Brewed by the bay

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Galway Bay Brewery’s Full Sail Dry Hopped IPA is one of my favourites from the last couple of years. It can be sampled on draught in their Galway and Dublin bars. I am also happy to report that O’briens are now stocking it in bottles. Don’t get confused with the very similarly named Full Sail IPA from Oregon! This beer is well hopped which I like but they don’t go to town with it either so you could have a few of them without getting ‘hop fatigue’. ( a phrase I may have just invented) Highly recommended. 

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Getting back to my Nordic roots

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I’d never even heard of Einstok Icelandic White Ale until yesterday. First I spotted it in McCambridge’s in Galway and today I was reading The Complete Homebrew Handbook (a gift from my lovely and long suffering wife) and there it was again. Coming as I do from a long line of fierce Vikings I relished the opportunity to sup from the same cup as my forefathers! This beer looks very like Hoegaarden but it’s a little more complex and subtle. It’s wheat beer but not as we know it….

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The school of Hardknott

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Hardknott Continuum is a bitter session beer brewed in the north of England. It has only a relatively low alcohol content of 4% but you wouldn’t know, it certainly doesn’t taste any way weak. It does what it says on the tin/bottle and has a berry nose and pleasant citrus aftertaste. I enjoyed it with a pork and apple burger.

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Czech direct…

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Pardubicky Porter 19° is a fine example of a dark Czech beer. It’s 8% but you wouldn’t know it, the malt and some coffee tastes are what stand out…this was brought home to me by a friend who was on holidays in the Czech Republic and wouldn’t be widely available in Ireland unfortunately.

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The bleeding edge

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Live blogging… far from it we were reared. When I heard that the Malt House were serving their own craft lager I said I’d have to try it. The first beer Athlone could call it’s own dubbed imaginatively enough ‘The Malt House Craft Lager’. I’m not a huge lager fan but this comes from the same Banagher stable that brought the world Bo Bristle, and as such it packs more of a punch than your common or garden lager. It’s crisp and refreshing with some citrus flavours. .. check it out!

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