Anti-Arthur's Day

You know how neighbours love to gossip, and how annoying that can be. So it's not in the least bit surprising that when Edward Cecil Guinness shacked up with his attractive cousin Adelaide that he felt the need to buy a large semi-rural estate, away from prying eyes. Edward's dad, Benjamin Lee, was also an enthusiast for, ahem, keeping it in the family, so it was probably wisdom passed down from father to son over the sherry. It was Edward Cecil who first floated the family firm on the London Stock Exchange, and retired at 40 as Ireland's richest man, having set the foundations for the growth of Guinness into the unstoppable monster which would eventually destroy all traces of quality and variety in Ireland's beer market.

So it is with supreme irony that Edward's incestuous lovenest now plays host to an annual gathering of the handful new breweries which exist despite his corporate heirs' market dominance. Farmleigh House, at the western edge of Dublin's Phoenix Park, became state property in 1999, and last year the cultural events calendar featured SeptemberFest for the first time -- a free festival of drinks from native producers, which of course included the 10 or so craft breweries currently operating on the island. I missed it through being at the all-Europe festival in Copenhagen, but apparently it took 8,000 visitors over the two days and was deemed enough of a success to be given another outing in 2009.

This time round, IrishCraftBrewer was asked to fill a bit of space in the tent, so I was there for the duration, talking home brewing with anyone who'd listen. Which was lots of people, as it cheeringly turned out. We didn't get 8,000 people this year though. Estimates from the gate at close of business on Sunday put it at somewhere around 35,000, largely due to the glorious weather. When the beer queues were on the far side of an hour it's a definite advantage to have been in the tent well ahead of opening to get some sampling done before the masses descend.

And sample I did. Probably the biggest news of the festival was the long-awaited launch of Porterhouse beers in bottles. Porterhouse Hop Head, conditioned in its funky 33cl bottle (BrewDog who?), was flying out and is absolutely delicious. I recall a little bit of bitter harshness in the draught version, but that's smoothed away here leaving a beer which pounds the palate without inflicting any real damage. A new higher strength edition of Porterhouse Plain has followed it since. I look forward to more in the range. And, of course, to bottles sized for grown-ups.

Whitewater had brought their new stout on its first outing to the Republic. The brewery that began by making exotic English-style bitters seems to be going for more solid fare of late, with Belfast Lager appearing in bottles a couple of years back, and now the 4.2% ABV Belfast Black is available bottled and nitrokegged (though don't ask me where). From the keg it's an absolutely rock-solid chocolate malt dominated Irish plain stout, very much on the sweeter side of the spectrum. Some of the crew even mistook it for a dark lager. While I can hanker after greater diversity in Irish beer all I want, it's great to see yet another decent Irish stout following Mizen out into the world. I've yet to try Belfast Black from the bottle but there's every possibility it could give O'Hara's a run for its money.

And from the black North to the black of beyond. Beoir Chorcha Duibhne have been brewing in Dingle for two years now, supplying cask ale to two local pubs. At last year's SeptemberFest they were serving a pale ale called Beal Bán. This year, it was a dark copper affair rejoicing in the name of Cúl Dorcha (helpfully translated by ICB's Gráinne as "Black Arse"). Again the style-police fell on it and one commentator had it likened to an alt. I'd be calling it a porter myself -- full-bodied, slightly bitter and lightly roasty. However there is a slight grainy, dry element that lets me see where the alt comparison comes from. It's a simple and enjoyable beer, the sort that won't end up the talk of the festival, but if you were served it in its home pubs you'd be very happy. Especially considering what else is likely to be on tap.

Last of the three newbies was the latest from White Gypsy, a Blonde session ale of 4% ABV. It packs a fair bit into that modest body, being sweet and chewy with a firm kick of sharp German hops on the end. Though again, outside of Ireland's tiny festival circuit, I don't know where you're likely to see it.

That's the beer out of the way, but I can't leave without a quick shout-out to David Llewellyn, north Dublin's apple magnate, who was able to sell his magnificent dry cider due to the temporary licensing arrangements (courtesy of The Porterhouse) at SeptemberFest. He reckons it's just too expensive to distribute via a middleman, and his own licensing set-up means he can normally only sell it by the case at his numerous farmers' market stalls by prior arrangement. It's wonderfully refreshing stuff and, as far as I know, is Ireland's only proper cider available commercially. David had a very brisk couple of days' business at the festival, between the cider, his vinegars, apple juice and the latest innovation: super-creamy apple ice cream. If you see Llewellyn's Orchard Produce at any of Ireland's outdoor food markets it's well worth making enquiries on how to get hold of his wonderful artisan cider.

