I'm off on my holliers shortly but before I go, here's a round-up of assorted Irish new-release beers. My last local beers for a while.
We begin with a fresh double IPA from YellowBelly:
Immoral Support. I had thought this was a special for their annual barbecue (which I missed) so was pleasantly surprised to find it on tap in UnderDog. It's a 9.2% ABV monster but is not as hot and sticky as might be expected. There's a definite barley-sugar sweetness, although it's clean and doesn't clog up the palate. That leaves lots of room for hop fun. Unfortunately, there isn't much hop fun to be found. A mild mango and guava tropicality flashes briefly at the front, followed by an old-world pithy taste, and finishing back on the west coast on a pine bitterness. But you really have to let the liquid linger on the tongue to get the full effect. In a hurry, you could be forgiven for describing this as bland. I'll go with "inoffensive", and very subtle for such a big beer. Faint praise? Whatever.
It's been a long time since there was a new Irishtown beer, but here's their
Dublin IPA which I picked up in Tesco. No provenance is given but I guess they're still brewing at Hope. It's a middle-of-the-road 4.4% ABV and a copper orange colour. Although it claims tropical hops like Mosaic and El Dorado, it tastes heavily of Cascade to me. The aroma has that earthy resinous quality while the flavour is sharply piney, balanced by a significant amount of caramel malt. There was a time when I might have been miffed about how basic this is, but here in the milkshake era, it's delightfully retro, channelling the pale ales by Sierra Nevada and Galway Hooker, back when they were exciting.
Just ahead of Hagstravaganza, version four of Púca arrived.
Púca Apricot retains the standard 3.5% ABV and, like
last year's lime one, goes all in on the fruit addition. This is at the expense of the mixed-fermentation sourness, burying it under a real, but distinctly sweet, apricot jam flavour. It's still light and thirst-quenching but there was a lack of zing, and for me that's the whole point of a beer like this. If you really like apricots you'll get a kick out of it; otherwise original Púca remains the best of the range.
The July release in this year's YellowBelly Beer Club is perhaps a little unseasonal. They've gone with an imperial black IPA called
Bushido: a colossus at 10.5% ABV. It's certainly black, a dense and even obsidian with no telltale red or brown edges. The accompanying leaflet mentions torrified wheat for head retention, and there's certainly no shortage of foam on top when pouring, though that fades gradually to a more respectful off-white lid. The aroma is a candyshop of chocolate, fudge and fruit jellies, El Dorado bringing the tropics to an unusual place. The flavour is remarkably unbitter for this sort of thing, with a minty herbal kick in the finish being as severe as it gets. Before that there's a lovely mix of floral Turkish Delight, Swiss milk chocolate and strong coffee. A sensation of warmth contributes to the latter effect, and that's of course from the booze. It's not jarringly hot, though: the rich and smooth texture really makes the alcohol feel like it belongs. Even in 26° heat, this was a beaut. Balance this well done conquers all.
Better suited to the warm weather was yet another new lager from Galway Bay.
Field Music is described as a "rustic pilser" which had me expecting something a bit rough and hazy. It's even brewed with hay. What I got was a pint of purest clear gold topped with a fine white foam that laced the glass all the way down. The aroma is grassy and that translates to a bitter vegetal bite right in the middle of the palate. Around it the beer is remarkably soft and sweet, reminding me more of Czech pale lager than the stark and angular north-German look this is going for. That said, the bitterness is never far away, making for a sublime mouthwatering pils, light enough to quaff for refreshment but decently complex too. This is the best of the recent series of GBB lagers. I look forward to them improving further on it.
Requiem, the next Galway Bay beer out, was quite a contrast. Black IPA has been tragically unhip for a while now but here's a new one. At 7% ABV it's not as big as the brewery's thumping double version, Solemn Black, but it does share a lot in common with it. There's an intense bitterness, all green cabbage, tar and liquorice, which twists into almost sourness with a lactic tang in the finish. Through the texture is quite thick, there's a busy and pointy carbonation, accentuating its overall sharpness. The fade-out is dry and burnt, like charcoal. Though billed as a black IPA, a lot of these characteristics are ones I associate with old-fashioned stouts. It may be helpful to think of it as one of those. I got a tiny hint of grapefruit emerging as it warmed, but that's as fruit-forward as it gets; don't come to it for the IPA experience. With Wrasslers now relegated to a seasonal beer, this should help plug the gap until it returns.
