Sunny side up

I picked this saison up in Brussels and lazily assumed it to be Belgian. And while it is a collaboration with Hedonis Ambachtsbier in East Flanders, it was brewed in Estonia by Tanker. Rye of Sun is the name, 7% the ABV, and chamomile the unexpected ingredient.

The optics were not good, from the start. It poured a muddy, soupy brown colour; a plumbing horror, with floaty gobbets I fished out with a teaspoon before putting my face near it. The label describes it as mixed fermentation, so I wasn't surprised to find the aroma quite sour, with a distinct tang of malt vinegar about it. Behind this, there's a promise of something more interesting but I couldn't put my finger on what.

The picture comes into focus on tasting. The primary flavour here is a delicious mix of dried fruit and spices with a crisp and sweet biscuit foundation. Speculoos springs to mind, as do Fig Rolls, and Christmas cake too. Cinnamon is quite distinct, plus the dried fig as well as some plump and juicy sultanas. The tangy sourness is barely perceptible, bringing just a mild burn to the back of the throat on swallowing.

If this incredible flavour was genuinely achieved with just malt, yeast and chamomile, as the label says, it is very impressive. Technicals aside, it's a delicious beer, though far from what one might expect from either a rye ale or a saison. Approach it with an open mind.

Summer of Sierra

Several times a year a whole tranche of new Sierra Nevada beers arrives unannounced. I can't hope to keep up, but here's a couple of recent new ones.

Helles in the Tropics is a lager of course. My bottle was seven months old by the time it hit my glass, but I don't think even that excuses the poor optics. It looks horribly thin and watery, barely yellow and unable to form a head for more than a few seconds. Any self-respecting Bavarian would send it straight back before taking a sip. I'm neither of those things, so when I drank it I found a beer at first plain and dull, then with a weird artificial perfume kick. And not a classy perfume: it's a cheap and grannyish sort of lavender spritz. The worst of it is the texture. There's no süffig. Where's the süffig, Sierra Nevada? While it's not horribly thin, there's none of the lovely bready cakey fullness that makes Helles worth your while. Without being a bad beer per se, this is a disgrace. Don't just throw the H-word around, brewers.

An IPA to follow, safer territory for this brewery. Hop Solo showcases Crystal, a deeply unfashionable hop, which is therefore a great idea. Maybe it's the name but I detect crystal malt in here too: the mid-amber colouring and a whiff of sweetness in the foretaste. Though only 5.5% ABV there's a nice chewiness to it, again down to whatever malt combination they've used. The hops aren't aggressive, but give it a clean and herbal bite: minty primarily, with back notes of cinnamon and clove. It's unconventional for an IPA here in 2019 but it's very nice to drink. The soft texture is everything the Helles should have been but wasn't.

The Beer Camp series of one-off collaboration beers benefited from a second intervention of Irish brewers at number 256. The team from Grand Cru dropped a gentle hint to the USA with a fruit-infused IPA called An Irish Impeachment. I went along for the launch night at Eatyard.

They've used tea in this as well, which gives it a pleasant sweet yet dry effect like, well, peach tea. The fruit syrup is a little sticky but the tannins do a good job of counteracting this. Yes it's gimmicky, but it works and is genuinely nice to drink. The only part of the description to be argued is "IPA": there's nothing particularly hop-forward about it at all.

A dark one to finish on: Life & Limb is a collaboration with Dogfish Head, first brewed ten years ago but not for the last eight. This was my first time finding it on draught in Ireland. "American strong ale" is the style designation. What I got was 10.2% ABV and almost completely black. There's a stout-like roast at the front, quickly balanced by caramel and fudge. There's also a lighter cereal grain side to it, and it's gently perfumed with meadowy violet. This is dangerously easy to drink, slipping back easily and hiding the alcohol very well. All luxury and no rough edges.

I've been called out before for saying Sierra Nevada does hoppy well and and should stick to it. Occasional luxurious dark ales aside, I stand by that generalisation still.

We'll leave it there

I'm off on my holliers shortly but before I go, here's a round-up of assorted Irish new-release beers. My last local beers for a while.

