What beer are we drinking this week, too?

Lovely Bloke

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

Interested to hear what the carrig amber is like.

Cool, I'll open that one next so

I'm not particularly taken with the Mels Pale tbh, feck all head retention, and the bittering hops are a bit too much, with not much aroma to complement.

lk67

Heroditas wrote: »

Yeah I was looking up Solas and all I could find was a Scottish brewery? I wonder if they're importing it.

I'd imagine they are brewing it in Kildare as per label or they'd be in real trouble. I'd say it's a budget brand to compete with O'Sheas in Aldi.

Lovely Bloke

not much going on in the Amber imo

laros

not much going on in the Amber imo

Have to agree... I thought the Helles Lager was the nicest of the range...

Lovely Bloke

I'm so disappointed with the two I've had tonight, this Amber and the Mel's pale ale.

I drank a pale ale of my own home brew and it was better than both, and I'm not just saying that

jsa112

Were you expecting a really great IPA and amber ale ? All these irish breweries are releasing bland ipa's and red ales to be honest. Should have just got some 8 degrees beers

At least the weird beard beer should be good though

Lovely Bloke

Yep, I expected more tbh, the standard has improved with Irish brewers, but these two are nowhere near the mark.

Ronan|Raven

I have been disappointed with the St mels pale ale. Much prefer their brown ale. Just in the three tun tavern. Hardly anything left on cask. Cheap cans of bengali tiger will have to do!

drumswan

St Mel's Pale Ale is terrible, how it got released in the state its in is beyond me.

Despite some great stuff happening in Irish brewing at the leading edge, there is a world of mediocre at best beer being turned out.

I've a feeling some of the latest generation of Irish brewers are less beer people than people with an eye on the business. They don't seem to have any context for the flavour of the beers they are selling, or indeed understand that they are putting these beers on a shelf next to US, UK and European imports which are far, far superior.

BeerNut

drumswan wrote: »

I've a feeling some of the latest generation of Irish brewers are less beer people than people with an eye on the business.

There's a bit of that. But I'd say there's an awful lot of people starting breweries who aren't beer enthusiasts to begin with, and that's fatal. Imagine a novel by someone who has only read a couple of books but reckons they know how storytelling and characterisation works, enough to get a few hundred pages out anyway.

The man behind St Mel's Pale Ale also created Leann Folláin, so he's definitely not one of them.

BaZmO*

It's the old chestnut though, just because something is "craft" doesn't mean it's good, and conversely, just because something is "macro" doesn't mean it's bad.

lk67

I liked both the St. Mel's brown and the pale. Thought they were well made and balanced, especially the brown.

I guess everyone has a different palate...

I would agree that some newer brews are perhaps a little dumbed down, as perhaps the brewers don't want to scare off first time craft beer drinkers?

But at least we have the likes of Black's, White Hag and others.

the beer revolu

At this stage I don't bother trying new Irish beers unless I've heard something good about them.
Not so long ago everyone here would have rushed out to try the new Irish beer.

I really liked the White Hag IPA. It's a shame though that time, effort, thought, ink and label space went into all that nonsense on the bottle.

Why do breweries think we want a history /folklore/myth/legend lesson?
All we want to know about is what's in the bottle, right?

writhen

Trigger17 wrote: »

Brú brewery from Co. Meath have an absolutely cracking range of beers/ales, well worth a try

I find that red ale absolutely vile. In truth I'm not that fussed with most red ales but the Bru red ale is particularly not to my taste.

lk67

the beer revolu wrote: »

At this stage I don't bother trying new Irish beers unless I've heard something good about them.
Not so long ago everyone here would have rushed out to try the new Irish beer.

I really liked the White Hag IPA. It's a shame though that time, effort, thought, ink and label space went into all that nonsense on the bottle.

Why do breweries think we want a history /folklore/myth/legend lesson?
All we want to know about is what's in the bottle, right?

With such wildly opposing views on beers - even on this thread - I feel compelled to try every new brew. You can't trust other peoples' palates unless you know theirs is indentical to yours. Can you?

(And I'm not a beer ticker, honest. )

Also I love White Hag's marketing in general. Although I think it might be targeted to a US audience, much like their beers.

The Mig

Is there anywhere in Dublin I'd pick this beer up? Had a few on holidays and it was lovely stuff

Ravelleman

The above looks like a standard pale lager so there probably isn't a place in the market for it here, what with all the other imported pale lagers.

If you're looking for the old-world feel you could just buy yourself some Quilmes, though, to be honest, it's not worth paying the premium price for it.

blueshed

Stroke Politics wrote: »

Picked up a 12th Abbey Pale Ale, new producer from Co Meath, and a Bo Bristle Amber Ale. 12th Abbey ok, enjoyed the Bo Bristle more....

i think the 12th Abbey is contract brewed by Bru

Lovely Bloke

Hmm, Agent Provocateur is nice.

G rock

Having a white hag wit.

Totally taken aback to see white hag in my local (backwater) offie.

Didn't try it in the rds, since it's not a style I normally go for, but I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot.

Have the ipa in the fridge too, happy days!

Ryath

Was up in Dublin for the day on Thursday so had some lunch in Against the Grain. Tried Of Foam and Fury for the first time really liked it. Followed by a pint of their Goodbye Blue Monday oatmeal IPA nice but not a patch on the foam and fury.

Got a few bottle's of Franciscan Well's Rebel red and their weiss beer to try during the week. Have had the rebel red on draught before and liked it but was not impressed with the bottle. The weiss was ok not as good as the real deal like a schmeider weiss.

Just finished a bottle of White gypsy's Emerald. Wasn't bad much more delicate than I expected. Was expecting it to be hoppier. Won't be trying it again though at that price.

the beer revolu

Black's Rocketship IPA, Bierhaus, Cork.
Not as good as the cask version but a fantastic beer all the same.
€5.60 a pint - bargain!

Joekers

Got charged 6 euro for a pint of macardles yesterday and the receipt read premium craft beer

Lovely Bloke

Joekers wrote: »

Got charged 6 euro for a pint of macardles yesterday and the receipt read premium craft beer

which pub, sounds like the barman was just stupid.

Joekers

Slatterys in Ringsend, thats what I thought myself that the barman just hadn't got a clue what he was doing

Ravelleman

Joekers wrote: »

Got charged 6 euro for a pint of macardles yesterday and the receipt read premium craft beer

Did you pay the price?

Amusingly enough, Mulligan's of Poolbeg St have Macardles down on their craft beer list too.

Joekers

Ravelleman wrote: »

Did you pay the price?

Amusingly enough, Mulligan's of Poolbeg St have Macardles down on their craft beer list too.

Yea I paid it but left after it and headed to the Bath

Ravelleman

Joekers wrote: »

Yea I paid it but left after it and headed to the Bath

Therein lies the problem. If you thought the price was wrong, you should have said it!

Son0vagun

Just tried White Hags Irish IPA, Oktoberfest and Wit Beer. Sadly the cap was loose on the Oktoberfest and it was flat, but there was a lot of flavour there. I absolutely loved their Irish IPA and their Wit Beer is tasty too.

As for the labels, you don't have to read them! I love a bit of Folk Lore!

Here's some White Hag Beer Porn I took.
http://instagram.com/p/u8Df38SsJ8/

drumswan

The White Hag stuff is obviously branded for the US market