In October I got my hands on some bottles of Eight Degrees Full Irish IPA which was one of my favourite beers of the year.
Sean Lightholder posted lots of guest posts about Pumpkin Ale!
David Colohan and I paid a visit to see Richard’s Black Donkey Brewery in rural Roscommon, Sheep Stealer was another highlight of 2014. It’s now being bottled and is becoming more widely available. If you see it, try it!
I attended the launch of 2015’s Alltech Brews and Food Fair, not long to go for that one! Their Pumpkin Ale was pretty darn great as well.
October’s Athlone Beer Club met in The Malt House. They had the last of Bo Bristle’s Imperial Red Ale on draught. You voted their DIPA Reader’s Beer of the Year but I have to say, while I really enjoyed it, the Imperial Red kicked it’s ass!
Myself and David Colohan hit the road again and headed for Crossmolina to check out Marcus’ Reel Deel Brewery. His Irish Blond was another of my beers of the year. It was in fact a cheeky Amber Ale!
Mountain Man’s excellent Crazy Horse ‘San Diego IPA’ was another favourite of mine. ( and I’m not just saying that because I won a t shirt for the above picture, you can’t buy me that cheaply! )
November’s Beer Club was held in Kin Khao. We enjoyed a feast of Thai street food prepared especially for us and it was paired with Irish Beer expertly selected by James Winans from the Vanguard Beer Collective. Oh look there’s an Irish Blond paired with fresh mango icecream!
White Hag blasted on to the scene with a range of top notch beers. I didn’t have one that I disliked but the ones I have returned to again and again are the Samhain Oktoberfest and the Bran and Sceolan Irish IPA. This is largely down to the fact that these are the ones readily available in my local O’Brien’s!
In December I finally visited 57 The Headline. Great food and a fantastic range of Irish beers!
And to finish 2014 off as it began I enjoyed this year’s Eight Degrees Russian Imperial Stout and their Double Irish turned everything The Full Irish did up to eleven, epic beers! So that’s about it for this year. I’ve a nagging feeling I’m forgetting something but sure that’s what the edit button is for. Thank you for visiting the blog throughout the year, see you in 2015. Sláinte!