What beer are we drinking this week ?

ciaran76

Not usually a cider drinker but the family persuaded me to drink the local Armagh Long Meadow cider.
I had a sweet cider there was also a medium.
Quite sweet but not over the top and not too carbonated. Not bad actually and would say it would be perfect in a hot summers day.

Grayditch

It actually only occurred to me today that all the Galway Bay beers are named after maritime related terms...

blueshed

got this as part of an xmas present, http://thebeerdiary.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/craft-beer-365-best-beers-in-the-world/ at a push i reckon i knew 20% of the beers.

Hotblack Desiato

Grayditch wrote: »

It actually only occurred to me today that all the Galway Bay beers are named after maritime related terms...

Ah, I bet you thought it was one of these, don't worry, that's not embarrassing at all

Grayditch

I just never realised they were all exclusively sea references. I was playing a pirate game on the Playstation and realising they had mentioned about 3 or 4 of the G.B names, and then realised that wasn't a co-incidence. Literally let out a big "OOOohhhhhh, riiiight!"

Andre Salmon

I opened the kinsale mini keg on Christmas day. Wasn't impressed,. My dad and bil thought it was disgusting. They aren't craft drinkers though.
I had 2 glasses of it but as I was doing all the cooking I didn't have time to have any more. I moved on to wine & green spot
Had a couple of glasses again next day but deffo a waste of beer money for me!
The modus hoperandi on the other hand is great beer, great value too.
Opened one of my Franciscan well stout in jameson cask tonight and it's really lovely, just sipping it with a bond flick on

adamski8

Andre Salmon wrote: »

I opened the kinsale mini keg on Christmas day. Wasn't impressed,. My dad and bil thought it was disgusting. They aren't craft drinkers though.
I had 2 glasses of it but as I was doing all the cooking I didn't have time to have any more. I moved on to wine & green spot
Had a couple of glasses again next day but deffo a waste of beer money for me!
The modus hoperandi on the other hand is great beer, great value too.
Opened one of my Franciscan well stout in jameson cask tonight and it's really lovely, just sipping it with a bond flick on

hmmm im drinking it (BIPA) atm with a mate who isnt the biggest craft fan and we are both really enjoying it. the keg works very well nice flow out of it and doesnt foam up, leaving a nice carbonation level. he remarked thats its very similiar to 5am saint, while i dont agree i do see where he is coming from. probably a tad nicer on draft but still the best black ipa ive had.

Andre Salmon

adamski8 wrote: »

hmmm im drinking it (BIPA) atm with a mate who isnt the biggest craft fan and we are both really enjoying it. the keg works very well nice flow out of it and doesnt foam up, leaving a nice carbonation level. he remarked thats its very similiar to 5am saint, while i dont agree i do see where he is coming from. probably a tad nicer on draft but still the best black ipa ive had.

Well glad you are enjoying it, I know a fair few people on here said they were as well. Just my taste, I found it was a ho hum English style ale. And yeah carbonation/ pouring was good.

Heroditas

Currently sipping on Dungarvan's Coffee and Oatmeal stout. Far superior to last year's version.
Earlier I had a White Gypsy Yule Ol. Nice.

Also had a McGargles IPA.
Pleasantly surprised because it's far superior to that muck they're passing off as a red. Carbonation is a bit limp but better than the red.
However, I really don't think it's a classic IPA. Certainly a lot different to the standard US or UK IPAs.

ciaran76

I had a hoppy Xmas.

Lovely Bloke

ciaran76 wrote: »

I had a hoppy Xmas.

even with the O'Hara's?

:eek:

Grayditch

ciaran76 wrote: »

I had a hoppy Xmas.

I meant to get a Hoptimum for Chrimbo, but I didn't see it anywhere all month.

Seaneh

In the brew dock sipping a BAS while waiting for a bus and noticed they have a new thingy.

They cleared a shelf of old glasses and crap they don't use and now have a shelf with every bottled stout they sell on it.

Nice idea, I find a lot of stouts aren't great fresh from the fridge and need ages to warm up, so this cuts that out.

Reminds me of auld lads drinking large bottles of Guinness or whatever off the shelf down the country.

ciaran76

Grayditch wrote: »

I meant to get a Hoptimum for Chrimbo, but I didn't see it anywhere all month.

I bought the last of them in Nov.;)

Grayditch

Thornbridge Hall "Bracia". 10% Rich Dark Ale. You can taste all the flavours it mentions on the bottle, but I'm not sure they come together for something unique. It's a bit to red-winey for me.

Tube

Doing a bit of study at the moment...

Herb Powell

Tasted the Black's Black IPA there. Gorgeous!

Heroditas

Currently sipping on a Hardknot Queboid. Lovely DIPA.

