Creatures feature

Larkin's remains something of an enigma in Irish brewing. It didn't feature on here at all in 2024, last seen just before Christmas the previous year. Today's beers are new-release and bear the address in Kilcoole where Larkin's has always operated. That's now, primarily, the Rí-Rá lager brewery, so... is Larkin's simply the badge they put on beer they make which aren't the flagship, or is it a side-project for someone working there, or is the founder still somehow involved in the brand? Nothing is clear, but I'm quite happy that Larkin's beer is still coming out, because I didn't especially care for Rí-Rá.

First of the pair is called Animal Farm and is described as a "farmhouse" session IPA, without any further elaboration on that epithet. 4% ABV is certainly sessiony, and it looks well: a pale sunset yellow, gently hazed and skimmed with white foam. The aroma is juicy like mandarin with a spicy edge, but still nothing out of the ordinary. On tasting, however: here comes the farm. It's a mild but distinct gummy funk, a little like you get from Brettanomyces, but dialled back so as not to interfere with the hops. It finishes on a similarly gentle dry peppery heat. All of this microbial fun plays second fiddle to the hops, which retain a fresh and luscious tropical quality which is entirely complementary with the wildness. This beer shows a superb level of of delicious complexity without losing sight of its sessionability, and was a bargain for €3.25 the can. One for both wild beer fans and hop lovers to stock up on.

The next one is a straight-up IPA with no particular bells nor whistles notified. It's called Hoppy Dog and is a full 6.5% ABV; hazy to an extent, but far from opaque. While not non-descript, there's nothing terribly special about the aroma, delivering a light dusting of sweetish citrus: satsuma or kumquat. The gravity gives it a hefty, dense mouthfeel, coming across almost syrupy. By rights, the hops should get to use this as a performance space, but they don't. I got no more than a mild tang of marmalade shred and a little, unwelcome, grated white onion acidity. It's too heavy to be refreshing and too bland to be characterful. "Needs more hops" we used to say in the old days, before all the haze brewers took us far too seriously. This could certainly do with a boost, of the modern and tropicalesque varieties, for both flavour and aroma. The €2.50 price tag (on special in Molloy's) was attractive, especially given the strength, but it definitely did taste like it was brewed to a price point, unfortunately.

I am genuinely pleased to see beer under the Larkin's brand still being produced, albeit at a much reduced pace. Maybe when the owners realise that their premium lager wheeze isn't going to fly, we might get back to something resembling the old days. And if the old Larkin's Baltic Porter recipe is sitting in a filing cabinet somewhere, well...

Rí-freshment

I reported on Rí-Rá Lager a year ago, and now the Wicklow brewer has released a second beer. Well, sort of. Rí-Rá Lager Shandy is presumably based on the original, but cut down to 2.8% ABV with the addition of pineapple and grapefruit fizz, for a "totally tropical taste"™. There aren't many Irish radlers in circulation, so I was genuinely pleased to find this one: a very low-alcohol option that doesn't have the problems of non-alcoholic beers. Or at least shouldn't have.

However, it turned out that it's not really a substitute for proper beer any more than they are. The fruit syrup is laid on... generously, making it taste far more like the soft drink it's trying to ape than a lager. On the aroma that's rather artificial, with an almost metallic tang. This effect shows up in the aftertaste as well. The main flavour is quite tasty, as long as you have a good tolerance for sweetness. Pineapple is dominant, although there is a minor countermelody of citrus, albeit not identifiable as grapefruit specifically. I guess the colour has been affected by the additives as well: it's the pale gold of a glass of white wine, something that you just don't get from malt.

In fairness to the brewery, they make no claims for this other than it's refreshing, and it is. Drink it cold enough and the cloying syrup doesn't get a chance to kick in properly. I'd be wary of following it with a second, any more than I'd drink Lilt or Fanta by the litre. I give it a cautious welcome, but Schöfferhofer and Stiegl do this kind of thing better.

Alliteration and lactose

Today's beers are from the Larkin's brewery in Wicklow. It seems to have been through a tumultuous time lately, including a change of ownership, I believe. But the beers are still coming out and someone is doing artwork for them.

We'll get to those presently, but an early move by the new owners was to introduce Rí-Rá, a basic lager which initially was only available by the case, via their website, in the region of the brewery. Perhaps they didn't realise that Tesco already provides such a service, but a few months later, home delivery was "paused" and Rí-Rá appeared in the general trade, where I picked it up. And it is indeed a basic lager, 4.5% ABV and a little on the sweet side, with hints of clove, pear and lychee. A lack of hop bite puts this more in the Helles category than pilsner, but it's by no means a classic of that. You ordered a lager; here's a lager: make do.

