What beer are we drinking this week ?

harry Bailey esq · 01-07-2013 07:16PM

im enjoying some rothaus pils at the moment.

Ravelleman · 01-07-2013 08:30PM

I was in Cork on Friday night and had my first ever pint of Murhphy's. The experience was entirely favourable. I wasn't really a fan of the nitro-perfection of the pint but the taste was sweet and almost chocolatey. Perhaps it was the novelty but I thought at the time that I would be quite happy to drink it in the absence of craft options. I'd certainly chose it over the liquid disappointment that is Guinness.

The Drunken Destrier · 01-07-2013 10:39PM

Ravelleman wrote: »

I would be quite happy to drink it in the absence of craft options.

When I'm in a craft-free zone, my pint is Beamish. It has a lovely flavour off it, just suffers from the same baffling wateriness and 'nitro-perfection' of Murphy's and Guinness. Also, it tends to be considerably cheaper than those two; in most places, only Carling comes cheaper.

I'd certainly chose it over the liquid disappointment that is Guinness.

+1. I still don't get the Guinness obsession. To tourists, sure, it's like this great Irish thing that they have to do when in Dublin. But to me it feels so watery and like you said, disappointing. Does not satisfy like a beer should.

MonkstownHoop · 01-07-2013 10:58PM

Had 3 bottles of Sharps Chalky's Bite tonight, similar but not as nice as innis and gunn, 6.8%

Ravelleman · 01-07-2013 11:19PM

The Drunken Destrier wrote: »

When I'm in a craft-free zone, my pint is Beamish. It has a lovely flavour off it, just suffers from the same baffling wateriness and 'nitro-perfection' of Murphy's and Guinness.

I actually struggle to discern between Guinness and Beamish. Probably my tastebuds' fault. It's definitely the most economic option though!

The Drunken Destrier · 01-07-2013 11:21PM

To be fair, I can't remember the last time I've even tried Guinness Draught. Now, Guinness Extra would be even better, but I don't see many pubs with those bottles.

Grayditch · 01-07-2013 11:28PM

I was at a wedding last week with just Heineken and Coors on tap. However, I noticed also that instead of Guinness on tap, they had Murphy's so I was stuck drinking that for the night. Maybe it was just Stockholm Syndrome, but I started to really enjoy it! Much nicer than Guinness, anyway.

Lucena · 02-07-2013 10:06AM

The Drunken Destrier wrote: »

When I'm in a craft-free zone, my pint is Beamish. It has a lovely flavour off it, just suffers from the same baffling wateriness and 'nitro-perfection' of Murphy's and Guinness. Also, it tends to be considerably cheaper than those two; in most places, only Carling comes cheaper.

+1. I still don't get the Guinness obsession. To tourists, sure, it's like this great Irish thing that they have to do when in Dublin. But to me it feels so watery and like you said, disappointing. Does not satisfy like a beer should.

As an Irishman living abroad, I take every opportunity to dis Guinness. Not that the beer is actually that bad, but I hate they way they've managed to tie Guinness and Irish identity into one, making it almost unIrish to not drink Guinness. As if Patrick's Day wasn't bad enough, they had to invent another bull**** day as well.

I also like to point out to people that having one beer available everywhere and sod all local ones is not normal. Imagine if one vinyard in France took over (or put out of business) all the other vinyards in the country, and there was only one type of wine available. This essentially is the situation we have in Ireland.

I know there are craft beers coming out now, but most of the country (outside Dublin) is still a craft beer desert. Offaly, for example, has only two (last time I looked on Beoir) places selling craft, and one of those closes at six in the evening (Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre).

Ravelleman · 02-07-2013 10:12AM

Lucena wrote: »

As an Irishman living abroad, I take every opportunity to dis Guinness. Not that the beer is actually that bad, but I hate they way they've managed to tie Guinness and Irish identity into one, making it almost unIrish to not drink Guinness.

This happened to me in Valladolid a couple of years ago. On St Patrick's Day I was berated for ordering a London Pride instead of a Guinness!

I have a tasty bottle of FES at home though but that's a totally different experience. I might buy a can of Murphy's at some stage to test whether or not it's that good. It won't be the same from a can but so few places in Dublin serve it.

Edit: at €2.29 a can in Tesco it's rather pricey though...

snowblind · 02-07-2013 10:17AM

the beer revolu wrote: »

Mikkeller Green Gold.
Another underwhelming offering from Mikkeller.This is a very pedestrian Imperial/extra/double IPA - I thing I just might stop buying these beers. They're not bad but they just aren't worth the premium price tag.

