Football and a baga cans

European Championships just around the corner, and the weather is getting good. Rascal's Brewing have become the latest Irish Craft Brewer to go into a collaboration with an off-licence. They've teamed up with Molloy's Liquor Stores to bring us a Session Pale Ale. This is not a session IPA, so I'm not expecting an unbalanced, bitter, bodyless hop bomb.

They've called it All Night Long, part homage to Ireland's main man in France, and part description of the quaffable character of this refreshing beer.

Pouring a hazy dark orange, with a small thin head that dissipates quite quickly. this doesn't look as light as it drinks. Looks are deceiving though, the beer is refreshing, light of body and extremely drinkable.

There is a slight sherbet sweetness on the nose, underlining grapefruit and the slightest hint of tropical fruits.

The flavour of the hops are not overpowering, they are providing bitterness up front and a great finish that doesn't hang around very long - this means the 4.2% ale here provided is eminently sessionable, no lingering aftertaste, but the flavours are excellent, especially the citrus pith right at the end, and do enough to keep you coming back for more.

This does exactly as it says on the tin - juicy, fruity and delish, and at 5 for a tenner in Molloy's you'd be mad not to pick up a handful of these for the evening of a game, sit back, relax and enjoy.

Session and an Adventure

Last week O'Hara's dropped a few samples around, and I have to thank them for sending some my way. A nice presentation box contained one bottle each of the new 'OPSession - a session IPA at 4%, and the latest in the Hop Adventure Series, a pale ale featuring the French Aramis Hop.

I'm not a huge fan of Session IPAs, I find them unbalanced and a bit harsh, so I was intrigued to sample this offering, to see if it brought anything different to the party.

I really enjoyed the Galaxy version of the Hop Adventure series, and I've never heard of Aramis before, so again, I had some curiosity around this one too.

I started off with the Hop Adventure. I know nothing about the Aramis, so I was going into this one blind. I didn't look up any hop profiles or characteristics before drinking the beer, I didn't want any preconceptions.

It pours very clear, with a small enough head, that dissipates quickly. The beer is clean and just lets the hops come to the fore.

Herbs and Spices are the order of the day here, peppery to start giving way to herbal vegetable notes. Quite understated, but pleasant nonetheless.

This is a pretty good beer, unmistakably O'Hara's, but certainly new and different enough to be worth a purchase.

I moved on to the 'OPSession after that. Again pouring incredibly clear, it is a shade or three darker than the previous. The head doesn't fade so quickly, and leaves some lacing down the glass.

There's nothing on the nose, which surprised me given this is ostensibly an IPA. Upon drinking you do get some bitterness, but not a lot of aroma, or anything really. 

That bitterness could probably be construed as crispness, and this is a different take on the Session IPA style, but I find myself pining for some late addition hop character. The bitterness is not balanced by anything from the malt side of proceedings, but I expect that with Session IPAs.

The Aramis is definitely the best of these two beers, and I'd certainly encourage anyone curious about what that particular hop is about to give it a try.

Sour & Sweet

I started my love affair with sour beers late in the summer of 2015 when Siren's Dry Hopped Berliner Weisse Calypso made an appearance on the shelves. This was a refreshing, sharp, tropical beer perfect for lawnmowering away Saturday afternoons.

At around the same time Galway Bay had started to introduce a full range of soured beers to the market. Heathen was the early entry, in fact it came in the winter, then Godspeed arrived in the summer and was a peachy and mangoey lip-purser and the collaboration Maybe Next Monday was a more straight-up sour, with some tropical Citra in the mix. In bottles was the more adventurous The Eternalist, oak aged on raspberries.

At the big Festival in late summer there was the excellent ultra-tart Kinnegar Guezeberry, with Gooseberries in the mix. A real tooth stripper of a beer. It was very elusive though.

I picked up a 375ml bottle of Galway Bay Space Suit, this one an Amber Sour, fermented in Oak, dry hopped with Galaxy.

It pours a slightly murky dark amber, with a thin head. The sourness is pretty much all you get in the aroma, and it's pretty good. It gets those saliva glands interested straight away.

The flavour is complex, with the lacto and brett immediately evident, but the oak is slightly there in the background along with some balancing sweetness. Then there's the aromas from the Galaxy hops, tropical and juicy - it's not overpowering but it's there toying with the dryness and upping the tartness levels just another notch.

Galway Bay are making excellent sours, even if the odd one is a bit off, they can only be congratulated for taking on this style and tradition of brewing and pretty much nailing it. To do it once would have been great, but they've done it five or six times now and that sub-range of their overall stable is a very welcome addition to the Irish Craft Beer family.

A complete change of pace, and I had to mention this next beer having sampled it in two of the Galway Bay bars, and at home in a bottle too. Diving Bell is a Scotch Ale in the Wee Heavy style - with a salty twist.

