Start the pumps

The latest twice-annual JD Wetherspoon Beer Festival ended just over a week ago. Performance always varies among the Dublin branches, and exactly which of the 30 festival beers are on in any pub at any given time is difficult to follow, despite the company having a well-designed system that should make this easy. But that's all part of the game. I will give both central Dublin branches credit for keeping the beers turning over sufficiently that I didn't have to look further afield.

Keavan's Port even put two beers on a day early. First out was Autumn Sun, brewed by Bateman's under the "Salem Brew Co." label they use for their more craft-style offerings. It's a thin border, however, because it tasted pretty traditional to me. That's not a criticism: Bateman's does traditional well, and the soft toast-and-marmalade flavour of this 3.9% ABV golden ale bears that out. It's all done with Centennial hops but there's no brash American bitterness, just tangy sherbet and satsuma, with a slightly earthy mineral edge which I associate most with classic English hops. For a single-hopped beer, there's plenty going on, and I suspect a good old house yeast might have something to do with that. Hooray for tradition.

The other early starter combined two of my least favourite things in beer: rum flavouring and Innis & Gunn. Committed but wary, I opted for a half of Innis & Gunn Spiced Rum Cask. This is 5.5% ABV and somewhat murky, with some sizeable yeasty bits bobbing around in it. The aroma is an innocent dry cereal effect, so nothing untoward there. That's the main part of the flavour too: malty, wheaty breakfast cereal; wholesome and doubtless a great source of fibre. I'm delighted to report it doesn't taste of rum, spiced or otherwise. I get milk chocolate, dried fruit, and a drier woody tang, which at least shows that some oak was involved. It's not brilliant, and I think it's too sweet for a full pint, but it might easily have been much worse. This is Innis & Gunn on its best behaviour.

The first of the international collaborations came at The Silver Penny, in the form of Effingut, a golden ale brewed at Hook Norton with the Indian brewery of the same name.  It has cardamom and coriander in it, because India, I guess. It is indeed golden, and pilsner pale with it. The coriander is sweetly present in the aroma, making it smell very like a witbier. It's not one, however, and the absence of a balancing citrus zest is felt in the flavour. Behind the herbs there isn't anything very much, just a basic 4.3% ABV blonde ale. If coriander's soapy quality is a problem for you, then definitely avoid this: I'm not sensitive to it but could still taste it coming through. This is a gimmick recipe which I suspect takes more of a cue from the British curry house than actual Indian brewing. It's different, but not especially good.

Beside it, OPA, or Otter Pale Ale, from Otter Brewery in Devon. It's quite an exotic hop mix, with Amarillo, Calypso, El Dorado and Summit, suggesting new-world fruity fun to come. The aroma has lots of orange candy but the flavour isn't as sweet as expected, with a pleasantly dry rasp at the centre. Around it, there's oaty cookies, tart jaffa segments and a pithy bitter finish. It's on the darker side of golden and I think the bit of dark malt they've used really helps balance the hops. It's also an absolute powerhouse at 4.5% ABV. I don't know how flagshippy this is, but it's an excellent recipe for one: highly accessible while also boldly flavoured and properly interesting. St Austell's Tribute has a similar effect on me, and it's maybe not a coincidence that they're from the same corner of the planet.

I didn't know what to expect from Rudgate Grapefruit Paradisi. It's a 4.5% ABV golden ale but the brochure doesn't say if actual grapefruit is involved. I assume they do have actual grapefruits in Yorkshire by now. It smells hot and savoury, a unappetising mix of tagine and old sweat. The flavour is sharp and tangy at first, but then that saline and savoury factor kicks in, giving vibes of laundry detergent and stagnant bathwater. It's grapefruit-sharp, certainly, but it's not pleasant to drink. I don't know whose foetid idea of paradise this is.

The next one of the international collaborations to show up was AleSmith IPA, the California brewery bringing its act to Oakham, so I expected some solid hop action from this. It's the second-strongest on the list at 6% ABV and is a dark shade of golden. There's a lovely resinous aroma with some lighter floral highlights. The flavour sits somewhere in the middle: citric rather than piney, though on the extreme end, with lime and grapefruit. It could easily have turned out harsh but the strength helps balance it, making it delightfully punchy rather than difficult. This is definitely on a par with Oakham's well-known hop-forward ales and I hope they enjoyed having an excuse to boost the strength. I very much enjoyed drinking the result.

Hook Norton brought a mild to the party, called Pick Me Up. It's a mere 3.4% ABV but properly black and smells fabulously roasty, of dark toast and scorched caramel. There's not a whole lot else going on here, but I did like how full-bodied they've made it, given that extremely modest strength. There's not a hint of wateriness and no compromise on flavour. After a few minutes to warm, there's a layer of hedgerow fruit apparent, albeit subservient to the caramel, which gives it a certain amount of complexity. Overall, though, this is a dark beer designed for by-the-pint session drinking, a remit it fulfils beautifully.

Nethergate's Harvest Stout had been on early at Keavan's Port and was horrifically bleachy and phenolic there. I had wondered if the batch was spoiled, and luckily its reappearance at The Silver Penny the next day gave me a chance to check. I still can't say whether it had been a bad cask or poor line cleaning, but the proper beer does not taste off. The problem was so severe, however, because the beer itself doesn't taste of anything much. The aroma is its best feature, with dark chocolate and a little floral lavender. It's thin, even for only 4% ABV, and the flavour is dry and grainy: the dark scrapings of overdone wholemeal toast. It's not bad, especially after it's allowed warm up, but next to the mild it seemed a little dull.

Salopian is always a welcome brewery to find on the taps, and their festival offering was a bitter called As One Door Closes. It's a zesty one, with an aroma of real lemon turning sweeter, to lemon drops and cold medicine on tasting. It's heavier and sweeter than I would have thought for 4.2% ABV, and less complex for a beer made with Simcoe, Citra and Idaho 7. Still, simple and all as it may be, it's beautifully clean and very refreshing. My half pint was gone in short order, and likewise my thirst.

For more considered sipping next, I picked Root and Branch, a black IPA from Oakham. This one is 5% ABV, and Simcoe and Citra feature again, alongside Mystic and Earnest. It's properly black and smells tarry and bitter. A lack of bright hop topnotes means it tastes largely like a stout, with more of that burnt tar bitterness and lots of dark grain roast. The texture is thick and chewy, coating the palate and leaving a piney resin residue behind. It's a good beer, and I like the uncompromising heft of it. But black IPAs are best when they have more of the bright and zesty new-world hops, and Oakham haven't gone that way here. This is for those who prize bitterness above all in their black IPAs.

That brings us to about the halfway mark of my foray into the festival. Part two follows next.