The Twelve Brewers of Christmas 1: Larkins

It's a couple of years since I've done this, but the beer fridge was sufficiently stocked this year to revive the tradition. Twelve blog posts, each featuring a different Irish brewer, and the autumn and winter releases thereof.

We began in Wicklow at Larkin's who have produced a set of pastry stouts, each with extra ensweetening features, and competitively priced at less than €4 a can.

I like a blueberry or two, especially when the beer actually tastes of it, so I started on Blueberry Bliss Bomb. Like all of this set it's 8% ABV and, er, black. I do get the blueberry concentrate on the aroma, as well as a powerful yet generic treacly sweetness. Subtlety is not the name of the game here. To taste, it's not massively sweet, lacking the milk chocolate and hazelnut I tend to expect in pastry stouts. There's a medium savoury bitterness, roasted to the point of burnt, before the dark syrup and caramel kick in. If it wasn't so big in all directions, you might even call it balanced. The blueberry is still there, thickly chocolate-coated and bursting with sugar, but also recognisable as fruit. It could have been worse. While it doesn't qualify as an any way dry or bitter stout, it's not as sweet as they can be made. I wasn't expecting much different from the rest.

And while Vanilla Vortex isn't a huge variation from it, it's not the same. The base doesn't have the burnt caramel of the previous one, leaving it clean of any acridness. This is altogether smoother fare, letting the lighter side of chocolate and toffee take the reins. Much like the blueberries as above, the headline ingredient isn't intrusive; I'm not even sure I would be able to tell this stout-with-vanilla from any other strong sweet stout, most of which tend to taste of vanilla anyway. Best of all, there's no sickly vanilla aroma, which I instinctively expect in beers like this and was poised to excoriate. Instead it smells of nothing very much, and that works for me.

I didn't think much about why the next one was called Emerald Cream Dream, and then when I went to open it, I spotted "Irish cream compound" on the ingredients. Yum. So it's a Baileys imperial stout, then? I'm surprised it hasn't been done before; though less so if it has been and I just blocked out the memory. Anyway, it pours nicely dense and dark, forming a big creamy head at first, though it fades indecently quickly. The aroma offers little more exciting than basic chocolate, and maybe some extra booze from the whiskey flavour. That woody spirit is more pronounced on tasting, though there's tonnes of chocolate too. While I'm happy the vanilla is on the low side, it does mean that I would never have guessed it's supposed to be cream liqueur flavoured. The finish is fairly short, but it does bring the whiskey back, which is fun. Overall it's quite enjoyable, once again avoiding the cloying excesses that might tempt other breweries when attempting something similar.

We finish the set with the cookie dough one, named Doughlicious Delight, which writes a pretty big cheque. It looks the same as the others. and there's nothing especially different about the sticky chocolate aroma. The flavour offers a very nicely balanced mix of vanilla and coffee, like a fine affogato. I confess I have never eaten cookie dough so I don't know if it's meant to taste like this. It's good though: not overly sweet; sticky, but not cloyingly so, and with very real chocolate and coffee flavours. It's no high level beer, but like all of these, it's tremendously enjoyable, especially for the price point.

They're a sticky bunch, and not exactly international-grade pastry stout. But for the price they offer a little taste of what's out there. I'm here for gateway pastry stout. There's one more big stout, from a different genre, to finish us off.

As the above shows, Larkin's usually has colourful names for its beers. This last one, however, is starkly titled Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. And that's what it is, given a full year in "single use" bourbon barrels, on what is presumably their second use. It's 10% ABV and looks it, pouring thickly, with a tall and dense head. The aroma is very alcoholic, the whiskey concentrated almost to the level of solvent. A harsh flavour follows, where the wood is dry, splintery and raw, and leading into an unpleasant bitter twang of putty and zinc. I'm usually all in favour of serious and grown-up stouts, but this goes too far in that direction. After half an hour or so in the glass it does soften a little, and there's a faint chocolate and whiskey-liqueur element. The harshness remains, however. I genuinely never thought I would be wishing for the blueberries and doughnuts, but this is in desperate need of a friendlier face.

Brewer 2 of the twelve arrives tomorrow.

Oldies but goodies?

I often go rummaging in the virtual bargain bin at Craft Central. There's a lot of freshness-required beers in there, which I avoid, but when something is strong and dark and looks good value I'll throw it into the basket.

