Brewery Speed Dating at Beer Now

Its been a full 18 months since I last participated in one of these; so may be a bit rusty. Bear with me; I'll try to repost the blog after each new beer but sometimes can get caught up in the conversation and actual drinking! Follow along pics on +Steve Lamond and I'll add them to this post when I get a chance.

I'm sat on a table with Jim & Laura from Mashtun and Miaow; Adam from Brewbie; Andy Parker, blogger emeritus & homebrewer turned pro brewer; Veteran #EBBC attendees The Baron & Chris & the inimitable Jules of Beer Revere, Hop Hideout & Sheffield Beer Week - great company indeed.

First Up is James & Alex from Thornbridge part of a 50 strong team from Thornbridge with their nip bottle of Eldon. Roasty, Fruity


Second is a nice palate cleanser Lost Industry/ Steel City collab, not normally a fan of peach but this one is excellent. peach melba fromage frais with a hint or tartness

Andrew And Rachel from Sharps Brewery presenting their smoked Boscawen now, only 12 casks made.  Familiar Northern Ireland accent from Andrew - not far up the road from me at Limavady. Classic rauchbier aroma, rather sweet amber ale with lovely full body, great mouthfeel and fruity finish.

"Hi I'm Dan, I'm a cancer, how are you all doing?" good introduction from Abbeydale's sales and marketing director. Heathen IPA from a can - ooh trendy. Had this on keg yesterday actually, fruity mosaic, orange yoghurt and slight sweaty guava notes, clean, moderate bitterness, aggressive hooping. Trial brew #6 originally. First batch to be canned, 3000 canned on Sunday. As a brewery we mustn't forget cask, taht enables us to do all of this fun stuff but its very much our bread and butter. 30BBL brewery, 200bbl sales/ week with capacity for 300, new special every week. 'If we were to present this to the traditional drinker they'd say "its off, its cloudy" we've had a few stand up rows at SIBA this week!'

Fifth beer is Twisted Barrel Soup Dragon, 50% rauchmalt & 50% pilsner malt in mash, 250g chipotle & hand grated 110 limes for 1kg zest added five mins from end of boil. fermented with saison yeast which alongside a hint of smoke covers the nose. the taste really develops from first to last, sharp lime up first, fruity saison esters, loads of smoke then some warming heat from the chipotle. Unsurprisingly for something with a lot of my favourite flavours in its very enjoyable.

Alex from sentinel pouring his RRG a rhubarb and rosehip gose now. good as apertif, could make a sorbet from it, tonight tehy're steaming mussels in it. they make a rosehip tea (rosehips from Denmark) Yorkshire rhubarb added 5mins from end of boil, 4kg of each also "dry rhubarbed". Low salt level to avoid impact on drinkability, sits there on tip of tongue but acidity main driver. Took 5 years to find right site and pull money together.

And finally a familiar brewery for me, Ilkly Lotus. taking the end position at Edinburgh beer bloggers conference a few years ago now, they've gone through a few iterations. First consideration "what hops did we not want to use - no citra, cascade, columbus, etc no amrillo, no mosaic, no summit, no simcoe, no galaxy - to try and push us to use some more progressive hops. So we used eureka, equinox and comet" We stopped it at 5.9 which is about as high as you can go and still drink in quantity without losing your faculties. Matt from Ilkley presenting. really drinkable. Canned in brewdog, centrifuged too to prevent clogging of canning machine - more visually appearing but perhaps lost a bit of itself vs keg but keg doesnt have quite the crispness of it on can.

Golden Pints 2016

Well its been a while since I blogged, but I figure missing out on my golden pints nominations would be a step too far! Not going to separate out UK & Ireland this year, partly because now Ireland's reaching maturity I think the beers should stand on their own against the best of the rest but also because there's a danger it'll be a rerun of last year. It'll be trickier this year not least because I've not been as active on Ratebeer as usual but also because I've been drinking far and wide including a return to GBBF for the first time since it moved back to Olympia.

Best Cask was supped right at the start of the year - at the time I knew it would be in contention and still stands head and shoulders above the competition. That beer was Wiper & True Pink Peppercorn Porter

Best Keg plenty of stuff sampled this year but the Cloudwater Claussenii Stout Cherry Bourbon Barrel Aged was drunk in copious amounts at ABV; so that takes the crown.

Best bottle My top rated beers of 2016 are both from Buxton, but marginally ahead is their AngloBelgique, a magical combination of juicy IPA hopping and fruity Belgian yeast without the stickiness or cheesy esters sometimes associated with the style. The pinnacle of their Belgian series

Best Can Vocation smash and grab really impressed as an easy drinking DIPA, but the beer I enjoyed enough to buy the remaining stock in the York Tap Was the Beavertown 2016 release of Spresso. Looks like the barrel aged version took best keg last year - I'm nothing if not consistent!

