Whippy Twixtmas!

What an adventure in Whiplash beer we have today! This veritable avalanche of beer arrived in quick succession over the past month or so, behoving me to start getting cans open and notes written soon as. Here we go then.

To begin, a pale ale which quietly and subversively describes itself on the can as "breakfast beer". 'Tis the season and all that. Open Water is a pale ale of 4.2% ABV, brewed with the unlikely collaboration of Japanese metal band Crystal Lake. Unusually for Whiplash, the can doesn't tell us what varieties of hops and malts were used. I am, however, wondering if it's the second runnings of something, as it's the wan opaque yellow of a table beer and has a very thin mouthfeel. Still, it's been given the full hop treatment, and smells of raw hop pellets, greasy with vegetal lupulin. The flavour is rather mellower, with the intense citrus fading to more palatable lemonade, with a large dollop of vanilla: all very sweet at the beginning and right through the centre, delivering no more than a playful pinch of lime zest at the end. It's as easy-going as they say; unchallenging, but still characterful. My only real criticism is that, for a can of light and uncomplicated beer, €5 is a lot.

Lager time next, and I make Midnight Mischief Whiplash's second Märzen, after 2021's The Mash & the Fury. The colour is a gorgeous dark amber, although the head crackled away to nothing in a way no German brewer would stand for. It looks weighty and wholesome, and the aroma adds to this, suggesting woody maple syrup and the crispy bits of roasted meat: real primal winter stuff. The flavour has a bit more polish to it, though the poor heading is perhaps explained by a too-light carbonation. Concentrated malt with a smaller side of roasted crispness form the centre of the flavour, seasoned with a thin layer of greenly noble hops, adding a hint of wilted spinach or finely chopped cabbage to the overall performance. There's a slight echo of the horrible American-style Oktoberfest beers, but it's much better balanced than any of them I've tried. Yes it's sweet and quite heavy, as expected at 5.9% ABV, but it's pristinely clean as well, leaving no nasty residues of hops, malt or alcohol. Just a bit more fizz and it could be a mid-Atlantic-style classic.

The festive holly leaf on the can of Nice Mover suggests this is a Christmas release, though that isn't indicated anywhere else on it. This is a very pale and densely yellow IPA, looking like a lightweight but is a full 6.8% ABV. El Dorado, Azacca and Motueka are the hops, and the latter's herbal bitterness is the central feature of the beer's aroma. It's very soft textured, and despite the mucky appearance is clean-flavoured too. There isn't much bitterness, and instead it's the fruit-candy effect from both of the other two hops which predominates. After the initial Starburst, there's a slightly more serious coconut and a dash of vanilla. It slips back easily, finishing with no aftertaste to speak of, and no alcohol burn. That silky mouthfeel is probably its best feature. The flavour, while perfectly pleasant, is understated, and it risks an accusation of blandness. That still makes it among the better of the hazy IPAs around at the moment.

Shortly after that was released, something very similar arrived. In Circles is also 6.8% ABV and also brewed with Azacca, though here joined by Citra and Strata. It's a similarly opaque yellowish orange, with an aroma that really benefits from the Citra: zesty lemons building to oily lime rind. The other two hops are fruity ones, and they take over in the flavour, adding colourful summer berries and non-specific stonefruit, relegating the bitterness to a supporting role. That's enjoyable, although there are some of the more common features of hazy IPA here, the ones that were missing in Nice Mover. Boozy heat infuses the whole thing, and there's an unnecessary sweet vanilla note which curdles next to the Citra acidity. If the previous beer can be dinged for blandness, this one gets dinged for being samey. There's not really anything wrong with it, but I don't see the point of releasing such similar spec'd beers so close together. It's because they sell, isn't it? 