We begin with a fresh double IPA from YellowBelly: Immoral Support. I had thought this was a special for their annual barbecue (which I missed) so was pleasantly surprised to find it on tap in UnderDog. It's a 9.2% ABV monster but is not as hot and sticky as might be expected. There's a definite barley-sugar sweetness, although it's clean and doesn't clog up the palate. That leaves lots of room for hop fun. Unfortunately, there isn't much hop fun to be found. A mild mango and guava tropicality flashes briefly at the front, followed by an old-world pithy taste, and finishing back on the west coast on a pine bitterness. But you really have to let the liquid linger on the tongue to get the full effect. In a hurry, you could be forgiven for describing this as bland. I'll go with "inoffensive", and very subtle for such a big beer. Faint praise? Whatever.

It's been a long time since there was a new Irishtown beer, but here's their Dublin IPA which I picked up in Tesco. No provenance is given but I guess they're still brewing at Hope. It's a middle-of-the-road 4.4% ABV and a copper orange colour. Although it claims tropical hops like Mosaic and El Dorado, it tastes heavily of Cascade to me. The aroma has that earthy resinous quality while the flavour is sharply piney, balanced by a significant amount of caramel malt. There was a time when I might have been miffed about how basic this is, but here in the milkshake era, it's delightfully retro, channelling the pale ales by Sierra Nevada and Galway Hooker, back when they were exciting.

Just ahead of Hagstravaganza, version four of Púca arrived. Púca Apricot retains the standard 3.5% ABV and, like last year's lime one, goes all in on the fruit addition. This is at the expense of the mixed-fermentation sourness, burying it under a real, but distinctly sweet, apricot jam flavour. It's still light and thirst-quenching but there was a lack of zing, and for me that's the whole point of a beer like this. If you really like apricots you'll get a kick out of it; otherwise original Púca remains the best of the range.

The July release in this year's YellowBelly Beer Club is perhaps a little unseasonal. They've gone with an imperial black IPA called Bushido: a colossus at 10.5% ABV. It's certainly black, a dense and even obsidian with no telltale red or brown edges. The accompanying leaflet mentions torrified wheat for head retention, and there's certainly no shortage of foam on top when pouring, though that fades gradually to a more respectful off-white lid. The aroma is a candyshop of chocolate, fudge and fruit jellies, El Dorado bringing the tropics to an unusual place. The flavour is remarkably unbitter for this sort of thing, with a minty herbal kick in the finish being as severe as it gets. Before that there's a lovely mix of floral Turkish Delight, Swiss milk chocolate and strong coffee. A sensation of warmth contributes to the latter effect, and that's of course from the booze. It's not jarringly hot, though: the rich and smooth texture really makes the alcohol feel like it belongs. Even in 26° heat, this was a beaut. Balance this well done conquers all.

Better suited to the warm weather was yet another new lager from Galway Bay. Field Music is described as a "rustic pilser" which had me expecting something a bit rough and hazy. It's even brewed with hay. What I got was a pint of purest clear gold topped with a fine white foam that laced the glass all the way down. The aroma is grassy and that translates to a bitter vegetal bite right in the middle of the palate. Around it the beer is remarkably soft and sweet, reminding me more of Czech pale lager than the stark and angular north-German look this is going for. That said, the bitterness is never far away, making for a sublime mouthwatering pils, light enough to quaff for refreshment but decently complex too. This is the best of the recent series of GBB lagers. I look forward to them improving further on it.

Requiem, the next Galway Bay beer out, was quite a contrast. Black IPA has been tragically unhip for a while now but here's a new one. At 7% ABV it's not as big as the brewery's thumping double version, Solemn Black, but it does share a lot in common with it. There's an intense bitterness, all green cabbage, tar and liquorice, which twists into almost sourness with a lactic tang in the finish. Through the texture is quite thick, there's a busy and pointy carbonation, accentuating its overall sharpness. The fade-out is dry and burnt, like charcoal. Though billed as a black IPA, a lot of these characteristics are ones I associate with old-fashioned stouts. It may be helpful to think of it as one of those. I got a tiny hint of grapefruit emerging as it warmed, but that's as fruit-forward as it gets; don't come to it for the IPA experience. With Wrasslers now relegated to a seasonal beer, this should help plug the gap until it returns.