There's a new sequence of Acid Passion fruited sour beers, and I'm beginning with Passionista, with passionfruit, obviously enough. The visuals are very typical: a bright but opaque orange, the head instantly crackling away to nothing. It's 6.2% ABV, with added lactose, and I feared thickness and sickliness, but neither features, I'm happy to say. The aroma is passionfruit, of course, but not too loud, and with a pleasant mineral backing. Its flavour goes that way too: quite a serious tartness, a light but unmistakable passionfruit taste, and then a neat and quick finish. Despite the strength it's beautifully refreshing, and while one could accuse it of being rather two-dimensional, I'm happy with the overall product and hoping for more of the same from the sequels.

The next one looks the same and has very similar specs but uses two fruits -- papaya and guava -- so might be a bit more complex. They've called it Island Fusion. It certainly tastes a measure sweeter, dialling back the tartness and ramping up the syrupy tropical fruit salad. It's not difficult drinking, however: still refreshing and not thick or hot. I do miss the sharper sourness, though. Still, if you came to it looking for a mixed-tropical-flavoured sour beer then that's what you get from this, no more and no less.

More of the same from Acid Passion Pineapple Peach? I  guess they'd given up trying to find names for them at this stage. Hazy orange? Check. No head? Check. This is the dullest so far, lacking a strong sourness but also low-balling the fruit. I'm not sure I would be able to identify either the pineapple or the peach. It does the basics but no more than that: clean, light-bodied, vaguely tart and slightly fruity. Maybe drinking these in sequence wasn't a great way of doing them justice.

Anyway, what were the chances of something radically different from the fourth and final Acid Passion? This is Tropic Thunderberry and, well, for one thing it's pink, thanks to the inclusion of blueberry with mango. It certainly smells berry-like, though I'd have guessed something more normal, like raspberry or black cherry. Perhaps because of the fruit choice, I get more of a sense of the dreaded lactose in this one. It's in the others too, but this is the only one with a creamy, yoghurty texture and taste. That's not overdone, but is a feature. While again I missed the more intense sourness of Passionista, I appreciated the extra richness in this one. It's no jammy sugarbomb and expresses the 6.2% ABV rather better than the others.

On, then, to the IPAs. Each of these is named for a hop so is, one assumes, single-hopped with that variety.

The label of Belma Blast shows an orange and a strawberry, and it's the latter that's Belma's rightly-earned signature flavour. This hazy job definitely smells summery, though as much of meadows and fruit punch, as strawberries. The strawberry is right at the front in the flavour, though: it tastes pink, with elements of raspberry and red cherry too. There's barely a trace of bitterness, with the only minor citrus note being akin to lemon drops or candied orange peel. A gummy texture accentuates this, and fits in with the punchy 6.3% ABV. Overall, this is a joyous confection; a perfect antidote to the gritty, too-cool-to-be-fun sort of hazy IPA. And charging €3.50 a can, not €6+. Further, I contend that Belma is a criminally underused hop.

Had they the beatings of that? Proceeding alphabetically, next out of the fridge was Cashmere Crush, a smidge stronger at 6.5% ABV and looking identical. The aroma is faint, offering a vague mandarin zest, but nothing more. It's certainly drier than the foregoing, but offers a subtle and interesting mix of pear or lychee with a sprinkle of nutmeg or paprika. Throw in some coconut and marshmallow, for the full Mikado biscuit effect. Again, bitterness is not a feature, and while it doesn't have the loudly fruity multidimensionality of the Belma one, it's tasty and drinkable, with no off-flavours. On we go...

Ekuanot Eclipse is our penultimate. Are those blood oranges or red grapefruits on the label? No matter, here's another 6.5%-er, and hazy orange-yellow again. And here's the bitterness we've been waiting for, or so I guess from the pithy, zesty aroma. Ekuanot wasn't in my Rolodex under "Citrus", but that's what's presented. Let's continue. It's still big and soft and fluffy, just like the other two, and that appears to have turned the zest into a sweet cordial or smoothie effect. The slick texture makes it stick around on the palate, and as it does, the cordial gradually curdles and turns into more of a citric acid burn. It's... a move. I don't think it works as well as the ones which stayed sweet and smooth throughout. This one, stylistically, is in that weird mountain zone between east and west coast, which never works as well as going all-in on either.

The set of four ends with another at the same strength: Motueka Madness. It looks the same too, and smells similarly of citrus zest with hints of sweeter vanilla. Usually, Motueka doesn't mess about, being strong to the point of tasting medicinal. Here, it's been muzzled somewhat: Motueka without bitterness is a damp squib. The usual punchiness has been drowned out by a boarding-school dessert mix of blancmange and hot jam. I liked the way the others dealt with being non-bitter IPAs but this one doesn't quite pull it off properly. Yes, it's flavoursome, but the flavours point in the direction of a kick which never comes and it ends up seeming bland as a result.

To quibble about the lack of fireworks in any of these is, I think, to miss the point. With all being sold at less than €4 a can they represent very good value, and serve as low-cost introductions to the sour fruities and hazed IPAs which make up so much of beer's high end these days. I have no idea if the brewery is going to continue in this tack, but I would very much like if the market made room for such a proposition.