You've gotta have a hazy double IPA in any Whiplash selection, and that spot is filled today by no fewer than three of them. Soon Never Comes, first, is a bit stronger than they usually do these, at 8.5% ABV. It's an all-American hop combination of Cascade, Mosaic and Idaho 7 and it's a little more orange than yellow, but still full-on opaque and murky. The aroma is stereotypically vanilla-laden, with a worrying buzz of savoury garlic alongside. The flavour is calmer, and I don't think that's necessarily a good thing. It's reasonable to expect something in this style, at this strength, from this brewery, to have bags of character, but they've gone weirdly smooth and easy-going with this. There's a slight grittiness up front and then a gently tropical mango and pineapple sweet side. The thickness and heat are about the only typical features. This is by no means problematic, just (again) a little bit boring. We put up with a lot of retrograde features in our IPAs here in the age of haze. In exchange, they should at least engage our full attention.

For the Christmas season they released another one: Thick Stew, the name being a bit on the nose for a murky double IPA. It's all good-natured self-deprecation, however, as this isn't stew-like, nor even particularly thick. They've kept the ABV down to 8% and it feels lighter even than that. Eclipse and Amarillo feature on the hop bill, though I think it's the El Dorado which has the upper hand. That gives it a sweet orange cordial aroma and plenty of juice in the flavour. And while that's bright, fresh and clean, it's also a bit one-dimensional: no other complexities emerge, even when the beer is left to warm up. A pinch of bitterness would really help this guy out, but still I was content with what I'd been given. It's decent, unfancy stuff: sweet, but not overly so, and doing an amazing job of hiding the still-substantial amount of alcohol. I wondered what made it Christmassy, other than the tree on the label, and I guess it's the mandarin orange it gifts you with, even though you didn't ask for one.

The third DIPA is called Simple Maths, with an ABV of 8.2%, and we have Simcoe, Strata and Idaho 7 providing the entertainment. Even by the standard of the beers in this post it's murky: a sort of earwax beige and completely opaque. The aroma is earthy and gritty, with a dreggy hop-leaf acidity, which is not a good start. The earthy side is present to an extent in the flavour, but I'm glad to say it doesn't dominate. More prominently there's a fresh zestiness and some lighter honeydew melon or lychee. That's not to say it's easy going: this tastes and feels every inch of that ABV, and 44cl took me a while to chomp through, my belly's interior getting warmer with each swallow. Overall I enjoyed it, but I think it would benefit from being cleaned up, losing a chunk of the murk and grit to let the hops through: a tale as old as hazy IPA itself.

We finish on three imperial stouts that Whiplash has designated its "festive dog series". Dog one is Dingus, 11.4% ABV and brewed with maple syrup and cinnamon, sounding not dissimilar to Let.It.End, the French toast stout they did back in 2020. It's similarly thick and sweet, the powerful chocolate sauce effect also calling to mind annual classic Fatal Deviation. Drawing a mouthful is an effort, and the wash of flavours which rushes in includes pink marshmallow, raspberry ice cream sauce, burnt caramel, filter coffee, Nutella and just maybe a woody hint of maple. There's no cinnamon, though, and I suspect a subtle, or not-so-subtle, spicing has been buried under the sheer weight of residual sugar. This almost tastes more like an ingredient than a finished beer: it's so dense and concentrated I was wondering what it's meant to be diluted with. Milk, perhaps, or Baileys. Is it nice, though? I'm going to say yes, but it's hard work. Anyone with an aversion to ultrasweet beer should probably give it a swerve. And thus was the tone set for the remaining pooches.

Lightest of the trio is Dongus, and maybe it's because it's only 10.5% ABV, or maybe it's the lack of maple syrup, but it poured a lot less viscous than the previous one, forming a proper tan-coloured stout head, too. There is coffee in it, and that's immediately present in the aroma as a warm waft of steamy coffee shop on a cold day, with a sniff of hazelnut syrup on the side. The nut element is very pronounced in the flavour, its immediate foretaste giving me peanut shell, marzipan and walnut oil. There's a syrupy roast beyond this, but nothing that specifically says coffee: it's the sort of coffee taste that can be achieved with dark malts, hops and fermentation alone. Anyone looking to Dongus for a comedy novelty beer will be left unamused. I think I would have been happier with a bolder, more literal, coffee flavour, but this is still an excellent imperial stout: packing a punch but wearing its strength lightly.