This is a rich, decadent and big strong beer. On the nose you get dried fruits, figs, raisins and warming rum alcohol. It pours a very inviting deep ruby-red.

I'm not going to try to describe everything going on in the taste of this beer, not least because each sip brings something different, but also because words alone cannot do it justice. It needs to be experienced. Thick and syrupy, heavy and molasses, treacle and that rum again. Jam-like fruitiness, you could spread this on toast and expect to pick out a few berries. And that is perhaps the most apt description, because underlying all of that sweet goodness is a just-discernible salty undertone. Like lightly buttered toast with some dark berry jam on top.

This beer is like a hug from great big bear who's just been through the fruit bushes. Sticky toffee goodness, slight heat from the 9%, but that's not overpowering. This is most definitely, unapologetically a Winter Beer.

For all that sweetness and big malt flavours, it's the ever so subtle salting that makes this beer. You never think this is a "salty" beer, but the salt is used as it should be, to enhance the flavours around it. To complete the experience and make you want to keep coming back.

I was always more inclined to the malty side of beer flavours, and even though in recent years I've embraced hops in a big way, Diving Bell has reminded me in the best way possible that for all the complexity and great aromas that brewers can get from expert hopping - none of that really comes close to what can be done with the right combination of malted grains.

Collaboration Stouts

After the success of this Summer's IPA, the guys at McHugh's have come out with their second of the Road Trip series. This time it's an Extra Stout. I picked up a couple of bottles, but it's also available in Growlers. It's brewed by the Galway based Independent Brewing Company.

There's nothing unexpected here, it says Extra Stout on the label, and Extra Stout is what's in the bottle. A really well done Extra Stout. Big roast undertones, superb body backed up by subtle hops. Everything you want from a stout is here, it's dry, there's a slight burnt smokiness but nothing overpowering.

I'm already looking forward to RT3.

Another "version 2" of a collaboration for the second beer of this blog post. This time with an international flavour, as we take a look at the O'Hara's / PINTA Lublin to Dublin Robust Milk Stout.

Using Irish malts and Polish hops and the addition of Lactose for some extra creaminess in the mouthfeel and a sweeter finish than other stouts. Star Anise is also mentioned on the label, but I couldn't detect it either on the nose nor in the taste, but that's not to say that if it was not there it wouldn't be missed.

This is a great beer, and very drinkable. The sweetness from the lactose never gets too cloying. There's a nice roasted coffee aroma, which follows through to the palate. There's also milk chocolate and a slight treacly finish.

Two interesting collaborations, and cold January nights are made for stouts.

Walkin' in a Wicklow Wonderland

Yeah.

Red Ale.

Irish Red Ale.

Is it even a thing, was it ever a thing?

Or is it just a slopped down version of an English Mild, stuck in to Irish pubs in the 1980s for people who just didn't like Stout, but who couldn't admit they wanted something else.

Of course along came generic lagers and put a stop to all that nonsense.

But stuck in purgatory was Irish Red Ale. Personally when I see an Irish brewery come out with a beer labelled "Red Ale" I roll my eyes and think "Holy Trinity, stout, red, pale", and pass it by.

Sometimes though, if other beers from a brewery are the type of beers that make people take notice then I'll stop for a look at the Red Ale they are offering. I had an exact night in mind, I was due to spend an evening at an event where craft beer would be a non-entity, so when I got home I'd have some decent beer waiting for me.

I stuck O Brother's The Fixer into a glass and  drank it over an hour or so, from the fridge. I wanted to allow it all leeway possible, given I know the lads make good beer and would appreciate me giving it the best I could.

Shouldn't have bothered.

From the beginning this beer is brilliant. You've got a nice malt character, not sweet, but robust, there backing up the bittering hops - giving way to some lovely floral aroma hops that you can also catch on the nose. Exquisitely balanced and welcoming, The Fixer has a warming caramel and toffee body, followed up by a long finishing hop personality. There is a certain sweetness there that leads you into the flowery hop and allows you to gently permit that tone to take over. But not dominate, by the time that hoppiness dissipates you are ready for more. And it just keeps coming, that deep sweetness offset by those forward hops, balancing flavours in an almost perfect union.

Someone said to me "It's not a Red, it's an Amber Ale" - and maybe they're right. But "Red Ale" it proudly states on the label, and "Red Ale" it shall be known. But Ruby it pours, a deep incredibly inviting deep-red colour.

Irish Breweries, take back the name. Make it great. Make it something worth striving for. O Brother have certainly succeeded.

I moved on then to The Chancer. Having been absolutely impressed by this beer earlier in the year on both tap and in Growler, I was waiting to see what this would be liked bottled.

I immediately got that piney and resinous hop profile front and centre, but it's not totally overpowering, and that biscuity malt sweetness is allowed to present itself on the nose. Lime, grapefruit and orange pith are making themselves known.

