The Big Grill 2017

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Simon

The Big Grill took place in Herbert Park, Dublin for the third time over the weekend. I made it to the final day which turned out to be very damp indeed. 

I made a beeline for new kids on the block Hopfully. The lads behind it are Brazilian and have a very distinctive type of artwork. They gave me tastes of all four of their beers. Standouts included their Beetroot Saison with sage and lemon thyme and tropical tasting Graciosa. This was the launch of their brewery and I look forward to finding their beers on shelves in the wild. 

I enjoyed some delicious chicken from Kinara. It seemed like there was more beer than food at this year’s event but maybe that’s just me. It’s not really a complaint as I do enjoy the odd beer. 

Eight Degrees had a new and rather delicious Berliner Weisse on draught. 

O Brother had a great Grapefruit Pale Ale pouring. It was nicely dry and kept you wanting more. 

Over the last few years I have followed Cranky Yankee Corn Dogs around the country for my corn dog fix. This year it was late but I was happy to hear my man Nick was going to be at The Big Grill. 

Brewtonic were pouring their Four 20 Hemp Ale. It didn’t get me high and I’m sure the munchies I had were purely coincidental! 

I enjoyed a goat taco with Trouble Brewing’s Parklife Lager. Now that’s proper picnic fare. 

I finished off the festival with Dan Kelly’s imaginatively named Big Grill Special. They wouldn’t tell me what was in it but it tasted great with a banana and bacon cupcake. That’s it for this year, see you in 2018. Sláinte! 

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Beer in the City

Posted on August 19, 2017 by Simon

Urban Brewing has just opened in the CHQ building on the Quays in Dublin’s financial district. 

Myself and assorted beery types were invited to check the place out during the week. 

We are all given a sample of their Saison to wet our whistles. It was drinkable and summery but it probably could’ve done with a bit more time in the tank. 

The upstairs bar was very chic, with an outdoor dining area and a great view of the brew house on the mezzanine. 

The venture is part of the Carlow Brewing Company so it was no surprise to see O’Hara’s range on the bar, they were joined by Trouble Brewing’s Remix as well as very impressive selection of bottles and cans. 

I remarked that they really needed a blackboard to list their house beers but it was all in hand, waiting downstairs to be erected. 

We were treated to a selection of the tapas from the kitchen. I have to say the sweet potatoes were delicious. 

As was the beef cheek, which was slow cooked for 14 hours in Red Ale. 

There was some cauliflower steak which was accompanied by some tasty house made ketchup. Why do vegans or vegetarians like to call things after meat? There’s even a vegan butcher in Dublin! I was vegetarian myself for a whole year, a long time ago, I was also skinny! Coincidence? Anyway, I’m definitely back on the carnivorous wagon now. 

One of the sweet treats was a very moreish kind of baked profiterole filled with a white chocolate and Stout mousse. 

I was also given a taste of the stout from the tank, I’d say that it will finish out nicely. The plan is to serve directly from the Bright Beer Tanks and on special occasions from Barrels. It’s a unique proposition and a welcome addition to the Dublin Beer scene. I will return to check out their complete range of beers and for some more of that, very high end, tapas. Sláinte! 

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#HAGSTRAVAGANZA 3

Posted on July 30, 2017 by Simon

I don’t know if they had a first birthday party. If they did it was pretty low key. The second birthday party was good craic so I was looking forward to this year’s bash. No, not a toddler, but the White Hag brewery turned three recently and they invited myself and various other bloggers, liggers and friends along to join in with the celebrations. 

So I hopped in the car and others boarded trains, planes and skateboards to head for Ballymote. The first thing that struck me was the difference in scale. Men in High Viz vests were directing traffic at the gate and we were directed in to a designated area to check in. Formalities dispensed with we were cordially invited to grab a glass (best festival glass ever? Proper glass natch!) and some tokens and get down to the serious business of drinking beer. 

