Taking A Trip

Ever since the introduction of growlers to the market I've thought it would be a good idea for the off licences which are serving beer to get in a house beer, exclusive to them, to attract return business. Evidently the good people at McHugh's have been thinking along the same lines. They've gotten together with Kinnegar Brewery up in Donegal to bring us an American Style IPA, and they've called it Road Trip.

I'd high hopes for this beer, Kinnegar are one of my favourite breweries and of course McHugh's are an exceptional purveyor of all things crafty - it's a match made in beery heaven. Kinnegar have been particularly strong on their special releases, so this was exciting.

I headed to the Artane store to pick up a couple of bottles first of all - the bottles were sent to the shops about a week before the draught version for the growlers. The labels are unmistakable - bright neon green with some jaunty red and black lettering, really standing out in that trademark tall and slim Kinnegar bottle.

The beer itself pours a lovely dark golden hazy orange, with a loose white head, and the initial nose is a complex mixture of fruity orange and other citrus, but you also get the more herbal notes. And these are what dominate the flavour. Piney, resinous bitter hops are the order of the day, citrus pith cleansing away that almost chewy caramel maltiness in the body. This is a beer that stands up tall and demands to be noticed, just like it's label. The bottles had only been filled five or six days before my purchase, and so those hops were very, very fresh. Really very nice.

A week later I hit up the Kilbarrack store with my growler in hand to get some of the Road Trip on draught. I was expecting to drink it on the evening of purchase, however I ended up having to keep it for a week. This was the first real test of my McHugh's growler. I stuck it in the fridge the morning I was going to drink it. It properly popped open, which I was glad to hear, and it poured the same colour as the bottled version. The head was a little smaller.

The first thing I noticed was that the aroma was slightly sweeter lime and less of that piney resin - the hops have mellowed out a bit. In fact the growler beer is a more rounded experience, it doesn't catch you quite as much as the bottled version. The more delicate, fruity hops allow the lighter malt body to carry through a bit more in the finish.

Road Trip is a triumph in many ways; a "house beer" from an off licence that makes the trip worth it, another excellent beer from Kinnegar, and from chatting with the staff in Artane, the success of Road Trip will mean they'll look to do more collaborations, but for now I'd hope there's at least a second batch of this excellent IPA.

Well done to both McHugh's for taking the punt and to Kinnegar for taking it with them.

Newcomer Ales

Since the start of 2015 we've seen a few new brewers pop up onto the Irish Craft Beer scene, so I'm going to take a look at some of them in this edition.

To start with, I've settled into a bottle of the very welcoming 12 Acres Pale Ale. Brewed in Co. Laois, where they malt their own barley, this is a lovely pale ale. I first came across it earlier in the year at an event put on by distributors Barry & Fitzwilliam, and on that day I thought it was the best beer out of the 40 or so on show. Perfectly balanced; with the subtly sweet caramel backbone, finished off with a light lemon citrus cleanser, without ever being too intense.

12 Acres Pale Ale is an easy drinker, a good companion for a lazy afternoon with the grass finally cut and the day beginning to wind down, Pouring on the darker side of Golden, and with a pillow-ey head that lasts down the glass, the light carbonation just eases you into a state of relaxation, but that little zing at the end does just enough to keep you interested.

I'll be back for more of this for sure, especially at 4.6% ABV, it's probably the best Irish Ale in the category.

Next up was the extremely new Wood Key Brewing's first offering, The Pilgrim Irish Red Ale. Wood Key are a bunch of five friends from Dublin who've decided to brew, and this red ale is their first foray into that world. A simple style of beer, there's not much room for innovation without encroaching on other styles, and then not really being an Irish Red anyway.

The darker malts are doing what they ought to be doing, and a little more - there's a little hint of bitter chocolate in the initial flavour, giving way to the bittering hops, which are doing enough to lift this beer away from being just another flat, dank red. This is a solid Irish Red, and based on that I await more from the guys, because doing the simple things right is the best way to start. Currently available in bottles, and there are two 30 Litre kegs out there too, one already tapped for the growler system in McHugh's Kilbarrack shop.

The launch of the beer took place at the Flavours of Fingal county show, and I took the opportunity to meet and chat with a couple of the lads on the Sunday afternoon. There was mention of a second beer on the way, but no time frames or any other information.