I'd rather dye

Time was, we used to scoff at the green beer phenomenon that foreign types, Americans especially, seemed to indulge in on St Patrick's Day. You wouldn't get that sort of nonsense here, and especially not in the microbrewed sector. That came to an end about 15 years ago when Dublin's then top beer bar, the Bull & Castle, began squirting food colouring into half litre mugs of Blarney Blonde. These days, it seems that The White Hag have claimed the green beer genre to themselves, with a disturbing number of verdant novelties on their logs.

For 2024 it's The Serpent. We should give thanks that it's not one of their sticky syrupy jobs, even though it looks like one: a luminous, Fairy Liquid, shade of green. In fact it's a pretty simple pale ale of 4.5% ABV. Motueka and Nelson Sauvin hops have been used, and while they're not in there by the bucketload, there's enough to give the beer a distinctive background flavour of eucalyptus and pine. I don't know if this recipe exists without the colouring but it would be worth a go if not.

Here ends your special coverage of St Patrick's Day from Dublin. Nonsense of the regularly scheduled kind returns tomorrow.

The silly and the serious

White Hag provides the goods for today's post, a wide-ranging bunch, dividing between the sweet and daft and some serious hop analysis.

Green beer is something that arrived in Ireland with the craft era. Fellow veterans of the Bull & Castle in the late-noughties will remember, fondly I hope, the sprayguns of food colour squirted into half-litre mugs of Blarney Blonde. Actually-green beer does show up from time to time, though none as lurid as this concoction. They've called it Shamrock Shake, a McDonalds menu item of which I have never had the pleasure. I gather mint is involved. This certainly smells minty: somewhere between a mint Aero and a sticky mint liqueur. The ice cream side comes in the texture first: it's thick and creamy, even though it's only 5.5% ABV. Lactose and vanilla both feature in the ingredients and their presence is very obvious. The mint piquancy arrives behind this, and I think helps offset the sweetness a little. I'm particularly interested in the chocolate effect it brings: mint Aeros are still there, as is mint chocolate chip ice cream. I swear I can taste chocolate, but it must just be the chocolate-shaped gap. Overall I rather enjoyed it. Novelty beers of this sort are much more humane when they are allowed to be themselves instead of trying to pass themselves off as an IPA or stout. This is a true-to-style Shamrock Shake ale.

That one was part of White Hag's new Spree Series: deliberately "fun" recipes. The other in the first set is Mochaccino: more lactose and vanilla, here joined by coffee and cocoa, and the ABV goes up to 6.5%. It smells like chocolate wafer biscuits more than a mochaccino, though the creaminess is spot on. It's not as sweet as I was expecting, and the coffee is at the centre of the picture, where it should be. This is no half-arsed coffee flavouring but a concentrated filter-coffee kick, with lots of palate-sticking oils and no small amount of bitterness. The other aspects circle this: milk chocolate, brown sugar and Chantilly cream. I'm not a big fan of this kind of coffee, and in beer form I thought it would benefit from being Irished-up a little, with extra alcohol. Props for that assertive coffee core, but the rest you've tasted before.

A note to the development team for the Spree Series: "fun" doesn't have to mean saturated in lactose.

The serious side is represented by two more in the Union single hop series. I was particularly looking forward to SMASH IPA Mosaic, Mosaic being one of my favourite hops, especially as deployed in The White Hag's own Little Fawn. This has a lot of the same going on -- big and ripe tropical fruit: mango, passionfruit and cantaloupe; juicy, but not in the fuzzy modern way. It's stronger than Little Fawn at 5.5%, and bitterer too. I get a little lemon and lime rind and zest, balancing and complementing the sweet side. That's your lot as regards complexity, but that's not a complaint. This is sublime: making the best possible use of the hop, showing off only its good side, with none of the nasty savoury aspect that seeps through in other beers. Any fellow Little Fawn fans who fancy something along similar lines with just a little more poke, get on this.

It was a smart move to pair the Mosaic with a sharply contrasting hop. SMASH IPA Sabro brings no fruit beyond the hardest bitter pith, with lots of coconut, an acidic bite of green cabbage and even a little acrid plastic. It's a workout and I love it. Sabro being Sabro starts at the very beginning of the aroma and maintains an angry consistency right into the long, long finish. Expecting something on these lines I deliberately placed this one second and it proved to be a good idea. If you are already in the Sabro-hating camp (I know you're out there) avoid this one unless you want your prejudices fully confirmed. For the pro-Sabro like me, and any who might have liked Sorachi Ace back when that was popular and aren't on the Sabro train yet: this is a perfect jumping-on point. Choo choo!

The Unions are deliciously educational while the Sprees are weird and confusing. Both have their place in beer but I'll take the clean Mosaic and Sabro for preference any day.

Buy the drinks on my own lovely Lee

I'm back from a couple of days in Cork, where I paid a long-overdue visit to the Franciscan Well microbrewery along the river on North Mall. It's an odd, pokey little place that lacks some of the pizzazz of some other brewpubs around the place, but they're clearly proud of what they do. Their Shandon Stout is a first class dry porter with complex coffee-and-chocolate flavours: rich, but very easy to drink (presumably because it is competing with Murphy's -- a beer with similar qualities). Their Rebel Red ale was a little disappointing: watery and a touch bland, taking its lead from Smithwick's, I guess. The Rebel Lager is an enigmatic one. It hits you up front with an intense and not-very-pleasant sour note, but then calms down for a smooth finish. It's one for quaffing rather than sipping, I think. Much more palatable is the Blarney Blonde, which contains fewer surprises. It lacks a strong flavour, but still has hints of that crisp grainy-corny taste of a good microbrewed lager, despite being an ale. Lastly, they do a token weissbier: Friar Weisse. It's properly orange and cloudy, but a little lacking in the fruit flavour I would expect. I suspect overall that they are trying not to offend or surprise a conservative clientelle with their house beers and I would say the place really comes into its own when the Easter and Christmas beers are on tap.

Cork is also home to a great beer off-licence called the Abbot's Ale House on Devonshire Street. I took a few interesting things away from there, on which I will report in due course, but I began by continuing my investigation into the beers of Poland, with two from the Staropolskie brewery. The plain green label is pretty good: full and round with a tight creamy head, though without the fruitiness of Okocim, but once again it is the stronger mocne lager that excels. Staropolskie Mocne can stand proudly with the best of Bavaria's stronger brews. It reminded me of Spaten's Oktoberfest beer in particular: rich, smooth and delicious. Rarely has alcohol been used so well to enhance the flavour of a strong lager.