Today's first beer comes from Polish brewer Stu Mostów, and is a black double IPA called American Uncle. It's certainly black, with an uneven ivory-white head on top. The aroma sparks with fresh lemon and grapefruit, very much like an old west coaster, even including a toffee sweetness. It's a weighty fellow, needing to be drawn past the teeth, with a texture of syrup and custard. The density makes it lose its sharp aspect, and instead it's creamy, with warm dark chocolate notes ahead of the candied citrus middle and dank finish. For 8% ABV it's very approachable: soft and smooth, with no pointy edges. I think I prefer a black IPA with more of an invigorating hop sharpness, but I found little to dislike in this cuddly soft number. 

So the extended ageing didn't do that one any harm. I expected something similar from Destination Unknown, a scotch ale from Siren, in collaboration with Fierce, at 9% ABV. The label tells us it's a hybrid of Shattered Dream with Cranach Killer, neither of which I've had. It's a murky red colour, and smells both sweet and sour, a lot like the Chinese sauce of the same name: vinegar, syrup, tomato and chilli peppers. The flavour is very sour and rather funky up front, like the bolder sort of Flanders red. There's none of the Highland toffee or red liquorice candy that one might expect from a beer like this. Instead I get balsamic vinegar, lime juice and redcurrant jelly. It's all a bit severe, and hasn't mellowed in the two months since the can passed its best-before. And I don't think it's my own fault for leaving it so long: I find if difficult to believe there was ever a rich and smooth beer in here.

Black IPA wins again. 

Spinning on the spot

A deep breath before we get into the selection popped out by DOT Brew in recent months, or at least the ones that have come my way.

They have continued their range of Aldi exclusives, and that's where I'll start, with the Spin Off Series Non-A Fruit Ale, precisely calculated to be non-intoxicating at 0.38% ABV. It's a pale pinkish-orange in the glass, owing to the raspberry and strawberry in the recipe. The body is light but not watery, held together by concentrated soft-drink sugars. Oddly, the fruit aspect isn't part of this, providing a completely separate tang, minerally and almost tart. For all the sweetness, the finish is quick, and it makes a good palate-cleanser as a result. Not a bad option for the designated drivers this party season.

Next up in strength is the 4.2% ABV Spin Off Series Kveik Pale Ale. It's been dry-hopped with two favourites, Strata and Vic Secret, and that gives it a beautifully juicy aroma and flavour, full of bright and fresh mandarin and mango, with minimal bitterness. There's also a sherbet effervescence and a very slight herb or pepper spice. I've never really noticed kveik having any particular flavours, but I think it might be adding a faint saison-ish quality to this. It's an easy-drinker, and a highly enjoyable one too.

I wonder how many bemused Aldi customers a product called Spin Off Series Cryo Pop IPA has created. That's what's next, at 5.3% ABV. It's a bright gold and unfashionably clear, looking almost naked for a DOT IPA, with hardly a shred of haze. With the fine white foam on top staying put, it looks more like a good pilsner. The aroma is bright and perfumey, with strong wafts of the tropics which slightly threatens to become fabric softener but thankfully stops short. Its carbonation is light, giving it just enough of a sparkle to carry its coconut, apricot, grapefruit and lychee. These are all laid on subtly, flashing briefly before a harsh lime rind bittering settles in. The fizz also helps it finish cleanly, with nothing unwelcome hanging around on the palate. This is more subtle and interesting than any supermarket beer needs to be. Well played.

There was an American Stout at 5.8% ABV in the trio of beers DOT launched with in 2016. I didn't like it; too herbal. I'm expecting something similar from Spin Off Series American Stout, even though it's a tiny bit weaker at 5.6% ABV. It looks well: properly black with a lasting head. The aroma is certainly botanical, though I'd say more floral than herbal. All is not yet lost. There's a definite element of black IPA in the flavour -- a mix of red cabbage, black pepper and concentrated coffee -- but it's calm and civilised, not punchy. The body it's set on is light and a little fizzy: something softer would have worked better. It still just about passes as a stout and, more importantly, tastes great. One would expect "American Stout", correctly made, to be like this, so another point of education for the Aldi shopper.

This latest set tops out with Spin Off Series Oak Red Ale at 5.8% ABV. This is brown rather than red, pouring like a cola with a stout head. It smells of caramel with a little hint of peppery oak spice around the edges. The flavour is centred on chocolate, to an almost porter-like level: not a complaint but not what I was expecting. The oak chips add little more than a mild seasoning, of toasted coconut and black peppercorns. You definitely wouldn't mistake this for barrel-aged, so subtle is the effect. The overall flavour is quite unobtrusive, and doesn't take advantage of the creamy texture to give it legs. Red ale drinkers are poorly served in the independent beer market, and I think they'll appreciate this one, even if it's not strongly flavoured, or possibly because it's not. I thought it was a bit bland, however.