Have you tried Beer Geek Breakfast?

Lucena · 02-07-2013 10:21AM

Ravelleman wrote: »

This happened to me in Valladolid a couple of years ago. On St Patrick's Day I was berated for ordering a London Pride instead of a Guinness!

I have a tasty bottle of FES at home though but that's a totally different experience. I might buy a can of Murphy's at some stage to test whether or not it's that good. It won't be the same from a can but so few places in Dublin serve it.

Edit: at €2.29 a can in Tesco it's rather pricey though...

Of all things!! Cuchullain, Brian Boru, Michael Collins and Devalera must be spinning in their graves!

the beer revolu · 02-07-2013 11:45AM

snowblind wrote: »

Have you tried Beer Geek Breakfast?

No not yet.
Should I?

Ruben Remus · 02-07-2013 12:04PM

Lucena wrote: »

Of all things!! Cuchullain, Brian Boru, Michael Collins and Devalera must be spinning in their graves!

I don't see why. After all, Guinness and London Pride are both brewed by companies headquartered in London...

snowblind · 02-07-2013 12:49PM

the beer revolu wrote: »

No not yet.
Should I?

If you like full bodied smooth stouts with a coffee buzz, for sure!

Beer Geek Brunch Weasel has been probably my favourite beer, this one is not far from that one.

Mikkeller sure they have a bunch of disappointing beers but I usually manage to avoid them looking at some reviews or whatever. They're usually pretty expensive so it makes sense not to just buy whatever I see by them. The way I see it, breweries like Nogne like to take one style and try to perfect that (according to some relatively conservative criteria), while Mikkeller constantly tries to come up with quirky new stuff. I think there's room for both approaches, but if I'm not in the mood for surprises I would go for Nogne, Mikkellers reserved for more adventurous days. Beer Geek Breakfast/Brunch are not some crazy ass beers though, and actually are brewed in Nogne's brewery.

Antrim_Man · 02-07-2013 02:12PM

Lucena wrote: »

As an Irishman living abroad, I take every opportunity to dis Guinness. Not that the beer is actually that bad, but I hate they way they've managed to tie Guinness and Irish identity into one, making it almost unIrish to not drink Guinness. As if Patrick's Day wasn't bad enough, they had to invent another bull**** day as well.

I also like to point out to people that having one beer available everywhere and sod all local ones is not normal. Imagine if one vinyard in France took over (or put out of business) all the other vinyards in the country, and there was only one type of wine available. This essentially is the situation we have in Ireland.

I know there are craft beers coming out now, but most of the country (outside Dublin) is still a craft beer desert. Offaly, for example, has only two (last time I looked on Beoir) places selling craft, and one of those closes at six in the evening (Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre).

Sad. You sound just bitter. You can promote whatever you like but no need to slag the most popular beer in Ireland.

rubadub · 02-07-2013 02:31PM

Antrim_Man wrote: »

slag the most popular beer in Ireland.

I would call it the best selling beer in Ireland, not necessarily most popular, by some definitions

pop·u·lar
/ˈpäpyələr/
Adjective
Liked, admired, or enjoyed by many people or by a particular person or group.

Also sounds like he is "slagging" the company & their marketing techniques, not the beer.

I drink guinness quite a bit, it would be right down the list on my preferred stouts though. I would be embarrassed being a barman in one of the many pubs who just have a single stout, yet could have 5+ lagers on offer and 2-3 non alcoholic beers.

There must be so many disappointed tourists looking forward to try all the different stouts they expect to find. It'd be like going to Russia and only having smirnoff red on offer, or germany and only having becks.

Lucena · 02-07-2013 02:47PM

Antrim_Man wrote: »

Sad. You sound just bitter. You can promote whatever you like but no need to slag the most popular beer in Ireland.

Why not?

Because it's popular?

Because it's Irish?

I'm not allowed to dislike the fact that they've marketed themselves into the Irish identity?

What I dislike is the strangehold larger breweries have on the Irish market, and the lack of real choice as a result. If you look at the beer situation in England, they have thousands of different beers, and very successful local breweries. I'm aware it's a bigger country, but independent breweries have a much larger share over there.

Interestingly enough CAMRA was founded in Dunquin, Co. Kerry, apparently because all local and independent in Ireland had disappeared, and they wanted to stop the same happening in the UK.

