Amersfoort: Rock City

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Simon
Mark Lineman and I, at Rock City

Mark from Lineman** needed a ‘seasoned campaigner’ (his words) to accompany him to the Rock City and Friends festival in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. And I didn’t hesitate to sign up. The event was in its second year after a successful debut. Our journey took ages and included two planes, one train and an automobile. But we were able to smile when we arrived just in time!

Rock City Extra Fresh

There were loads of beers waiting for us, brewer Erik was particularly excited about his fresh hop IPA and at 3.5% it was a good starting point. It was beautifully fresh and floral. A few of Eric’s own beers were pouring too, including a really smokey porter which reminded me of Laphroaig.

With Bernard from Pigs and Bears Brewing

Our bar neighbour Pigs and Bears was pouring a nice range of beers including a black sour and a Belgian barrel aged Tripel called Christine which was very popular.

Mark doing a bit…

Back on the Lineman bar and Fluid Dynamic and Killing Time were flying out. We took turns on the bar so that both of us had the chance to enjoy the event.

With Mario from Bådin

It was great to catch up with Mario from Bådin. We had good craic over the two days. Next to him Baxbier were serving a Yuzu and Cucumber Lager called Ogorki Impreza  that I have to say was excellent.

Wieke from Rock City, pouring some Shapes and Objects

I loved It’s Fall, Gone To The Woods an American IPA from Shapes and Objects. Their Hazy – What’s The Frequency was also very tasty.

Stadsbrouwerij De Drie Ringen

Stadsbrouwerij De Drie Ringen were also pouring at the festival and their home was only a short walk away so I made a point of popping in. Their Bok was exemplary. It was great to see traditional brewing being practiced and, judging by the crowd, well received.

Rock City

I have to say that Rock City and Friends was excellent, the guys looked after us so well and the atmosphere was amazing. Well done to all of the team and the volunteers who helped to pull it off. Walter and Koen are running a great show. And a special mention of Celest who kept smiling even when I was making a mess! The chef also did a great job of keeping us fed with sandwiches and I was introduced to the joys of Hutspot*! I would recommend a visit the next time you’re in The Netherlands, it’s only a quick hop from Amsterdam. Sláinte!

Fun times!

*potatoes and carrots mashed up with some sausages chopped into it. He served it with a beer gravy and picalili. Tasted better than it sounds and made for good soakage.

Hutspot!

** I sell his beer in my capacity with Fourcorners

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My first CAMRA beer festival

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Simon

I have very occasionally enjoyed the delights of cask ale since my first encounter with it in Birmingham about a quarter of a century ago. So when Brendan Belfast Boon encouraged me to visit his wonderful city for the CAMRA festival his timing was perfect, I was overdue. For those of you who don’t know: CAMRA is the Campaign for Real Ale which was founded by some English men in Co. Kerry in the early seventies. They’ve spent the last fifty odd years fighting to keep up the traditional style of brewing and serving beer. And fair play to them. In Great Britain they’ve largely succeeded. On the island of Ireland there’s considerably less of it though!

Belfast Beer Festival in the Banana Block

On entry I was given a pint glass marked at a third and a half and a booklet detailing all of the beers pouring. I thought it was a lovely touch that they mentioned absent friends including Sinéad Cashman who I would have worked with, she was a huge supporter of the local beer scene and an absolute legend.

All hail cask ale!

I made an unconscious decision to stick with halves of dark beers for the duration of the event. So I kicked off with a half of Sambrooks Powerhouse Porter, it being relatively sessionable at 4.9%. And then I went to find a few familiar faces, at one point I observed that it was a bit like being in Underdog.

One of the dark beers what I enjoyed, they all look pretty similar

Manchester’s Marble Coffee Rye Mild was delicious. Localish Lacada’s Hoisted Petard Black IPA was excellent, great name too! I thought it would be rude to skip Monaghan’s Brehon Shanco Dubh when it was right there tasting smashing. And I rounded off my session with Redwillow’s Shadowless, a dark lager all the way from Cheshire.

With Roy Quare Swally, Sean and Carla Wide Street

It was great to see Ballymahon’s Wide Street being well received on their Belfast debut. And props to Roy Quare Swally for his Trojan work in promoting great independent beer in the north.

Sam from the Oslo, Daniel from Boundary and his brother Stephen
James from Brehon and Neil from the famous Pallet Bar!

There was a mixed crowd in attendance, it wasn’t all large hairy men despite the evidence you can see above. I have to say it was a very enjoyable event and I’ll definitely be back next year, kudos to the organisers and volunteers for putting it together. Sláinte!

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The Irish/Dublin Beer Festival returns to its roots

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Simon
Festive vibes in the RDS

The Irish Craft Beer Festival returned to the RDS! For some reason it was now dubbed the Dublin Beer Festival and for others it was now in a different, smaller hall. There were 30 Irish and 10 international breweries pouring which is about half the number in attendance back in the heady mid 2010s. That said, it was an improvement on the events in Rathmines and Dun Laoghaire. I was curious to see how it would go. One comment I saw on social media bemoaned the lack of water stations and proper glassware. On arrival I was given a plastic glass but I opted to upgrade to the much nicer glass for €6. Not only did this enhance my drinking experience, it probably unconsciously made me mind it better! And there was one water station – in the farthest corner of the hall…

Lineman’s Supernature

I arrived about half an hour after the event opening and there was a bit of a buzz, it felt busy but not over crowded. My first beer was the lovely new IPA from Lineman, Supernature.

