The history round

Or is it the geography round? It's Session day again and our topic this month was chosen by Laura: The Ultimate Pub Quiz. Hopefully not literally: I do like a quiz and wouldn't like to think of them coming to an end. As regards preferred subjects, rounds on beer trivia are rare, but I'll settle for geography or history, two areas that I've learned about extensively via beer.

In which year was the Spanish Armada wrecked on the Irish coast?
Today I'm assessing two beers from Western Herd in Co. Clare. As a regular visitor to Donegal in my youth, I was well aware of the associations there with the Spanish Armada, the failed attempt by Spain to invade England by sea, resulting in a swathe of wrecked ships down the western Irish coast. I'm less familiar with how it affected areas further south, but Clare got a coastal placename out of it, and from the placename, a beer: Spanish Point.

This has been around for a couple of years now, but I've only just encountered it for the first time. The brewery calls it an "American pale ale", though at 5.9% ABV it's stronger than many an Irish-brewed IPA. That's one part of its authentically American sensibilities; the other is the huge citrus aroma, packed to the gunwales with zesty, spicy citrus. There's a bit of heat too, making it smell a bit like an Old Fashioned to me, even though there's no barrel-ageing involved. On tasting, that turns to pine resin: a different sort of classic US character. It's not a million miles from what Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale does, though maybe a little more fruit forward. And I shouldn't have to mention this, but for the record, it's completely clear: a slightly amber-leaning golden. All in, it's a class act, and leaves me wondering if the American owner of Western Herd makes this sort of thing because he's homesick. I assume it's in regular production, even if it's a bit tricky to get hold of in Dublin, and I heartily recommend it to everyone who's done with the vanilla, garlic and grit of contemporary pale ales.

How long has Western Herd been brewing?
It has not been a good time for microbrewing out west, and the boom is certainly over. Bridewell, Galway Hooker and most recently Black Donkey have all packed it in of late. That makes me extra grateful for the breweries from Donegal down to Kerry who are still keeping the lights on. Maybe it's because I don't see their beer very often, but Western Herd seems to be staying out of the rat race, and I hope that's working for them. It has seen them through to their tenth anniversary, for which they brewed another classic American-style beer.

Milestone describes itself matter-of-factly as a Centennial IPA. There's no crowing about the West Coast anywhere, but it's immediately obvious on pouring that it's that sort of IPA. The beer is perfectly clear again, and a shining copper colour, promising toasted malt to go along with the hops. The aroma is floral: sweeter than I thought it would be, and any citrus is juice, not pith. The flavour goes big on jaffa oranges, and it too is surprisingly sweet. There's more than a hint of hard candy and lollipops about the hop taste here. I thought there would be toffee from the malt, but that whole aspect is very understated, tasting merely tannic, stewed not caramelised. All told, it's not a very bright and distinctive beer, resembling a simple English bitter more than an American IPA. I didn't quite get what I was expecting, but an easy-drinking bitter is never a chore.

It seems that Western Herd has a house style, and it's a distinctly retro one. No remarks would be passed on either of these beers if they'd showed up in the US microbrew scene of the 1990s. Perhaps those that do know their history are still doomed to repeat it, in quite a tasty way, it turns out.