That wasn’t as straightforward as you’d expect. First one had to run a gauntlet of handshakes and hellos. The temerity of them, getting between a chap and the bar. My first was 40FT’s Larger Lager. It had a bit of a papery oxidised thing but it was cold and wet and I made short work of it.

After that I went for Beavertown’s Hawaii-5-Oh, a Hawaiian Pizza Beer, as you do. It was heavy on the smoke and a bit light on the pineapple for me. But I persevered with the smoky beers and was very impressed with Black Donkey’s Bog Fire. This Smoked Rye Saison had a lovely balance of peaty smokiness and rye spice.

After that I had Kinnegar’s Phunk Bucket, a Pale Ale brewed with Brettanomyces yeast. It sure was Phunky, and had a nice tartness to it. I hope it makes it in to bottles. It was time for a food break then and I had some tasty paella. There were a couple of good food offerings and the Indian also smelled great. 

I went for something a little different after my grub, MacIvor’s wonderfully named Grow A Pear, a cask aged Perry. It was delicious, crisp and dry. It was the only cider but non beer lovers also had the option of cocktails prepared with Black’s Kinsale Gin. Nice as they looked, I resisted and went for another beer. And another Irish one too! Trouble Brewing’s Silk Road Saison had just been tapped and it was fantastic, really citrussy and refreshing. I’d happily sup a pint of it in a beer garden. 

White Hag and Kinnegar’s collaboration The Hare And The Hag was tapped up and was it was tasting as good as I remembered. And my last beer of the evening was Stone’s Americano Stout. It was a big beast of a beer at 8.7% and so the pour was only 250ml. A really good coffee Stout to serve as my night cap. I had a few sips of some other beers too but with the variety on offer I resigned myself to the fact that I could only drink so much. 

Thanks to White Hag for hosting such an enjoyable event. I had a great time talking to brewers, various social meeja types and a lot of sound heads. Sláinte! 

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Bristol Beer and Craic 

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Simon

Bristol is only a short hop away from Bath so I resolved to spend an evening checking out a couple of the better spots. A small bit of interwebs research later I was aboard a train for an arduous twenty minute journey. First stop was The Steam Crane. I was given a warm welcome as I perused taps and the food offerings. 

There could really only be one first choice considering the location, and that was Bristol Beer Factory’s Summer Cascade. It went down fierce easily after a long days trek around the safari. ( The family had visited Longleat earlier!) 

I plumped for the Ploughman’s Platter which sated my hunger nicely and featured some awesome cheddar. 

I couldn’t resist the wonderful pump clip and name of Boss Beatles Juice, and happily it lived up to all of the implied psychedelic expectations. It was like a juicy summer party in my mouth. The lads helpful called a taxi to take me to my next destination which was the Grain Barge. 

The Grain Barge is owned by Bristol Beer Factory and so I went for another of their beers, a hoppy Summer Session Ale called Nova. 

I supped that out on deck and enjoyed the last warmth of the Summer’s evening. 

I was somewhat interested to see what my next pub was going to be like, having read a few bits about it. 

The Bag O’Nails has a few quirks, for example, hand written signs instructing you not to ‘…order an IPA if you don’t know what the fuck it is!’…as well as a lot of cats and kittens reclining on the bar. 

I started off here with the Cumbrian 5 Hop which was decent before moving on to some rather more exotic fare. 

Italian Porter and Belgian Quadruple, as you do on a Monday night. There had been a beer festival the week before and luckily for me there were a few drops of each left. The Quadruple was outstanding. Fruity, boozy and warm. The barman, Harry, who originally hails from Belfast was very entertaining company. 

 I hit the Small Bar last. And there found my new favourite glass, featuring my initials. Not many places have a personalised glass waiting for you! 

I enjoyed the Left Handed Giant Sonny Boys IPA. It was a great finish to a fantastic evening of craic in Bristol. The lads in Small Bar were dead sound too leaving me with a very positive impression of the pub scene in Bristol. Cheers for reading! 

