Under the radar

Since I got out of the habit of going to pubs I've missed that Galway Bay has been quite busy with new releases, not all of which I've managed to get hold of. I need to pay more attention to their taplists.

Ostara, for instance, appeared around St Patrick's Day but it was mid-June before I landed myself a pint at The Black Sheep. The brewery descibes this as a "Dublin stout", whatever that means. There aren't many Dublin stouts at 5% ABV these days, but I'm not complaining. On nitro the aroma doesn't have much to say, but on tasting it's very chocolate, putting me much more in mind of a certain Cork stout than any Dublin one. There's more of a bitterness later on, partly hops and partly roast, but it doesn't last long and we're back to cocoa for the finish. It's decent, accessible, perfectly mainstream, and a better beer than their Buried At Sea, I reckon. A little louder on the hop bittering would be good though; I think the highish ABV warrants it.

On a tap nearby there was new double IPA Lizard People at 8.5% ABV and brewed with Amarillo, Simcoe and Idaho 7. That delivers a lovely bright and juicy mandarin aroma and foretaste. It turns a little bitterer after that: a twist of orange peel in the mix, but still refreshing and with no sign of that big alcohol. That's helped by a light texture, and the cold draught serve, of course. As it warms it gets a little heavier and pithier, but nothing extreme. This is a lovely clean and drinkable chappie, maybe not delivering the awesome extreme experience that double IPA drinkers used to crave, but I like to think they've grown up now, just as the style has.

And because why not release two double IPAs in quick succession, there's also Caveat, in cans for the home drinkers. This is 8.4% ABV and brewed in collaboration with French brewery Prizm. It pours hazy, and a deep cordial orange colour. The aroma matches that, suggesting something thick and sweet and orangey. The mouthfeel is as weighty as I expected, but it doesn't use the heavy base to push hop flavour, despite the hops being non-lightweight varieties Strata, Mosaic, Amarillo and Summit. Instead there's lots of hard alcohol, gritty fuzz, and only a pithy fruit side. It's a bit of a workout to drink, in marked contrast to the previous one. Maybe the recent trend in easy-going double IPAs has made me soft, but I have a definite preference for the more easy-going type.

The Black Sheep does have a handful of guest taps as well, though not as many as in the Before Times. If they're going to make us drink their own beers at least they're giving us a bit of variety and turnover.

The variation enigma

Rye River looks to have completed the retiring of its McGargles brand. It was hackneyed when they introduced it in 2013 so I'm not sorry to see it go. The new branding is clean and classy and the beers are mostly the same as ever, which is good. Matching the new names to the old is pretty straightforward, though there also appears to be one brand new addition: Backwaters American Wheat. At 6.2% ABV this is stronger than both the former Bill's Wheat IPA and its sort-of successor (different hops) Coastal IPA, as well as the American-style wheat beer they make under the Crafty Brewing label for Lidl.

Backwaters certainly looks darker than both of them, the rich gold of a süffig Märzen or similar central European lager. The aroma is all crunchy fruit candy at first, before bringing a more serious note of bitter grapefruit. The body definitely reflects the ABV, being as full and chewy as many a stronger beer. They haven't called it an IPA but they absolutely could have: it resembles the classic American variety more than it feels like a wheat beer. Maybe it's the low bitterness that stopped them. The Cascade and Strata hops seem to primarily serve to bring more of the Skittles effect, while the main parallel feature is the thick caramel malt. It's crying out for a sharp and cleansing bite in the finish, but that never comes. Ah well.

It's a decent beer, and fully in keeping with the Rye River core range. It fills a poorly-populated mainstream niche of sweet fruit-forward ales of substantial strength. One was plenty, but I will come back to it. Still, the clean crispness of Coastal remains my preference. Thankfully that's still readily available too.

A new lease on life

Hopfully has begun the next phase of its existence, becoming once more a standalone brewery having taken over the former Metalman Brewery in Waterford. They had been brewing there for a while already so it's probably not going to make much difference to their output, but it's noteworthy nonetheless. Today I have five new releases from them.

First is Pilz, a style they haven't dabbled in before. They say it's a "modern" pils, although single hopping with Hallertau Mittelfrüh seems pretty traditional to me. It's 5% ABV, a pale and somewhat hazy yellow colour, and declared gluten-free (<20ppm). It's rather plain fare, though delivers the pils basics, being dry and grain-crisp. The hopping has given it pleasant lemon overtones and there's plenty of palate-scrubbing carbonation. For a first attempt at cold-fermented beer, it's pretty impressive. It doesn't go anywhere particularly interesting or surprising, but perhaps that's the point.