Last of the set is Chongus, brewed with no added ingredients, so just a straight-up imperial stout of 10.8% ABV. It does seem almost as thick as Dingus, glooping sloppily into the glass, dense and tarry. It smells tarry and syrupy too, not of candied novelty, but very grown-up coffee and prunes. The flavour is sweet, in a similar way to Dingus but nowhere near as extreme. You get chocolate sauce, raisin bran, strong espresso and a sweeter note of raspberry jam or red liquorice. It's enjoyable as an after-dinner sipper, and very much free of novelty silliness. I preferred the strong coffee of the previous one, but this is still pretty good, delivering all the things you could want from a heavy imperial stout.

I'd love to say that Whiplash is a brewery with something for everyone, but this showing, which is quite representative of its output, indicates that you need to be into particular things to get your money's worth out of it. While I'm glad it's here, turning out international-grade beers, I'm also glad that it's part of a varied Irish beer ecosystem, where not everyone makes the same kind of things again and again. It only seems that way sometimes.

An epic

This post began as a quick check in with what Whiplash have been up to this last few months. It probably would have gone out in mid-December but that's when The Big Drop happened and I suddenly had a lot more Whiplash beers to write about.

Going back, however, their first beer, Scaldy Porter, had its annual re-issue in November, but beforehand there was a brand new porter called The Sup. I was expecting classical and certainly got it from the visuals: dark brown with ruby edging. Chocolate on the aroma? Yep, that's there too. As tends to be the case with beer, things get really interesting on tasting. For one thing the texture is sticky; this is no easy-drinking session porter, it's 5% ABV and thicc. With that comes a quite busy bitterness, like dark chocolate at first turning more severe and metallic towards the end. Whiplash is very much bound by their fashion-forward presentation, but like Scaldy this is old school; the sort of thing that other haze specialists and their customers do not bother with. That alone makes it worthwhile but it's also a very good beer: a satisfying wintery warmer. I was prepared to resent the 33cl can but I can see why they chose it. Sip don't Sup.

And then we're back into the hazy IPAs again. First up is Love Tempo, hopped with Amarillo and Vic Secret. It looks a bit darker than Whiplash haze usually is, orange rather than yellow. The aroma is fantastically juicy, mixing tropical mango and pineapple with sharper satsuma and lemon. It's lovely and smooth, gently carbonated, but still light and not sticky. I expected something bigger at 6.8% ABV, but enjoyed how unobtrusive it is. The relative lightness helps the hops play their part, and it's fully as juicy as initially indicated -- mandarins and apricots -- with a balancing herbal edge provided by the Vic Secret. And, as usual with Whiplash, there's none of the nasty side of murk: no grit, no garlic, no diesel. I remark upon it because it's still a surprise when it comes to beers like this. Anyway, this is a beaut: clean and complex, subtle and flavoursome, drinkable yet satisfying. Top work.

That left me almost apprehensive about following it with a double IPA. This is Spectral Frequency, once more yellow and hazy. Amarillo is joined by Centennial so we can all pretend it's still 2009. This smells decidedly bitter, y'know like IPAs used to be, with the iconic American grapefruit character front and centre. Sure enough, pithy grapefruit is the first part of the flavour, followed by candied lemon peel and lime zest. It's dessertish, but not in the creamy vanilla way that these often are; more like a posset or a meringue pie, with an edge of fresh citric tartness. Only at the very end is there a hint of a garlic burn but it's mild enough that it doesn't interrupt the fruit. And although it's 8.2% ABV there's very little sign of the booze. Only the full, almost chewy, body indicates that it's a strong beer. I liked it, but not as much as I liked Love Tempo, and a lot of that is about my personal preference for single IPAs over double. Whiplash is very good at both, regardless of what I think.

And that would have been it until the following plethora all landed at once and were the subject of a direct order from the brewery.

