The wilds of Westmeath

The summer of revived beer festivities continued earlier this month with a brand new event. It was an unlikely one, and all the better for that: a one-day festival of assorted wild-fermented beer, staged in the backroom venue of the perfectly normal Smiddy's Bar in downtown Mullingar. The location was ingeniously chosen: a short hop by rail from Dublin (and Sligo) but far enough to ensure that the only people who went really wanted to be there. I really wanted to be there and bought my ticket on the day it was announced.

Of course, the microbes had to claim their due and sent The Virus to strike down Otterbank, leaving just six brands with beers for tasting. It was plenty for an afternoon's civilised tippling, however.

Saison specialist Black Donkey brought along one from their series of beers fermented with yeast extracted from their local caves in Roscommon, a red ale called Underworld Rua. I wasn't sure whether to expect something malt-forward like an Irish red or tart like a Flemish one, but it turned out to be neither. This one starts sweet, with a cherry jam foretaste plus a little milk chocolate or Nutella, before adding a savoury, resinous woodsap effect. It doesn't taste "wild" in any sense familiar to me, but it shows a multilayered complexity that's very much part of the genre. This is its own thing, and quite delightful for it.

I had two from Canvas, beginning with Sloe Liminal, a fruited version of their own red ale, one I've not particularly enjoyed in previous iterations. It works here though, and I don't think the sloes have anything to do with that. The base beer is clean and very sharply sour, almost but not quite to the point of discomfort. A thick texture helps soften that a little, as does the minimalist plummy kiss from the fruit, adding a subtle raisin sweetness. It's not an easy beer to drink, but the invigorating tartness was fun for one glass before moving on.

Their Knockshigowna pulled a strange trick, fobbing like crazy out of the tap but, once poured, immediately presenting as headless as a millpond. This is broadly badged as a blonde ale, only 4.9% ABV and brewed using sweet gale, then aged in wine barrels. It has a certain degree of funk, though curtailed by the low strength and thin texture. I got a strange mix of orange squash and Chardonnay, with a grainy dryness as well. It's a bit all over the place and it took me a while to figure out if I liked it or not. I settled in favour, but there are a few things I would like done with the recipe to improve the experience, beginning with a higher finishing gravity.

I've grumbled a bit recently about Wide Street turning out tame beer styles but they made up for it here, beginning with a Mixed Fermentation Saison. This was fantastically floral; a bathbomb of lavender and rosewater, laced with bergamot and peach-skin bitterness, all set on a soft and pillowy body. I had expected something quite hard and serious but it's first and foremost a fun beer, with no edges or difficult challenges. The playful accessibility could make it an ideal gateway into the world of more involved wild-fermented beers.

Such as Coolship '21, Wide Street's long-awaited and much anticipated first spontaneously-fermented beer, utilising the unique microflora of the Inny River valley at Ballymahon, between the Maxol garage and the meat processing factory. It's clear and golden in the glass, tangy but not sour as such. The texture is a little thin, even at only 5.5% ABV. But the flavour was fascinating. It poured very cold and tasted first of only that tang. Given a few degrees, some spices emerged: oily black pepper in particular. And then a few minutes later there arrived a bright and meadowy floral effect of which there was no sign at all earlier. My measure didn't have time to reach room temperature but who knows what it would have become by then. This is a really interesting beer and one I hope to go back to when it gets a wider release.

Galway Bay brought along a special edition of their Hooi Hooi hay saison, this one aged in wine barrels and then dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin. I wasn't a fan of the original version back in 2019, but the additional maturation has done it the power of good. Gone is the overweening sweetness and instead it's soft and luscious with crisp wheat and subtle white grape following a dry and grassy saison aroma. It's very easy going and offered welcome respite in the midst of all the acidity.

