Trouble Brewing are not letting the grass grow under their feet at the moment, they’ve launched not one but four limited release beers! I picked up three of them on my recent visit to Egan’s in Portlaoise. The Whistleblower IPA was the first victim of one of my bottle openers. The Australian Topaz and Galaxy hops really work fantastically well together, there is a bittersweet balance and some tropical fruit shining through. I didn’t take a picture of the beer but it’s the bottle with the gold writing above if you’re looking for it!
I mentioned the Big Bear Brown Ale before as I had it at the European Beer Bloggers Conference. It’s like an American take on a brown ale and it lives up to it’s name. They used English Phoenix hops in this one but I’m sticking with my American description!
The Agent Provocateur Red Rye has a very similar label to the Big Bear, so always read the label! The label notes suggest pairing it with chicken dishes. I had it with chicken and chorizo paella but I strongly suspect they had the more traditional roast chicken dinner in mind. No matter, it’s a nicely spicy beer that held my attention well.
I first had the Lazy Sunday Saison at Bloom in June, it also lives up to it’s name. It’s got some yeast and some dry bitterness and you could pretend you were sitting outside a pub in Belgium. The notes on the bottle suggest pairing with shellfish but I had fishcakes which were just as good. I hope these ‘limited releases’ stick around for a while!
