Under the radar

Since I got out of the habit of going to pubs I've missed that Galway Bay has been quite busy with new releases, not all of which I've managed to get hold of. I need to pay more attention to their taplists.

Ostara, for instance, appeared around St Patrick's Day but it was mid-June before I landed myself a pint at The Black Sheep. The brewery descibes this as a "Dublin stout", whatever that means. There aren't many Dublin stouts at 5% ABV these days, but I'm not complaining. On nitro the aroma doesn't have much to say, but on tasting it's very chocolate, putting me much more in mind of a certain Cork stout than any Dublin one. There's more of a bitterness later on, partly hops and partly roast, but it doesn't last long and we're back to cocoa for the finish. It's decent, accessible, perfectly mainstream, and a better beer than their Buried At Sea, I reckon. A little louder on the hop bittering would be good though; I think the highish ABV warrants it.

On a tap nearby there was new double IPA Lizard People at 8.5% ABV and brewed with Amarillo, Simcoe and Idaho 7. That delivers a lovely bright and juicy mandarin aroma and foretaste. It turns a little bitterer after that: a twist of orange peel in the mix, but still refreshing and with no sign of that big alcohol. That's helped by a light texture, and the cold draught serve, of course. As it warms it gets a little heavier and pithier, but nothing extreme. This is a lovely clean and drinkable chappie, maybe not delivering the awesome extreme experience that double IPA drinkers used to crave, but I like to think they've grown up now, just as the style has.

And because why not release two double IPAs in quick succession, there's also Caveat, in cans for the home drinkers. This is 8.4% ABV and brewed in collaboration with French brewery Prizm. It pours hazy, and a deep cordial orange colour. The aroma matches that, suggesting something thick and sweet and orangey. The mouthfeel is as weighty as I expected, but it doesn't use the heavy base to push hop flavour, despite the hops being non-lightweight varieties Strata, Mosaic, Amarillo and Summit. Instead there's lots of hard alcohol, gritty fuzz, and only a pithy fruit side. It's a bit of a workout to drink, in marked contrast to the previous one. Maybe the recent trend in easy-going double IPAs has made me soft, but I have a definite preference for the more easy-going type.

The Black Sheep does have a handful of guest taps as well, though not as many as in the Before Times. If they're going to make us drink their own beers at least they're giving us a bit of variety and turnover.

Serially and cereally

Session time again. February's host is Montana Beer Finder and the topic is "How We Love Beer". Well this shouldn't be too hard. Specifically, Ryan's Valentine's-inspired theme asks for the little things we do that show our affection for beer. Or the big things.

I'll leave aside the nearly eight years of scribbling tasting notes here and the beer consumers' organisation I help manage, and say on a more personal level that I express my love for beer by usually having a different beer to the beer I just had. In fact, I almost don't have a go-to beer, and when I revisit old favourites they're generally beers I haven't tasted in several years. My first call, everywhere, is for the one I've not tried before. The new experience, the thrill of an unfamiliar brewery, especially one that lots of other people are talking about. Adding a new famous beer to my tick list gives me social ammunition to fire when beer is being talked about. Yes, I'm a beer bore, but beer loves me all the same.

So it was with a frisson of excitement that I heard the new one from Galway Bay brewery had landed in Dublin. Its real name is Buried At Sea but it was travelling under an assumed identity, introducing itself as "Galway Bay Chocolate Stout" when we made our rendez-vous at The Black Sheep.

It's billed as a milk chocolate stout so I was expecting something thick and sweet and creamy but it's not in that vein at all. Instead we have a 6% ABV thumper very much along the lines of Carlow's wonderful Leann Folláin: heavy with dark malts and a generous dose of dry roast at the end. It hides the chocolate coquettishly, revealing it gradually as the pint slips down. Not overly sweet, it's a kind of a crumbly, flakey effect. This is the sort of stout to enjoy as you disappear under a waterfall in a rowing boat.

Only the satisfying weight of the beer stops it from being a wham-bam down-the-hatch sinker. Take it slow and don't think about other beers as you're doing it. It'll know.

Beer: whatever the colour, whatever the weight; no matter how it smells or tastes, I have time for it all. Form an orderly queue.