After five years, St Mel's makes the move to cans with a celebratory "opalescent" IPA called Lushtrum. "Opalescent" means hazy orange, it seems. There's quite a sweet aroma, a little surprising, perhaps, given the big-hitting American hop bill including Simcoe and Citra. It's bitterer on tasting, at least at first, the earthy Cascade at the front. Juicy jaffa orange finishes it off and I'm chalking that up to the Amarillo. Lush it ain't. I found it quite harsh in both the bitterness and sweetness; unbalanced two ways at once. This is some tough drinking, all the way to the end, and will shock anyone coming to it thinking thoughts of New England.

I was worried I'd missed Larkin's Tribune when it appeared, briefly, on draught a couple of months ago. Thankfully cans soon followed. It's an American-style IPA of 5.5% ABV, pouring an opaque orange colour, like orangeade. There's no mention of New England on the label copy, but it's in that zone, from both the appearance and the softly effervescent texture. For hops we are given Cascade, Lemondrop, Mosaic and Azacca: quite a fruit-forward mix, and that adds further to the orangeade effect, bringing both juice and pith I get a slight garlicky buzz as well, but entirely in keeping with the rest of the taste. It's very nicely done, extremely well balanced between the juicy-sweet and citrus-bitter sides; light and refreshing while also multifaceted. If this sticks around, Trouble Brewing's Ambush will have some competition.

Staying on an orange vibe, we have Matty Baby, the latest in Wicklow Wolf's Crossbreed Series. It's a double IPA and brewed in collaboration with Boundary. This is light for the style, just 7.5% ABV, and I think that stands to it. There's nothing extreme about it: the texture and flavour are mild and balanced, making for a more rounded drinking experience. There's a very old-fashioned west coast vibe in the aroma: spritzy satsuma smoothed out by toffeeish crystal malt and seasoned with peppery cedar. The use of lactose is more modern but doesn't make it taste weird. The flavour is tang, pith, and then a gentle caramel warmth. In a world of hyperactive in-your-face IPAs, it's nice to meet a calm and measured one. This is very relaxed drinking and goes great with some vintage cheddar.

Wicklow Wolf's other regular series is the Endangered Species one-offs, and the latest there is Fuzzy Logic, a New England-style IPA. Fuzzy indeed: the 440ml can had no problem filling a pint glass, the beer topped with a thick layer of loose fluffy froth. Beneath that it's a slightly worrying orange-grey colour. The aroma has a hint of spring onion about it, with perhaps some lime citrus buried deeper. That dualism is reflected in the flavour too, where it opens on a savoury note of garlic plus a diesel heat before quickly softening to mandarin and nectarine. There's a bit of a dreggy burn on the finish providing the other slice for this sensory sandwich. While it certainly has flaws, ones entirely common to the style, it's saved by the flavours all being quite muted, with nothing so loud as to offend the palate. It's possible to concentrate on that luscious fruit middle and ignore the rest.

Catching up with some new ones from White Gypsy, I begin with their Vienna Lager. It was a bit gushy when I opened it, the large head crackling away to nothing quite quickly. It's a murky red-brown colour and smells more like a porter than a lager: a heady mix of chocolate, caramel and liquorice. It's more lager-like to taste, clean and malt-driven, with melanoidin biscuit notes and lots of spinachy noble hop. It is lacking in crispness, though. I'd like more of a sparkle. As-is, it resembles a rustic brewpubby beer rather than a polished lager. It took me a while to get my head around the different features but I was enjoying it by the end.

I recently reviewed White Gypsy's Barbarossa red. They have another one on the market now, called Simply Red. This is in addition to the flagship Ruby. It's a brewery sure of its market that has three Irish reds available simultaneously. This one is stronger than most at 5.5% ABV and uses a hop I'm unfamiliar with: Callista, from Germany. There is a definite hop character here: a herbal, almost minty, kick. That's on a heavy and rounded mix of toffee, butterscotch and a hint of burnt caramel on the end. It's definitely a red from a brewery used to making them. The flavours are well integrated and the body big enough to carry them. Personally, I would prefer a little more crispness, a little more roast, and a deal less diacetyl. But other than that, here is Irish red done very well.

