All your birthdays at once

My blog turns 11 today, in this year of anniversaries. We've already had Carlow Brewing's 20th birthday beer, and I'm hoping we'll see one from The Porterhouse later as well. But even little tyke Eight Degrees decided to stick a fistful of candles in a cake and release an IPA to celebrate five years a-brewing (you can see a baby photo here. Aww!) With characteristic modesty it's called Nailed It and the stated aim is to be a straight-up, down-the-line, essence-of-IPA IPA.

I'm not used to Eight Degrees beers in bottles so was a little surprised by how hazy it was: that's probably down to clumsy pouring on my part. The aroma is certainly in the Goldilocks zone of IPA perfection, promising messy, juicy mango and passionfruit and spiky pine resin and thick herbal dank. "But where's the grapefruit?" I hear you wail. Fear not, it's right at the front of the flavour, though getting fuzzed a little by the yeast. This acidity and the piney spicing form the centre of the flavour, not leaving much room for the fruit elements, and that pesky yeast adds a harsh savoury tone to the finish that lasts an unpleasantly long time. There's a lovely soft mouthfeel and the strength is a fairly modest 5.8% ABV so really this beer just needs a little cleaning up to be excellent. I'd recommend going for the draught version, if you see it.

I bought my bottle of Nailed It in McHugh's off licence in Kilbarrack, the first time I'd been to either of the highly-rated McHugh's shops. While there I of course took the opportunity to pick up a bottle of their exclusive RoadTrip Extra Stout. This was brewed late last year and is the second in a series which was also prompted by an anniversary: McHugh's 20th. The first was RoadTrip IPA, brewed at Kinnegar, which has found a second life as Kinnegar's own Crossroads IPA. This time around, Independent Brewing of Connemara played host, for a 6.3% ABV stout brewed with a power combo of American hops: Magnum, Chinook and Cascade.

It pours almost imperially thickly and I thought there wasn't going to be any head on it until near the end when I was surprised by a sudden surge of brown foam. This settled back into a luxurious ice cream float of bubbles and a second pour finished the job. The American hops are very obvious from the aroma: a distinct tang of grapefruit skin in with the chocolate and coffee. And this theme continues in the flavour. This time the dark malts are in their rightful place in the stout flavour profile -- high-cocoa dark chocolate is the protagonist: dry, but with a certain oleaginous quality, adding richness -- but it's flanked by spritzy citrus zest, rising from the middle and becoming louder towards the end. Each mouthful starts soft and silky but finishes sharply invigorating. I can imagine some purists having a problem with this brash Americanisation of our national beer style but I've no time for such prescriptivism: this is a magnificent tasting beer showing genuine brewing talent. Not many months after this came out, Independent had a black IPA of roughly the same strength brewed with Wood Key, a gypsy label which includes some of the McHugh's RoadTrippers. I wonder are the recipes related. Either way, I would very much like to see this beer also take a life of its own, as RoadTrip 1 did.

Then, as a surprise birthday bonus, McHugh's sent me a free bottle of the third in the RoadTrip series shortly after it was launched. Staying at Independent, this is RoadTrip Whiskey Barrel Aged Stout. The hop listing is the same as the above and it's only 1% ABV stronger, so I'm guessing it started out as the same beer. But it's been given three months in ex-rum Teeling whiskey casks. Again, the head is slow to form but eventually does so, albeit without so much enthusiasm this time. Chocolate is still the main element of the flavour: darkly bitter and given just a slight spirit and vanilla edge by the whiskey barrel. While the hops aren't as bright and fresh as they are in the other stout they are still present, adding a gently floral rosewater complexity to the centre. After a moment or two the sweetness and fruit fades into the background allowing a more serious dry roasted quality finish things off. While definitely a big beer, it's not so heavy or boozy that it's tough going to drink, and the 500ml serving size is entirely justified. If, like me, you like your barrel-aged beers with just a subtle suggestion of the cask then this is one to add to your want list, though on balance I did prefer RoadTrip 2 with its punchy burst of citrus hops.

