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The last beer left
There's no particular story behind this one, beyond that I was in Lidl, noticed an unfamiliar beer in their Hatherwood own-brand range, and bought it.It's a session IPA called Hop Hunter, and no actual...
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Night night, Ping-Ping
A brand new beer from Trouble Brewing arrived just before Christmas. As far as I can see we didn't get a new iteration of their Dash Away cherry chocolate stout this year, so instead it's a straight-up...
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An epic
This post began as a quick check in with what Whiplash have been up to this last few months. It probably would have gone out in mid-December but that's when The Big Drop happened and I suddenly had a...
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Test patch
A raft of beers from the unfamiliar Prague brewery Sibeeria arrived locally late last year. I bought a couple as testers, to see if it's worth trying the rest.Sour IPA is a favourite style and 0801 is...
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Bouncing back
I always welcome reviews of my reviews. Shane from DOT Brew reckoned I was off the mark in my assessment of his Last Night coffee and cocoa imperial stout, published in December. He thinks I got a bad...
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Slow start
In my last pale ale round-up in mid-November I noted that the release rate had slowed down significantly. Even then I wasn't quite prepared for the effective cessation of new beers from Irish breweries...
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On the skids
Sierra Nevada beers usually arrive here in sets, but it's a solitary can of IPA today. Ski-themed Powder Day might be a bit of an experiment: the use of lupulin powder gives it its name and I don't...
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Can you dig it?
The Bronze Age archaeology of Ireland gave Lough Gill branding inspiration for a series of barrel-aged imperial oatmeal stouts released in late 2021. Boann provided the barrels and the specs of each...
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States of mind
It's off to the USA but without leaving Derbyshire today, courtesy of Thornbridge.Starting on the west coast, Frisco is a California common, a market largely cornered by Anchor Steam but which I guess...
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Blunt edges
The bourbon barrel wagon trundled through Ballymahon and the Wide Street crew jumped aboard. A 14.5% ABV imperial stout, aged ten months in bourbon barrels, is out of keeping for the wild-fermentation...
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The spoils
I did a modest amount of gueze shopping when I was in Brussels over the summer. No beers-by-the-case but a few suitcase-fillers and bubblewrap-users. New ticks were the main priority and I have two...
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Ooh, those Russians
My exploration of beers from the eastern parts of Europe brings us all the way east to Russia today.The first I picked solely for its batshit name: the 5.5% ABV Spicy is Jungle. Eh? This comes from...
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Sadhbh alive-o
If you have an aversion to Irish red ale, look away now. Today's review is another product of the January doldrums, though the beer itself was launched back in October, largely for export, I suspect....
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Pinta this, Pinta that
My experience of Poland's Pinta brand, from previous visits to the country, was of a stolidly reliable producer, a veteran of the 1990s microbrewery boom and still turning out decent if unadventurous...
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Øl in
I had decided to pick up a few To Øl beers for a blog post as there are always plenty of them about. At the same time, The Fine Ale Countdown podcast was coming to the end of its dry-January run and...
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A right plum
I guess it's the success of Titanic Plum Porter that led Aldi GB to commission a version of their own: Harper's Plum Porter at roughly the same strength of 4.8% ABV. I'm used to the Titanic one smooth...
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Spring forward
2022's Irish beers have arrived! Wicklow Wolf is first out of the traps for me with today's pair. They're different styles, though both 5.5% ABV.Red rye IPA is an unusual formulation, and that's what...
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B.O.R.I.S. & Company
For any beer writer it's important to have an understanding of the classics, the genre-defining beers, however much they may have fallen out of fashion or been cloned -- or even improved upon -- by...
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À La Recherche
Over the years, I've quite enjoyed the Abbaye de Vauclair beers. They're in solidly reliable Franco-Belgian styles, come in handsome 75cl corked bottles and are sold cheaply in Lidl, although less so...
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Choc around the Lough
Not a wet week after I reviewed that series of extremely tasty stouts from Lough Gill, they're at it again. Two more stouts today, a little less full-on, though both including chocolate as a key...
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