By the end of last year I had accumulated a growing stash of Wicklow Wolf beers which I hadn't taken the time to drink. When better than the January lull, when not much happens in Irish brewing, to work through them?Gym + Coffee: for some a way of life, but not me, on either count. Wicklow Wolf has collaborated with a company of this name to create a non-alcoholic beer which they have optimistically called Make Life Richer. But does it? They describe it as a "tropical spritzy sour". Apricot, mango and peach have been used to achieve this, and oats too: presumably for body because they do nothing for head retention. Under the space where a head should be, it's clear and golden. It smells powerfully of Um Bongo, or similar 1980s mixed fruit drinks. The flavour doesn't depart far from that initial impression. It's monstrously sweet, though watery, not sticky, and the artificial perfume taste cloys somewhat. Carbonation is low and, in general, it doesn't taste, smell or feel anything like beer. I really don't understand why someone would reach for this rather than a fruit-based fizzy soft drink.
On, then, to the real stuff. The Molloy's off licence chain often commissions a local brewery to make them a beer for the Christmas season, and in 2024 it was Wicklow Wolf's turn. The result is a pale ale called Frostbite: named for its use of cold-fermenting lager yeast. It looks like a lager too, being a clear medium golden with a fine white froth on top. It smells zesty, of lemon candy, and is light-bodied, reflecting the gentle 4.6% ABV. I always think of these Molloy's releases as party beers, designed for drinkability, though usually with sufficient character to be properly interesting. This is no exception. There are no surprises in the flavour, just more of the lemony spritz and a burst of grapefruit, though more sweet than bitter, with some softer tangerine or mandarin complexity. The lager yeast ensures it finishes crisply clean, ready for the next mouthful, leaving no malt residue or hop oils in its wake. I could very happily have had several in a row, if only party season hadn't ended some weeks back. This is a simple delight and a credit to both collaborating parties.
Is there a hazy IPA in the set? Let me check... Phew! Here's Neon Moon, a light one at 5.2% ABV, hopped with Strata and Luminosa, hence the name. It's a pale sort of hazy in the glass, yellow and a bit thin-looking. The aroma is bright and fresh, with lots of pineapple and mango, and a rub of more serious resin. All very promising. You get a proper big and smooth hazy texture, and the first gulps (it was Friday, I was thirsty) unleash a rush of fruit salad, adding red apple slices, guava and kiwi to the main flow of tropicals. It's delightfully clean, and perfectly balanced in the texture, neither watery thin nor thick and difficult. This is textbook juicy; delightfully fruit-filled and oozing sunshine, with none of the difficult gritty or savoury bits that too many breweries still think is acceptable. Here's how it's done, everyone.
As for stouts, we begin with another of the unnecessary Apex brand extensions. This time it's Apex Irish Coffee, an oatmeal stout with coffee, lactose and vanilla. Oatmeal and lactose? Usually beers like this are high in strength, but they've kept it to 5.2% ABV here. It doesn't smell like an Irish coffee, nor of a beer. There's an intense sweetness, like toffee sauce or caramelised sugar. It's surprisingly light-bodied given all that unfermented sugar, and the very low carbonation accentuates its gently creamy smoothness. This slips back indecently easily, like a milkshake. First on the scene in the flavour is crunchy desiccated coconut, which was a surprise, coated in dark chocolate, and then a side order of honey and nuts. One Bounty, one Toberlone, and what else? I had to look for the coffee, but it's there to an extent, drowned out to the level of an extremely pale latte, without any oily intensity or bitterness. So as a coffee stout it's a bit of a bust, but as a luxury chocolate dessert in beer form, it works wonderfully. 
In the annals of bad collaboration beer names, "Bread Forty Wolf" has to be in the upper echelons. This is Wicklow Wolf getting together with Bread 41 bakery to create a cinnamon swirl pastry stout, something absolutely nobody asked for. It's another fairly light one at 6% ABV and the ingredients are very similar to the above, with the addition of cinnamon, of course. That sweet spiciness -- more mince pie than cinnamon swirl to my European nose -- is very much to the fore in the aroma, though there's nothing to indicate one is smelling a stout. The flavour, too, emphasises the spicy, cakey, cinnamon over everything else. Here's it's not just mince pie but gingerbread and lavender bathsalts too. In the midst of the swirling flowers and herbs there's a brief flash of gooey milk chocolate and caramel, but that's as close to a sense of stout as it comes; otherwise it's the seasonal shelf of the baking section all the way. I expected the Apex Irish Coffee to be the gimmick beer that annoyed me today. This one is exactly what the brewer intended it to be, but taking a decent-strength stout and then stripping the stout character from it is as unforgivable as the name. J'accuse, Bread Forty Wolf.
The Locavore series of all-local ingredients has continued, of course. Winter brought the usual hop-forward dry stout, and Locavore Autumn 2024 was again a big barleywine aged in Fercullen whiskey casks. This year's was a little lighter than the last couple, at a mere 13.2% ABV. Once again, it's a big and creamy dark brown fellow, with an opening flavour of milk chocolate and strawberry fondant. Pedro Ximinez is among the previous uses of the barrels, and I think that more than a little of the dark sherry's sweetness has rubbed off here. There's nothing as crude as oak in the flavour: that's all dark aged fruit like raisin and prune, next to the brighter summer berries and sticky candy. This is a well-practised performance at this stage, free of rough edges and unbalancing heat. Maybe a bit of extra hopping would give it some extra worthwhile character, but as a cold weather warmer it's impeccable. We don't have much by way of regular seasonal beer in Ireland so I'm very happy that the Locavores are still running, in all their differences and similarities from year to year.The spring one will doubtless be along soon, and I see the brewery has a new selection of fruity non-alcoholic beers out. I think I'll give them a miss, however.