Best Collab There's been a few noteworthy efforts this year,  including brew by numbers/ de la senne but the Magic Rock/ Cloudwater/ Lees Three's Company is still playing on my mind all these months after drinking it; so that takes the crown

Best Overall has to be the Three's Company, which I'd happily drink multiples of. Luckily its been rebrewed and released in cans by Magic Rock as Big Dipper; so hopefully it'll become semi-regular.

Best Brewery For their excellent work with the Belgian series plus tasty new imperial stouts and IPAs the award this year goes to Buxton. The recent batch of axe edge (pretty much my favourite continuously available UK beer) was particularly delicious! Well done to Colin, Denis and team! Please continue to crank out these excellent beers! Honourable mention to Cloudwater who really made some excellent beers this year, with DIPA v8 being another favourite of mine along with the collaboration and barrel ages stuff mentioned above.

Best New brewery is a bit harder as I can't think of breweries that specifically opened in 2016. Lost and Grounded have gotten a lot of love, but having only sampled one beer I can't fairly nominate them. So I'm going to pick a couple from 2015 that escaped my notice until this year. The first is Vocation, whose aforementioned smash and grab was a a favourite this year, but their hop utilization across the range is excellent leading to stuff that's far too drinkable for my own good.. Closer to home (though not  as the crow flies!) is Simon Lambert and Sons in Wexford, better known as Yellowbelly. With brewer extraordinaire Declan at the helm no style goes unbrewed with solid results across the range and some excellent beers in the sour family of styles, which is where Declan's heart lies (also checkout his side-project Otterbank for more wild and mixed fermentation beers).

Best overseas Draught Insufficient supped to make a fair judgement, 2016 has been the year of local on draught for me.

Best overseas bottle/can Hoppin' Frog Hop Heathen stands out from the scores as an excellent Black IPA

Best Overseas brewery Was kindly sent a selection of Amager in a Rate Beer local swap and was very impressed by pretty much every beer, recommend people seek them out!

Best Overseas bar only got to Spain this year; so my experiences more limited than usual but the obvious winner here is Fogg Bar Madrid for my dream concept of a proper cheese and bar bar, all Spanish beers, an excellent bottle selection and cheese/ charceuterie options including a small tapas with every beer. Recommend a visit!

Best new bar Southampton has really come along leaps and bounds in beer since I left for the balmier climes of Norn Iron. For my 30th I managed to visit a good number of them and I think the Bookshop Alehouse was my favourite. Previously an antiquarian bookshop, there's a selection available for sale/ browsing, great range of cask, keg and bottles and a chalkboard pointing the direction to nearest food establishments with patrons encouraged to bring their own food in. This would have been my local whilst in Southampton and provides a much needed watering hole between St Denys and Bevois Valley. (I'll hopefully get a blog up on Southampton scene if I ever pull my finger out!)

Best bar overall is tough, revisited a number of old favourites this year, York Tap and Small Bar are both strong contenders, but this year it goes to Marble Arch with an excellent range of well kept beers in many styles on cask and keg and of course the DIY cheeseboards always win bonus points!

Best Festival again didn't get to as many as I would have liked this year, very much enjoyed the winter cask fest at Franciscan Well, but just pipping it in breadth of beers, choice of food and general party atmosphere was Killarney.

Best branding another fierce battleground this year, with Beavertown knocking out enough awesome can labels to completely plaster my chromebook and Cloudwater's guest program churning out all manner of eyecatching and unexpected designs but for me the Boundary branding has really come into its own this year now more specials and series have been released - not many breweries can boast an in house artist's studio!

Just realised I gave them runner up last year too!

Best book/ magazine We're pretty lucky now with plenty of decent beverage magazines available now, almost too many as I'm in perpetual backlog! This year's award goes to Beer 52's Ferment for the quality of writing, look and feel, breadth of topics and managing to stick to a monthly publication schedule. Well worth subscribing to but please guys do some proper editing, far too many typos!

Online retailer goes to Eebria again this year, almost by default as I've not really ordered from many others - largely because they've not had enough of interest in stock to justify the shipping costs.

Independent retailer that most impressed was Beer Moth. If it wasn't for limited drinking time/ luggage space my wallet would have been considerably lighter on exit! Fantastic selection from far and wide at very fair prices.

Best Blogger is another tough one this year, a lot of my favourites have fallen silent and I'm yet to find any that really click with me. Matt Curtis has written some great pieces across multiple platforms this year, but as ever its Boak and Bailey I always read off the bat rather than pocketing for later with their regular blogoshire roundup posts always turning up some gems which would otherwise have been missed. Cheers guys!