As such it was quite different to Galway Bay's other saison, the new Gift of Time. This three-year aged one also brings the grape, but in a much more concentrated way, tasting to me like a Sauternes or similar botrytised wine. That hits against an aged-oak funk and a surprise citrus sourness, the sort of thing you get from bourbon, minus the vanilla. All this left me with an overall kind of Long Island Iced Tea impression: predominantly sweet, but sharp as well. Very interesting, and also quite delicious.

My final new tick was Land & Labour's latest: Bière de Rhubarbe. I don't have the official description to hand, but it tasted very much in the gueze style to me, even if the brewer is too modest to claim that. The aroma in particular starts us off that way: aged and oaky, with lots of bricky nitre spices. That's not overdone in the flavour, however, which is mellower and rounded, showing signs of expertly managed maturation. The fruit provides a slightly sweeter side, and as such I wouldn't have guessed it was rhubarb, smelling and tasting more like ripe apricot or apple pie filling to me. It still works, though, making for a very classy sipper, and fully able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Cantillon Nath.

A relaxing glass of White Hag Beann Gulban, a beer I've not tasted in many years and thoroughly enjoyed, brought the festival to an end. I cannot express how welcome this event is: an opportunity to properly showcase some of the most exciting things happening in the Irish beer scene, and to bring the producers and enthusiasts together in one room. I hope it continues, and that it manages to retain the boutique feel that Smiddy's gave it. There were still tickets available on the door when it opened; I'd be surprised if that happened again.

Gearing up

It's been a while since the last one of these, so here's a rapid go-around of Irish breweries and their recent releases.

Yet another Helles from Galway Bay appeared in September: Slow Lives. It may be my imagination but it seemed a little darker and sweeter than the previous ones, with a thicker texture to match. Almost in bock territory, in fact. The flavour is a very Budvar-like mix of golden syrup and crunchy green salad. While plainly a very well-made lager, I don't think I could handle more than one in a session. The malt sugar builds on the palate as it goes, and moreso as it warms, resulting in a slightly unpleasant cloying effect. Can we have a little more crispness in the next one?

Their next one wasn't a lager, though, it was a saison. Hooi Hooi is 5% ABV and a very slightly hazy pale yellow colour. The name comes from its use of hay in the recipe, like recent GBB lager Field Music. Poorly informed critic that I am, I don't know what hay is supposed to bring to a beer's flavour, but it's dried grass so maybe a dryness? Not here. This is very sweet by saison standards, dominated by a tinned lychee effect that verges on sticky. There's a hard floral tang in the finish, like proximity to someone wearing too much perfume. The sickly effect is accentuated by a lack of cleansing fizz. There's maybe a drier grassiness at the back, leaning towards smokiness, but it doesn't provide full balance. It's certainly a different take on this extremely diverse style, and properly complex. Not one of my favourites, though.

I didn't think we would even be getting Foreign | Native in the Dublin Galway Bay pubs, created as it was for the Food on the Edge symposium in Galway. But it dutifully showed up at the Black Sheep where I found it last week. "Blackberry sour wheat ale" is the description; a modest 4.5% ABV and a dull yoghurt-like pink colour. I have been conditioned to expect beers like this to be heavy and sweet, but not this chap. There's a beautiful zingy tartness running through it, cleansing and quenching from start to finish. This is to the extent that the fruit is barely perceptible beyond the appearance: just a vague jam sweetness in the finish indicates it's there at all. Mostly this is simple, light and highly enjoyable, though I did begin to get an extra fun peppery complexity in the flavour as I came to the end of my glass. I would be very happy to see it again in a larger quaffing format.

Larkin's also got back into the lager game -- I was worried they might be dropping it altogether. Curious Society is a precision pilsner at 4.75% ABV. My pint was a flawless pin-bright gold. Not much aroma but the flavour unfolds quite beautifully, beginning on sweet candyfloss malt before developing a strange floral perfume complexity -- strange but not at all unpleasant. This deepens to become a more orthodox noble hop green veg flavour. A clean dryness brings the finish. It's quality stuff. I might like a bit more hop bite, but at the same time it doesn't go to the noble hop places I dislike: no burnt plastic or musty twigs. With a little twiddling on the dials, this could be something very like an Irish Jever; as-is it's just a lovely, bang-on-style, Germanic pils.