After five years, St Mel's makes the move to cans with a celebratory "opalescent" IPA called
Lushtrum. "Opalescent" means hazy orange, it seems. There's quite a sweet aroma, a little surprising, perhaps, given the big-hitting American hop bill including Simcoe and Citra. It's bitterer on tasting, at least at first, the earthy Cascade at the front. Juicy jaffa orange finishes it off and I'm chalking that up to the Amarillo. Lush it ain't. I found it quite harsh in both the bitterness and sweetness; unbalanced two ways at once. This is some tough drinking, all the way to the end, and will shock anyone coming to it thinking thoughts of New England.
I was worried I'd missed Larkin's
Tribune when it appeared, briefly, on draught a couple of months ago. Thankfully cans soon followed. It's an American-style IPA of 5.5% ABV, pouring an opaque orange colour, like orangeade. There's no mention of New England on the label copy, but it's in that zone, from both the appearance and the softly effervescent texture. For hops we are given Cascade, Lemondrop, Mosaic and Azacca: quite a fruit-forward mix, and that adds further to the orangeade effect, bringing both juice and pith I get a slight garlicky buzz as well, but entirely in keeping with the rest of the taste. It's very nicely done, extremely well balanced between the juicy-sweet and citrus-bitter sides; light and refreshing while also multifaceted. If this sticks around, Trouble Brewing's Ambush will have some competition.
Staying on an orange vibe, we have
Matty Baby, the latest in Wicklow Wolf's Crossbreed Series. It's a double IPA and brewed in collaboration with Boundary. This is light for the style, just 7.5% ABV, and I think that stands to it. There's nothing extreme about it: the texture and flavour are mild and balanced, making for a more rounded drinking experience. There's a very old-fashioned west coast vibe in the aroma: spritzy satsuma smoothed out by toffeeish crystal malt and seasoned with peppery cedar. The use of lactose is more modern but doesn't make it taste weird. The flavour is tang, pith, and then a gentle caramel warmth. In a world of hyperactive in-your-face IPAs, it's nice to meet a calm and measured one. This is very relaxed drinking and goes
great with some vintage cheddar.
Wicklow Wolf's other regular series is the Endangered Species one-offs, and the latest there is
Fuzzy Logic, a New England-style IPA. Fuzzy indeed: the 440ml can had no problem filling a pint glass, the beer topped with a thick layer of loose fluffy froth. Beneath that it's a slightly worrying orange-grey colour. The aroma has a hint of spring onion about it, with perhaps some lime citrus buried deeper. That dualism is reflected in the flavour too, where it opens on a savoury note of garlic plus a diesel heat before quickly softening to mandarin and nectarine. There's a bit of a dreggy burn on the finish providing the other slice for this sensory sandwich. While it certainly has flaws, ones entirely common to the style, it's saved by the flavours all being quite muted, with nothing so loud as to offend the palate. It's possible to concentrate on that luscious fruit middle and ignore the rest.
Catching up with some new ones from White Gypsy, I begin with their
Vienna Lager. It was a bit gushy when I opened it, the large head crackling away to nothing quite quickly. It's a murky red-brown colour and smells more like a porter than a lager: a heady mix of chocolate, caramel and liquorice. It's more lager-like to taste, clean and malt-driven, with melanoidin biscuit notes and lots of spinachy noble hop. It is lacking in crispness, though. I'd like more of a sparkle. As-is, it resembles a rustic brewpubby beer rather than a polished lager. It took me a while to get my head around the different features but I was enjoying it by the end.
I
recently reviewed White Gypsy's Barbarossa red. They have another one on the market now, called
Simply Red. This is in addition to the flagship Ruby. It's a brewery sure of its market that has three Irish reds available simultaneously. This one is stronger than most at 5.5% ABV and uses a hop I'm unfamiliar with: Callista, from Germany. There is a definite hop character here: a herbal, almost minty, kick. That's on a heavy and rounded mix of toffee, butterscotch and a hint of burnt caramel on the end. It's definitely a red from a brewery used to making them. The flavours are well integrated and the body big enough to carry them. Personally, I would prefer a little more crispness, a little more roast, and a deal less diacetyl. But other than that, here is Irish red done very well.