Leaving Aldi, the next sequence begins at 3.5% ABV, where there's D6 Session, brewed for Redmond's off licence in Ranelagh. It does look a bit wan, a sickly, opaque pale yellow with lots of head forming then crackling away. That's because of a high carbonation level which you feel long before you taste anything. A gentle tropical fruit aspect comes in behind it, tasting more like an "exotic" ice pop than an actual piece of fruit. There's pineapple, mango, guava and all the usuals, only muted. It fades out after a few seconds, leaving a raw and leafy bitter aftermath. It's a tough beer to like. Maybe the flavour would be bolder without all that fizz.

May as well throw a witbier into the mix, so here's Wit a Twist, the twist being that it's dry-hopped with Idaho 7, though it's also surprisingly weak at just 4.6% ABV. It's the requisite hazy yellow colour, while the savoury coriander is joined in the aroma by a lemongrass effect, which I assume is a combination of American hop citrus and Belgian yeast spice. That sounds like it might create a clash, but while both elements are right there in the flavour, they're complementary, blended like the delicious, yet non-specific, waft from a Thai restaurant. The texture lets it down a little, it coming across as thin and sharp rather than pillowy with wheat. Still it's a tasty beer and lives up to the pun: it really does provide something quite off kilter compared to mainstream witbier.

Up a little, at 4.8% ABV, is a sour ale with the questionable name of Absence Makes The Tart Grow Fonder. Pale and hazy is the game again, while the aroma is minerally with a pinch of citrus zest. I deliberately didn't look at what it's flavoured with before tasting it. The foretaste is at once perfumed and citric, like bergamot, with apothecary herbal notes. That turns a little jammy on the finish; much sweeter, like lychee and pear. The sourness is what gets left out in all this. Everything else melds into a kind of fruit squash, and there's only a faint mineral tang to say sour. Verjus and lime is how it's done. I liked it as a novelty fruit drink but hoped the tart would be tarter.

In addition to the Spin Off Oak Red above, there's also their own Oak Red at a slightly lower ABV of 5.2%. It's a very dark garnet shade, almost black unless held to the light. The aroma is subtle but has some pleasantly warm winter spices: clove and cinnamon. The flavour is quite dry, beginning on cola nut and coffee grinds. It took me a moment to realise that this slight harshness is down to the oak: there's a rough bark-like quality to it, though it's not oppressive. After a moment or two a gentler strawberry and cherry side emerges, turning to a full-on sweet toffee by the end. The texture is nicely weighty, moreso than the strength implies, and the whole thing is pleasantly sippable, suggesting the big flavours of dark barrel-aged beers, but in a scaled-back and accessible way. It's surprising that, of the two Oak Reds, the lower-ABV one is the more flavourful.

Exclusive to Bradley's of Cork is Bang On, a hazy IPA with Mosaic and Centennial at 6% ABV. It's suitably pale for the style, only a shade or two more orange than the serious hazebois produce it. The carbonation seems a little faint on pouring, with a loose rocky head clinging to the glass on the way down. It smells freshly of pineapple and lychee. The flavour makes that sweeter, the foretaste offering the same two tropical fruit, but this time tinned in syrup. Then there's a savoury edge to this, a mild peppery spicing, which doesn't clash but isn't exactly complementary either. It may be yeasty dregs causing the effect, and if so I'm glad they're muted. Mind you, the whole thing isn't exactly bursting with flavour of any kind, tasting quite subdued for this sort of beer at this sort of strength. I think there's just enough tropical character to stay in my good books, though.

Lastly, Way West looks to be an attempt at making a very straight-up west-coast IPA, although it's a little light for that, again at only 6% ABV. It's lacking the traditional and unfashionable crystal malt too, being a mostly-clear golden shade. Still, the hops are the right sort -- Centennial and Amarillo -- and in the right place: tangy and bitter primarily, with flavours of grapefruit, grass and a twist of lime peel. An almost rasping mineral dryness accentuates the effect. For all its paleness, there's a decent body, and enough malt weight to propel the hops. This is more Sculpin than Torpedo, for anyone sticking a pin in their west coast map, so despite the shortage of caramel it does meet the spec rather well. A reminder than clean and clear IPA should always have a place at the table.