New from Hopfully, in collaboration with their host brewery Lough Gill, is Bean Around, described as a "flat white hazelnut stout". I expected it to be a bit of a confection, especially given the 7.2% ABV, but the aroma, to begin with, is very dry and roasted: all coffee grounds and burnt toast. The sweetness is present but delicate: a gentle milky, creamy effect with a whisper of vanilla and milk chocolate. This softens the coffee roast and makes it taste more like, well, a flat white. I can see the hazelnut once I know it's there, but it does a good job of melding into the overall taste, rather than clanging in the syrupy way I was cynically expecting. The alcohol is no doubt helping accentuate the flavours, while not contributing any heat. Yes it's a novelty beer, but one very well put together. Hopfully may be the primary brewer, but Lough Gill's acumen for stout flavours shines through distinctively here.

Third Barrel's latest is a session IPA called Turn On, Tune In, Hop Out. It's a foamy beast, taking a few goes to get 440ml of beer into a 500ml glass. That presented me with a hazy dark orange beer, its aroma is sickly, like hot custard and fruit salad: smelling like a lot of work for just 4.3% ABV. The flavour is more pleasingly juicy, with tangy tangerine up front and a bite of caraway in the tail. I'm surprised how different the taste and smell are. There's a lovely balance between the soft texture -- shades of New England there -- and the sharper citrus pinch. That's good complexity for some this low strength, and if you don't mind that touch of caraway it's pleasingly devoid of off-flavours. This won't set anyone's world on fire but it's very pleasant session drinking.

Under their sister brand Stone Barrel they've released an IPA with a bit more welly: Hop Art at 6% ABV. This is beige in colour with a strongly sweet vanilla aroma. Things switch dramatically in the foretaste which doesn't do the usual hazy IPA things and instead offers a strange herbal and/or floral flavour. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it reminded me of -- fresh rosemary was as close as I got -- but definitely in that bittersweet and oily end of the botanical world. With this comes a hot resinous burn, the hop oils scorching the tongue somewhat. Smoother vanilla follows as it fades, and there's a mild buzz of garlic too. It reminds me a lot of the last Stone Barrel beer I reviewed, their micro IPA Slammer. Consider it a full-strength version of that. Overall I liked this, despite the weirdness.

Finally, Kildare Brewing dropped me a couple of cans of their new one, Electric Juice IPA. "Juicy beer full of juicyness" begins the product description, but I think they've overstated the juiciness. It's sweet, for sure, and I'd swear there was lactose in it, though the ingredients list tells me it's all done with oats. That said, it's not as heavy as many like this and there's a lightness to the texture that speaks to its origins as a pub beer before they thought to can it. There is a fruit side to the flavour, though more citrus and sherbet than anything much tropical. I get a slight pinch of savoury sesame and a clean, dry soda finish. It's not the same as what the cool kids of hazy IPA are brewing, but it's a well-made and accessible take on it.

And that's it until the Great Game of Catch-Up when I get back. The next two weeks of content will be generated by a neural net based on the previous 1800 posts. You won't notice the difference.

Rack on

The Eight Degrees eighth anniversary series reached half way with number four: Purple Ball. It's a brut IPA dry-hopped with Hallertau Blanc; 6.3% ABV. These tend to be quite pale but this is a cheery shade of amber. There a malt sweetness in the aroma which, again, is out of keeping but very welcome. The texture is big and thick, though doesn't support much flavour. There's a dry bitterness which rises slowly, sprinkled with jaffa orange and a sandalwood spicing. Despite the strength it's very refreshing and easy-drinking, if a little lacking in complexity. The label says it resembles the Franciacorta wines of Italy, and while I don't think I've ever drank one, I doubt this is true. Overall, however, I enjoyed it. Brut purists may say it's not properly dry, but I'll take balance over purity every time.