A pale ale is next, called Kickback, and it's also gluten-free. This one is an appley golden colour and completely clear, smelling deliciously of fresh pine and dankness, thanks to Simcoe, Centennial and Cascade hops. The flavour goes the same way, with a weighty resinousness meeting zesty lime plus assorted herbs and flowers. There's a lot going on for something at only 4.3% ABV, and the resins give it a pleasingly long finish. It's an interesting mix of the fun and serious sides of hopping and I really enjoyed it, at least in part because my expectations were low, but that's on me. This is a tasty and complex pale ale and not at all a compromised diet-beer. Big American hops, loud and proud, in a neat little low-strength package.

These were quickly followed by a New England style IPA that Hopfully created as a special for top Dublin offy Craft Central. It Ain't Easy is 6.5% ABV and utilises a power combination of Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe and Mosaic, and very successfully, I might add. Nelson's almost chemical oily mineral bitterness is there in the aroma and foretaste, balanced in the flavour with all the soft tropicals of Mosaic at its best. Then there's a similar Simcoe dankness to the one found in Kickback, but much more subtle and less severe. There's just enough softness and vanilla notes to pass as a New England IPA, but only just. This uses its hops in a much more traditional way, to bring the punchy grassy citric bitterness. There's nothing juicy about the finishing Nelson burn.

To restore balance to the universe, a west coast IPA. Mindblown is west-coast in the modern sense, in that it's quite hazy. The aroma has that intense dankness that shades into cheese, though there's a fresher and spritzer lemon side as well. Simcoe, Citra and Centennial are the responsible parties. I'd nearly suspect some Mosaic too, as there's an immediate seed-like dryness in the foretaste which I often get from Mosaic. And while this is predominantly dry, there's an east coast softness as well. The ingredients list tells me oats were involved and that's something I would regard as a signature of New England IPA, yet here it is, doing its thing. I would go so far as to say that what we have here is a crypto-NEIPA, sharply bittered but unconvincingly disguised. Anyone looking for that bracing clean sharpness of west coast IPA will be disappointed, but they're probably used to that by now.

Finally for the moment, another Craft Central special, a sour beer with blackberry, blueberry and raspberry named, modestly, Portrait of Perfection. The very deep purple colour and tight pink froth put me in mind of those cloying concoctions from Omnipollo but the similarity ended there. This is nicely light bodied allowing it to be refreshing as sour beer should be. Oddly it's blackberry, not raspberry, which is dominant in the flavour. Both the raspberry and blueberry are present, and add a complexity. This recipe has been thought through, and the flavours are balanced and complementary. And although it's not sour sour, there's a pleasing pinch of tartness that stops the berries from seeming syrupy. Beers of this nature are commonplace and rarely exciting; this one does things better than most.

Despite the name, Hopfully has never really been a hops-first operation. The pale ale and IPAs here, however, shows that they absolutely could be if they wanted.

The Augsburg Confusion

It was nice to see Bavarian brewer Riegele show up in bottled form in Molloys. The selection of German beer available in this city isn't brilliant, but if you're picking a new brand to offer, this is a good choice. There were a couple I've enjoyed before, plus two new ones.

The first is not merely a Helles but a Feines Urhell: the original and best, so to speak. It's 4.7% ABV which, following my most recent excursion to Bavaria, I have come to accept as a normal strength for Helles. There's lots of white foam over a slightly wan looking pale gold body. Nothing surprising so far. The flavour is where it goes completely up the left. This is extremely perfumed, like actual perfume: an intensely sweet floral nectar effect with hints of bubblegum. I can only assume it's down to some combination of noble hops but it's not even close to anything I recognise. Huh. Luckily, its basic lager nature comes to the rescue and the strangeness doesn't last long. It has a proper white-bread softness and finishes cleanly, but still with a perfumey aftertaste. Once I was used to what was happening, it was fine; actively enjoyable. Be prepared for something unusual from this quiet Bavarian, however.

I've no idea what's up with the name of Commerzienrat -- "chamber of commerce"? -- but it looks much more like a proper Helles, being a rich golden and is the full 5.2% ABV. The body is fuller still and it has that floral bubblegum thing, just less of it, and it's much more complementary with the malt. There's even a mouthwatering hint of citrus bitterness. Really, though, this beer is more about the feels that the taste. It's rich and rounded and filling while still having nothing to put the brakes on your drinking. I downed a half litre and was completely ready for another one immediately. Mission accomplished, I suspect. It's highly enjoyable, but not in the way I'm used to. I'll take it regardless.

