Herd impunity

Tap takeovers? Remember them? BrewDog Dublin held them pretty regularly on Thursday evenings, back in the Before Times. I made a special effort to schlep out to Capital Dock when Western Herd was on the roster. It's one of those quality Irish brewers whose beers are seldom seen in these parts.

I started with a proper pint of Turlough, a straight porter of 4% ABV. It wasn't until I took the first mouthful that I realised how rare these are on the ever-unfolding beer landscape. No nitro, no outré additions, just porter. I can't remember the last time I drank something like it. It's dry and quite fizzy, leaning to the roast side but not severely. The finish, unsurprisingly, is exceedingly crisp, putting me more in mind of a schwarzbier than anything else. There's a complexity in the middle too; a floral flash of rosewater and a buzz of bitter liquorice. It's possibly just a bit too gassy to be properly sessionable, unless you work a pint or so in advance. It's good, though: old fashioned, wholesome and different in a familiar way.

The main event, as far as I was concerned, was a black IPA rejoicing in the name Citra Tuxedo. Even through the hefty layer of foam, the aroma promised an extreme experience, with lime, grapefruit and hot hot tar all lining up. Lummee. Sure enough the bitterness hits home, hard, early on. It's more pine than fruit -- sharp and resinous. The texture is heavier than I expected for just 5.4% ABV, and that spreads the hop napalm thickly over the palate, becoming a waxy bitterness in the long finish. The dark elements are less obvious, just a mild espresso note. I don't think I would mistake it for a pale beer, tasting blind, but that's more because it lacks IPA's fruit or dankness, not because of any perceptible chocolate or the like. This is a little one-dimensional and goes very extreme on the bitterness. I liked the jolt, though worried about my ability to taste the beer beside it.

Said beer is a whiskey barrel version of Blue Jumper, an IPA that last came my way in 2016 and impressed me, as above, with its uncompromising bitterness. Could four months in a JJ Corry barrel mellow it? It looks mellow: a deep and hazy orange. There's a booze whack in the aroma; an oaky resin, but with some bourbonish lime too. It's not severe on tasting though, retaining its essential US-style IPA characteristics -- the crystal malt in particular -- and while the hops are present, they're very nicely softened with vanilla and a gently herbal dry vermouth effect. Is it odd that the barrel has added this complexity to the flavour without in any way boosting the ABV? Yes. Yes it is. Almost suspiciously so. Anyway, this is a tasty and smooth sipper, and one of the few barrel aged IPAs I've liked. Four months is plenty, it seems.

What and where we'll be drinking in four months from now is the question.

Three and more

Some new beers from the components of the Third Barrel collective today, beginning with Third Circle and West Coast, a self-explanatory IPA. It definitely looks the part, pouring a clear deep golden shade. The ABV is 6%, which is a little on the low side but perfectly acceptable. The next item on the tick list is bitterness and that isn't really delivered, at least up front. Instead there's a thick marmalade quality: sweetly orangey, with minimal shred. That fades after a moment, leaving just the anticipated bitterness. It's not citric, however: more earthy or waxy, like it was achieved with European hops. This is a simple and straightforward beer, and I liked that about it. There's still plenty of character, and just enough punch. Long live the west coast revival!

A revival of a different sort next. Barrel Aged Cowbell follows from the Needs More Cowbell tonka bean milk stout that Third Circle released late last year. The ABV has gone up from 6.5% to 7.2%, but really there's not much other difference. Tonka still absolutely dominates, with its mince-pie and fig-roll fruity spicing. Maybe there's a touch of spirit -- possibly even whiskey -- lurking at the back, but that could easily be wishful tasting on my part. It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not: this was a good beer to begin with, and it's still a good beer now. Just don't be expecting any oaky buzz from it.

Stone Barrel's first contribution today is a 6% ABV chocolate pecan porter called Life of Pie. At least I assume there are real pecans in here: there's a warning of nuts but none listed on the ingredients. It's densely black looking and smells like Real Proper Porter: espresso and dark chocolate, but with a lacing of caramel wafer too. That caramel is the front of the flavour, the dark sugar giving way to a real oily-sweet pecan effect. Other things going on include cola, banana and just enough well-done toasty dryness. This may have silly pastry novelty written all over the can but it's still a very well-constructed dark beer to its core. Can't argue with dem nutz.

An attempt at a magic trick next: Get Shorty is meant to have the qualities of an imperial stout but at just 4% ABV. It certainly looks the part: a dense obsidian black with a thick tan-coloured head. The aroma is properly stouty, big on roast, chocolate and cereal, but without the comforting boozy warmth, so marks off there. It's very bitter, which I appreciate in a stout, though it's not really because of hops. Rather it's the roast: a strong stewed coffee feel, with a waxy tang on the end. A layer of smooth caramel is the only sweeter, softening element. Overall, I found it a bit harsh and unbalanced, though it never quite tips over into being unpleasant. Imperial stout, though? No, this is an old-fashioned porter, which is fair enough Give it a go if you like 'em liquoricey.