Just noticed they also won last year, must be doing something right or else I'm just boring* 

*not mutually exclusive

Simon Johnson Award for best beer Tweeter this year is going to Yvan Seth for his honest and sometimes brutal insider view of beer wholesale - though admittedly this is mostly on facebook. Keep at it sir, you're leading a sea change.

Thanks everyone for reading here's to a beery 2017 (with hopefully a return to semi-regular posting from me...we shall see...)

Popping down to Cork

Last weekend saw the annual winter cask beer festival hosted by Franciscan Well in Cork. I travelled down to judge the beers for the inaugural Beoir Cask award with some fellow Beoirites. More on that later. Cork is a fairly compact bi-rivered city, a lough away from the South Coast of Ireland. Until recently it could justifiably lay claim to being the beer capital of Ireland, with four brew-pubs alongside a larger Heineken establishment - but Dublin is now catching up. There are plenty of places to get your beer-on however, with numerous bars and offlicences for whistle-wetting activities. (John did a great write-up for the Beoir mag recently). On my last visit I didn't make it much beyond the festival environs; so decided to remedy that this time. 

My first stop was Market Lane, a reasonably priced gastro-pub come restaurant just a stones throw from the bus station. I tucked in to a belly-pork brioche with home-made fries and Aioli and plumped for the sample tray of four of their beers (€10, brewed next-door by Elbow Lane). All of their beers were competent, free from defects though all a bit under-egged, the lager the surprising pick of the bunch. 

 From there a short stroll took me to Rising Sons brewpub. This had only just opened this time last year; and brewer Shane kindly showed us around. On a Friday lunchtime it was rather quiet; so I had a chance to chat to barman Dave about how things were going (very-well) and a recommendation for somewhere to eat. With a number of seasonal beers available on tap I got my ticking-cap on; and was particularly pleased to find the son of their Belgian Ale (D'vil A Bit) on draught as Little D'Vil. Still quite pokey at 6.2% (v the originals 7.1%) with characteristic Chouffe floral yeast esters and a clean but hearty body to allow them to shine. 

 A quick nip round the corner to the well-stocked Bradley's off-licence before checking in to my hostel, the handily located Kinlay House, roughly midway betwixt two revered beer destinations, the Bierhaus and Abbot's Ale House. I'd gone for the saver value option of a shared dorm, but after gassing with the friendly staff about why I was in Cork was unexpectedly bumped up to ensuite FoC (much appreciated, thank-you) meaning I got a much better night's sleep than I'd anticipated. 

 After an afternoon trip to the festival, I visited the Friary, a short distance from the Well with a small but well-chosen selection of beer on draught and in bottle. I had a half of something (which I can't recall) and had a chat to the barkeep about the DJ set he had-on the next night. A quick visit to the Bierhaus and I was ready for bed. The Bierhaus has perhaps the widest selection on draught in Cork, well supplemented my a range of bottles (perhaps on the pricey side) and a very-well kept of cask (Trouble Brewing's Deception, dry hopped with mosaic on my visit) with a generous discount for Beoir members which I of course I availed of - well it would be rude not to! 

 Lunch on Saturday was perhaps the highlight of my trip. Rocking up at 11:30 I was a little early for food; so ravenous I dove across the road to the recently opened Harley's Coffee House for a salmon bagel and tasty espresso. Temporarily sated I was back across the street to Dave's recommendation from the previous day - White Rabbit BBQ. A long bar with seating to both sides; I chose to sit on a stool and get acquainted with the beer range and co-owner Steve. Coming up to their one year anniversary (they opened St Patrick's Day 2015) the business is doing a steady trade, growing by word-of-mouth without need for advertising. Steve has worked in hospitality for a number of years but wanted his own place. The location was scouted in advance, but not available right away, it finally became free just before Steve's wedding and luckily was still available on his return from honeymoon and everything flowed from there.
They offer a fairly simple menu with a selection of meats to have in a bap or on a tray with two sides. All priced at a recession-beating €7 for baps and €10 for the trays. I had ribs with coleslaw and BBQ beans - the meat just falling off the bones, a crunchy and zingy 'slaw and hearty, juicy beans all washed down with a selection of beers from Rising Sons, with Mi Dzza being particularly suitable plus a few guests.
Steve also stocks a good range of American whisky's with some decent ryes available too; so I finished up with a pickleback of rittenhouse 100 and a shot of their house made pickling liquor. As I was departing Steve brought me a bottle of their house BBQ sauce - made with the aforementioned Mi Dazza - definitely recommended. So impressed was I that a return visit for dinner was necessary and the pork-belly bap with tangy gherkins, spicey sauce and creamy slaw really ended the day nicely - make sure you pay Steve and team a visit if you're in the vicinity.