Hope was touting its Bock Off kveik bock at festivals during the summer. Festivals I missed. Thankfully UnderDog picked up the slack. I'm guessing dunkelbock is the intended sub-style, it being 6% ABV and a clear mahogany brown. The flavour fits the doppelbock profile too: rich and warm chocolate, a buzz of smoky liquorice, harder spinach greenness and then just a wisp of warm banana in the finish. All very German, as is the pristine cleanness and perfect balance. This type of thing is unusual for an Irish brewer, but by golly I'll take it.

The backlash against New England IPA (as if!) has brought us West Coast to West Coast a collaboration IPA between The White Hag and Bagby. It looks like a pilsner, being a flawless medium gold. An aroma of citrus and herbs comes from the American hop supergroup: Mosaic, Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Simcoe, Citra and Centennial. Even that didn't prepare me for the flavour: it's incredibly bitter, delivering a hard punch of grapefruit and lime straight to the jaw. This softens a little after a moment, allowing fruit chews and a whiskey-marmalade warmth and richness to come through. The latter is the only sign of its significant strength: 7% ABV. The dry bitterness creeps back in, forming a long and quite astringent waxy finish. This really is a fantastic antidote to the current IPA trend, and it's great that beers like this are being brewed, adding variety to the neophile's diet. It's perhaps a little too intense to drink a lot of -- 440ml was about right for me -- but one like this now and again is a welcome refresh.

Tesco's Solas has just had its second rebrand since it first arrived in 2014. It's still brewed at Rye River and the new one is an Oatmeal Pale Ale. It's a style I have a lot of time for, though the mere 4% ABV left me a little wary. No overprocessing here: it's a wholesomely cloudy orange colour and smells freshly of jaffa with a tropical tint. The texture is pleasingly thick -- thanks oatmeal! -- while the flavour is a dessertish mix of syrupy fruit salad, coconut and cookies, with just a squeeze of lime spritz and a dusting of aspirin for balance. I was thirsty and a half litre of this hit the spot; it's not a beer for sitting over or considering too closely. Sometimes nothing else is required.

I knew I was overdue a visit to a Porterhouse pub (Wrasslers is back in season!) when I found the new IIPA canned in an off licence before seeing it on draught. As the name implies and the label explains, it's a double IPA, though at just 7% ABV it's a light example. There's no compromise in the texture here: it drinks like a nine-percenter, thick and syrupy. Big hops show up early, giving the aroma the rich and sweet smell of overripe tropical fruit. The combination turns to sticky lollipops on tasting, and where the bitter citric tang ought to be, in the finish, there's a strange smoky acridity, with maybe a touch of cardboard oxidation. Perhaps I should have gone for draught after all. I remain impressed at how big this feels given the strength, but the flavour isn't quite where it should be, even for an old-fashioned take on the style.

New from new Dublin brewery Lineman is the delightfully-titled Astral Grains. It's a big ol' stout, 7.7% ABV, pouring dense and dark with a tobacco-stain head. The aroma is light, showing just a mild roasty bitterness, suggesting nothing fancy hopwise. Unsurprisingly there's a lovely silky mouthfeel while the flavour has an almost sharp dark chocolate character up front. It tails off into espresso, tar and liquorice. This is good, clean stout fun: no novelties or funny twists, despite the down-with-the-kids packaging. Maybe it's time the kids learned what good stout is.

We don't see much Soulwater beer in Dublin, but the Galway-based Limerick-brewing collective had Dakota "American stout" on tap at Bonobo when I last visited. I think they've taken a bit of a liberty with the name: while there's an unusual herbal note in here, there's no big hop punch, which the description led me to expect. Beyond that it is a very decent Irish stout: 5% ABV with a lovely creamy texture and leaning heavily towards chocolate in the flavour. It's just the badge that has notions.