For all of its adherence to precise strictures of style, Bavarian brewing still has the power to surprise, not least the folks doing it at Riegele.

Bluebell Freezes Over

Out in west Dublin, Whiplash is the brewery with the esoteric song references in its beer names, the high-end arty labels, the bespoke brewhouse and the sparkling international reputation. There's also Third Barrel who make nice beer for the likes of me.

A pair today, referencing a Fibber's jukebox favourite from my pissing-off-metallers phase. First of the set is called Some Dance To Remember.

Now. I did a Twitter poll a while back on the beer style "extra pale ale". It turned out most people but me knew this means pale ale but paler: the bright yellow of witbier or unfiltered lager. But this is an extra pale ale, and it's every bit as orange as the regular sort, so have another think about that, most people but me. Nelson and Strata will be your hops today, and there's the flinty diesel in the aroma, with something a little softer and more tropical behind it. I expected more drama than I got from what is quite an easy-going, yet not bland, 4.8% ABV pale ale. The different aspects are there: the minerals, the pith and the pulp, but they elide seamlessly together. The result can't really be picked apart, but it's very tasty. Like Monday's Day Drinkin, this deserves to be an on-tap regular core beer, rather than the weak half of a one-night-only double act.

Some Dance To Forget is a triple IPA and this time it's Mosaic and Idaho 7 for hops. The body is a dense and dark orange colour, with an aroma of non-specific ripe and funky tropical fruit. On tasting that comes into focus as tinned peaches, lychee, pineapple and a big ole whack of booze. It's the clean blue-flame heat that good 10% ABV TIPAs (of which this is one) do uniquely well. There's a certain dry bitterness in the finish, chalky and mineral rather than spritzy, which helps offset the sweet side and ensure this powerhouse doesn't turn cloying. Overall, it's a happy sort of bruiser, getting great value out of both the tropical hops and the high gravity to create something that's fun to sip and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Perhaps the same can be said of the work of Messrs Felder, Frey, Henley etc. Relax, enjoy, and don't think about it too hard.

Hop whirl summer

It's pale ale round-up time again. Let's see what the nation's hop slingers and haze merchants had for us in the first half of Summer '22.

We'll begin at Third Barrel and an ickle 4%-er called, in responsible fashion, Day Drinkin. Simcoe is the hop and it's very much in tropical mode, starting with mango and pineapple in the aroma, turning a little bitterer and more resinous on tasting, but not by much. Although the texture is as light as one might expect, it's not watery, showing a soft fluffiness commensurate with its haze, and a pleasingly long pithy finish. As such, this is a real best-of-both-worlds job, bringing the full flavour you get from decent New England IPA while still being genuinely sessionable. I've no idea if they intend to keep this in the range but I think it could have a place there.

Kinnegar keeps the session going with another one at that strength: Brewers At Play 24: Summer Ale. There's a lighter touch on the murk here, though it's not completely clear. The aroma doesn't have much to say; a slightly savoury crispness, like bread crusts. The flavour is more interesting. Instead of piling in the hops like Third Barrel they've added citrus peel which gives it a real-tasting orangey zestiness. That's pretty much all it does, however. I reckon they're using its easy-going summer drinkability as a rationale for not making it very complex, however I think there's still room to pull interesting moves at this strength. Regardless, if simple unfussy refreshment is the goal, they have achieved it. Drink it cold, however: that underlying breadiness does the fruit no favours as it warms.

Meanwhile, Ireland's sunniest pale ale is back for another summer. Two Yards, collaboratively brewed at Third Barrel for 57 the Headline and Brickyard, looks like it's been given a recipe tweak, with Citra and Simcoe proclaimed on the can, though the hotside hopping is Strata and Centennial. Despite those dank and bitter aroma hops it still smells fabulously tropical. You get a little pinch of limey citrus on tasting but lots of juice too. The only spoiler is the dry and chalky murk grit which seems to be an unfortunate consequence of the soft New England texture. It's still pretty good though, and fully meets the remit of being an easy-drinking 4.3% ABV pale ale with bags of flavour.

