I managed to pick up a couple of Wicklow Wolf’s Children of the Revolution IPAs on the Thursday evening before Good Friday and I brought them to Doolin where I spent the weekend. Hotel Doolin stocks Irish Craft Beer bottles from Dungarvan, O’Hara’s and Galway Hooker as well as Stonewell Cider. I would’ve been happy with that but they also have their own house beers Dooliner Lager and Nitro Red and a local beer, Siege Pale Ale from Western Herd Brewing on draught. The Pale Ale was well made, but I was really impressed with the Dooliner Nitro Red. I was in wedding mode though and neglected the picture taking in favour of having the craic!
The groom and I had a bottle each of Wicklow Wolf’s Children of the Revolution on Sunday afternoon to mark the Centenary. It’s laden with American hops which mean that it’s citrussy, dry and it keeps you coming back for more. I wonder if Joe Duffy has drank his yet.
Jack Cody’s kindly sent me a pair of bottles of Hibernicus and one of their branded glasses for review purposes. The beer is dubbed Hibernicus in reference to the Roman’s name for our wintry land. I was lucky enough to find a patch of spring sunshine to enjoy it in. I had heard some mixed reports on this one, including mentions of the dreaded diacetyl. I’d love to be able to put preconceptions from my mind when trying a new beer but it’s difficult. ( first world problems, eh?) Anyway, I got stuck in and I shouldn’t have been so worried. It’s not a bad IPA, not as hop forward as the Wicklow Wolf but drinkable all the same. The diacetyl (buttery taste) is there, I found it lingering in the aftertaste but it didn’t ruin the beer for me. Try it for yourself.
I mentioned Metalman’s Ironmonger already, after sampling it on draught in the RDS, it’s now in cans and it’s another citrussy, hop forward one. A bit like turning up the volume on their Pale Ale. And I mean that as a compliment.
Moving a long way from Irish Craft Beer I also picked up Sierra Nevada’s 2016 Spring Seasonal, a Tropical IPA. A friend of mine who had it fresh (he lives a lot nearer to the brewery) recommended pouring it down the sink without even tasting it. I may temporarily become a hermit every time a new beer is released! As I abhor beer wastage I was never going to do that. But I have to say, in fairness, he wasn’t far wide of the mark. It’s got a lot of tropical fruit as the name would suggest, too much in fact. It’s sickly sweet and the more I drank the harder it was to stomach. Still, I finished the bottle, I’m never going to order a pint of it though! Thanks for reading this unusually lengthy post (for me) if you made it this far. Sláinte!