Pre-festival on Saturday I also called in to Abbots and managed to snaffle a number of Irish beers I hadn't yet come across whilst coveting an excellent range of Belgian and other world beers (with De Struise a particular strength). I would return later to visit the upstairs bar, buzzing and banging with beers aplenty - my kind of joint. My weekend finishing with a delicious Wired oatmeal pale ale from Trouble - they're really nailing the pale n'hoppy at the moment. I unfortunately didn't make it to Cork's fourth brewpub, Cottonball, but will try to remedy that on my next visit.

So what of the festival itself? As with last year it was sedate during the afternoon, growing busier later on. A range of 30-odd beers were seen over the weekend, with 28 available for the judging. Aside from a few ill-conceived ideas the majority of brews were solid, with some excellent contenders. Unfortunately (as is sometimes the case at these events) a number of beers were (to borrow a phrase from Tandleman) flat as a witch's tit, either through over-venting or under-priming. Also, by the saturday some of the beers were getting a little tired, having been tapped for three days and many casks near empty.
These criticisms aside we pushed through with the judging and four category winners emerged victorious:

Best Lager - Yellow Belly Rosehip Schwartz

Best "Pale" - West Cork Roaring Ruby

Best Stout - Blacks Worlds End

Best Speciality - Otterbank Pine Needle Berlinner Weisse (since named "The Vikings are Coming")

These went through to best in show, with Roaring Ruby emerging victorious with World's End a close second and the berlinner rounding the rankings out in third place. Well done to all involved! Personally I'm not a fan of Irish Red Ales but this one was a particularly good example of the style and fully deserved its award. The Worlds end was far too sweet for my palate - perhaps a product of lack of carbonation but the berlinner was fantastic, perhaps one of the best I've had of the style.

It was a great weekend, Cork has a lot to offer; but always good to combine with a beer festival. The next event is the Easter Fest, which should be on 25th-26th March, take a dander down there!

Golden Pints 2015

Best Cask

One of my favourite places to drink this year has been the new Moor tap room. It was here I probably drank most of my cask offerings (not bad considering I'm not often in Bristol!) and it was here I had my favourite cask beer of the year. B-Moor is punny continuation of their porter Amoor with the distinctive blueberry, jammy notes from mosaic. Delicious and spot on carbonation. Sloe walker on cask also very interesting.

Best Keg

Although I try not to list limited beers as winners (how cn others try them if so?) I need to make an exception for Beavertown/Prairie Barrel Aged 'Spresso. On draught at ABV and like drinking a tiramisu, especially with added ice-cream float!

Best Bottle/Can

Hands-down the highest rated new beer this year was Cloudwater DIPA. After a somewhat shaky start they really nailed their beers with the DIPA being the pinnacle, clean malt bill, fresh and juicy hops and barely a hint of its 9% ABV. A recent revisit has confirmed its holding up well. Cloudwater don't intend to rebrew any of their beers, but am hoping they make an exception for this.

Others worth of mention are Brewdog Born to Die & Beavertown Power of The Voodoo, both of which I hope will continue as occasional brews.

Best Collab

I've had a few this year, these by their very nature are usually one offs. I have enjoyed the dinner for.. range from Elusive/Siren and the aforementioned 'Spresso but my favourite has to be Marble Howgate and Kemp. Fantastic news that JK will be commencing as head brewer there from next year.

Best Overall

There can only be one winner here, excellent on both keg and bottle, with the November batch being particularly superlative. I make no apologies that my favourite UK beer is still Buxton Axe Edge.

Best Brewery

Logic follows that the brewer of my favourite beer would be a shoo in for brewer of the year and indeed Buxton has released a continued range of interesting beers this year (though a few I've not been mad keen on). I'm going to jointly award the crown to Beavertown however as I've not had a bad beer from them this year, and gamma ray/neck oil in cans has been a welcome hoppy reprieve on numerous occasions! Honourable mention to Brew By Numbers for producing excellent beers across all manner of styles (though was't as keen on their BA iterations of Gyle 100 unfortunately...).

Best Oveseas Draught

There's a beer I drank four times in three days, each time bringing delight to my mouth. Gorgeous in colour, tart with a heap of raspberries - Girardin Kriekenlambic was that beer. Highly recommended and cheers to Ian for the recommendation of where to find it!(see below). Was also v impressed by Pohjalla on draught at Indyman - ones to watch!