The "session IPA" category gets stretched to its alcohol limit with the new one from Lough Gill. Hazy Seisiún is a sizeable 4.8% ABV, which might make for some very hazy sessions indeed. In the glass it's the pale yellow of lemon squash with a head that crackles away to nothing in seconds. Not great on the visuals, then. The aroma is brightly tropical, suggesting that Mosaic is the hop in charge, over also-ran Citra. The texture is sessionably light without seeming thin, with a cleansing fizz helping boost its thirst-quenching abilities. The flavour stays quite tropical, though with an extra lemon edge from the Citra, finishing with a slight pinch of resinous acidity. Despite the appearance it's very clean and shows off the hops well. It's uncomplicated, unfussy and extremely drinkable: the very picture of proper session IPA, excepting that ABV.

The milkshake IPA trend, in danger of seeming retro these days, is still in full swing at Rascals. Their latest is called Havana Ball, a collaboration with Nottingham's Neon Raptor and designed to resemble a piña colada. It certainly does in appearance: that somewhat bilious yellowy orange, with a faint combover of white bubbles. Coconut, pineapple, mango and vanilla feature in the ingredients and that's exactly what you get in the aroma, every bit as Hawaiian-shirted as the can design implies. A more serious bitterness opens the flavour but is quickly silenced by the cocktail side. It's sweet and creamy, the latter feature impressively created without the addition of lactose (me hole). The coconut is most prominent, making it taste a little like suncream, while the tropical fruit is present but doesn't overcome the bitterness, meaning it's not as sunny-tasting as I'd like. I think this one is for fans of milkshake IPA only. It's perfectly stylistically accurate -- you get what's promised -- but it won't convince anyone of the milkshake IPA's merits all by itself.

We have a new beer brand in Outer Place, based in Kildare but launching with an IPA brewed just across the Dublin border at Lineman: Intergalactic. Oddly, for a beer of this name, it doesn't use Galaxy hops, but Citra and Ekuanot instead. It looks quite like orange juice in the glass, and smells like it too: an enticing sweetness, promising refreshment despite the blousey 6.2% ABV. That strength is well demonstrated in the texture: there's a properly satisfying heft to it. The flavour is much less juicy, mixing tangy citrus, a harder wax bitterness and a savoury fried-onion note. While perfectly pleasant, it's rather more serious than the colourful can and colourful aroma led me to expect. Still, this is a rock-solid IPA; well designed and executed; hazy yet clean-tasting. A good start for any new brand. 

Wicklow Wolf has always been good for classically American takes on IPA, and I expected something along those lines from their latest west coast IPA, West Side Story. In the almost inescapable modern fashion it's quite hazy, a barely-translucent sunset yellow. The ABV is up at 6.6% which suits, as does the aroma, laden with lemon spritz and pine sap: no juice here. The centre of the flavour is citrus, and bergmot in particular, plus lime rind and more lemon zest. It's a sharp one, though softened a little by the fuzz, as well as some chewier dank resin. I was sceptical at first, but this is a proper west-coast-style IPA, despite appearances. The handful of drinkers who still think IPA should be bitter, step this way.

What Comes Next? asks Lough Gill and Bullhouse in chorus. They do so via the medium of a New England IPA hopped with Amarillo, Strata and Comet. Like their session IPA above, it's quite a sickly-looking number, with a greenish tint to the yellow, and appearing a bit watery, despite its 6.8% ABV. And while it's not, it's nowhere near as full bodied as one might expect for this sort of thing. The aroma is flamboyantly tropical, with a spritz of citrus too. It's odd, then, that that the flavour is quite savoury. I get green onion and caraway first, then a little lemon before it finishes on dry grit. I feel cheated out of the mango and pineapple I could smell. From a promising start, this becomes just another of those wonky hazy jobs. Oh well. What comes next?

Here's a surprise: Whiplash's new double IPA is clear! Then again, The First Rebirth is badged as "west coast" so I would be complaining again were it not. It's 8% and brewed with an old-school combination of Cascade, Chinook and Columbus. From that I expected a big whack of bitterness and a sizeable heat, but it's altogether softer. Yes, the big malt is there; no crystal but enough Golden Promise for it to be slightly unctuous. The foretaste is a kind of grapefruit and lemon candy: sweet on the outside, bitter in the middle. Unsubtle, but so was every American double IPA during the IBU wars. Complexity is hard come by here, but there's a little weedy dank, and a little pine. We're back on the lemon oils for the finish, however. This is a pretty good impression of the first wave of double IPAs. Irish drinkers who remember the arrival of Of Foam and Fury and Beoir#1 may get a bit of a Proustian rush.