The first one I opened was I Feel Space, a grisette. I make this the third one they've done and the ABV has been bumped up slightly to 4.4%. Hallertau Blanc hops are carried over from the last one, and there's a new Australian variety too: Astra. I got major witbier vibes from the appearance: opaque yellow haze and a soft frothy head. The mouthfeel too really shows off that wheat, almost creamy in texture. The aroma is a strange mix of soft fruit -- white grape and gooseberry -- with a peppery Belgian spice. I feared the flavour would be too busy but it proved to be quite plain, conversely. It's dry and grainy, featuring the earthy side of farmhouse flavour, rather than spices. I liked how the fruity aroma introduced every mouthful, without sticking around for the main performance. It took a bit of getting used to, and the dryness in particular is on the severe side, but I was enjoying it by the end. Grisette was far from the only unusual (for Ireland) style that they had in store...

I mean, Vienna lager isn't exactly coming out of the walls. The new Whiplash one is called Das Model and is 4.8% ABV. It's a bright copper colour though the head is a bit sad, fading to flatness almost instantly. Still it's not lacking in fizz and there's plenty of biscuity aroma propelled out of the glass. "Melanoidin" says the can in capital letters and melanoidin it delivers. Yet this sweet side is only half the picture. I was dubious about the use of Bruce blend hops from New Zealand rather than anything traditionally European but it absolutely does the job, bringing a balancing dryness rather than bitterness or flavour. The end result is a tasty but understated beer, flavoursome without turning loud, and as balanced and refreshing as a nice cup of tea. Rock 'n' roll!

Next in sequence is a dunkel, called Dry The Rain. Again, head retention was an issue. You can make your recipe and process as authentic as you like, but if it doesn't end up looking like the real thing, what's the point? The result looks like a glass of cola: dark red-brown with a desultory comb-over of bubbles on top. The aroma is back on style, having a sweet and heavy mix of grass and molasses. At 5.2% ABV I think it's a little light, but that adds to the drinkability. This is not the sort of dunkel you need to chew through, and I'll admit to having found stronger ones hard work when in Munich. It has no lack of flavour impact but is very approachable. A bittersweet dark treacle effect is at the centre of the taste, flanked by burnt toast and a zinc-like tang. It delivers exactly what one expects from dunkel, with the exception of a generous head and any unwelcome stickiness. Thoroughly acceptable.

The lagers keep coming and the next one is a Märzen, called The Mash & The Fury. I don't know which German original they're trying to emulate here but it's very dark for the style, beyond the deeper shades of autumnal chestnut and into darkest mahogany. Maybe the double decoction has something to do with that, and perhaps mouthfeel is the target, because this is very heavy: a rib-sticking weightiness more like you'd get from a doppelbock and far in excess of what you'd expect at only 5.8% ABV. Still, it's not one of those cloying American-stlye Oktoberfest beers: it's clean and quite bitter, a lot like the aforementioned doppelbock. I get lots of herbal liquorice, some woody roast chestnut and a crisp layer of burnt caramel. It all makes for very satisfying winter drinking. A Maß might be hard work -- two certainly would -- but 44cl left me replete and glowing with dark lager goodness. I can't speak to its authenticity under the Märzen rule book but it was very delicious.

Last in the lager sequence is a smoked doppelbock called Immolator. This is all of 8.6% ABV, though a nicely clear shade of dark amber, or pale brown if you will. In a reverse of the previous it's remarkably easy-going, smooth and sparsely carbonated. Onto that they've successfully grafted both the sweet caramel typical of doppelbock and a fully complementary, equally smooth, smoky quality. As I've come to expect, the head isn't up to much, but that's a minor quibble. One might have a right to expect some noble-hop bitterness too, though for me the smoke is adequate recompense. I couldn't ask for much more from this. It's not quite as multidimensional as Schlenkerla's Eiche, but has plenty in common with their superb Urbock. That should be praise enough for any brewer.

