04/10/2013

Kinnegar

Another new brewery in Ireland is Kinnegar, based in County Donegal, Ireland, was built commencing March this year. First beers began appearing in August, a great turnaround of less than 6 months. You can see the progress updates on their blog below.
They have a striking brand of a leaping hare on single coloured background which certainly helps them to stand out on ever increasingly full shelves. They currently have a core range of four beers with a few specials, all available in bottle and I managed to pick up three of them from Drinkstore in Dublin.

Strong branding in primary colours


Limeburner is a "Northern Pale Ale" @4.9% pouring slightly hazy pale gold  with dusty grainstore and slight nectarines on the nose. Gentle carbonation, sweet malt, minimal hops. Not unpleasant nor exciting and would appeal to lager drinkers.





Devil's Backbone is a "Northern Amber Ale"- 4.9%. Ruby amber with caramel sweetness and red berries. Gentle carbonation. Well balanced fruity bitter. Not quite as expected but well flavoured with a selection of malts making it a bit different to your typical Irish red.



Scraggy Bay IPA is 5.3% & hazy burnished gold with steady stream of fine bubbles with tight white head. Sweet mango and dusty grainstore on the nose. Medium carbonation, full bodied dry shortcake malt, touch of lemon. Dry herbal finish. Well made but unexciting.




A promising start, bolstered by their great branding, but perhaps made a little too conservatively for them to be regular beers for me, though Scraggy Bay would go down well chilled on a summer's day. I'm hoping to get hold of a bottle of their fourth core beer, Rustbucket Rye, a Rye PA. I'd like to see some darker beers too; though not necessarily a stout because we're awash with them already! But feel free to disagree with me by trying them for  yourself!

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