Best Overseas Bottle/ Can

My favourite bottle this year was a 2011 vintage of Goose Island Bourbon County Vanilla Stout, but since that's not available any more my winner is instead Ballast Point Dorado. I don't care who owns it, the beer is excellent and I hope it remains so. I'm just disappointed it may be harderto track their stuff down in the UK for a while now Brewdog have ceased importing them. Mikkeller's Nelson Sauvignon also really impressed though value-wise its lower in the ranking.

Best Overseas Brewery

I ummed and ahhed about this, there are a few contenders such as Stone  and Boon  but in terms of consistency across a wide range and drinkability this year's award goes to De La Senne. I was also impressed by the few I tried from Amager; if I'd had a few more they'd certainly be in contention.

Best Overseas Bar

To drink my girardin kriekenlambic four times I visited the same bar; belle epoque wall tat, grafittied terrace, various seating areas, free nibbles and a well chosen beer list this award goes to Fleur En Papier Doree. I'll definitely be back.

Best Brewery Opening

This ones a little harder my Ireland winner Boundary is definitely a contender as is Manchester buzz-generator Cloudwater but I'm actually giving the crown this year to Left Handed Giant who have gone from strength to strength with a decent core range and some excellent specials. Glad they're now bottling too; will certainly be drinking some this Christmas!

Best pub/Bar

Alongside the Moor brewing tap room, the places I've visited most this year are Small Bar the Famous Royal Navy Volunteer. Both have a fantastic range of beer, TFRNV has great food, Small Bar has comfy chairs and a bookshelf. Joint award to these two this year! Bag O'Nails continues to hold a special place in my heart replete with cantankerous landlord & many cats.

Best New pub/bar

I enjoy the Moor Brewery Tap but was also really impressed with attention to detail at St Andrews Brewing Co Tap, great guest beers, a fab range of spirits and plenty of care taken on garnishes. Plus good value and filling grub and a bottle fridge rammed full.

Best Food and Beer

More best food with tasty beer alongside this year it has to go to Chomp for fantastic burgers and beer from Wiper & True.

Best Festival

I didn't make it to as many festivals as I would have liked this year but I did finally make it to IMBC which was enjoyable if hectic and too short. However its the Belfast based festival inspired by it that I most enjoyed (working as bar manager for all 3 sessions). Congrats to Matt, Darren, Felicia and Michael the team behind ABV, best festival in the UK, fab venue, excellent food choices, interesting tastings and fantastic beer range, heres to 2016!

Best Branding

As always there are a number of contenders, but for putting the "can" in canvas the award has to go to Beavertown, great work Nick! I particularly liked the shiny stickers on the Phantoms and Bone King which now adorn my chromebook. I also love the bespoke paintings inspired by Boundary's beers; so they're my runner up!

Best Book/ Magazine

We've really gotten to a great time for Drinks coverage in print media with Hot Rum Cow, Hops and Barley, Ferment and Beer to name but a few but I think my favourite is informative & enthusiastic whilst remaining current - Original Gravity.

Online retailer

I've used fewer retailers this year, but the one that continues to impress is Eebria... after all - anyone who can facilitate getting my favourite beer delivered to my door within a few days must be on to a good thing.

Independent Retailer

I was really impressed by the depth and breadth of beers in Manchetser's Beer Moth but as I didn't buy any I can't really nominate them! (will have to take a suitcsase to Indyman next year!) One new opening I did really like was the tiny Brew off St Nicholas Market in Bristol, select but interesting range, lots of local stuff, decent tunes and a home-brew corner.

Best Blogger(s)

I've not added many blogs to my roll this year, with a number of old favourites falling by the wayside. Boak & Bailey still continue to churn out a variety of interesting stuff but this year the award goes to the (old)newcomer- Stonch (or more specifically the collective voice behind the blog). I enjoy the travelogues, enjoyment of beer, cantankerousness, digging, weekly round-ups and everything in between. The comments are usually well attended and often spark a slew of spin-off posts. There have been rumours of winding down again - please don't.

Simon Johnson Award

Always bang on with the wry humour and dubious puns and featuring on my blog a few times this year this has to go to Twatty Beer Doodles.

Whats New? 2015 edition

2015 brought us another bumper crop of new breweries (see last years round up here), though there are a few that have fallen by the wayside (I had a chance to try most of what I'd missed last year but West Cork still eludes me!). We hit the major milestone of 100 brewers on the island, with a near doubling of outfits in NI; I've covered the new arrivals below:

 
Barrahooley have a trio of beers including probably NIs first black IPA, which I found to be rather tasty. Sadly yet to come across their other beers.