New from Hopfully, in collaboration with their host brewery Lough Gill, is
Bean Around, described as a "flat white hazelnut stout". I expected it to be a bit of a confection, especially given the 7.2% ABV, but the aroma, to begin with, is very dry and roasted: all coffee grounds and burnt toast. The sweetness is present but delicate: a gentle milky, creamy effect with a whisper of vanilla and milk chocolate. This softens the coffee roast and makes it taste more like, well, a flat white. I can see the hazelnut once I know it's there, but it does a good job of melding into the overall taste, rather than clanging in the syrupy way I was cynically expecting. The alcohol is no doubt helping accentuate the flavours, while not contributing any heat. Yes it's a novelty beer, but one very well put together. Hopfully may be the primary brewer, but Lough Gill's acumen for stout flavours shines through distinctively here.
Third Barrel's latest is a session IPA called
Turn On, Tune In, Hop Out. It's a foamy beast, taking a few goes to get 440ml of beer into a 500ml glass. That presented me with a hazy dark orange beer, its aroma is sickly, like hot custard and fruit salad: smelling like a lot of work for just 4.3% ABV. The flavour is more pleasingly juicy, with tangy tangerine up front and a bite of caraway in the tail. I'm surprised how different the taste and smell are. There's a lovely balance between the soft texture -- shades of New England there -- and the sharper citrus pinch. That's good complexity for some this low strength, and if you don't mind that touch of caraway it's pleasingly devoid of off-flavours. This won't set anyone's world on fire but it's very pleasant session drinking.
Under their sister brand Stone Barrel they've released an IPA with a bit more welly:
Hop Art at 6% ABV. This is beige in colour with a strongly sweet vanilla aroma. Things switch dramatically in the foretaste which doesn't do the usual hazy IPA things and instead offers a strange herbal and/or floral flavour. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it reminded me of -- fresh rosemary was as close as I got -- but definitely in that bittersweet and oily end of the botanical world. With this comes a hot resinous burn, the hop oils scorching the tongue somewhat. Smoother vanilla follows as it fades, and there's a mild buzz of garlic too. It reminds me a lot of the last Stone Barrel beer
I reviewed, their micro IPA Slammer. Consider it a full-strength version of that. Overall I liked this, despite the weirdness.
Finally, Kildare Brewing dropped me a couple of cans of their new one,
Electric Juice IPA. "Juicy beer full of juicyness" begins the product description, but I think they've overstated the juiciness. It's sweet, for sure, and I'd swear there was lactose in it, though the ingredients list tells me it's all done with oats. That said, it's not as heavy as many like this and there's a lightness to the texture that speaks to its origins as a pub beer before they thought to can it. There is a fruit side to the flavour, though more citrus and sherbet than anything much tropical. I get a slight pinch of savoury sesame and a clean, dry soda finish. It's not the same as what the cool kids of hazy IPA are brewing, but it's a well-made and accessible take on it.
And that's it until the Great Game of Catch-Up when I get back. The next two weeks of content will be generated by a neural net based on the previous 1800 posts. You won't notice the difference.
With dark beers not exactly en vogue at the moment, it's pleasing that one of the island's best breweries, Wicklow Wolf, has a fan of them at the helm. I almost whooped when I saw that Locavore 2020 was going to be a stout again, but before that, two more from the dark side of Newtownmountkennedy.
Also 8% ABV is Apex Tiramisu, third in the Let's Fuck About With A Perfectly Good Oatmeal Stout series. The dessert effect is achieved with coffee, cocoa nibs and lactose. It smells strongly of coffee, one of those dense ristrettos made of barely-diluted beans. The coffee effect is there in the foretaste too, though a little gentler tasting. It's a coffee richness, not just roast and bitterness. But that's about it for complexity. Having crunched the bean on the surface and licked the coffee powder, I expect the cream cheese and boozy sponge to come next in a tiramisu but they don't materialise here. What you get is a jolly decent big coffee stout, untroubled by lactose or brown sugar. I like that. It tastes serious, grown up, and un-fucked-about-with. If you were looking for a stout that actually tastes like tiramisu the way the S'mores one last month tasted of s'mores then you'll be disappointed, but you deserve that. This is punchy, dry and stimulating; a real, how you say, pick-me-up.
