Bay Brewery rebranding and launch.

Seaneh

So this past sunday in the Oslo in salthill Bar Brewery launched their new rebranded name Galway Bay Brewery (with new logo) and launched their new line of beers.

Gone is the Bay Lager and in comes the impressive Stormy Port Porter.
The Red stay but is a slightly improved recipe which should be a nice change for people.

The Porter is fantastic, in my opinion, better than 8 degree's newly launched knockmedown and Troubles Drak Arts (both exceptional brews in their own right) and up there with the best of what's being brewed in the country right now.

It's a lot different than I was expecting, less sweet, more rounded and extremely drinkable. I was expecting it to be all chocolate and malassas and it was but there was a lot of bitterness in there and a little bit of citrus to round it off.

From talking to the lads they say it's still a work in progress so to expect changes in comming months but I really like it.

It's not in the same league as O'Hara's amazing Leann Follain but it's a damned sight ahead of the likes of Hooker or any of the other pales being produced here.

Looking forward to it being rolled out in their bars in the near future

Ruben Remus

I tried Stormy Port at the cask festival in The Oslo last Sunday and was really impressed with it also. Not sure I'd rank it ahead of Dark Arts, but it's certainly similar in terms of quality.

The cask festival was a nice idea and gave me a chance to try a number of lovely beers I hadn't had on cask before, such as the Galway Hooker Dark Wheat beer, Fuller's ESB and Porterhouse Hop Head.

Ruben Remus

Speaking of good beer in Galway, I was in Naughton's (Tigh Neactain) on Cross Street last weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find that they now have the Galway Hooker Dark Wheat beer on tap (it's called Opus II, if my memory serves). It was darker than I expected and looked just like a stout. Very tasty stuff.

Seaneh

I tried that in the Oslo last sunday from a cask and found it extremely bland, it's nowhere near stout in colour, it's a dark red alright, maybe a kinda burnt toffee colour at a push.

It's fine at first sip but the middle is average and there is no back end to the taste.

If I was in town and it was that or say hino, I'd have one no bother but I wouldn't go out of my way to drink it.


That said, it could taste very different with a blast of nitro through it so I will give it a lash again.

Also, I'd just had a glass of Stormy Port and a sip of Hop Head so I might not have had the cleanest palette!

Ruben Remus

I left the Hop Head until last and was glad I did - I reckon its level of hoppiness would significantly affect the taste of anything that came after it. The Dark Wheat is quite different (nicer, in my opinion) on tap than on cask.

It's good to see the Irish microbreweries experimenting with new styles.

Ruben Remus

Seaneh wrote: »

it's nowhere near stout in colour

Not that it really matters, but I stumbled upon a review of the beer on the Tale of the Ale blog which also disagrees with you on this point.

Tale of the Ale wrote: »

The first thing about this beer is that it pours like a stout, look how dark it is.

http://www.taleofale.com/2009/03/porterhouse-beer-whiskey-festival.html

Seaneh

It really wasn't that dark last sunday from the cask