The Irish Craft Beer Festival took place in the RDS in August. I had my first taste of the Yellow Belly beers which are brewed in Simon Lambert and Sons, Wexford. Their IPA wowed me and their Pale Stout was surprisingly tasty.
Radik Ale was pouring his Curious Brew aka Radikal Ale, great beer, whatever you want to call it!
I also thoroughly enjoyed Northbound’s Sticke Alt. There were too many great beers to name them all but that’s no bad thing. One real highlight, not just of the festival but of the entire year, was meeting the legend that you may know from Instagram as @son0vagun, a brewer recently said to me that we were similar, in that we couldn’t just drink a beer, we had to set up a shot of it first. Well I am not even in the same photography league. I bow to your superior skills sir!
In September Black’s of Kinsale released their kick ass High Viz and I dressed appropriately.
I paid my second but not last visit to Holland’s of Bray where I picked up some serious beers and added to my glassware collection, much to my wife’s chagrin.
I made it to Smyth’s on the Square, Navan for the last of the Summer’s Snob fests.
In October I got my mitts on a couple of bottles of Brutus from O Brother Brewing, those lads are on fire at the moment.
And I visited Munich, post Oktoberfest, where I sampled one or two glasses of Augustiner Edelstoff.
One spot that’s well worth a visit is the Tap House, where you will find over two hundred craft beers, many of which are on tap!
Speaking of Munich, I came home to find beers from And Union in O’Brien’s, they are really good.
In November St Mel’s Autumn IPA hit the shelves, it was a little late but tasty all the same!
Independent’s Connemara Cascade was another juicy one!
I really liked To Øl’s Frost Bite and at the other end of the scale, Joe, again from O Brother.
That just about brings us up to date, I’ll start telling you about the seasonal specials I have stockpiled soon. Sláinte!