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.