Colonel Sanders

Been working my way through the stock of O'Hara's I bought in Dunnes before Xmas

Must admit a few of the Leann Follain were flat as a pancake. Not sure if it's something I did re storage or what (don't think I did anything different to what I usually do). The 2 I has last night were spot on. Having a pale ale now, lovely jubbly!

Sir Arthur Daley

Polishing off the last bottle of liunatic soup, lovely tack as punch.

Insect Overlord

O'Hara's Double IPA is... okay. Drinkable, like.

Ravelleman

Insect Overlord wrote: »

O'Hara's Double IPA is... okay. Drinkable, like.

I have a bottle of this but the faint praise it has been receiving here has made it drop down on my list of priority beers. What's it lacking?

Lovely Bloke

Ravelleman wrote: »

I have a bottle of this but the faint praise it has been receiving here has made it drop down on my list of priority beers. What's it lacking?

It's not exactly "lacking" anything really, it's just NOT a

Double INDIA Pale Ale.

It's not as hoppy as a DIPA, and as a result the caramel malt character shines through that bit more.

Compared to O'Hara's Irish Pale Ale it's a passable Double.

Labelling and style names are affecting people's perception of this beer, imo. Mine included by the way.

When you me or anyone else sees the name DIPA on a bottle we are entitled to expect something other than what's in that bottle which O'Hara's have labelled DIPA, however, if you expect something else then you won't be disappointed.

It is my opinion that O'Hara's rather sneakily put the letters IPA on their pale ale offering way back when - claiming the "I" stands for "Irish" - when in the rest of the world it stands for "India" and is a completely different style of beer.

O'Hara's IPA is a good Pale Ale in the Irish style (Metalman also tbh), and this DIPA is probably a good Double version of that style.

drumswan

It doesn't say IPA on the pale ale.

Ravelleman

drumswan wrote: »

It doesn't say IPA on the pale ale.

Not directly but the first letter of each of the words, Irish, Pale and Ale are in bold script. I think we can all agree what this is meant to imply.

Ipso

Lagunita's Czech Pils, nice beer with a bitter taste I can't place. I'll try another tonight.

Heroditas

Ravelleman wrote: »

Not directly but the first letter of each of the words, Irish, Pale and Ale are in bold script. I think we can all agree what this is meant to imply.

Not as bad as Trouble's "IPA" though. Seriously, how it can be called an IPA, I'll never know.

Seaneh

So, sometimes I flat sit for a friend on the quays while they are away (well, I look after her cats), I've been staying there every other night for the past 10ish days (besides the christmas few days home in Athlone).

Tonight I decided I'd break out the beoir app and see what's local and worth trying.

Now, I'm a 10 minute walk (at most) from Mulligan's but I decided I'd keep it ever localer.

First stop was Ryans. They had two metal man beers, hooker and an O'Hara's (red I think?) on tap.

Had a metalman, was as good as always and only €4.70, which I think is good value, considering we are in Dublin.

After that I walked across the road to Dice Bar.
In there I had a "Revolution Red" by "Big Hand Brewery" who claim to be from Dublin.

It was pathetic, a really bad representation of the style, reminded me of the likes of Killians "irish" red in the states, which is basically a crap lager with food colouring in it.

No nose off it, feck all malt profile and not much hops profile either.
Probable a good thing it was served as cold as a witches tit as even at that I struggled to finish it.

They say that the beers are brewed by the same people who set up Dublin Brewing Co. in the mid nineties, which I think* would make this beer a "sister" beer of the well traveled "Barrel Head Pale Ale" which is still being made by both Sweetmans and Fran Well (well, kind of, they are totally different beers at this stage), but if the same brewer developed both beers, he's either got very lucky the pale ale or had a total off day with the red ale.

The Bar was also serving a "Dublin Steam Lager" baring the brand "Anchor Brewery Dublin", but if the red ale (and my suspicions of it) are anything to go by, it's probably just rebadged macro swill so I didn't bother.



Whoever is making that red ale should be ashamed of themselves, I really hope it's not one of the Irish micro's as it tastes like crap.




*Could be wrong about barrell head being a Dublin Brewing Co. beer.

Ravelleman

Seaneh wrote: »

After that I walked across the road to Dice Bar.
In there I had a "Revolution Red" by "Big Hand Brewery" who claim to be from Dublin.

It wasn't just Caledonia Smooth, was it?!

Grayditch

I really don't know much about the micro or macro industry. One thing does bother me though is the idea of some macro beer being rebranded as a craft beer, especially in this country.

It's as undignified as, I dunno... Westlife turning up to a battle of the bands in brown cords and army jackets looking for a little of that indie action.

Or Rachel Allen dressing up as an aul one and hitting the community bake sales.

Cheap beer tastes like cheap beer. You won't fool everyone.