Boundary burst on to the scene after a highly successful crowd funding round (they're raising money again now). Whilst the core range in general doesn't quite do it for me its the specials which really excite, with the excellent Berliner Vice series and recent Filthy Animal chipotle Porter both ones to try. There's also a series of mid-strength IPAs (push and pull) that has throw up some interesting results. They rightfully took best new opening in my Irish #GoldenPints

Brewbot are known for their app controlled nanobrewery kits & delighted the Belfast beer scene with the launch of their bar; but they also brew beers of their own. They're occasionally on draught in the bar; but I've yet to come across any.

Nightcap brew a golden ale which I've not yet found in the shops

Lacada are another co-operative, this tame based in Portrush. They have a core range of a golden ale (needs work) session IPA (lovely when dry hopped on cask) and a porter (excellent - came runner up in my Golden Pints). They've only recently launched; so expect to find bottles covering the province in 2016.

When We Are Giants appear to be a contract operation, making an an irish ale a pale and a lager. The red actually had some leafy hopping and malt complexity to it which made it a cut above many others.

O'Connor have just a single golden ale so far; decent enough but not exactly filling a gap in the market.

Mourne Mountains wheat beer was very promising on keg at ABV but disappointing in bottle, as were the other two core beers. Both seasonals I've had have been enjoyable though, in particular the pumpkin porter which was luxuriant without overdoing the cakey spices. Also really like the thought that's gone in to their logo design.

Walled City actually arrived in the tail end of 2014; but as they weren't serving until May this year I'll include them here. Last month we popped along to the taproom, which has a tasty menu of tapas and larger plates, but more importantly a number of their own beers on draught. All were solid takes on classic styles with the Boom Derry Pale particularly enjoyable - ones to watch in 2016 for sure.

Knockout are another outfit who actually began in the tail end of 2014. A decent core range, the APA is actually hoppier than IPA and my pic of the bunch.

Edit: Maltmeister have recently launched, taking the NI total to 11. They have a wheat ale and a spiced seasonal ale, keep your eyes peeled!

If I've counted correctly there were 24 new outfits starting in 2015 in the south (I'm sure Andrew will correct me!)

Arthurstown brewed two beers in the Kevin Dundon range a standard golden and red ale one-two. Yet to try them but not overly bothered if I don't.

Boyne currently contract brew at White Gypsy and both the dortmunder and pale went down well at ABV fest; looking forward to trying others.

Brewtonic have contracted a couple of brews with Rascals to stock in their Dublin venues. I've not tried them but The Beer Nut has.

Connemara are a new Mayo outfit, just a golden ale thus far and we've not crossed paths.

Corrib brew the Wild Bat range and have only recently launched - I'll hopefully come across them in 2016.

Craftworks are a "Brew your own" facility but also brew their own range under the Postcard label. Their two lagers did nothing for me but I also have their (pricey) tripel which I'll crack open when I have someone to share it with.

A Kerry crowd called Crafty Divils make an amber ale under the name of King Puck.

A gluten free outfit called Desmond and Son has also a trio of beers I've some en route; so stay tuned for an update(if they're any good!)

Drew Fox brews the Cleverman range, fairly standard except for their smoked ale which is rather tasty.

Comedy? troupe Hardy Bucks have a lager contract brewed for them at Rye River...its apparently not worth parting with your pennies for though.

Hope are another Craftworks dwelling outfit, with their initial trio rough round the edges but showing some promise. The exotically spiced saison was rather interesting and would make for a decent pairing with well-spiced dishes particularly a thai green curry.

James Brown has brewed a chocolate Orange Stout and a rhubarb IPA, neither of which have the headline ingredients  particularly discernible which is somewhat disappointing. Having said that the stout is decent enough and picked up first best Irish beer at Killarney this year; so worth picking up if you see it.

We called in to Killarney brew co for an impromptu tour whilst waiting for proceedings to begin at the festival. Its an impressive set up, with obviously no shortage of cash from the outset which will always give a competitive advantage. Of course the best equipment counts for nowt if the brewer isn't up to scratch, but they've done well on that count too, with four decent beers with the (ruby) IPA and helles able to stand their ground against some of the more established players.

Ó Cléirigh in Cavan have been quite quiet thus far with just a ginger ale to their names. Correction: They produce an APA, IPA, a BestBitter & a Kölsch but I've yet to come across them. Look out for the Kölsch on draught in the Beer Market, Dublin.

Radikale is a new gypsy outfit brewing left of centre beers with both the rubanesque and hopster somewhat lacking in hops in bottle - disappointing given the reputation of the brewer.

Raven Brew are based at the Old Schoolhouse in Swords. I hope to make it to the pub next year as there have been good reports on their stout.