Orange Ball is orange and is brewed with oranges, as well as passionfruit and guava. At 3.9% ABV it's designed to be easy summer drinking. The aroma is nicely tropical, with a hint of sweet Lilt about it. The texture is as thin as might be expected, with a sharp carbonic bite. This was supposed to be offset by the use of oats, but it isn't. The fruit flavours get a good outing, and it tastes properly juicy even if it doesn't feel it. The sorbet effect of the passionfruit is especially prominent, lasting long into the finish. Tea-like tannins and some hop bittering help balance the sweetness. Texture issues aside, I think this achieves what it sets out to do, and it's quite similar to the other tropical fruit flavoured pale ales on the market. If you're an Elvis Juice sort of person, this is a beer for you.

Just three to go now. I'm expecting something really special when we get to black, but before that let's see what green and maroon bring.

Here a DOT, there a DOT

It doesn't feel like there's been a rush of DOT beers recently (Big Grill Festival notwithstanding; I wasn't there) but I seem to have amassed a collection of tasting notes; enough to put a dedicated blog post together.

Around the time of UnderDog's second birthday last month we got DOT's Beer 100 which is described as an "eis-stout", the first beer I've encountered labelled as such. Freeze distilling what was probably already a plenty-big imperial stout brought it to 16% ABV. Collaborators Proper Chocolate added an ingredient which made it very chocolatey indeed. Amazingly there's no sign of all that alcohol so it ends up tasting like a liqueur without the heat. You need to really like chocolate to enjoy this, and not be bothered by the absence of beer flavours. It's good fun, though, and I'd say the chocolate folk got a kick out of it.

Pouring alongside it was Mr Paddy D, a blend of double IPAs aged in bourbon and Irish whiskey barrels, and created in honour of one of UnderDog's proprietors -- I don't know which one. It's 9.2% ABV and a dark orange colour. Coconut was the predominant flavour I found in it; the toasted variety, specifically. There's a very bourbonish vanilla sweetness too. Though the alcohol is apparent, it's quite lightly textured, creating a kind of bourbon-and-Coke effect. My notes say a Vermont yeast was used to create it, but I doubt there's anything of New England left here after the three months in oak. This was one to be savoured as a barrel-aged rarity, not as an IPA.

It wasn't around long, but if you missed it you might still chance on its fraternal twin, Walk In The Woods. This is constructed from the same base beers but blended in different proportions. I didn't get to try them side-by-side, but I still think they have a lot in common -- presumably there are only so many places a whiskey-aged double IPA can go. For the record, lots of limey bourbon and a salted caramel tang, with increasing banana esters as it warms. Again stupidly easy drinking for 9.2% ABV.

DOT's Portrait Project for Martin's off licence reaches number IV, a white-wine-barrel-aged saison. It's a clear pale amber colour and smells stickily of oak vanilla. Though it's only 5.9% ABV I felt from the outset I was in for something heavy and serious. It is serious, but not heavy. The oak becomes no more than a spicing in the flavour. There's some substance from the white grapes, a jammy sweetness with overtones of mead. And at no point does it lose its basic sense of saison: there's an underlying dry earthy quality to balance whatever sugars the fruit throws in. It's maybe too intense a flavour experience for more than 33cl in a single sitting -- I think it might get a bit cloying after that. Can't argue with what it delivers though: wine barrels coming through loud and clear.

On DOT's other strand there's a new canned IPA called Detour. It's a murky orange colour, spiked with oats and rye, and hopped with Idaho 7, Amarillo, Hüll Melon and Galaxy. That's a fruity combination and it gives the beer a lovely mix of peaches, grapes, apples and plums: the dessert section in the baby food aisle. I imagine. Unfortunately, mixed in with this, there's all the dreggy murk one fears from hazy IPA: a throat-scorching savoury burn, fading to a lasting plasticky note. "Clean it up" says the broken record which masquerades as my critical acumen. It's OK overall, but there's a great beer in here, begging for a bit of a polish.

 Once again, DOT's barrel efforts eclipse the fresh IPAs. Expect more from both programmes in due course.

Anglo-Belgo a-go-go

Two beers gifted from English friends today, both from their native country though in Belgian styles.

