.

My learnings from trying these two side-by-side is that the Kiwis may have better PR in the Anglophone beer world, but the Germans still absolutely bring the quality. Regardless, these are two excellent beers, whatever one's hop predilections.

When testing a new brewery, I often don't bother with an IPA, but again it was the promise of New Zealand hops which made one irresistable. This is Complex Notes: 6% ABV and hopped with two processed forms of Nelson Sauvin. It's a bright and dense hazy yellow, smelling sweetly tropical, of mango and pineapple. Nelson can go this way, or a harder mineral-oil bitterness, and the flavour is mostly fruit driven too. I got pleasant sorbet-like orange and lemon, with softer honeydew melon and juicy mandarin. There's a token pinch of bitterness in the finish, but not Nelson's heavy-dank herbal effect, which I found I missed. It's a good hazy IPA, and that's never a given for the style. However, there's nothing especially distinctive about it. Good is good enough.

OK, there may have been something of a bias in my choices, because the next one is New Zealand-hopped too. Sweet As: NZ Brown Ale utilises Nelson with Motueka and is 4.8% ABV. It looks a bit muddy in the glass, a pale-ish chocolate brown and completely opaque. The aroma is crisp and bready, and a little stale with it, while the flavour opens on a sharp and slightly vinegary tang. Maybe this is what happens when you put pungent Kiwi hops in a sweet and smooth brown ale, but if so, it creates an effect like a beer which is not quite right. It's a clash, basically: the hop acidity burning into rich and coffeeish brown and chocolate malt. I don't think either of them gets a benefit from it. As well as the flavour clash, the texture is a bit thin, reducing the malt richness further. The Munich/Chocolate/Brown/Oats bill promises a great deal which isn't really delivered. It says on the can that this is an experiment, and if the brewery is considering another brown ale, I suggest going normcore with the hops and giving the gravity a boost.

And a stout to finish off. Deep & Toasty is a standard session strength of 4.3% ABV. It looks a little brown and murky in the glass, though the old-ivory head is classical. It smells heady and rich, far stronger than it is, with enticing notes of tiramisu and Irish coffee: definitely roast rather than toast, with vanilla and liqueur for extra luxury. The flavour is drier than that was all leading me to expect. Coffee is still at the centre, but it's a morning's espresso, not an evening's dessert. There's quite a busy sparkle, adding to the dryness, and a quick finish which does show a few sparks of flinty burnt toast. It's a simple flavour profile, and makes for quite a refreshing light-bodied stout, yet still with enough character to be worthwhile. Modest, you might say.

Six beers from a brewery I was suspicious of was a gamble, but I think it paid off. Nothing here was badly made, even if I didn't always appreciate the brewer's intention. For all the headline modesty, there is plenty of daring in the recipes. I will definitely be back for more from this outfit.