In Ireland, it's only in the past five years that craft beer has started to take off, but if we're honest, it's still probably under the radar of most beer drinkers who don't take an active interest in the craft stuff.

The Drunken Destrier · 02-07-2013 05:09PM

I love how people say that CAMRA was founded in Krugers in Kerry, as if it's something to be proud of. Surely it was founded there (if it indeed was) because even as outsiders, they could see how terrible the situation was. All of that was well before my time. I came of age at a time when many Irish craft and micro-breweries were starting up (or already established) and for that I consider myself lucky.

Still though, it doesn't take much pub-to-pub research to see the effect Diageo(English) and Heineken(Dutch) still have on the Irish market, and when you throw in the Irisher-than-thou reputation of Guinness, I think you have the right to be a little annoyed. To be fair, not many Guinness ads these days have an Irish overtone to them - they just don't need to do it.

It gets to the point where I wouldn't even mind if there were a bunch of Irish breweries owned by a multinational company, as long as that company was based in or had real roots in Ireland. The way it is now, it feels almost embarrassing to be paying a foreign company for a local product. Like we can't do things for ourselves so we have to get a big European or American company to take care of it for us.

BeerNut · 02-07-2013 05:22PM

The Drunken Destrier wrote: »

Surely it was founded there (if it indeed was) because even as outsiders, they could see how terrible the situation was.

I suspect, though I have no direct corroboration of this, that it's the opposite: that they found the beer so much better in Ireland to how it was changing at home. And I think the reason for that is nitrogenation: they would have been drinking smooth creamy Guinness, whereas what early CAMRA was resolutely opposed to was fizz. At least one of the founders is on record saying that none of them knew anything about the technicalities of conditioning or serving beer: they just knew that they didn't like what most pubs were serving them.

My theory is that if the Big Six UK breweries had moved straight from cask to smoothflow bitter instead of serving on straight CO2, CAMRA would never have existed.

Grayditch · 02-07-2013 10:56PM

Had my first (bottle of) Trouble Brewing Sabotage. Lacked the bite of a good IPA, but I did enjoy it's unusual smokey-ness. I might get another to try again. Re-visited O'Hara's IPA and I'be grown fond of it now, it's very well balanced. Finished with another re-visit; 8 Degrees Howling Gale Ale. Even better the second time around. It's a great beer.

eurokev · 03-07-2013 12:47PM

Got my hands on this today in work, cant wait to get home and try

03-07-2013 01:37PM

eurokev wrote: »

Got my hands on this today in work, cant wait to get home and try

How much is it? I must pop in later and get some.
Edit: never mind, picked up two. €9.99 each.

matrim · 03-07-2013 02:25PM

eurokev wrote: »

Got my hands on this today in work, cant wait to get home and try

Where is it available? Not showing on drinkstore.

cormacjones · 03-07-2013 02:37PM

matrim wrote: »

Where is it available? Not showing on drinkstore.

Martin's in Marino, if it's local, had it last week.

Micky Dolenz · 03-07-2013 02:41PM

Was out last night and on hearing my accent, the bar tender insisted I try some Belgium stout.

Really nutty, bitter taste with the familiar fruity undertone. Won't be trying it again. For the life of me I can't remember the name of it. Best review ever.

Grayditch · 03-07-2013 02:47PM

I need that Barrell Aged Lean Follain.

eurokev · 03-07-2013 03:47PM

Deleted User wrote: »

How much is it? I must pop in later and get some.
Edit: never mind, picked up two. €9.99 each.

Sorry nialler, away from the computer, hope you enjoy

Grayditch · 03-07-2013 10:51PM

I'm having a W12. Because. Because I want one!

Only 3 left, hehe.

rcaz · 04-07-2013 12:42AM

Ooh I just had the barrel aged Leann Folláin tonight. Absolutely loved it. Bits of coffee and barbecue sauce, super smooth. It's a bummer it's so strong and expensive 'cause it's a very fun beer to take huge mouthfuls of. The kind of stout you can chew on.

04-07-2013 01:08AM

rcaz wrote: »

Ooh I just had the barrel aged Leann Folláin tonight. Absolutely loved it. Bits of coffee and barbecue sauce, super smooth. It's a bummer it's so strong and expensive 'cause it's a very fun beer to take huge mouthfuls of. The kind of stout you can chew on.

Sounds good, I'm saving a bottle for the weekend. I'm going to leave the other one aside for some future special occasion.

What beer are we drinking this week ?

Comments