All right Jack

It's a new brewery for me today. McGill's has been plying its trade down in Waterville for some years now, but I didn't know that it bottled its beer, nor that it was ever shipped outside of Co. Kerry. I found this bottle of Jack Murphy Kerry Lager on the shelves of The Wine Centre in Kilkenny recently, less than two months beyond the hand-written best-before date on the label.

They've brewed it to 4.3% ABV and in a rustic fashion, the beer pouring murkily and a greyish amber colour. I made sure to leave at least some of the dregs in the bottom of the bottle. It smells quite sweet, and a little fruity, suggesting lemon sponge and ripe apricot, with a slight herbal hop bitterness to the rear. The flavour is very much built around the malt, tasting heavy and, well, malty, like Ovaltine or Horlicks. There are some warm-fermentation pear esters and a rough grain-husk dry side, all of which gives it a bit of a homebrew vibe. There's no polish to this; no sense of a brewer honing their lager with precision.

It's not at all bad, though. Any number of things could have gone wrong, but didn't, so while it's a little off-kilter, it's still tasty, in a wholesome and amateurish way. Pale lager is a tough style for very small breweries, and I'm not sure McGill's has what it needs to do it brilliantly. Accept the slightly over-sweetened nature of this one, however, and it's enjoyable. I would imagine warm fermentation is more the brewery's forte, however.