The new wave of Irish black IPAs included Third Barrel's Plastic Paddy. Dark brown rather than black, its aroma is as green and lovely as the lanes of Killashandra: a mix of wet grass, crisp cabbage and spicy rocket. The texture is smooth and stout-like. I figured it was on the strong side but was surprised to find the ABV as much as 7%. The name is a reference to its use of American hop varieties Simcoe and Columbus, and it's the heavy vegetal dankness of Simcoe that I get primarily. This hop is sometimes too severe for my milquetoast palate but here the big malt substance softens and balances it without taking away its essential wallop. Behind the pugilistic hopping there's a shot of espresso and a mild citrus acidity; the finish matches the opening, however: those boiled greens turning almost metallic on the fade-out. It took me a while to get used to it all but by the end I was enjoying the sheer raucousness of it.

One brewery, five sequential beers, and not a single hazy IPA among them. How long will they keep that up? (spoiler: not long)

Grand, Finnish

Well now here's an oddity: a Finnish lager showing up randomly in Lidl. If it was part of a bigger promotional range, the rest of them never arrived or sold out quickly. Pyynikin in Tampere is the brewery and it's called Mosaic Lager.

There's a definite haze to the 4.7%-er, rendering it a dull brassy colour. The aroma is freshly spritzy, smelling like lemon zest in particular. That continues in the flavour, lending it an almost radler-like taste, the effect accentuated by a soft texture and gentle effervescence in place of fizz. Mosaic's peach and melon complexities are missing, but so too is its nasty savoury side. The end result is simple, refreshing and eminently sessionable as a result.

Summer was a very long time ago, but keep this in mind for the next one, should it reappear.

No counting for taste

I liked the original Brew By Numbers naming convention: two digits for the style then another two for the iteration. You knew where you were, especially if you were methodically ticking through them, not that I was. I don't know where I stand with this new system. 01 is still saison, but have I had this pair before? I am old and confused.

Anyway, 01|Motueka & Lime looks much like the 01|01 I drank back in 2015: a sunny, hazy yellow. The aroma is enticing, offering a spritzy zest, less severe than one might expect from lime. Motueka is a pretty full-on hop too, but here it is also restrained. The lime makes its presence felt in the flavour: quite concentrated, like a cordial. It takes a moment for the dry, peppery base saison to come through after this, eventually scouring the oily fruit off the palate. The two sides work well together and the brewery's extensive experimental experience is very apparent. It's complex yet refreshing; unfussy but with a subtle novelty factor.

The other oh-one is 01|Mosaic, 5% ABV, like the above. It definitely smells like Mosaic, in the best possible way: a luscious mix of ripe mango with guava and apricot. So the flavour goes too, and again the saison element brings a funky/floral quality, resulting in something like the waft from a Lush shop: fancy bath stuff all the way. Nevertheless, I like how this maintains the integrity of Mosaic as a fruity flavoursome hop, despite everything else going on. Again it's the balance and poise born of experience, I guess. I definitely prefer this to the previous one. It is purer, cleaner, yet also more casual and fun. All of which is down to the beauty of Mosaic when used by a brewer who knows what they're doing.

Our finisher is a stout: 08|Fruit & Nut, where the ingredients list helps us out with... "nuts, fruits". Oh. There's no point listing ingredients if it's still a guessing game. It's 6.6% ABV and pours a handsome black with a tall topping of off-white foam. From the first taste I would guess it's stronger: there's a thickness and a depth of flavour of the sort normally found in stouts well beyond the 7% mark. This is also true for the wine-like aroma. The flavour shows classic stout characteristics: coffee, burnt toast, dark chocolate, and not much else. It's properly bitter, and if your pastry palate was looking for the titular novelty ingredients, it was likely looking in vain. This is a decent, middle-of-the-road medium-strong stout. It's a little bit rough, however, which lets it down. The brewery can't polish a stout quite as finely as it can a saison.

Conclusions? Nothing beats a classic style, done well, with a classic hop.

IP eh?

The "IPA" designation gets stretched past breaking point with this pair from Larkin's.

First up is Elements double IPA, less than a year since fellow Kilcoole brewery O Brother used the name; is there a statute of limitations? This is a modest one at 7.5% ABV but there's no compromise in the flavour: big sweet and juicy mango, clean and clear. Simple, perhaps, but I'll take that any day of the week over onions and vanilla and everything else that goes wrong in modern double IPA. Speaking of which, this is custardy-looking, and there's a tiny burn of yeast dregs hovering to the rear, though nothing to interfere with the fun tropicals. Weird as it is to say it, but it seems that bringing the ABV down from 8% really helps the drinkability. Maybe hop-forward beer is just nicer if it's not boozed up for the sake of appearances. More hazy double IPAs at this strength, please.