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Beers in Bath

Posted on July 26, 2017 by Simon

In our house we prefer city breaks to sun holidays, our most recent excursion was to Bath. Our destinations are one of the very few things that myself and my wife argue about. Bath seemed to tick all of the boxes however with a safari for the kids, a spa for the aforementioned wife and most importantly beer for me! I asked the Twitterati on #irishbeerchat for some recommendations and they came up trumps. Bath Brew House got a few mentions and a rain shower provided a good opportunity to check it out. I started off with their Emperor, a hoppy Pale Ale. Now I’m not an expert on Real Ale but I think it’s fairly safe to say that the bar for hoppiness is lower in the cask stuff than it is for the kegged ‘Craft Beer’ that I’ve become accustomed to. That said, this was a very tasty pint. 

As was Lupulus, a fruity IPA brewed with Moteuka hops. A busy spot, worth a visit. 

The following day I made my way to The Raven for a Pieminister pie and a pint. I actually did it the wrong way around and supped their house Golden Ale with my beef pie. The pie is baked with their house Dark Ale. The pie was delicious anyway, the Golden Ale was light and refreshing but the darker Ale had some lovely caramel complexity to it. 

Later in the evening I ventured as far as The Pig and Fiddle which was very close to our accommodation. 

It was a cool looking spot with a bit of character. I had a Dagger’s Ale which was brewed by someone who had been a part of the pub in the past. Nice bit of provenance and a grand pint. 

The Saracen’s Head was a couple of doors up and boasted that it was the oldest pub in Bath. I thought it would’ve been remiss of me not to check it out. Sadly any character that it had once had been tidied away neatly. Age is no guarantee of personality. 

Greene King’s East Coast IPA missed the mark badly, boasting on the (rather nice, in fairness) glass of being filtered. It was pretty bland stuff. 

We went for an Indian in The Eastern Eye. The grub was good but the beer, Bangla, ‘voted UK’s best beer to go with curry’ really wasn’t. Still, you have to try them all at least once. 

After a pair of poor pints I was very happy to get XT’s IPA 3 into me. Very enjoyable beer. I had it in The Cork which was very busy, I had come in at the end of a table quiz, the host had ran it for nine years and was going to pursue other comedic endeavours. There was a lot of love in the room. 

Brewed up the road, my final pint of the night was Bristol’s Mischief. Solid beer, they seem to be a fairly consistent brewery. 

Another pub which had been highly recommended was The Old Green Tree. It took me three attempts to find it open and serving but it was worth it. This is a quintessential olde English pub. Proper. I had a pint of their house Ale. It went down very nicely indeed on what was a warm afternoon. 

I was a bit conscious that I wasn’t in any of the pictures so there I am, twice in a row. Just in case anyone thinks I’m just making this all up. It was our last afternoon in Bath and I called into Independent Spirit. I was glad I did. It’s a really good, well stocked off licence with a vast range of beers. Apologies for the lack of pictures! I picked up a couple interesting beers and had a good chat with the lads. Definitely check it out if you are in Bath. The Independent Spirit men said I should go as far as Hunter and Sons before leaving their fair city. 

Hunter and Sons is so edgy I’d say the staff are constantly running out of bandages. It’s all mismatched furniture and squashed avocados on sourdough toast. But we’d already had lunch. I was glad to see BrewDog’s latest collaboration with Cloudwater; IPA V2 on draught. It was £7.50 for a half but damn it was a well made beer. Head and shoulders above V1 which I had found underwhelming. Juicy as fuck. 

After that, the only way was up so my last beer in Bath was To Øl’s whopper Goliat. This one was lusciously dark and creamy. It concluded my visit nicely. 

Those of you who keep an eye on my social medias will be aware I also visited Bristol. A much shorter blog on that trip is coming your way tomorrow. Cheers! 

 

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