Ale in Dublin

jonnybadd

Hey, I've recently started drinking ale over lager when I'm out of a night, but its can be hard to find a decent ale to sup at home, most off-licenses have Smithwicks but theres just something about it I don't like from a can. Are there any good ales freely available from off-licenses? Mainly around the City Center as none of the off-licenses around me stock anything regarding ale, with the exception of Smithwicks of course. Also any pubs that would have some nice variations of ale?

oblivious

A number of good off licences, Molloys are one are selling Chimay and other Belgian beers and I think Tesco is sell Fullers London pride

guildofevil

Fullers London Pride is an excellent beer and you can get it in Tesco's, as oblivious, pointed out. You can also find other Fullers beers in some off licences.

Molings Traditional Red Ale (The Carlow Brewing Company) can be found in most off licences.

Other ale's you might find off licences are Shepherd Neame's offerings, like Bishops Finger, Hopback's Summer lightning, or Badger Brewery's Golden Champion.

If you like India Pale Ale, keep an eye out for, Sierra Nevada, Goose Island, Little Creatures and Caledonian.

Belgian ales are another world altogether and have some of my favourite beers counted among their number. Chimay, Duval, Orval, La Trappe, La Chouffe, poperings hommel beer, etc. are all excellent beers but whether they are what you expect from Ale, is another thing.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to go to an off licence with a good selection and buy a bunch of beers you haven't tried before.

dereko1969

hi, whereabouts are you, might be able to direct you to a decent offie. if you're in town - or bray, glasnevin the porterhouse have TSB which is a really nice ale, they would also have a good selection of bottled ales including nearly all the ones guildofevil mentioned. the offie in stoneybatter (can't remember name - drink store?) is great for ales as is mchughs who are on the kilbarrack road (coast end) and in raheny i think. superquinn are now stocking london pride which is a great great beer and they and tesco both have it at a really good price too. a website called www.realbeer.ie has an excellent choice of ales (delivery is a little expensive though) You do realise your life will never be the same after entering the world of ale? oh another great beer is bitter and twisted it has lovely grapefruity bitterness.

gurramok

Kilkenny Ale imo is a decent ale from the can, available in most offies for €2.
Also some pubs have it, though not many!

As mentioned, the porterhouse have good homebrew stuff. TSB is actually a stout afaik.
Have a pint of red(ale) instead...delicious stuff.

Adeptus Titanicus

Redmonds in Ranelagh do a very good range of English Ales. I can't remember them all but it's like an Aladdin's Cave! A good range of all sorts of beer from all over really.

gurramok wrote:

TSB is actually a stout afaik.

It's a Bitter (Turner's Sticklebract Bitter to be exact ).

Having said that, I just checked their own website and it says:

Porterhouse Website wrote:

Made to arecipe originally brewed by Deasy's of West Cork in the early 1900's. This was Michael Collins' favourite tipple - a stout like your gradfather used to drink. A fine fullsome stout, full in every way, a pungent aroma of late kettle hops. A generous quantity of roast grain for flavour, bitter with flaked barley producing that body.

Which is definitely wrong as this refers to the Wrastlers 4X Stout.

Blub2k4

Try and find Speckled Hen, it has to be one of the nicest ales I've tried, although a good hand pumped bass can be pretty good too.

noby

Speckled Hen, Hen's Tooth, London Pride are all good.
As guild said, Shepherd Neame are good ales that pop up in a few offys. My new favourite is 1698, their bottle conditioned strong ale.

bigears

Another vote for Bitter & Twisted, I've just brewed a clone of this in fact. It's a Golden Ale which is more of a crossover beer, looks an tastes a little like a better lager but it's an ale. It's late hopped with Styrian Goldings which gives it the lemon style 'twist'. Fullers make several good ales other than London Pride such as London Porter, 1845 and ESB. If you like Sierra Nevada you should also try Anchor Brewing's Liberty Ale. Coopers ales (Sparkling, Pale, and Extra Stout) are all good, not to mention all the others I've forgotten On the Northside I find the best stockists are Lilac Wines in Fairview, McHugh's Kilbarrack & Artane and Sweeney's in Phibsboro.

oblivious

Tasters in the Blanch centre has a good range of ale’s

Adeptus Titanicus

Blub2k4 wrote:

Try and find Speckled Hen, it has to be one of the nicest ales I've tried, although a good hand pumped bass can be pretty good too.