And so on to Year 12 and whatever, and wherever, the next beer is.
[swishes cape]
[exits]

Mission creep

I'd only gone to DrinkStore for one specific beer but forgot it had been a few weeks since I was last in, so there was lots of new and previously untasted Irish beer to try. The purpose of my visit was Crossroads, an IPA from Kinnegar which rebadges a one-off called Roadtrip brewed exclusively for McHugh's off licences earlier this year. To my shame I've never been to either McHugh's branches, but was still kinda glad that the re-release has saved me an excursion to the northern suburbs. Crossroads pours an autumnal burnt ochre colour and smells quite caramelly, though there's definitely a citrus hop element to the aroma as well. The malt and hops blend rather well on tasting: it's smooth, heavy and warming with lots of toffee, and tasting every bit of its 6.2% ABV. But the hops sing out as well, sharply assertive with lemon and pine at the front and oily resins coating the lips. Then at the back of the palate there's a softer mango and papaya fruitiness melding playfully with that sweet toffee. It's a big beer for sure, but a rewarding one to take time over.

Little Fawn is a session IPA from White Hag, and properly session at 4.2% ABV. It's a lagery dark gold colour and gives up most of its aromatic secrets as it pours: grapefruit, pine and a juicier mango backing. A sniff once it's in the glass reveals a more serious dank, so this hits all the classic new world hop notes before it's even sipped. It's a little less complex on tasting, however. That low ABV results in a certain hollow and watery sensation that I found took the shine off it. The hops burn acidly and possibly a little harsh for me, but fans of roaringly fresh American IPA will definitely get their jollies here. There's even a bit of malt balance: a hint of Rich Tea biscuit behind the intensely perfumed flavour, quickly drowned by a long, long piney finish. In summary: hops; and a beer that I found more enjoyable to sniff than to taste.

The latest from Jack Cody's is Lunasa, badged as a "summer saison". It's 5.4% ABV and a cheery clear copper colour in the pint glass, the first time I think I've ever had to pour myself a half litre of saison. The classic saison crispness is a large part of what it does, and that suits me perfectly: no hot and fruity esters, but a gentle pepperiness and a fun wisp of smoke at the end. While it's as prickly as the next dry beer, the carbonation is low which makes it incredibly drinkable -- ideally suited to the casual summer drinking it's designed for.

I finally caught up with the second offering from Derry's Northbound: 08, a Kölschalike at 5% ABV. Perhaps it was a bit too warm when I drank it (hence all that foam) but I got a lot of greasy, esters and jangling sugar or even saccharine. The aroma has a kind of sickly syrupy thing, though the crisp graininess of proper Kölsch is lurking down there as well. It's not terrible, there is a proper spinachy noble hop bitterness and flavour, but the marker pen residue it leaves behind really spoils it. If you're going to drink 08, drink it damn cold. It was much better on keg at the RDS last weekend, for example.

Last one from the haul is Rowlock, a new IPA from Clearsky Brewing which uses Hilden's facilities. It's 4.5% ABV and pleasingly pale, the pour dispelling all fears of it being a heavy, sticky malt bomb as too many Northern Irish IPAs recently have been. There's a worrying haze but that doesn't seem to interfere with the flavour. My first impression on tasting is coconut, in the classic, oily, Sorachi Ace sense. The label gives us no more clue than "interesting hop flavours" so I don't know what's actually producing the effect. Behind it, some light and floral orange blossom and jasmine, oh and there's the yeast bite, but only a small one. In a reverse of the norm, it's more malt than hops in the aroma: a rather unpleasant musty grainsack thing, but again this is a mere peccadillo. Overall, it's an interesting and fun pale ale, designed to be accessible, but sufficiently interesting to keep any drinker entertained. More actual information on the label in place of the marketing nonsense about "simple pleasures" and "trading stories" would be helpful. Is anyone actually convinced by that stuff?

A quick dash to the pub before we go, and last month saw Roscommon's Black Donkey Brewery celebrating its first birthday in 57 The Headline with a tap takeover and a new addition to the line-up. Beyond is a rye ale, 4.8% ABV and dark red. Like the first edition of Buck-It, a neutral ale yeast has been used and also like the first edition of Buck-It it leaves the beer rather harsh: a dry-grass sharpness imbues the whole thing, with a weird strawberry jam sweetness on top. I feel it would benefit from having a few of the edges knocked off, but the brewery probably thinks the same about me. Scythe remains my favourite of the Black Donkey range.

And on the tap around the corner, a new one from Trouble: Ripcord red ale. It being Trouble I wasn't expecting a standard Irish red, but that's pretty much what this is, unfortunately. In the absence of bolder flavours a nasty yeasty bite opened it up and just sat on the watery texture refusing to move. As it warmed there was some lighter red fruit added but nothing to make the beer interesting. The spec says there's supposed to be a US twist here, Cascade and Centennial, but it completely passed me by.

I'll have to award this round to the bottled beers, but draught will be making a comeback when I get to writing about what I found at this year's Irish Craft Beer Festival last weekend. Coming soon. Ish.