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San Fran cans panned
My first, and only, bottle of Anchor Liberty Ale came from The Vintry in Rathgar in 2007 where it had been sitting in a south-facing window for an indefinite period of time. Over the years I've felt...
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Touching the sides
Two Sides is the name of Dublin's newest gypsy brewer. The first couple of beers have come from Craftworks though the plan is to roam further afield for future batches. I met both in 57 The Headline in...
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Total glam
The good people of Glamorgan Brewing Company (or their representatives) kindly shipped me over some of their bottles to try. They're not available in Ireland as far as I know, but sure Glamorgan is...
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Kerry gold
Late May saw the second Killarney Beer Festival take place at the Gleneagle Hotel and once again I made the trip down for one of the country's top beer events. I was on judging duty this year but still...
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Feel the passion
An addendum to Monday's post on the 2016 Killarney Beer Festival. Once the winners were all finalised in the competition, the leftover bottles were farmed out to the judges by able chief steward...
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Putting the boot in
One can measure the progress of the Irish beer sector by the commemorative beers it produces for sporting events. For previous football tournaments it's only been one or two: Eight Degrees's Trapattoni...
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Party at Artie's
It's noteworthy, though hardly surprising, that the Taste of Dublin food festival seems to have become largely a preserve of the big bucks brewers. The last time I went, which admittedly was some years...
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Taste this
I mentioned in Monday's post how microbreweries don't seem to take their own stands at Taste of Dublin any more. It is, I'm sure, a very expensive event to attend, and while you're likely to reach a...
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Sunday mass
Go to the Inn on any Friday nightAnd listen to them while they're getting tightAt the expense of him who stands them drinks,The Mass-Observer with the Hillman Minx.-- John Betjeman, The Dear Old...
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Don't mention the war
It's come up before how Irish supermarkets are currently using beer as one of the weapons in their endless struggle for dominance over each other. This is a good thing, in my opinion. Even aside from...
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Hear me growl
So my local supermarket got a growler station in. It's mounted on an island bar in the off licence section and features two taps of microbrewed Irish beer, one permanent (so far), the other rotating....
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Random cask
A recent bicycle trip homewards along the south coast of Dublin Bay brought me past the two JD Wetherspoons situated there, both at convenient points for stopping off to rest the legs a bit before the...
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Left in the dark
Trying to keep up with what Ireland's breweries are turning out has become exhausting. Poor me, etc. I did a bit of a fridge clear-out at the weekend, getting to grips with some of the dark beers that...
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Wheat punch
Earlier this summer we had the first beer commissioned by one of the big off licence chains from an Irish micro in the form of the Molloy's/Rascal's All Night Long. It was followed closely by the...
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Fail ale trail
They brew 'em strong at Nébuleuse in western Switzerland. I had three of their bottles in stock and deciding a drinking order was complicated by all of them claiming some palate-pounding heft. In the...
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Double bubble
I only went looking for one Kinnegar special but came away with two. Win!The bonus beer was the last bottle of Bucket & Spade on the shelves in Fresh in Smithfield. This is a session rye IPA, which...
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Colder days
I thought I'd missed out on Jack Cody's last-but-one beer completely for this year. There was none to be had at Bloom in the Park, nor any when I visited the brewery back in the spring. It's a neat...
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How rude!
Three from Colorado's Ska Brewing today.There's a certain sense of rush-job about the branding on the can of True Blonde, the stark canary yellow makes me feel that the brewers may be slightly ashamed...
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Solo treat
I made it my new year resolution to make more use of Pifko, the Czech pub on Dublin's south quays, a place which has been quietly stocking more interesting Czech beers alongside the Urquell, Herold and...
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Out for the count
Derry's Northbound Brewery names most of its beers after their International Bittering Unit levels. I've never been a fan of IBUs as a useful measure of anything you can taste, but I suppose it does...
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