Lough around

It's a little surprising that, in today's cosmopolitan beer environment, we still cling to the notion of types of beer deriving from specific places. It's cute. Hazy IPA belongs to the world, for good or ill, but we still connect it to New England, and probably always will.

An upshot is that you can get a taste of the whole planet without leaving, for example, suburban Sligo. Here are two new beers from Lough Gill, channelling specific places.

Pine Road is a west coast (of the United States) IPA. That accords it a golden clarity, though it should also include alcoholic heft and significant bitterness. Unfortunately it's only 4.5% ABV and is sweetly tropical, thanks to Azacca and Comet hops. I doubt anyone visiting from the western US would find it an accurate representation of the beer their home territory is known for. It is, however, absolutely delicious. Once you get past the misnomer and misrepresentation of style, there's a fresh, bright and fun session beer, full of melon, mango and summer meadows. It finishes a bit quick due to the low gravity, so approach it as a thirst-quencher rather than a considered sipper. Every healthy beer scene needs both.

With the exception of Belgian theme-brewery Mescan, few Irish producers bother with the Belgian blond style. It's not that difficult to find it at discount prices in the supermarkets, I guess, so why try and make a premium version? Lough Gill did anyway, and here's Irish Abbey: 6.7% ABV and including candy sugar and coriander. For me, the style ought to taste of honey, and this does, with only a mild buzz of banana behind it. There's a certain botanic layer floating over this, which may be from the Belgian yeast, but I'm certain the coriander is adding a modicum of savouriness too. Throw in some fun clove and almond as it warms. I wouldn't say it tastes authentically Belgian: breweries there add the digestible lightness of touch to their blonde ales; this is no 8%+ madman, but still tastes and feels hefty.

For all their sense of place, then, neither of these really offers a channel to somewhere else. The one up top certainly isn't the kind of beer I'd expect to find other than on this island, or the one next door. And that perhaps demonstrates an even more fun fact about beer: for all the place-based style strictures, individual variety is always present, and makes hunting out new takes an endlessly rewarding experience.