Time for an IPA break before we move on to the really strong stuff. First out is Elektrobank, a Mosaic IPA of 6.8% ABV, and hazy, of course. It's nice to have some decent head retention again. The aroma of this one is a little oniony, but not unpleasantly so, with at least some sharp citrus as well. The flavour is much more tropical, I'm pleased to report, with a soft texture offering up oodles of mango and passionfruit, just as one would hope for from an all-Mosaic beer. Except for maybe a little extra sweetness which I can't assign to the hops, there's little sign of the alcohol, either in the flavour or the texture, and it slipped back very casually as a result. A single hop tends to mean a lack of complexity, and so it goes here, but I can't really complain. There's a pleasant bite of old-world pith, but mostly it's tropical all the way: Mosaic is promised and Mosaic is delivered in the best way possible.

We double up next to, er, 8.2% ABV and Open Eye Signal double IPA, this one with Citra and Amarillo. Dense-looking and sweet-smelling, it's actually a little bit lacking in the flavour department. There's a dash of orange cordial with a squirt of fresh lemon, all in the middle, but no proper finish. It's very strange because the beer is indeed dense and slick with it -- the hop oils should be coating my palate, but they don't. The only other feature is a growing alcohol heat, given free rein with nothing else to keep it in check. Whiplash's DIPA game is usually much stronger than this. At least it's a relatively clean beer: no grit or earthiness, but for a double IPA to be boring is a fatal flaw.

Technically we're back on the lager next: a barrel-aged version of the Baltic porter Melody Noir. It's over a year since the original version appeared here, and I was very happy with it. Would barrel ageing be an improvement? It raises the ABV from 7.2% to 9%, so perhaps that's one enhancement. There's a lot of sweet oak in the flavour, making me think at first that it must be bourbon, but there's a vinous side as well, because it is in fact Cognac-barrel aged. The barrel is a big part of the flavour, which is a bit of a pity: the original beer's chocolate and liquorice gets a little lost, especially the latter. The light body of a lager remains, but this makes the Cognac effect even more pronounced: a severe and syrupy sort of sweetness, not the richness of a dark malt-forward beer. I sipped my way through it but didn't really enjoy it. I guess I'm a bit of a Baltic porter purist. If brandy-barrel beer is your thing, however, this one delivers generously.

The sequence reaches a crescendo with Quad of Paradise, a quadrupel, as you might guess, brewed with grains of paradise. It's 11.1% ABV and a sheer obsidian-black, topped with a tan-coloured head. The aroma is coffee and dark fruits -- prunes and figs -- with the Belgian yeast esters working harder than the add-on ingredient. In fact, other than a quick peppery flash in the foretaste, there's very little sign of the grains of paradise in the flavour, and instead it's all about the bitter dark chocolate with a bitterer herbal side. The esters are well-behaved and it's not overwhelmingly sweet or fruity, and it's also surprisingly not hot, staying calm and drinkable. This is an excellent winter's evening sipper and substitutes well for an imperial stout, should you be in need of switching things up.

But wait, there's more. The brewery has begun a series of draught-only beers and I let the first, a red ale, pass me by. When it was followed by a mild, however, that got me out of my seat and into Dudley's, a new pub on Thomas Street. Only Swerving was served nitrogenated and extremely cold, resulting in very little character to begin with. At €6.80 a pint it wasn't really priced for casual chugging either. What gradually unfolded was a sort of dark berry tartness against a dry and crumbly high-cocoa chocolate. I like milds to have a bit of a coffee character but alas this is not one of those. The hops are understated but present, and very old-world: a somewhat metallic English tang. It's inoffensive -- mild, I suppose -- but I couldn't help feeling there's something missing: a central flavour, be that hop or malt derived, something to make it more interesting. I'm sure it would pass muster somewhere where mild is part of the everyday drinking scene, but here where it's a novelty style made by microbreweries, I don't really get the point.

Whiplash is more than a serial releaser of new beers. They have developed a positive habit of bringing back previous runs, whether because they sold well or they just like making them. There are a few here I'd like to see another round of, and Immolator in particular.