Creatures feature

Larkin's remains something of an enigma in Irish brewing. It didn't feature on here at all in 2024, last seen just before Christmas the previous year. Today's beers are new-release and bear the address in Kilcoole where Larkin's has always operated. That's now, primarily, the Rí-Rá lager brewery, so... is Larkin's simply the badge they put on beer they make which aren't the flagship, or is it a side-project for someone working there, or is the founder still somehow involved in the brand? Nothing is clear, but I'm quite happy that Larkin's beer is still coming out, because I didn't especially care for Rí-Rá.

First of the pair is called Animal Farm and is described as a "farmhouse" session IPA, without any further elaboration on that epithet. 4% ABV is certainly sessiony, and it looks well: a pale sunset yellow, gently hazed and skimmed with white foam. The aroma is juicy like mandarin with a spicy edge, but still nothing out of the ordinary. On tasting, however: here comes the farm. It's a mild but distinct gummy funk, a little like you get from Brettanomyces, but dialled back so as not to interfere with the hops. It finishes on a similarly gentle dry peppery heat. All of this microbial fun plays second fiddle to the hops, which retain a fresh and luscious tropical quality which is entirely complementary with the wildness. This beer shows a superb level of of delicious complexity without losing sight of its sessionability, and was a bargain for €3.25 the can. One for both wild beer fans and hop lovers to stock up on.

The next one is a straight-up IPA with no particular bells nor whistles notified. It's called Hoppy Dog and is a full 6.5% ABV; hazy to an extent, but far from opaque. While not non-descript, there's nothing terribly special about the aroma, delivering a light dusting of sweetish citrus: satsuma or kumquat. The gravity gives it a hefty, dense mouthfeel, coming across almost syrupy. By rights, the hops should get to use this as a performance space, but they don't. I got no more than a mild tang of marmalade shred and a little, unwelcome, grated white onion acidity. It's too heavy to be refreshing and too bland to be characterful. "Needs more hops" we used to say in the old days, before all the haze brewers took us far too seriously. This could certainly do with a boost, of the modern and tropicalesque varieties, for both flavour and aroma. The €2.50 price tag (on special in Molloy's) was attractive, especially given the strength, but it definitely did taste like it was brewed to a price point, unfortunately.

I am genuinely pleased to see beer under the Larkin's brand still being produced, albeit at a much reduced pace. Maybe when the owners realise that their premium lager wheeze isn't going to fly, we might get back to something resembling the old days. And if the old Larkin's Baltic Porter recipe is sitting in a filing cabinet somewhere, well...