The random stuff thread

Creamy Goodness

Probably a long shot but I've a week in Saõ Paulo in a weeks time with a 9 hour layover in Madrid, anyone got any recommendations for good craft beer pubs for some drinks and some food in either location?

BeerNut

Not beer related, but La Venencia in Madrid is an amazing bar.

c - 13

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Probably a long shot but I've a week in Saõ Paulo in a weeks time with a 9 hour layover in Madrid, anyone got any recommendations for good craft beer pubs for some drinks and some food in either location?

Madrid really surprised me for beer selection last time I was there. I was expecting to be drinking Tropical/Cruz Campo for the week and was pleasantly surprised.

La Tape (Bar - www.latape.com)
Good spot for local beer. Food here was good too.

Irreale (Bar - https://www.facebook.com/irrealemadrid/)
Loved this place, seemed to stock a good selection of spanish beers. We were there for a hop hunters tap takeover. Great crowd, nice barstaff. Walking distance (2 - 3 min) from La Tape.

Madriz Hop Republic (Brewery - http://www.cervezasmadriz.com/)
Wasnt mad on this place. Very young crowd and very hipster. Couldnt even get standing room inside. Bottled beer only it seemed like, beer was pretty decent. Walking distance (10 min) from Irreale. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

Fabrica Maravillas (Brewery - http://www.fmaravillas.com/)
Busy spot, very small, decent beer. Not sure if there were tours running or not bcause we were there relatively late in the evening. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

El Pedal (Bar - www.facebook.com/CerveceriaElPedal)
Bit out of the way from the other bars but relatively close to El Rasto Market if you are going that way. Was very quiet when we where there. Opens later than the other (5PM I think?)

Naturbier has a brewery there but I wouldnt bother.

By far my favorite thing there was going to Be Hoppy (Off Licence - http://www.behoppymadrid.com/) picking up some local brews and walking on to Retiro park for the afternoon to sit about and people watch.

You want any further details on any of those let me know.

Creamy Goodness

Perfect, that's a great list guys. Now just need to ensure some of them open before noon as my flight back is at 3pm

BeerNut

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Perfect, that's a great list guys. Now just need to ensure some of them open before noon as my flight back is at 3pm

Good luck with that! Madrid is not a day-drinking sort of town in my experience.

Liamo08

c - 13 wrote: »

Madrid really surprised me for beer selection last time I was there. I was expecting to be drinking Tropical/Cruz Campo for the week and was pleasantly surprised.

La Tape (Bar - www.latape.com)
Good spot for local beer. Food here was good too.

Irreale (Bar - https://www.facebook.com/irrealemadrid/)
Loved this place, seemed to stock a good selection of spanish beers. We were there for a hop hunters tap takeover. Great crowd, nice barstaff. Walking distance (2 - 3 min) from La Tape.

Madriz Hop Republic (Brewery - http://www.cervezasmadriz.com/)
Wasnt mad on this place. Very young crowd and very hipster. Couldnt even get standing room inside. Bottled beer only it seemed like, beer was pretty decent. Walking distance (10 min) from Irreale. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

Fabrica Maravillas (Brewery - http://www.fmaravillas.com/)
Busy spot, very small, decent beer. Not sure if there were tours running or not bcause we were there relatively late in the evening. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

El Pedal (Bar - www.facebook.com/CerveceriaElPedal)
Bit out of the way from the other bars but relatively close to El Rasto Market if you are going that way. Was very quiet when we where there. Opens later than the other (5PM I think?)

Naturbier has a brewery there but I wouldnt bother.

By far my favorite thing there was going to Be Hoppy (Off Licence - http://www.behoppymadrid.com/) picking up some local brews and walking on to Retiro park for the afternoon to sit about and people watch.

You want any further details on any of those let me know.

I'd add the Stuyck Company http://thestuyckco.com/ to the above list - again though probably not gonna be open early in the day.

willowthewisp

Does anyone know why you can't really get stubby cans of the mainstream beer (Heineken, Bud, Coors, carlsberg, Bud Light, Miller etc ) in Ireland. I'm fond of the 330ml stubby myself.

rubadub

willowthewisp wrote: »

Does anyone know why you can't really get stubby cans of the mainstream beer (Heineken, Bud, Coors, carlsberg, Bud Light, Miller etc ) in Ireland. I'm fond of the 330ml stubby myself.

I still see heineken the odd time, its usually relatively expensive, 330ml bottles would be cheaper, 20 odd years ago it was nearly always the other way around.

I reckon they are gone due to economies of scale producing them. The shops would have to charge a lot working on the same margins so I expect they would not sell well. Bottles became popular overtime and presumably became cheaper to produce due to economies of scale. If people want smaller amounts they stick to the longnecks -many people still view bottles as being far superior to cans.

I like the 440ml can size myself.

BaZmO*

Was pleased to see cans of Metalman Pale Ale on sale in my local Tesco......until I saw the price, €3.99!!!