Caroline having the craic

Caroline (the famous author of cookbooks!) from Eight Degrees told me they had a new version of Cumulus Lupulus with Nelson Sauvin so I had to try that, and it didn’t disappoint!

Malty boi from Lough Gill

Lough Gill managed to fit a bar, beer and a rake of lads into a horsebox- I enjoyed their amber lager which was a festival special.

Dunkel from Hofbräuhaus Traunstein

Grand Cru had a bar from Hofbräuhaus Traunstein and I said I’d stick with the malty lagers and tried their Dunkel which was very good.

Hopfully’s Dunkel

And I have to say Hopfully’s Dunkel measured up very well after! It’s great to see some of these styles being brewed here.

Some of the international breweries

From the international breweries I tried Baxbier’s American IPA which was great, and Brewski’s Where The Hops Have No Name. They actually brewed it as a collaboration with Craft Central. Apparently they are fans of U2 and experimental hops that don’t have names yet. I am not a fan of U2 but the hops made for a tasty beer.

Rye River Round Feet

I rounded off proceedings with a beer from my old friends at Rye River, Round Feet, a collaboration with Dutch brewery Poppels. It’s a well rounded IPA. (Ok, I apologise, I’ll stop now – maybe just one more…)

So, to round up I have to say, I had a very enjoyable afternoon, despite not talking to all of the people I probably should have talked to, and not drinking all of the beers on offer! I’m glad to see the event go well and look forward to seeing it return in 2025. Sláinte!

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Hagstravagnza 10

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Simon
A glass of hazy IPA in Ballymote

The festival that nearly didn’t happen happened and I’m glad to report that it happened to be pretty darn good too. There were some issues with the licence for White Hag’s tenth birthday bash which meant a bit of a slimmed down line up of international breweries and a few more of the domestic guys who we all know and love. Fair play to Bree’s in Strandhill for saving the day. I kicked off the session with Weldwerks Juicy Bits, having enjoyed a few of their cans lately. It delivered exactly what it said on the proverbial tin.

Erwin from Brickyard slinging tasty beers as per…

I was delighted to see Brickyard return to Ballymote with a few White Hag collaboration brews. Erwin recommended the Hag & Haand, a barrel aged Brett Apricot Pale Ale. It tasted like some of those boiled sweets you could buy by the quarter, but I couldn’t quite decide which, maybe pear drops crossed with rhubarb and custard. There just happened to be a Black Lager from Two Sides pouring too. So I had to get one of those. Lovely malty drop, try it if you are in Dundrum over the next while.

Two Sides Black Betty

When The Seagulls Follow The Trawler is a typically great name for a Boundary beer. The Belfast boys nailed this west coast ipa. Hopstravaganza 10 was White Hag’s celebratory brew, a relatively sessionable 5.8% Hazy IPA. Relative to the bigger boys of the last few years that is.

Some of the menu at Hagstravagnza

I also enjoyed Lineman’s Electromode Pale Ale. Mark, as always executing the style very well. Sierra Nevada’s Rose Window was a big Belgian style Strong Pale Ale at 9.8%. I was talking to Steve Grossman of Sierra Nevada about cheese as we waited for the train to Sligo, and I reckon this would’ve been nice with a cheeseboard. I had some pizza and a very nice chicken roll over the course of the afternoon and the food worked a lot better than last year. The atmosphere was great and I had fun catching up with some folks I hadn’t seen in a while. Well done to the White Hag crew for putting on a very good show.

Pints in the Swagman

Myself and Kev Third Barrel hit the Swagman early for a couple of Bitburgers. And I finished the night with a complete unnecessary Snuble Juice in Brees where a band was performing Nirvana and Foo Fighters covers. It was a fitting end to a brilliant day. Sláinte!

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Interesting times for Irish Craft Beer Festivals

Posted on July 6, 2024 by Simon
Poster for the Midlands Craft Beer Festival

Summer 2024 is here and despite the unpredictable weather festival season is in full swing. But there are a few interesting developments. My own Midlands Craft Beer Festival is returning for the tenth and final year. More on that later. I noted back in 2017 that the peak of the Irish Craft Beer Festival was in 2014. You can read that post here, belated apologies for the click bait title. The landscape has changed even more dramatically since due to what I saw described recently as ‘events’! We saw the Irish Craft Beer Festival, once, the biggest, decline in the relatively disappointing events in Dun Laoghaire and Rathmines. Now it returns to the RDS and has been rebranded as the Dublin Craft Beer Festival, we’ll see how it goes in September.

Hagstravagnza is also returning for the tenth year. White Hag’s event seemed to be in doubt this year due to some licensing uncertainty but is going ahead with a line up of Irish breweries. It’s always good craic in Ballymote.

There are some other smaller, more niche festivals happening too such as Mullingar’s Wild Beer Festival. Unfortunately I missed the last one but it’s great to see interesting mixed fermentation breweries landing in the midlands.

So, the Midlands Craft Beer Festival is back on the 31st of August. I have decided to stop at ten. I’m happy to have done it and have created some great memories. Thanks to everyone who has helped out with the festival up to this point, Don and Lisa for hosting and Darren and Brian for helping us through the hybrid event years and everyone who poured pints and sold tokens. But as, anyone who’s ever put on an event knows it’s a bit of work and I think it is a good time to wrap it up. I’m really looking forward to the day and hope you can make it. We have our favourite Ginger’s BBQ back, we will have some live music and I’ve asked some of our past attending breweries to come back to Moate. We will also of course have local legends Dead Centre and Wide Street pouring their fantastic beers. Sláinte!

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