Athlone Beer Club was conceived in Maguire’s so we were glad to return.
Hydration is very important when drinking beer, so I started last night with a drop of uisce.
When the gang started to arrive most of us had an Augustiner Lagerbier Hell which Maguire’s have on tap. It’s a perfect example what of a Munich lager should be!
Luckily the night coincided with Finyl Friday’s so we had some great tunes from the Beastie Boys and Orbital while tasting.
(edit/correction I incorrectly called it Vinyl Friday originally)
http://facebook.com/finylfridays
The early birds raising a glass.
Next we had a Franciscan Well Rebel Red which is an old favourite.
Thornbridge’s Jaipur is beautiful but pricey so the bottles were shared.
Athlone man John Fahy is working down in Kinsale with Black’s and he was able to bring a litre of their Rocketship IPA which isn’t even launching til next week’s Irish Craft Beer Festival! (Rocketship launch!) Stephen from Maguire’s was good enough to supply us with small glasses to share and ensure that everyone got a taste.
I heard words like grapefruit, peach and banana being bandied about. I think it’s like an IPA between Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale and their Torpedo. That’s meant as a compliment. Everyone agreed it was ‘very nice’! Thanks for the sample Sam Black!
We went dark after that and some of us went large as well with pints of Porterhouse’s Plain Porter. It could also be dubbed ‘Proper Porter’.
Andrew, one of the founding members of the Beer Club had some misgivings about my suggestion of the Viven Smoked Porter but he was glad he tried it in the end.
I thought the perfect way to conclude the evening was with the Samichlaus from Schloss Eggenberg. This strong lager (14%) is super sweet, malty and chewy. I’ve described it as Christmas cake before and I stand by that statement. To be honest most of the lads weren’t overly fond of it and one bottle went a long way. Still, you have to try them all at least once!
Some of the ladies cheated on beer and went with Stonewell’s Medium Cider. We’re an inclusive bunch though and any talk of excommunication was soon quashed. I was really pleased with the turnout last night. The banter was great and nobody mentioned soccerball once! Thanks to the Maguire’s crew Barry, Stephen and Sinead for looking after us! September’s Beer Club could be heading to Skelly’s in Ballymahon. How would everyone feel about that?