Done already? Where are the monster barrel-aged beers? As it happens DOT did release a set of big barley wines for winter but at time of writing they're still sitting in their boxes atop the fridge. I'll get to them when we're a bit deeper into the season.

From the beer aisle

I can never resist an unfamiliar supermarket beer, regardless of how unappealing the style, presentation or suspiciously-low price is. I'm not expecting much from today's pair, though they absolutely had to be bought.

SuperValu and Tesco are both stocking 660ml bottles of Poretti, which is a brewery in Lombardy, but this lager is brewed in England by Carlsberg. 4.8% is a respectable ABV, and it's a very respectable deep golden colour. The aroma is rich and rounded, suggesting chewy cereal bars and warm honey. That might have been a bit much had it come through to the flavour, so it's probably for the best that it turned out blander. Not badly so, however. There's a bite of dry-grass bitterness and a certain amount of the golden syrup taste I associate with quality Czech lager. Best of all, it's not thin or watery, and is actually quite impressively full given the strength. This is solid stuff, and I'm guessing that the bottle format is intended for the dining table, where I think it would fit right in.

The regular rotation of Belgian ales at Lidl has recently turned up a blonde ale called Archivist. It describes itself as an abbey beer, but no abbey is named, and neither is the brewery of production. I'm sure there's no shortage of outfits in Belgium which will do you a 6.6% ABV blonde ale, in bulk, to order

It's nicely dark, almost a rose-gold shade, and topped by a luxuriously fine head. A gentle aroma of cloves and roses is where we start. A related spiciness is at the centre of the flavour, nutmeg joining the clove, set on a spongey malt base for quite the Christmassy effect. It's subtly done, finishing crisply with no sticky residue. It's not at all bad for what it is, especially since choice in this style rarely goes past Leffe here.

Both of these rewarded my curiosity. I might not be rushing back to either, but they're worth checking out if you haven't already.

Oh crêpe

I'm told that Telenn Du is an extremely commonplace beer in Brittany. This particular bottle was suitcased over to me by the sister earlier this year.

"Bière au blé noir" is all the description the brewery is willing to give us -- "black wheat" being the local name for buckwheat. It's 4.5% ABV and a dark garnet colour in the glass. The pillowy off-white head and a creamy texture had me immediately thinking of stout as I drank it. That impression is helped by the prominent chocolate and coffee flavours in the foretaste, as well as the tangy hop bitterness. What sets it apart is a spicing which I'm guessing is yeast-derived, giving it a bit of a Belgian feel, with the white pepper of La Chouffe coming to mind in particular. A mushroomy umami effect arrives at the end.

Overall, it's rather good, giving most of the things you might want from a porter or stout. I'm sure they don't drink it by the pint in Brittany, but it would absolutely work.

On the pull

Last month, Smiddy's in Mullingar played host to its first Cask Beer Festival, from the organiser of its Wild Beer Festival. Trouble, Third Barrel, Land & Labour, Wide Street, Ballykilcavan, Brehon, Galway Hooker and Dead Centre all brought and borrowed some beer engines from which to serve a small but well-chosen selection of beers.

There was less cask-hacking going on than I expected, though Hooker was at it, bringing a dry-hopped version of their pale ale and a Stout with Spices and Orange Peel. I was sceptical but loved the result. The base beer provides a straightforward milk chocolate sweetness onto which the spices have added a large and loud ginger cookie effect. It's very Christmassy and tremendous fun. Beers like this can be cloying when they're strong, and unbalanced when they're weak, but things are much more balanced here, and the cask serve smooths it out nicely. It took me a while to find the orange, but there is a very slight fruit cordial element right on the finish. There is a time and place for beers like this, and a winter beer festival is exactly it.

Third Barrel was showcasing a brand new stout, called Afternoon Delight. This is 6.5% ABV and presented as "American" in style. Brewer Kevin said that, despite this, they've downplayed the hopping somewhat, so it doesn't taste like a black IPA. It does a bit, though, which isn't a criticism. I got flavours of Skittles, lemon sherbet and blackberries: all quite sweet, with only a mild roast finish providing dryness for balance. It's good, though, offering punchy flavours on a weighty body and making for very satisfying drinking.

Land & Labour launched a new blend of its Geimhreadh geuze-alike, this one dry-hopped with Tettnang. I didn't get much of a hop kick from it, just a slightly green vegetal rasp in the throat. Otherwise it's a spot-on imitation of a lambic, opening with mouthwatering lemon zest, finishing waxy and bitter, with a soft middle of ripe apricot. It's extremely drinkable, inhalable even, despite the significant 6.3% ABV. This is the third time I've found it at a festival in one form or another, and it's always a highlight.