I won't dwell on this one too long, it's not too dissimilar to the draught/growler version, perhaps the malt is a little more forward, but it's still the same perfectly drinkable American Pale it always had been.

O Brother are creating an excellent core range, which is letting them put some creativity into smaller batch brews like the excellent Bonita Black IPA - which was probably the best beer produced in Ireland this year.

Bring it back guys!

An American River Trip

After some recent unpleasantness involving some cowardly sticker sticking, the Rye River lads came out swinging on Social Media.

True, the McGargle's brand is different to most of the other Irish Craft Brewers, and it does seem a little silly and forced, but it works, it stands out and demands attention - and sometimes the old adage "no publicity is bad publicity" does ring true.

I'm wasn't a huge fan of the early releases, and after a bottle or two of each I never really went back to anything Rye River were producing. However, I do some homebrewing myself and early in the year I had a blind taste test with two Micro, a macro and my own beer. The Rye River beer came out on top (Lidl Stout), I scored it top myself, as did others.

Rye River impressed at the Alltech with some "self branded" beers

Then came the 2015 Irish Craft Beer Festival, the annual pilgrimage to the RDS for Irish Craft Beer fans, and bold as brass, front and centre was McGargle's. They had many and varied brews with them, each one impressive.

So, I picked up a couple of Rye River IPAs in my local supermarket - a Grafters and McGargle's. The McGargle's is particularly good value at 4x 330ml bottles for €8 - that's 1.3 Litres of 7.1% beer for  eight euro, or about 3.20 for 500ml - that represents probably the best priced craft beer on the Irish market at the moment.

The Grafters is a little cheaper, at €2.79 for a 500ml bottle (6.5%). I started the evening with this one.

The label promises an American style IPA "bursting" with citrus such as grapefruit and juicy tangerines. I don't get these here, now maybe the hops have dissipated over time - the Best Before date on the bottle is 07/16, suggesting a July 15 Bottling (batch 0016 is on the label too, whatever that means) - but this is lacking in that area. And really, American IPAs can't lack in that area.

What it is, though, is a pretty good English style bitter or pale ale. It's not unpleasant, and I'd certainly drink it again if that's what I was looking for. Now, I understand that not all Rye Rivers will appeal to all people, and that's fine as they have a pretty large stable - and for a supermarket brand this is decent enough, but American Style IPA it ain't.

The Francis' Big Bangin' India Pale Ale is an altogether different beast. Immediately you get the unmistakeable whiff of all the citrussy goodness that you expect from a good American IPA (there's even a hint Ol Glory on the label! ), it's got chops this one.

Each and every sip of this is reminiscent of a lime Opal Fruit, that fruity bitterness backed up with a slight sweetness - that's the malt announcing itself, how could it not at 7.1%? 

It's complex too, there's passionfruit and a hint of sherbet going on. Orange pith and grapefruit. Intensely bitter, but rounded out with the fruity sweetness. It floods the mouth and tempts you back for more.

This beer is up there with the best of the recent hop forward beers from the rest of the Irish breweries, in fact, it's going to run the rest of them close in any "Beer of the Year" lists. There's nothing to fault this on at all really - the serving size is perfect for the strength, the intensity of the flavours matches the claims on the label and most of all the aroma, taste and overall experience are spot on.

I'm glad I went back to Rye River, they've produced a beer here that it stands out and demands attention. You should give it some.

A treat for Autumn

Many months ago The Beer Mistress brought me home a bottle of O'Hara's Barrel Aged Barley Wine - it's a special edition and I got bottle 1,068 of 1,700.

It's a 9.6% Barley Wine, aged for ninety days in an Irish Whiskey Oak Barrel. It looks like an English style Barley Wine, dark, almost opaque deep ruby in colour and the aroma is intense black fruits, plums and oak.

There is an obvious initial sweetness, tempered by the alcohol so it's never too cloying. On the tongue the light carbonation cuts through the heavy vanilla oak so the flavours don't get too much.

The complexity increases as the beer warms up, and the fruity flavours come to the fore. Blackcurrant, plums and the unmistakable sour cherries all play their part. The big vanilla oak remains, to be backed up by dark chocolate and rich toffee.

The sweetness and light carbonation lend themselves to a somewhat pleasant caramel mouthfeel, and that sourness tempts you to think of black treacle and maybe even the slightest hint of liquorice in the finish.

This is an excellent sipper, to be enjoyed of an autumn evening when the chills are just starting to settle in for the lengthening nights, the leaves are turning red and you can just start to smell smoke in the air.

Although this is a sweet beer, the sourness on the finish means it doesn't get too rich or syrupy, it is very easy to enjoy over a couple of hours or three.

I don't know if many, or any, bottles remain available, but I did think it was worth a review all the same. I enjoyed drinking this one over a Friday evening with a movie, easygoing and approachable, well done O'Hara's.