Like the year 2019 itself, the Eight Degrees 8th anniversary series is nearing a close. Number seven is Maroon Ball, a kveik double IPA created in collaboration with the king of kommercial kveik himself, WHC Lab. Cascade, Mandarina Bavaria and Enigma are the hops, giving it a lightly tropical aroma with a measure of stronger dankness too. All of the 8.3% ABV is immediately apparent on tasting: it's weighty and quite hot. The fun in the aroma becomes a concentrated cordial sweetness which sits heavily on the palate. It's not a quaffer, but then it's not meant to be. There's a lack of follow-through after that initial fruit sweetness. Other double IPAs have a long finish, sometimes all juicy; most boozy and cloying. This does neither, disappearing completely after swallowing with just the faintest tang of earthy metallic bitterness. For that up-front tropical hit, this is worth your while; but for complexity best look elsewhere.

And while we're down Cork way, a new one from Black's of Kinsale: Spruce Tip IPA. It's a dull and hazy orange colour in the glass, though the aroma is bright and spritzy: no sign of the spruce but lots of citrus zing from the Simcoe hops. The spruce isn't so shy in the flavour, delivering a very real tang of pine needle resins up front. Behind this sharp herbal note the rest of the beer is softer and calmer, the body full and the carbonation low. There's a very decent IPA here, beneath the novelty. The two sides aren't exactly complementary but both are enjoyable in parallel. In a previous round-up I complained that the last botanical IPA from Black's wasn't botanical enough. That wrong has been righted.

L: The Darkness, R: Li'l Brown Fox

Brown Porter is one of those styles I just won't go past. One from Station Works appeared at 57 the Headline recently: Li'l Brown Fox. This is a one-off created to test experimental hop variety HBC 472. It's a rich brown colour with a snow-capped head. Whatever about the hops, there's no mistaking the brown malt in this: a tongue-coating oily coffee flavour with fluffy cake overtones. It's a little on the fizzy side but 4.5% ABV turns out to be enough to keep it from feeling thin. The finish is lovely and long, the coffee oils joined by a rasp of dry coconut husk. This is a perfect autumn/winter sessioner and the sort of beer I'd love to see more of.

The black pint to the left of it is The Darkness, a barrel-aged Baltic porter from Third Barrel: 10% ABV and not really supposed to be served in that quantity. The barrels don't seem to have had much of an effect on the flavour, lending it nothing more than a sweetness. That begins in the treacle aroma and continues to the fruity jam tang in the taste. It's extremely thick and shows no signs at all of its lagered origins. I liked this, even though it doesn't have many of the features I go to Baltic porter for.

Third Barrel also created a New England IPA exclusively for O'Brien's off licences. ONE is 6% ABV and a pale custard yellow. Sweet vanilla predominates in the aroma, with a harder alkaline chalkiness behind it. It's not sweet to taste, however. Instead, there's a mild buzz of spring onion, becoming a proper old-world hop bitterness by the end. As an introduction to the features of the style it works quite well: all is balanced and there are no surprises or off-notes. On the other hand it's not very exciting, but then who goes to an O'Brien's to be excited?

I missed the Hopfully tap takeover at 57 the Headline but was able to catch up with the new release a few days later. Get-In-Mah-Belleh! is in that dubious style Scotch ale, and is 6.5% ABV. It's the appropriate deep red-brown colour and surprisingly bitter: the first sip delivering a tart tang. Smooth toffee arrives behind this, joined by a summer berry quality I wasn't expecting. It's surprisingly light for all that, a little thin on the texture with basically no alcohol heat. While it's not a hot sticky mess, this doesn't really do it for me, being too plain, verging on one-dimensional. But if Scotch ale is what you think has been missing from Irish beer, here's one.

Much more Irish beer reviewing to come, and the turnout is only going to get faster as we approach year-end, I reckon.