Bloom 2017

‘​I was giving out about ‘having’ to go to Bloom, turns out it wasn’t so bad they had a number of stands from the Irish micro breweries!’…That’s what I said about Bloom back in 2011. Zoom forward six years and I’m working behind one of those ‘micro brewery stands’! 

I pulled a lot of pints of McGargles Session IPA and Stout over the five days. They were tasting great. I checked them to make sure every morning. It’s called dedication. We even tried a thing called Coole Stout where I added some of our friend’s Coole Swan into a glass of the McGargles Stout. A lovely drink for your breakfast. 

On my lunch breaks I was able to take a stroll around the Bloom Inn where I sampled some beers from the other Irish breweries. Boyne’s Vienna Lager went down very nicely indeed while the sun was shining. 

There was cheese in the beer tent and I had a taste of The Little Milk Co’s Brewers Gold. It was washed in Dungarvan’s Red Ale and was very tasty indeed. It had a fairly distinctive aroma too, so it’s not for bland mild cheese fans. 

Manor Brewing were pouring their Mont Lager and a new limited edition IPA dubbed Triumph and Disaster. Son0vagun bought me a pint of it and we agreed that it was a nice drinkable old skool malty IPA. ( he also took the picture of me featured above!) 

Costello’s also had a special brew on, it was called Beyond A Pale, a European Pale Ale. Ger Costello explained that it was brewed with Huell Melon and Mandarina Bavaria hops from Germany. I got a pair of pints for myself and the aforementioned Son0vagun. We both enjoyed the juicy fruit flavours. 

Wicklow’s Ginger Knut is a lovely summer thirst quencher. I think it might be the only Irish Ginger Beer available, is it the first? It has a bit more bite than some of the others you may have tried. 

Porterhouse’s Nitro Red Ale was a fitting accompaniment to the beef and blue cheese ciabatta I had for lunch on the last day of the festival. 

There was almost as many distilleries as there were breweries in the Bloom Inn and I had a wee drop of The Pogues Whiskey. It’s very smooth and drinkable indeed. Now, where’s my bed after that week? Sláinte!