I was in Carrickmines yesterday and I checked the map on my phone which told me it was only a stones throw to Bray, so I decided to stay going and call in to Holland’s. Jay Fox, the manager is up for an award tomorrow, Best Off Licence Manager, so the best of luck to him with that. He certainly knows how to look after his customers, I enjoyed a flat white while we chatted and I browsed. I picked up a nice few ales and a couple of new glasses to add to my controversial collection. ( It’s only controversial in my house.) When I got home I invited my friend Hophead Sean around to share a few of the beers. We started off with Beavertown’s Quelle Saison which I rather enjoyed, it’s fresh and summery. Hophead Sean only had a small sip and declared ‘That’d be wasted on me’, he is not a fan of Saisons…
Hophead Sean had more luck with the next selection, Hoptimista from Barcelona’s Edge Brewing, describing it as ‘gorgeous’, he wasn’t wrong.
The only way was up from there and so we got stuck into Firestone Walker’s Double Jack, a 9.5% 85 IBU beast. As some of my friends are fond of saying, ‘Go hard or go home!’, and, well, we were already in my kitchen!
We stuck with the 9%ers and had the new Mescan Extra Sean had picked up at the weekend. Unfortunately I don’t think I gave it a fair hearing after all of those palate wreckers so I am going to have to take a second run at it… I even drank some water!
To conclude the evening we had Siren’s Quadrophenia, it’s like a rich sweet heavy cake so a shared bottle was plenty but it’s a serious beer. We both agreed on that point! A very pleasant way to pass an autumnal evening. Sláinte!