I was down in Kilkenny a couple of weeks back and had hoped to find a pint or two of Costellos along the way. Unfortunately it wasn’t in the megapubs that our group visited. Last week though I picked up a bottle in Egan’s, Portlaoise to make up for it. The label of The Red is a bright sunny eye-catching yellow. Perhaps whenever The Yellow comes out they’ll put a lovely red label on it? Anyway, joking aside, this is a very mellow and drinkable Red Ale. At just 3.8% it’s pretty much the dictionary definition of a session beer. Good job.
Speaking of labels I rather like Trouble Brewing’s cheeky Graffiti Pale Ale label. The beer isn’t bad either. I’ve had it before on draught but this is the first time I spotted it in bottle, again in Egan’s. This one is a mere 3.6% but still has plenty of citrussy hops. Nice one.
Closer to home O’Brien’s, Athlone got in O Brother’s new ‘Rockin’ Session Ale’ Max. At 4.4% it’s the strongest of the three and it just qualifies as a session beer. I had two bottles of this. The first with some spicy fries which didn’t do it any favours and the second on it’s own. It was far more enjoyable when not trying to compete with strong flavours. All three are worth trying. And I think the anti alcohol lobbyists should do themselves a favour and take a break from their hand wringing with a few of these. Sláinte!