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Three, times two
Triple IPAs are a clear indicator of the law of diminishing returns in beer hype. Less than a decade ago, double IPAs were exciting and much sought-after. Triple IPAs barely register in hype circles...
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Wild new directions
They've been riffing on some familiar themes down at Wicklow Wolf, with a couple of radically different variants on pre-existing beers.I guess there was a certain inevitability about an IPA named Call...
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The Big Three
Today's post harks back to the early days of Irish microbrewing, when the producers felt that the path to success was to copy what the mainstream was doing. As a result, every beer that came out was...
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The Hags of summer
Three new White Hag releases for you today, all on a broadly summerish theme.The first is a Kölsch-a-like called Keltoi, brewed in collaboration with French brewer Mont Hardi. It's a style you don't...
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Haze pays
Sligo brewery Lough Gill is today's subject. They've quite busy of late with regular new additions in a variety of styles. Hazy IPA does tend to feature a lot, however, and I'm starting with three of...
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Non-stop hop drop
Time for another couple of rounds with the three-headed beast of Bluebell. A lot of IPAs this time. Tch. Typical.Although first, Third Circle returns to its roots as an homage to Belgian brewing (ish)...
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IPArade
And so we reach the end of this sequence of posts in honour of Indie Beer Week 2021. I'm concluding with a cross-section of pale ales, IPAs and hoppy whatnot from across the independent brewing...
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Regular or premium?
It's four more from Mikkeller today, two from the mainstream side of the business plus a couple of fancier offerings.Visions looks like an attempt to straddle both worlds, being a 4.5% ABV lager, very...
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Wit is it?
Poor neglected witbier is today's subject. The style's problem, as I see it, is that the archetype Hoegaarden has perfected it and there isn't much room for improvement. I'll grant you St Bernardus may...
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The quiet Americans
Californian veterans Firestone Walker have three beers for us today. Has the brewery stopped numbering its Luponic Distortion series? By my reckoning this one, released last November, is No. 17 in the...
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Sweet sunshine
Summer is about to commence, and that got me thinking of silly fruit concoctions in the sunshine, which then got me out and buying them. Here's what I found.No idea why, but I don't have a review of...
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Are we the baddies?
There's no shortage of Star Wars theme beers out there. I guess that's just the age that people who run microbreweries are. Few are as explicit as the Original Stormtrooper set, though the licensed nod...
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Beers in the imperative
O Brother is giving the orders today. All the beers have an instruction for you.Speak No Evil bears the idiosyncratic style of "DH [dry hopped] kveik pilsner". Is there a point when you've twiddled...
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What's indie box?
Indie Beer Week was back! After a one-year hiatus for obvious reasons, the independent brewers' annual profile raising celebration returned in May, centred around a series of online meet-the-brewer...
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Tropical New Brunswick
I've written before about how much I enjoy the beers from Hop City. For the fakeout arm of macro lager brewer Moosehead they make some good stuff. There was one in the fridges of Dublin offies that I...
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Pukka puckerers
A new tranche of offerings from Otterbank begins with Mates Rates, a beer in one of my favourite underrepresented styles, sour IPA. They've brewed this at Third Barrel for reasons best known to...
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The sweet, the sour and the smoky
DOT has all the bases covered in today's selection, from light and breezy IPA to the densest, darkest, double-digit barrel-aged blend. I suppose we may begin at the beginning.A micro IPA called Catches...
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Bear back
The Bear Republic clock rolled around again, as it does every year or so, and a bunch of their beers became available in Ireland. There were two new ones for me.This included an opportunity to see how...
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Second chances and new beginnings
I've tried a few of the beers from Bristol brewery Lost & Grounded over the years and haven't particularly liked any of them. It has made me very aware of the near-unanimous high regard in which...
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Broad brush strokes
It's a Canvas bonanza today. The beers come in fits and starts and can be difficult to find, so when a bunch appeared on the shelves of Redmond's and Blackrock Cellar, I grabbed one of everything. The...
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