That came side-by-side with a Hopfully collaboration called Cherry Bomb, described as a cherry sour IPA, which is a combination I hadn't seen before. Let's unpack that. Well, it's pink, verging on purple, looking rich and dense. Cherry colour leads on to a strong and very real cherry flavour: the flesh, the skin; the sourness is of a level that you would find in an actual cherry, with just a tiny note of sweeter sherbet bringing the only artificial aspect. As regards IPA, it in no way tastes like an IPA and I don't know why they decided to pretend it does. It's a decent kriek, though. The medium-sweet sort of the Belgian variety is what it has most in common with, and that's a good thing. Fruity, tangy, and just sour enough. What's not to like?

Two very different, and pleasant drinking experiences here. Is it time to start ignoring those three letters when brewers use them?

Arthur in Africa

The Nigerian version of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is a beer I had been looking for, casually, for some time. When I'm in Britain I check cornershops and minimarkets in search of it. The quest finally ended in an oriental supermarket in The Hague.

This edition differs from Irish Foreign Extra by being based on sorghum rather than barley. The crop is indigenous to Nigeria and brewers are encouraged by the government to make use of it. The story goes, and I'm open to correction on this, the pale sorghum beer is brewed and then added to a Guinness essence produced in Dublin, containing the roasted barley and sour cultures that give the beer its colour and Guinnessy flavour profile. With that in mind I wasn't expecting anything radically different to what I'm used to.

And while it's not radical, it is definitely different. The sticky, treacle character of the Irish version is replaced by a dried flowers effect: pot pourri, with a little woody cinnamon and clove. It's quite harsh in its dry roastiness, lacking the balancing richness. A metallic hop kick doubles down on this, though there's not much of a lactic tang.

Overall, this is quite a tough beer to enjoy. For me, the domestic version still beats both this and the Jamaican one.

Grabbin the 'Hut

Beer Hut is one of the exciting new wave of Northern Irish breweries. My previous experience of them was only a share of a can suitcased down by Simon. At last, however, a selection has arrived in Dublin via a more capacious distributor.

The début began inauspiciously with a botched tap takeover at BrewDog, but that at least got me off the starting blocks with Peach Slush, a fruited sour ale. This is a pale orange colour, hazy like a diluted cordial and with an element of that kind of sweetness in the flavour. It's only 4.5% ABV and there's a thinness attendant with that. Not impressive so far but the sour side is pretty good: tangy and stimulating; complementing the fruit sugar, not drowning in it, yet far from overpowering vinegar either. I'm not sure I would have picked out peach as the fruit, tasting blind: there's more of a tangerine or satsuma vibe to me. This is very decent. No moulds are broken nor paradigms shifted, but it's clean, fruity and refreshing fun, and that's plenty to start with.

The canned selection I picked up at Stephen Street News commenced with El Dorado / Columbus Pale Ale. No indications here of it being "DDH" or New England-style, but I guessed from the pastel-coloured label that the contents would be hazy, and so they were. Not full-on opaque, mind, and the choice to use a standard neutral ale yeast rather than a New England one might have something to do with that. There's a lot of fruit flavour in here, a concentration of ripe tropical essence, to almost perfume or lurid chew-sweet level. Though the texture has been bulked out with oats and dextrine, it's light enough at 4% ABV to be quaffable. Still too sweet for my liking, though, turning a little sickly by the end.

IPA The Bruce takes its name from a hop blend used for dry hopping. It poured a quite washed-out orange colour with the head fading quickly to nothing. Both aroma and flavour are savoury, with a lot of fried onion character in particular. This sits next to a citrus sweetness, like lemon barley water, finishing on a sticky note caused by the frankly unnecessary use of lactose. This is another quite sickly one; brimming with fresh hops but they're not used to give clean flavours or bitterness. On trend, perhaps, but not for me, and not at over €5 a can.

Lastly, Sparks Will Fly is one of those beer names that writes a biiiig cheque before the can is even opened. It's a 7% ABV chocolate and vanilla stout, so I would guess sparks will only fly if the drinker is pre-disposed to that sort of thing. Me, I'm not, but: this doesn't really taste of them, or at least not simplistically. Yes it's sweet, and more unctuous than the strength might suggest, but there's a proper depth and complexity here; a rose-petal note, a rasp of toasted grain, a jolt of espresso and even some vegetal hopping. It's a proper stout, in short. As with the Peach Slush, the novelty elements pay respectful tribute to the base beer and complement instead of overpowering.

More than anything, this lot left me feeling like a grumpy old curmudgeon. I'm reasonably sure they're all as the brewers intended and are without inadvertent flaws. However, they're all very much aimed at current beer fashion, and I have a feeling that there's talent going to waste here. I'd be interested to try Beer Hut's takes on the styles of beer that have been around longer than a wet week.