I tried making a clone of this a couple of weeks ago. Will be bottling it this weekend probably. Gets my vote as a really nice ale too (hence trying to replicate it)!

They have this in Redmonds in Ranelagh too

Actually, another of my favourite ales is Hobgoblin which you can find in some offies in Dublin.

jonnybadd

Cheers for all the good advice lads, will definitly pick up a nice selection for over Christmas. I know Mchughs and Lilac wines well, grew up down the road from Mchughs and most of the get-togethers over the Christmas will be in that general area so I'll have a good gander.

Cheers again!

highlight100

Has anyone tried Beamish Red?

oblivious

Love the stuff, I know Pete’s pub near St Stephens green center and Clontarf castle has it, don’t know of anywhere else in Dublin

bigears

Kavanagh's (Marino House) on the bottom of the Malahide Road has it. I haven't tried it as Smithwick's/Kilkenny leave me cold. Is it different/better? I love the Porterhouse Red but I've found the 'big brewer' red ales quite bland.

oblivious

I find Smithwick's a bit to light, Beamish Red I like more than Diageo offering. I remember it having a little more body and flavor than Smithwick's. I like the porter house red but find it a little to hopped to let the malt flavor to come through fully, but it still a nice beer

bigears

I'll have to try it for research purposes in that case

noby

Smithwick's has to be drank at room temperature to get any real flavours from it, and from the bottle can be an ok red.

I've never tried the Beamish red. Must look out for it.

I had some Porterhouse red over the weekend, and it was full of sweet malt flavours, with loads of butter, toffee and chocolate. They were delicious.
I know I sound a bit like Oz Clarke there, but I did have a hot chocolate on the way to the pub, which probably helped accentuate the flavours. Hops were defenitely well in the background.

happy_acid_face

The World Beers Market has really kicked off over the last couple of years so im going to list a few popular Ales that i know are in my local McHughs, but i'd say can be found in most off licences in the city...

Old Speckled Hen ---> got to be my favourite. Excellent Ale with a really nice colour.
Admans Broadside ---> Very close second. Very very smooth, nice Ale, without losing strength (6.7%)
Newcastle Brown Ale ---> Very good from a bottle and should be available more than any other ale im listing.
Most of the Fullers Range ---> ESB and Honey Dew stand out the most to me...
Shepards Neame Range ---> Spitfire, Bishops Finger, Celebration Ale would be my favoured of the brand.
Coopers Sparkling/Pale Ale ---> Austrailian Ale that is many off licences around Dublin City. Try this one if you have just moved from beer! It still holds the nice characteristics of a beer but is still very much an ale!
Cirlcemaster and Hobgoblin ---> Not my most favoured bt still very good popular ale. Everyone has there own taste though!
Hens Tooth ---> A Nice Strong Ale. (if i remember correctly)
Old Peculiar ---> A1 Ale. If you see, buy!
White Sheid ---> Again, if you see, definatly worth a shot!

Theres a few to keep in mind... If you find any of these, i'd love to here what you thought of them!

bigears

I haven't had Adnams, I must look out for this as I've heard good things about it. I've tried most of the others and Fuller's are probably my current favourite. London Pride, London Porter and ESB are all fantastic and the excellent 1845 will be my tipple after Christmas dinner this year - it has such a fruity spicy flavour, it almost tastes like Christmas cake. I don't like their golden ales funnily enough, as I find Honey Dew and Discovery too sweet.

dereko1969

bigears - totally agree with you on the fullers discovery and honey dew, they just don't work for me whereas i love all their other beers, their london porter is fantastic too. the only place i've seen adnams is in mchughs on the kilbarrack road which is a great shop for ales. when i was in scotland earlier this year i brought back a good few deuchars ipa and caledonian 80 shilling, both excellent beers, haven't seen either of them available here though. think i may have to go on a beer run to sainsbury in lisburn in the new year (too mental coming up to christmas to stock up beforehand).

bigears

deuchars ipa is a cracking beer, i got it once in oddbins in blanchardstown but i don't get out that side of town too often. i think i've asked in about a dozen places since but it doesn't seem anyone is bringing it in. i haven't tried 80 shilling. if you do go to sainsbury's maybe you could keep note of what they stock?

oblivious

I love the caledonian 80 shilling, had it on my stag Edinburgh,