Boozing my religion

As soon as I heard that Priory Brewing had filled in the gaps in its line-up, I was straight back to the tank bar in Tallaght, to pick up where I left off.

The new stout was my Priory priority: Guilty Pleasure. At 1.30 on a Wednesday afternoon, I'll say. It's 4.1% ABV, and served on nitro, though with a slightly "realer" ivory-coloured head, rather than the finely processed snow-white of the macros. That coarseness of bubble means it doesn't have the pablum smoothness of the mainstream brands, but equally there's more surface area for the flavour to cling to. I'm guessing they're going for old-fashioned with this, because it's bitter: leading out with aromatic medicinal herbs like eucalyptus and aniseed. Dark chocolate and very dark-roasted coffee add new types of bitterness later on, before a burnt-toast finish and some lingering aromatic oils from the early herbs. Wow. This packs a lot into the advertised strength,  to the point where I would question its sessionability. Luckily, the beer selection at Priory makes alternating with something else an easy alternative. I love to see a brewery take this serious and grown-up approach to stout and it has really paid off for Priory.

The red ale had a hill to climb after that. I've said before that the whole Priory tank bar concept belongs to a different era, but having a nitro red in the line-up takes us all the way back to the mid-1990s. Since when was that style a must-carry? Regardless, Cardinal Sin is a spot on 4.3% ABV and presents as the cream-topped mahogany of a Kilkenny or a Caffrey's (ask your parents). There's a very mild toffee aroma, while the flavour opens with the caramel and phosphorus of a cola or red lemonade. Generally, these sorts of beers lean into the gloopy sweet side, but this one takes a sudden turn into a metallic aspirin bitterness. It's different, but I don't think it really works. The sweet/bitter clash is curdling and awkward, and only the beer's fizzy lightness saves its drinkability. A finishing tang of saline sweat confirms this as a beer which is technically flawless but not well designed. I hope all the people clamouring for more red ales either appreciate it, or can use it to understand why they are wrong.

Heresy! declares our last one. Because sour beer is anathema to the time-traveller who created the brewery? Back in the day, this would have been a raspberry wheat beer, and Heresy looks like one: a murky pink emulsion. The aroma is all raspberry, but cool and tart and fresh, not gloopy processed syrup. It's light-bodied, even for 4.4% ABV, but that adds to a refreshment quotient which is, I suspect, the beer's whole deal. It's not sour, as such, but it centres on a very real-tasting raspberry tartness, like biting down on an actual ripe raspberry. There's nothing behind that, just fizz and maybe a tiny, teeth-sparking, mineral buzz. I'll trust them that it's soured but it could equally be a lager given the crushed berry treatment. I liked it, and pending the brewery's Brett-and-barrel ageing program which I've just invented, it will serve nicely.

My second visit to Priory Market did nothing to reduce my enthusiasm for the whole project. If you can go but haven't yet, I think you're running out of excuses. Get in before they discover IPAs can be hazy.