A great afternoon in Dublin - part one - Bull & Castle

Pin It Now! Originally I had planned to head in yesterday to the Bull & Castle in Dublin for the first time. Due to the Ireland V England rugby game, this became impossible so I took the opportunity to bottle my wheat beer. Today I got the bus in and it was brilliant craic.

I arrived at the Bull and Castle, asked for a drinks menu and ordered a Big Daddy IPA. I am a big fan of IPA's, I love any beer with plenty of Hop character. At 6.5% the Big daddy was pretty strong and it had a serious amount of hap character.
It was crisp and clear and had plenty of Bite. I certainly liked this beer. The only thing about it was the fruity undertone I thought was a little too much. That is just me though and I'm sure more people would like the fruitiness than not.
Afterwards I tried a Goose Island IPA for comparison and at 5.9% is a little weaker in alcohol level than the Big Daddy. It has an excellent mix of Hops and Malt. The bottle indicates a fruity undertone but I had to strain to notice and that suited me fine. I liked the Goose Island better than Big Daddy. Its a Chicago beer too, Chicago being my favourite city in the World after Dublin of course and I am a regular visitor there.

While I was having my Big Daddy I also had some food, It is a Gastro Pub after all. I ordered Ribs and Chips (fries). The chips were chunky like wedges and the sauce on the Ribs were excellent. Perhaps some parts of the ribs were a little tough but that did not bother me as it was delicious. I ordered my Goose Island at this point and also a Youngs Double Chocolate Stout so it could sit and warm to room temperature while I ate.




I am a big fan of stouts but I have never had a chocolate stout let alone a double chocolate stout. The most obvious thing about this beer is the Chocolate, it hits you right in the nose and works its way all the way down your to your gut and refuses to let you forget it is there. Also prevalent is the roasted Barley taste. The chocolate is achieved from chocolate malt and also some sort of chocolate powder or cocoa, hence the "Double". I love stout and I love chocolate so you would think I would doubly love this beer. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was great but perhaps it was the fact I had this when I was finished my food but it just felt a little too much for me. This is one I will try again, on an empty stomach next time.

I got talking to both bar tenders while there, from the very moment I walked in actually. While I was eating Jeff appeared. Jeff is also known as Silenus from the Irish Craft Brewers. He spotted a fellow Beer Lover, probably a combination of two decent beers and a notepad in front of me. So I let him know I was Saruman from the Irish craft brewers and we got chatting for a couple of hours. He gave me some great advice on some Beers. While he was showing me one interesting beer, the name of which escapes me, An English Girl came over and asked us about the beer. Apparently she comes to Dublin often and is into the craft brew scene back home. It seems there are even beers in the Bull and Castle that they do not get in England, or at least where she is from. Again I can not recall her name but perhaps she is reading this as Jeff and I gave her a list of websites and blogs to take a look at as well as a list of great pubs that sell craft beer.

One interesting Beer that Jeff got me to try was one I had dismissed as American Muck Beer like Coors etc. The reason was that I have seen it on special all over the place and I thought if it is that cheap it must be crap. Sort of like Milwaukee's Best or some other "American Beer flavoured Water". Don't get me wrong, the Americans make some of the best beers in the world but the ones best known are the crap like Coors, Bud & Miller. Mass produced Ass beer. Anyway the beer im talking about if you have not guessed yet is Brooklyn Lager. This was fantastic! Apparently the distributors got so many in that they have been trying to get rid of them. I for one will be looking for a good few of these at the Off License or Supermarkets. I thought it more like a Pale Ale than an American style Lager. It had a great Hop character. The funny thing is, My brother in Law in the US also brews his own beer and is into his craft brew. I was talking to him on the phone earlier and he has never heard of it. He loves his Sam Adams of course and in fairness to him, before I took beer seriously he gave me a Sam Adams back in 2005 or so and I found it too strong and made a Shandy out of it. He almost cried and I cringe when I think about it.

Well After the Bull & Castle I headed to the Bus stop by the way of the Porter House. More on that tomorrow.