Stopped in to Open Gate earlier. Not the most interesting tap list, but nice to see that they seem to have the "original" Extra Stout on tap as a regular "Dublin classic". Never seen that on tap before! I know they had the foreign extra for a while but this was new to me.
Thanks. Grabbed a couple plus a few of the ol' reliables (Body Riddle, Northern Lights and Another Light).
Grabbed a Free Tote Bag for the missus too - can be gotten if you add the below into your cart for orders over €60 before midnight.
I noticed tote bags never became must have products for craft breweries in Ireland the way they are in Britain.
I ended up with a ton of them in England despite never using them.
Yeah, got a load of them too.. only one I occasionally use is a free "Bag Of Cans" one from Rye River.
The bag of bags in the back of the car is mostly brewery tote bags; White Hag, Rye River, Dew Drop and possibly some more. Were pretty common add-ins when doing direct brewery orders during lockdown.
This is the 'Supporting craft breweries' thread. Whatever you think about Diageo, they're not a craft brewery.
My apologies. I thought that there would be some people that might be interested in extra stout on draft! But that's a more than fair point. I'd remove my post if I could.
Not at all, no problem!
Just better suited to another thread I think. Had some pints of Foreign Extra there years ago. It was a good night!
Tried the Changing times beers. They're both relatively competent, if dull. And sadly it seems in the pub I was in, they've replaced the Whiplash taps they used to have, while still keeping the entire Heineken and Diageo portfolio.
The lager was very dry and crisp. Very little malt flavour there. Little bit more bitter than your typical Macro lager. Reminded me a little bit of Harp.
The Pale Ale was better. Reasonably hoppy in aroma, but not very bitter. Think Neck Oil or Rollover. Again quite dry. Not juicy or sweet, which is a plus to me.
I'd definitely drink them if there was nothing else interesting on. But I fear they're just going to cannibalise craft beer sales. I doubt anyone in Heineken or Diageo are losing sleep.
Same price as the Macros?
Dearer. Same price as those pubs were charging for existing independent lines (which they paid less for than the macro kegs!)
Galway Bay have two wild ales out - one with cherries, one with apricots. I picked up the former and am looking forward to trying it (might stash away for the Christmas period). I don't think I can recall such a beer from Galway Bay. Isn't there (or wasn't there) a connection to Land & Labour. Was it that Tom had Land & Labour as a side gig?
Underdog are doing a collab with Lineman called Underline. A West Coast DIPA.
Galway Bay did indeed have beers like this before: The Eternalist. In fact, these "new" ones are actually batches of The Eternalist that have been sitting around for the last three years. So, they're not Land & Labour beers, but they were brewed by Tom when he was still at Galway Bay.
Thank you. Untappd suggests most check ins of variations of Eternalist were on draft with no bottle checks in. The raspberry one was out in 2019 (before I was into beer). Assuming no bottle releases, probably explains why I have no recollection of it.
I drank Galway Bay when they were making warm-fermented lager in the Oslo's mop cupboard. 'Twas a long way from apricot sours.
Might as well use the cupboard for something because Galway Bay bars definitely never had a mop anywhere near them.
We still weep in this house that Godspeed was a one and done fruity special.
Oof.
It is it the aesthetic. Was in a bar in Denmark that seriously reminded me of a GBB bar; the table top was sticky enough it pulled some of the skin off my elbow! Should have listened to my mother about elbows on the table…
BrewDog Belfast has opened today (in the new train/bus station). I popped in for the shareholder event last night and then called in at lunch today as I was getting off a train. The bar itself is a fairly standard BrewDog setup but they have a little bit more artwork and colour on the walls to make it feel less dark and industrial than some of the others I've been in. Tap list is very disappointing, 9 BrewDog taps and then 3 guests (2 x White Hag and a MacIvors cider). I'm told they will rotate the guest beers but they definitely need to add some more BrewDog lines to keep me interested as I can't see myself rushing there when it's just their core supermarket beers on tap. £6.95 a pint so it's also at the high end of the scale for craft in Belfast.
Being a train station pub I wonder are they just prepped for a more mainstream audience. Maybe don't want to risk the more intricate low GP or "scary" beers.
I presume its using the remnants of the Edwardian licencing laws that we share and is officially a Railway Refreshment Rooms? Belfast being incredibly short of actual pub licences that aren't owned by the big breweries as it is.
I would assume so yeah.
There's also no takeaway fridge. Hopefully they add one as there's normally interesting guest beers in those.
Might be stretching the licence too far. In ROI you're only meant to serve those with long distance train tickets. Which arguably any Leap card could become, but its never been enforced.
That's if you are lucky enough to even have a pub in the station. We at least have a decent one across the road in Limerick but Cork is a disaster around the station. As for craft beer near those stations you have no hope.
All Railway Refreshment Rooms are in Dublin, except one for someones mini railway in Donegal - CIE Group Property don't seem interested in renting space out elsewhere. Cork definitely had one, as did Bray (and Pearse, in Dublin).
Limerick had one where Starbucks is now. Gone about 10/15 years. New units have been built recently but not a hope anything serving alcohol will go in.
At least Crew is only 5mins away if your coming from the city centre direction and they can fresh draft.
Good to see an healthy supply of 200 Fathoms in my local Centra.
Is it my imagination or has porter nearly disappeared as a beer option? Yannaroddy is the only one I can think of that's still easy to pick up.
It used to be easy to find Knockmealdown from 8 Degrees, Dark Arts from Trouble Brewing, or Stormy Port from Galway Bay, or the occasional bottle of Shanco Dubh from Brehon. Am I just looking at the wrong shelves? Or are there other breweries making decent porters now?