It was heartening to see the interest in Irish craft beer displayed by the visitors of SeptemberFest. I doubt there was a single punter hankering after Heineken, and the family atmosphere was just the sort of image about-face that beer in Ireland needs, even if it's only for two days. With more events like this we could go a long way towards turning the tide of Irish beer tastes, away from the global brands which currently stink up the bar.

I hope Edward's ghost had a good view from his tower.

Tram on

A sizeable contingent of beer fans had assembled in Deveney's on Friday evening for the Californian beer tasting, among them ICBers Kieron, Brian and Kev, and The Dubliner's beer correspondent Richard. Having enjoyed the freebies and made our purchases, we headed off down the street to Tramco.

Tramco has been around since the late '90s, when Rathmines was still very student-oriented. It had always been a straight-from-the-box superpub, designed to be packed to the rafters with boisterous young'uns chasing cheap alcopops and each other. And then, a couple of months ago, it closed for refurbishment. It first appeared on the beer radar when a sign proclaiming it to be "Tramco Brewery" went up over the front window. The doors opened in late July, and last Friday was my second visit.

It's still absolutely huge, set over two floors with a massive beer garden. Barrels are the main decorative theme, though a twisty chrome staircase makes it look like there's a rollercoaster running through the place. The huge scale of the pub is heightened by the fact that it's always been pretty much empty when I've been in there. Peak time on a Friday evening, even in August, I'd have thought there'd be a few more punters around, but our lot were more or less the sum total of customers, aside from some friends of the band that was playing. Not even the stilt walkers and fire-jugglers stationed outside managed to lure any more prospective drinkers in.

Aside from the emptiness, the other feature which sets Tramco apart is the beer. They have most of the usual crap, but the main downstairs bar is dedicated to a range of four house beers. It's not completely clear where they come from -- different people have been given different answers by the friendly staff -- but I was told Tipperary so I'm fairly confident that they're contract brewed by Cuilan at White Gypsy. The fact that Tramco is owned by the same company as Messrs Maguire, where Cuilan is the brewer, suggests this even more [edit: in fact, they're brewed at MM, but by Barrelhead -- a fake brewery making beer for another fake brewery].

The range is typically unimaginative: stout, lager, red and wheat, and though the accompanying leaflet talks a good game (but can't spell "lager"), none of these are about to set the beer world alight. Sugar seems to be a common characteristic in them, and there's more than a hint of residual sweetness in the Killary Lager. However, it's still quite pleasantly bitter with an interesting fruitiness to it which I know isn't supposed to be found in lager but I rather liked. The wheat beer is badged as Cashel Lager, possibly because of a fear punters might be startled by the exotic stylings of weizen, or possibly because the people who commissioned it -- like most publicans -- know bugger-all about beer. On my first visit I got a super-sweet sugary pale beer with an almost saccharine metallic edge to it. Second time round, however, it was much improved: still sweet, but in the soft bubblegum way much more appropriate to the style.

Dearg is the nitro red, strongest of the lot at 4.6% ABV, and is monumentally bland. Sweetness again, a touch of creaminess because of the gas arrangements, but really a very easy to drink dull, smooth ale. Best of the lot is Mizen Stout. First time I got it, it tasted quite similar to Murphy's, with the big sweet chocolate malt flavours shining through the nitro and a hint of toastiness at the end. I liked it, so was straight back there second time around. Except it was a different stout: this was a lot dryer and with an almost smoky character. Still pleasant, if undemanding, drinking and I'm interested in tasting what happens to the recipe next.

Maybe it's just because it's early days, but I suspect that consistency is not going to be a big feature of the Tramco house beer range. On balance, that's probably not a bad thing -- as long as the beer tastes OK, leave homogeneity to the big boys.

I'm not going to whine about the ordinariness of the Tramco beers. I think it's a brave step to have commissioned them, and placed them prominently at the bar. If it does anything to make beer drinkers pause before automatically ordering their usual, then that's to the good. The revolution rolls on.

Tramco has a website here and can also be followed on Twitter.