Staying at 8% ABV, Post Card has its first double IPA out now: Pigeon House. They say it's New England style, but in the fashion of Irish breweries doing this five or six years ago, it's amber coloured and only barely hazed. Citra features on the hop bill and that gives it a lime bitterness in the foretaste. It's only when that settles to sweeter vanilla on a smooth body that we come within shouting distance of Vermont. The bitterness won't quit, however, and with each sip there's a new punch, getting harsher and more annoying as it goes. Then the alcohol burn kicks in and doesn't improve things any either. I tried hard to find an angle from which this works, but it's too sharp, too hot, cloyingly gummy and, oh, savoury as well. It's like they threw everything at double IPA and all of it stuck. I hope it finds an audience but it's not me.

Sticking an extra .1% on that, we have Many Coloured Days from O Brother. It's an opaque orange colour with an impressively long-lasting head for something of this nature. The alcohol gets busy right from the aroma, expressing as a heavy, funky, grassy silage effect. A thick and greasy texture goes along with that: this is a sipper, no alternative is on offer. Strata and Idaho 7 are the hops and they bring a flavour that's every bit as serious as the rest of this. Savoury resin with a brush of garlic is the first impression, with poppyseed and rye bread deeper in. A spark of pith is as fruity as it gets. This isn't how I like this sort of beer. It lacks fun, sunshine and accessibility. It seems rather grey and joyless, and is certainly quite hard work to drink. Not what I thought I would get, given the name.

It seems to me me that the best hopwork being done in these parts is at the low-strength level. Maybe that's a seasonal thing: when the temperature goes up, the session-strength beers press my refreshment buttons just right.

The style council

Today's trio have little in common with each other, only that they're in styles we rarely see from Irish brewers.

First it's a cream ale. This adjunct-laden retro American beer type had a brief revival a few years ago before disappearing again. I can't say it was one that ever impressed me much, not even the archetype. Dublin client brewer Fat Walrus have made it their own with the addition of peach purée and an eye-catching label, to create PEACHfork. It certainly looks like a fruit beer, being an opaque deep orange colour. The aroma suggests ice lollies, jam and other places one might find peaches in concentrated form. They're definitely not realistic peaches, and the same goes for the flavour: candy, sorbet -- that sort of thing, tacked on to an almost neutral, vaguely sweet ale base. So this is another cream ale that I don't really see the point of. The fruit gunk would work as well, and probably better, in a pale ale or sour something. Cream ale? Bah!

Mexican-style lager is one of those styles I'm never sure is in fashion or not. I was agog when the beererati I met in Oregon in 2016 were fans of it. Why would anyone want to copy that? But it hasn't gone away, and one of Ireland's American-helmed beer ventures (Hi Jonathan!) has done one, in dark mode. This is The Pepper Canister from Post Card, claiming extra Mexican points by substituting the corn syrup with agave. Yum yum. It's a muddy dark brown in colour and is beset with floaty gobbets of something unwholesome. Not very sunny to look at. There's an unexpected, but pleasant, buzz of porterish roast in the aroma, and the flavour carries that too, but makes it crisp; the lagering (I guess) bringing a kind of Schwarzbier effect. It's reasonably simple but very nice, and big-bodied for just 4.5% ABV, with lots of chewy brown breadcrust. I don't know that I get anything especially Mexican from it, but then I'm not attuned to the niceties of the style. What you do get is a very decent, if slightly rough, medium-dark lager with no flaws or off flavours despite the butt-ugly appearance. I'll take it.

We finish with another darkish lager: Brewmaster Dunkel Bock from Dundalk Bay. I had a tough time tracking this down, it wasn't in any of the usual places I'd expect to find the brewery's beers, but thankfully Yards & Crafts got me sorted. It's mildly dunkel, being a calming sunset amber, but significantly bock at 6.8% ABV. Bitter and peppery noble hops make up the aroma and do nothing to prepare one for a seriously malt-forward flavour. Fruitcake, milk chocolate, toffee, cola -- several different types of sweetness all at once, with minimal bitterness split between that aroma and a tinny finish. I didn't think I would like it, but the assertiveness of it all has a certain clumsy charm, and is completely cleanly flavoured. It's perhaps better suited to winter than summer, but if that's the worst I can say, it must be doing something right.

So none of the three was what I would regard as typical for cream ale, Mexican-style dark lager or dunkel bock. Maybe that's to be expected when local brewers try their hands at styles which Aren't From Around Here. I appreciate the experimentation regardless, and hope they all learned something useful from it.