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The murk of war
Here's hoping Ukraine won't be spending another year plastered all over the news for terrible reasons. Today I have six beers from two brewing companies based there.First up, Kyiv's Underwood brewery,...
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Sauntering straggler
Galway Bay Brewery's Saunter festival, in its first iteration last September, was one of the hits of the year. Or so I'm told; I wasn't there. A few ex-Saunter kegs found their way to the brewery's...
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An epiphany
I've just managed to catch Hopfully's Christmas 2022 release before the season officially ends. This is Jingle Juice, a single-hopped Strata pale ale, which is 4.5% ABV and exclusive to Molloy's off...
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More of the similar
Seems like forever since I last had Larkin's on here, though it was only August. They've been hella busy since and I have much to tell you about.Sour has never really been their milieu, but I was...
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Reverting to type
"Liquid Hoppiness" is a bit on the nose as a name for a Sierra Nevada beer. That's the thing they've been known for providing since the early 1980s. Nevertheless, here it is: a 7% ABV IPA, claiming to...
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Have it your way
Last time I drank their beers, I complained that Dublin contract brewer Outer Place only releases hazy IPAs and nothing else. Clearly they've treated that feedback with the seriousness it deserves and...
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Unseasonals
I did a little bit of a go-around of the Dublin Wetherspoon pubs before I left town for Christmas. At Keaven's Port they had two new ticks for me.Well, sort of. The cask of Oakham Below Zero ran dry...
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Paydirt
I have a lot of respect for Waterford's Blackwater Distillery, although I don't drink a lot of their wares beyond the excellent gin they make for Aldi. I particularly like the forthright and open way...
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No rush
I've never been to Bulgaria, though it's high on my to-travel-to list for exactly that reason. I leapt on some Bulgarian beers when they appeared at Craft Central last year, but then they languished in...
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The advent of craft
I caught some flack a few years ago by complaining that the town of Shrewsbury lacks craft beer, and while it's well supplied with the traditional stuff in cask and bottle, it's useless as a...
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Exploring the Outback
The Way Outback brewery of Dorset came recommended, and gifted, by my niece who lives down that way. Everyday beers in cans; fancy stuff in bottles: seems eminently sensible.At the lower of the scale...
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My kinda haze craze
A surprise Christmas present was a Rothaus beer I'd never had before: Schwarzwald Zäpfle Naturtrüb, the unfiltered version of their flagship lager. The brewery has quite a cult following but I've never...
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Tick, tick... Brum!
The first international trip covered on this blog, indeed the one that prompted me to actually get it started, was to Birmingham. I hadn't been back since, which rankled especially since I had missed...
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Waltzing back in
After a two-year hiatus, New Year trips are back on the agenda. Vienna, as a city that puts a lot of effort into celebrating the event, had been high on my list for a while. And it didn't disappoint:...
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Craftbier an der Donau
Unsurprisingly, the modern trend for off-kilter beers has reached Vienna too, and barwise it's centred on Ammutsøn, a self-described "craft beer dive" but really a pleasant little bar with two poky...
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Old haunts
"The less gimmicky beers will have to wait for my next visit"I wrote after drinking hemp beer, chilli beer, rauchbier and whatnot in 7 Stern on my last visit to Vienna in 2011. The place hasn't changed...
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New kits
The newer brewpubs of Vienna are today's subject, or at least the ones I hadn't been to before. Mama Kraft is indeed very new: even my local guide hadn't tried it yet. It's in a handsome basement space...
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Beers in Brats
I hadn't made any plans to go to Bratislava, but when you're in Vienna it's just there, so in lieu of any better suggestions, off we went of a Tuesday afternoon in January. As with Vienna it had been...
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What about a bottled otter?
Today I'm presenting a veritable smorgasbord from east Donegal's finest, Otterbank. And it's all authentic, honest, bottled Ulster product too, none of those cans they get the jackeens to lash out...
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The 10%-ers
Two beers from Rye River today, both making sure you hit your weekly units target as efficiently as possible.The latest canned special is called A-TIPA-CAL, signifying that it's a triple IPA. High tech...
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