All of the beers that are going to be at today’s ( 16/8/15 ) Midlands Craft Beer Festival were at Skelly’s Beer Festival yesterday. Some people (my wife and Wayne Irish Beer Snob ) reckon I should be relatively responsible today so I tried all of their new beers in Skelly’s. Call it a quality check!
St Mel’s have two brand spanking new beers, I started with their Beer Garden Wit, which is a very mellow way to start a festival!
Then I had Black Donkey’s Scythe, which is a cheeky fruity little number. It got two thumbs up from me. Then Sean Colohan let me try his very hoppy rum and raisin homebrew. He nearly had his own section of a bar at the end, fair play Sean!
Then myself and Dave Guilfoyle shared a bottle of St Mel’s Neo Mexicanus. They bought the hops from a group of Benedictine monks who grow them in New Mexico. It’s the first time these hops have been used in a commercially available Irish brew and the label is one for bad ass Son’s of Anarchy types.
I finished off that part of the day with Black Donkey’s Beyond, a Rye PA which was very tasty. Damn it I may have one more of each of these later on…
Roger Rotheroe is a bit of a kingpin in the Irish home brewing scene. He tends to win all of the prizes at competitons. So when I go asked to go to his house for a barbecue I didn’t hesitate, so that was our next destination.
How often are you presented with a three page beer menu in an Irish pub, let alone in a man’s back garden?
I started off the 3.5% Summer Pale Ale. It’s a real thirst quencher.
A lot of the beers were on draught and kept cool in a pair of fridges, a very impressive set up indeed.
Uncle Arthur’s Stout was brewed with the addition of a nod and a wink and if I could get it in a pub I’d be very happy.
I obviously didn’t crash the party but considering that most of the attendees brought beer and I only brought beans and glasses I felt like a bit of an interloper, despite that, I was made welcome and the kids had a great evening playing in the tents and on the bouncy castle. We all slept very well afterwards. Thank you Roger and Tricia for having us. Sláinte!
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