Breaking Up With An Old Favourite!

here's a tip with 330mls

Pout two of them into a pint glass, then top up with the rest after a mouthful.

Pen Rua

I feel like this thread would be better suited to one of the more established ones on this subforum.

I have found GBB output to be pretty strong, and not overwhelming. As a comparison, there was a period last year it felt like Whiplash had 2-3 new beers each month. It was hard to keep up with and they all became samey. Whiplash have dialled it way back, and I think that is a good thing.

GBB in recent memory have had barley wines, BA stouts, non-BA stouts, sour IPA, hazy IPAs, cold IPA, pale ales and saisons. Pretty diverse and all of a good standard (to me).

I do miss the milk stout, and regret them changing their core stout to the dry Irish stout (Ostara). I also very much miss the old, old Of Foam & Fury which I recall having in college long before I got into beer properly.

They've recently changed Althea to a hazy session IPA where it used to be a pale ale. Waiting for cans of the new recipe to drop in Bradleys, but I'm assuming they're trying to sell the old stock first.

irish_goat

Galway Bay tend to be pretty reliable for me, although I don't buy their core range cans that often as I don't like the 330mls but I've enjoyed some of the specials lately. I find they don't tend to release a lot of duds.

I was quite happy when they brought out Ostara, it was the one style their pubs were really missing and whilst I liked Buried At Sea, I wasn't always in the mood for a sweet stout. Also disappointed that Althea has gone hazy but it's still got a bit of bitterness to it, so still a good pint.

ClashCityRocker

Beavertown for me. Seems to me their focus these days is churning out mediocre lagers and hazy beers compared to some of the more interesting beers they made their name with (Smog rocket, 8 ball etc). Gamma Ray doesnt seem to be the beer it was either though although that might just be fatigue from me drinking too much of it over the years 😋

Definitely you, and nothing to do with Heineken cutting every possible corner and seeking the lowest common denominator market for every Beavertown beer they make.

the beer revolu

Honestly, I'm falling out of love with modern craft beer, generally. There are just so many beers that hold zero interest for me.

As anyone who knows me knows, I really don't like hazy/juicy/NE/East Coast style IPA. It's becoming more and more difficult to find old school IPAs and it seems to me that even older beers are changing more towards this style with no balancing bitterness. I mostly stick to Kinnegar in cans as they are clearly labelled and described accurately.

I have zero interest in pastry beers and rarely do I enjoy barrel aged stuff.

It seems only a few short years ago, given a list of 20 beers, I would have happily chosen 10 of them. Now, I'm lucky to find one in such a list.

I love sour beers, generally, but so many contemporary sours are really, really sweet!

Thankfully my favourite bar sells 9 White Deer. They are old school with their IPA and PA.

In late 2021 I turned away from "juicy" IPAs, they all taste the same to me, and without any kind of decent hop bitterness on the finish I find them difficult enough to get through.

Since the. I've been enjoying a journey into mostly German, but also other central and eastern european lagers, Helles, Pils, Bocks, Dortmunders, Munichers, Kolsch, Dunkels of all kinds - the list is extensive.

I've found that if you frequent the likes of McHughs, good Carryouts, and other well stocked off licences, you can find new German breweries a good amount of the time, or just stock up on what you know you like, Weihenstephaner, Hoffbrau, Riegele, Augistiner, Ayinger.

The odd time I'll buy an Irish, or UK or US beer labelled "IPA" and invariably be disappointedlty drinking something that I wish had also stated Hazy, or NE. Even the ones labelled WCIPA are generally toned down these days too.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058309085/breaking-up-with-an-old-favourite

Lost interest myself after the main brewer left

Beanstalk

I loved ordering onlne juring the lockdowns and there was great deals to be had from all the retailers and breweries like GBB were making some really interesting stuff in 440 cans. Now? Meh. Prices have risen too much to make it worthwhile.

Now my lot is to nip out to the nearby Kinnegar Brewery and just pick up some fresh big bunnys and scraggy bays and yannaroddys and thats it really. I also like their tap room only cans.

If I spot a shlenkerla or something interesting I'll always get it.

crusd

Any of the Irish breweries doing a good Red Ale. It is our native beer style after all in spite of what the Guinness marketing department tell us. GBB Bay Ale is inferior to Smithwick's imho.

Beanstalk

O Hara's do a nice nitro red ale.

It's no more our native beer style than stout is: they're both of English derivation and evolved differently in 20th century Ireland.

Recently I've liked Reel Deel's Mayo Red, and West Kerry's Rua is decent.

Dungarvan Copper Coast, Brehon Kilanny Red/Raglan Road, Heaney Red, Pikeman Red and Wicklow Wolf Wildfire are all rock solid and in regular production, as far as I know.

Insect Overlord

Whitegate (formerly White Gypsy) do a good ruby red ale, but it's rare enough on tap.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120990012#Comment_120990012

"native beer style" what on earth does that mean?

Pen Rua

Where did the main brewer depart to? Or did he / she leave brewing completely?

Concur with a separate comment above re dialing it back on hazy / juicy. I have become far, far more selective with the cans I pick up. One, because they are becoming samey-samey to me and 2) the cost is going up incrementally.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120990715#Comment_120990715

@BeerNut Might remember exactly. But AFAIK it was to a brewery in the nordics,Sweden maybe.

TheAnalyst_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120990656#Comment_120990656

The style of beer that was historically brewed and drank here. Not that hard to understand?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120990732#Comment_120990732

The first head brewer, John, didn't brew for anyone else after he left, as far as I know. Head brewer 2, Chris, went to Switzerland originally and I think is in Berlin now, unless he moved on again. Head brewer 3, Tom, is doing his own stuff now. I don't know if there's a fourth head brewer at Galway Bay yet.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120990856#Comment_120990856

Thanks Beer, Figured you would have the low down.

@Pen Rua I was referring to Chris. Once he left things went down hill for me.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120990827#Comment_120990827

right, but there's no such thing as that, certainly not Red Ale. (or stout for that matter)

squonk

Agree in general. I’m not really an IPA person either. It seems like every other beer these dads is an IPA of some sort. I can’t tell a great difference between most of them at this stage. Most of them are excessively bitter I find now.

Western Herd do a nice red.

Macy0161

I love sour beers, generally, but so many contemporary sours are really, really sweet!

I actually thought that was my taste buds being off that sours aren't that sour. More like fruit beers.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120991219#Comment_120991219

It seems the majority of people don't like sours

So they made sours sweet, kept calling them sours. Now everyone loves sours.

Genuis. :)

TheAnalyst_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120991096#Comment_120991096

There is such thing and it's ale. Do some research.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120991300#Comment_120991300

I don't envy anyone trying to "do some research" on beer history. There is a vast amount of unsubstantiated nonsense out there, including from highly respected beer writers who liked stories more than facts (thanks for that, Mr Jackson). Ron Pattinson and Martyn Cornell are your guys for actual facts, and the European Beer Consumer's Union has recently published a big guide to beer styles. Here's their entry on Irish Red.

The only beer style that might possibly be Irish in origin is heather ale. Here's Cornell on it.

TheAnalyst_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120991357#Comment_120991357

Not talking about beers that are Irish in orgin. We're discussing styles that were historically brewed here.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120991374#Comment_120991374

crusd's word was "native", which implies origination. Almost every style of beer has been historically brewed here, unless you have an arbitrary cut-off date for when "historically" ended.