Sure you'd almost get a pint for that price!

ciaran76

The Old school house in Swords building a brewery. Just read the signage outside it.

Lovely Bloke

I'm a hundred percent sure they've been brewing there for a few years now.

Subcomandante Marcos

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

I'm a hundred percent sure they've been brewing there for a few years now.

Tiny batches on a tiny kit.

ciaran76

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

I'm a hundred percent sure they've been brewing there for a few years now.

Yeah I drank the Pale ale and Stout last night. But I think they do only do very small batches. By the looks of it they are digging deep so should be much bigger.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

WJK gone again, that's the second time a craft enterprise has failed on that site.

Subcomandante Marcos

Pearl Silly Stucco wrote: »

WJK gone again, that's the second time a craft enterprise has failed on that site.

WJK?

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

WJ Kavanagh's on Dorset St

matrim

Pearl Silly Stucco wrote: »

WJ Kavanagh's on Dorset St

Damn. It was never very busy but there were always people in there.

Although in saying that their craft selection was very hit and miss and seemed to be getting worse. The last few times I was there, they had an increasing number of taps not kegged and the fridges in the shelves in their offie were getting more bare.

L1011

Any good bars in Porto? Athough the weather is making the Sagres taste wonderful as it is.

L1011

Found a few candidates but they open late or not early in the week mostly. First is immensely dear for Porto - a whole 9 euro for a pint of a local 7% IPA and a pint of Sam Adams.

L1011

Continuing the solo run of posts, Porto does have a pretty good craft scene. bog all on Ratebeer so I assumed I'd be on Sagres all week.

Coincidentally the annual beer fest was on. 100% outdoor and opened at 1pm as today is Corpus Christi and a lot of people are off work.

About 30 breweries, nearly all Iberian with one Brazilian, one Polish and one importer who was doing Mikeller and Brew Dog. Realistically far too hot during the afternoon for two pasty paddies. Bigger food van selection than you'd ever get at an Irish fest. Loads of people with kids etc. No entry fee but you had to have the official glass to get served which was €3.

Seems to be about 6 craft only bars; actually there's very few bars at all as most drinking is in cafes. Price range from what seems dirt cheap in Ireland (2.50 a pint) to one place that was nuts for Ireland (€8 a pint). Letraria is definitely the best of the lot - big range on tap, beer garden is an actual garden many times the size of the pub and the food is decent.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

Yellowbelly with a Buckfast flavoured lager.

Jesus

L1011

The Journals request to TDs about whether they'd ever had a "bag of cans" shows a decent enough knowledge of their local craft producers, but not of whether they actually do cans

http://www.dailyedge.ie/bag-of-cans-irish-politicians-3452187-Jun2017/?r_dir_d=1

Pretty sure of the names mentioned, only Yellowbelly do cans.

4 of 20 go for craft; 3 reference a constituency based brewer, Noel Rock likes his stuff to come from Waterford or Scotland.

MonkstownHoop

Seen Wicklow Wolf IPA in Dunnes today, €4.05 a bottle!

Zaph

I'll be up in Belfast at the weekend. Anyone have any recommendations for off-licences that are worth stopping off in on the way back for a decent selection of craft beers that you wouldn't normally find down here? Got a couple of suggestions elsewhere but they weren't really on my route and time might be a bit tight so I don't want to stray too far off the motorway.

BeerNut

Doubt there's much of interest between The Vineyard on the Ormeau Road and McHugh's on the Kilbarrack Road.

Subcomandante Marcos

The Drink Link in Newry beats both.

Zaph

Thanks guys.

L1011

Off to Basel in two weeks. Any decent bars, and does Basel-Mulhouse-Frieburg airport have anything decent spirits wise in duty free? Have a checked back so can do the duty free outbound in DUB.

L1011

Bought a litre of Gordons in DUB (after commenting that their selection of gin is wildly expensive), duty free and with their Black Friday bollox 15% off. €17. This was to avoid what I assumed would be obscene Swiss prices for some level of pre-drinking in the hotel

Land in BSL, there's an arrivals duty free. Litre of Gordons for €13.06. Some decent whiskey prices as well but its all the very common NAS products.

Actually I think its still less than €17 on the plane. DAA duty free really is becoming pointless.

Zaph

L1011 wrote: »

Bought a litre of Gordons in DUB (after commenting that their selection of gin is wildly expensive), duty free and with their Black Friday bollox 15% off. €17. This was to avoid what I assumed would be obscene Swiss prices for some level of pre-drinking in the hotel

Land in BSL, there's an arrivals duty free. Litre of Gordons for €13.06. Some decent whiskey prices as well but its all the very common NAS products.

Actually I think its still less than €17 on the plane. DAA duty free really is becoming pointless.

My father-in-law promotes Irish whiskey at the airport. We were in his local SuperValu yesterday and he told me that the prices there were significantly less than you'd pay in the airport. I think there was something like a €7 difference on the most basic bottle of one of his brands. Why would you bother?