Launching fresh was Land & Labour's Saison Salamino, also 6.3% ABV. As the name tells us, it's a saison with added Salamino grape pomace. It doesn't look great, being an unsettled and unsettling murky pink colour. There's a strong tannic note to begin, followed by a mild sourness and some farmyard funk on the finish. It's all quite subtle, with nothing bold or intrusive and no spice complexity. I'm guessing it hasn't been barrel aged, but if it has, it could do with a bit longer in there. It's decent overall but felt, and looked, a little bit green still. One to come back to, if there's any left.

One handpump over, Wide Street was pouring its new pale ale, Plush. This is a straightforward American-hopped pale ale, though at more of our sort of strength at 4.3% ABV. On cask, it gave me modern British brewing vibes. The flavour is fantastically zesty, really getting full value out of those Cascade and Centennial hops. While it's sharply bitter, the mouthfeel helps offset that by being smooth and almost creamy. The finish is incredibly long, the citrus kick continuing all the way through. It's simple -- citrus is your lot -- but wonderfully bold and invigorating. It's not what I come to Wide Street in search of, but I'll certainly take it.

I also picked up a couple of new-release Wide Street cans to take away. Roggen Alt isn't a style you see very often, but here's one. It's 4.5% ABV and a murky shade of red in the glass. The aroma shows off rye's inherent spiciness, set on a wholesome warm-bread background. The texture reflects the strength, being light and quite fizzy, even with the malt-heavy aroma. It's quite sweet too, beyond bread into cake, with overtones of treacle and strawberry jam. Despite the appearance it's very clean-tasting. The sweetness fades and it finishes on a dry, crisp, slightly toasted grain note. It's a subtle beer, but a good one -- easy-going but with plenty to explore.

The other was Saison D'Or, the prize-winning recipe of home brewer Paddy Gunn. The name is a misnomer: it's far from gold, being rather a distressing muddy brown. I wasn't sure how much of the expansive dregs I was supposed to pour from the can. Again, however, it tastes much cleaner than it looks. It's quite rich with it, roundly textured, and almost chewy, reflecting the 6.7% ABV. This is used to launch a flavour of sweet white grapes, blackberry and crisp apple. I like a bit of spice in a saison, and that's not on offer here beyond some gentle clove and cinnamon, but I get along well with the fruit. It's not hot or any way difficult to drink. Overall, I approve. This is a jolly decent strong saison and don't let the horrific appearance deceive you.

As with the first Mullingar Wild Beer Festival, this first outing for cask has provided a base to build on; a successful proof of concept. While there were enough new release and special edition beers on the go from which to get a blog post, this fussy drinker would have liked a bigger selection. A shortage of beer engines may have been a factor, but that's easily fixed.

Here for the Sesh

Yes, it has taken an embarrassingly long time for me to get round to writing about these, but if there's ever a time of year where self-consciously low ABV beer is a good idea, this is it.

These are the second and third beers from the Sesh Beer Co., run by Brian of Craic Beer Community fame and brewed in Dublin at Hope. Sesh Pilsner is 4% ABV, so verging on acceptable for the style, depending on where you stand. Výčepní? Sure. It's pale gold in the glass and a little hazy. The aroma is quite sweet, with a pillowy malt effect one might expect from a stronger lager. The flavour is also sweet, though floral from hops rather than malty. A gradual bitterness emerges past this, but fades before it can get to a full-on pilsner tang. Its body is not noticeably light, though it is definitely clean and with plenty of fizz. "Crisp & Refreshing" says the can, and that's delivered in full. Just don't expect much more besides.

The alcohol level drops further for Sesh Sour, 3.8% ABV and a murky and translucent shade of pinkish orange. I'll say up front that it's not very sour, showing no more than a mineral spicing in place of any proper bite. The texture is rather watery, beyond crisp and into wafer-thin. So you can call it thirst-quenching but only on a technicality. There's a fruit element too, in the form of fresh raspberries, and I can't help but think that concentrate might have been better. What's here seems to have all but fermented away, so while it does have something of the character of real raspberries, it's heavily diluted. I don't mind the thin fizz of this, but I would definitely have liked a more assertive sourness, and a more pronounced fruit side would have improved it.

Regardless of my nit-picking, both of these meet their remit of being sessionable, for anyone with an attention span longer than mine, at least.