Rising Sons are a brewpub based in Cork, opening at the turn of the year. Its the new home of the excellent Mi Dazza stout formerly brewed at franciscan Well. They brew a core range and regular seasonal specials and their pizzas are pretty special too. If I'd been able to visit more than once they'd have been contender for best new opening

Simon Lambert and Sons impressed the Beoir cohort with their Yellowbelly on their recent trip, but I'm yet to come across them in the wild. 

Benwiskin started off at Craftworks with a competent Irish Red Ale and have now moved to Bru and are expanding their range.

Third Circle are also at craftworks with an Irish Red and a saison. Both have gotten off to an okay start but need dialling in somewhat. I wish that red ales weren't so ubiquitous though!

Torc are another Killarney outfit with a less common core range including a wheat beer and a dark ale (basically a mild) which were both pretty tasty on keg and cask respectively.

Another Wicklow outfit, bagging the name Wicklow Brewery based at Mickey Finn's pub but not tried yet.

Wood Key also began at Craftworks but now brew at Independent. Their red ale the Pilgrim encroaches on porter territory and is thus rather more enjoyable than the majority of reds on these shores. Their IPA is currently sat in a box shortly to be in my possession.

Edit: As pointed out below Carlingford Brewing  have also launched in Louth with a red ale and a pale.

So that's yer lot for 2015 (and at a total of 34 3620% 25%more than last year - though a lot are contracted), I didn't seem to do as well tracking them down this year as last (did have 200-odd all told though!); but that's perhaps a sign that newcomers are focussing on local markets first and are perhaps draught only. It does also suggest that their may now be a fight for space on already crowded independent bottle shops' shelves and this squeeze can only continue in 2016.

12 Beers of Xmas

After Andy posted his selection of twelve beers I decided it was about time to clear out my cellar a bit; so I'm joining in too (though may stick to Twitter for the daily beers). Hosted by the Beer O'Clock Show it seems like a good bit of social fun in the run up to Christmas. I picked 12 big beers that I've hung on to for far too long. So without further ado, I plan to work my way through these little beauties

Twickenham/Alvinne Old Ale has been slumbering for two years in my cellar, having spent a prior two years in a wine barrel. Should be interesting.

Rebel Mexi-Cocoa is from a small Cornish brewery but has picked up a bit of a cult status, I picked up this bottle to see what the fuss was about.

Evil Twin Christmas Eve At A New York City Hotel Room the name's a bit of a mouthful and at 10% I'm sure the beer will be too. Felicia at Prohibition brings Evil Twin beers in to NI; so was able to pick this up at my local offie. Have been impressed with some of Jeppe's beers in the past; so lets see what this brings.

Prairie OK-Si were one of my favourite discoveries last year with big stouts and farmhouse ales alike delighting the senses. This tequila barrel aged beauty falls in to the latter category.

Old Chimney's Redshank is the 2014 vintage of a barley wine brought to us by the makers of England's top rated beer; so it has good pedigree at least.

Camba Bavria Imperial Stout not a common style amongst largely traditional German brewers, lets see how they handle it! (Bottle via my regular trade partner Sabine (McTaps on Ratebeer) cheers!)

JW Lees Harvest Ale is a well regarded barley wine, this 2012 vintage should be nicely melded now.

Sambrooks No. 5 Barley Wine is a newer entrant (despite the old-world label). Their core range is solid; so lets see what they can do with a bigger beer.

Tiny Rebel NP10 provides something a little different -a Belgian golden ale from Wales. At 10% its very much a Duvel-a-like lets see if they can pull it off.

Ilkley Longhorn & World's End  are two barrel aged versions of past specials, Speyside and Islay respectively. Sometimes the barrel aging process can be over-done, lets see what it does to these two.

Swanay (nee Highland) Old Norwayis a 9%-er showing off what Maris Otter can do.


We're actually with family for Christmas week; so may fall behind, but will get all twelve beers blogged when I can. Look forward to reading everyone elses contributions!


If I get through those twelve I may reward myself with this special duo from Nogne O on New Years Day #1000 and #1001. Stay tuned!

Golden Pints: Ireland 2016

As per last year, I'd like to put together some nominations from the island of Ireland as this bog is all about highlighting the growing beer scene over here. I'm not going to look back at last years until after this post goes live; so it'll be just on my memory and ratebeer scores rather than being influenced by what went before. The usual provisio applies: I wasn't able to try everything that was released and if any more impress before the end of the year I reserve the right to amend my choices!

1. Best Cask Beer I've not had very much Irish cask this year as I missed the ICBCF, but I was able to attend the Franciscan Well winterfest. However I'm going to "cheat" slightly and nominate the Northbound 08 Kolsch which was on key-cask at the CAMRA beer festival.  Clean, fresh, flavourful - I had three pints which is a rarity in these days of halves and thirds.