Myles gave me this bottle of Durham's Bede's Chalice tripel, presenting it with a warning to open carefully. I did, but it behaved impeccably, pouring clear and having a calm and respectful amount of froth. With an ABV of 9% and coriander and orange peel listed in the ingredients this should have been a riot of luxury Belgian flavours but it turned out quite restrained in this too. There's a slight marmalade tang and a brush of meadowy flowers but the taste is dominated by an off, but not severe, phenolic note. The booze gives it a heavy, syrupy texture which should be a base for fruity Belgian fun but that never materialises. It's not terrible but it definitely lacks character and is certainly a long way from any classic Belgian tripel.

Meanwhile down in Norfolk, the Poppyland brewery is run by Martyn Cornell's brother Dave, and Martyn kindly brought bottles to give away on his recent Poland trip, where I met him. Alexanders is a foraged herb saison of 5.4% ABV. It's amber coloured: darker than your typical saison. The aroma is classically saisonish, however, being all white pepper and a waft of soft stonefruit. It's quite savoury to taste, a herbal mix of sage, rosemary and similar Sunday-lunch accoutrements. A look at the ingredients tells me the effect is achieved with coriander and the titular alexanders, aka horse parsley. The herb side does gel well with saison's earthy spices, so we never lose sight of the well-made classic saison at the base. Circumstances meant I drank this much warmer than it deserved, but I can see how it would refresh nicely if properly cool. This is nothing fancy or weird, but well-made and interesting.

There's nothing here to worry the Belgians, though it's good to see English breweries producing beers outside of the national tradition or generic craft styles.

Hag stragglers

Following on from Monday's Hagstravaganza round-up, the beers which were at the festival but I didn't bother with on the day, for one reason or another.

In the case of The White Hag's own Glás, that was because it's a milkshake IPA. Yuck. But then it showed up in UnderDog earlier this week and I gave in. It's 6% ABV and a hazy orange-yellow colour. It smells extremely sickly, like the cheaper and nastier sort of milkshake from my 1980s childhood. The texture is thick, each pull being hard actual work. And the flavour... ugh. I don't know what they made it from other than lactose, but the fruit flavour is highly artificial, giving it the taste of children's medicine. There's something resembling real fruit in it: a buzz of peach or apricot juice, but it's peripheral to the clanging, cloying milky sugar bullshit. I didn't expect to get such a cliché of everything wrong with the concept of "milkshake IPA" but here it is. If this is what you wanted beer to be in 2019, fill your boots.

I also deliberately didn't have either of the new O Brother beers, figuring they would find their way to my usual haunts in Dublin sooner or later. Sure enough, within a week both were pouring at UnderDog.

8 Track Mind is an IPA in the New England mould. 6.1% ABV and the de rigeur shade of opaque yellow. Garlic and onion flavours are a regular issue in beers of this style and this one has them both in spades, to the exclusion of almost everything else. It's a sharp and burning acidity, and it comes with a side of yeasty dregs. Then it all tails off quickly in a dull savoury finish. No fruit, not even a dusting of sweet vanilla. This isn't an awful beer, and is within the boundaries of the style, but I found it hard to see the good in it. Again, I guess some people like this sort of thing.

We double down with Curated Reality, a triple IPA. "Custard Reality" might be a better name: it's thick, yellow and quite sweet. There's a white wine effect in the foretaste; a mix of juicy grape and lots of clean alcohol. There's some cool and crunchy green apple too, in that crisp sauvignon blanc sort of way. The finish is a little sickly, bringing a taste of concentrated peach syrup. While the strength is obvious, and an integral part of the overall thing, it's not heavy or hot and doesn't threaten a headache the way pale beers of this strength often do. The style is another one I'm not really a fan of in general: pumping up the booze and hops level doesn't seem to add any extra dimensions to IPA flavour complexity, and there are no fireworks or moments of revelation to be found in this. It's fine though: they've avoided all manner of things that could have gone wrong.

Maybe I'm out of step with modern IPA trends but none of these really impressed me, or gave me something I'd never had before. I guess when a brewery turns out as many different beers as O Brother and White Hag do, some are going to be by-the-numbers.