Honourable mention: Lacada Stranded Bunny for tasting just as a porter should and filling a real gap amongst the Irish reds and dry stouts. If I'd had a chance to try it with more condition it could have taken the crown 

2. Best Keg Beer I've had a lot more of these, though largely what's been imported to the North as I've only been to Dublin a couple of times. The crown has to go to Eight Degrees for Gasman Rye for its sheer drinkability, which it has no right to have at 7.8%, a tropical melange of hops combatting with a robust and spicy body.

Honourable mention: There are far too many to list really, 2015 has been an excellent beer year but I was really impressed by Killarney Devils Helles a really crisp and nettley doughy pils like beer and the juxtaposition of clean malt and fruity hops that was Trouble Brewing Remix India Pale Lager.

3. Best Bottled/ Canned beer This one is much easier, has to be Galway Bay's Superlative 200 Fathoms. Last year's release was special this year was spot on and one of my highest rated Irish beers altogether. Honourable mentions Farmageddon Hopburst IPA - these guys had a run of infected bottles but this one showed off how the beer is intended, bright juicy tropical hops on a clean lightly bready malt profile. 

Boundary Filthy Animal a Christmas special which unfortunately sold out before I could get hold of any more bottles a lightly spicy and smoky rich porter, great with cheese or desserts alike.

4. Best Homebrew has to go to Shane's Raspberry Turbo, outright winner at Sourfest. Its the kind of beer I'd want to keep a few of in the fridge for its sheer enjoyability. Luckily a version of it is currently slumbering in a wine barrel at Boundary and is certainly a contender for best bottled beer next year!

5. Best Overall Beer is a tricky one but I think it has to be the Northbound 08 because it just surprised me on draught after having found it ho-hum in bottle. Its a year-round beer rather than a seasonal like the majority of my other picks this year, try it if you find it!

6.Best Brewery is becoming harder every year as the ranks of excellent breweries swell almost weekly. I could easily give this to Eight Degrees again, who haven't released a bad beer this year but that would be far too easy. Instead I think there's a brewery this year that's really dialled in its core range and released a raft of interesting specials with a head brewer who's really gotten into his stride. That brewery is of course Galway Bay. I can't claim to have loved everything but Foam and Fury continues to be a world class DIPA, the Voyager US IPA filled a real gap in the market and the sessionable kettle sours are real winners. Congrats Chris and team!

7. Best New Brewery -Killarney very much impressed on first outing earlier this summer; but I've not drunk enough to give them the crown. Instead this award goes to a brewery I've drunk monthly from their launch, with a solid core range (though admittedly not all to my taste) and a raft of specials and collaborations it has to be Boundary.(full disclosure: I am both a co-owner and good friends with Matthew the brewer, but I like to think the beer speaks for itself). The ethos behind the brewery and the buy in from the local community are the real things that make it stand out.

 8. Best Pub/ Bar has definitely been earned by The Sunflower. Woodfired pizza oven in the garden, host to Belfast beer Club, well kept beer on cask and a great range of local and international beer in the fridges. Saddened and angry to hear that redevelopment may lead to its demolition - I hope not but in the meantime please support it whilst you can.

 9. Best New Opening - I've not been to any new bars down south but there's one that immediately springs to mind in the north. I was a bit of a latecomer but I've now visited on a number of occasions and been impressed each time. 10 guest taps with regular takeovers and the biggest bottle list of perhaps any UK bar, interesting small snack plates and a buzzing atmosphere. The award this year goes to Brewbot.

 10. Best Food and Beer Pairing I've not eaten out as much this year, but one thing that really does stick in my mind is the fresh, lemony and mouth-filling creaminess of St Tola against the crisp, pithy and brightness of Eight Degrees Full Irish (Cheers to Mike at Fancy Cheese Co. for facilitating this!).

 11. Best Festival is really getting some real competition now, with some weekends having multiple events, especially during the summer months. I now have to pick and choose which to attend but in my mind there is one true stand out. Fantastic venue, excellent food and world class beer selection. Great feedback from all who attended - amazing considering its in its first year! This award belongs to ABV. (Disclosure time again: I worked the full weekend at the festival and know the organisers)

 12. Best Independent Retailer with a new growler fill station and probably still the best variety of Irish and international beers The Vineyard takes this again.

Honourable mentions: McHughs have made ammends for an inauspicious first few orders and continue to impress with the number of Irish beers they manage to find room for. I'm also very fortunate to have the Winerack in Stewartstown acting as my local good beer hotspot - though of course its helped that I've been able to advise on what should be stocked!