It's amazing what a little age can do to a beer

A few weeks ago, after I got back from Rome I took my US family to Galway (above) for the day. My destination was the new brewpub (Galways first) to see what its like. I parked in Salthill and walked to the town centre looking for it. It was closer to the beach than I thought. This is not a review of the place as they did not have their own beer on tap yet (not till October 15th I was told) so I settled for a Galway hooker Dunkel and it was better than the last time I had it. One thing about the place, the food is quite excellent and worth a visit for the food alone. Their beer has since gone on sale but I have not heard a good report yet, I will give it some time and let them settle in before going back to review them. It is called The Oslo and even if their own beers turn out to be boring, they do have a great selection of world beers.
After a little tourist shopping we headed back home and the beginning of todays beer reviews, though only the first one was actually tried on that night.


I had a fantastic beer tasting session with my brother in law that evening. I had been saving a Fullers Vintage Ale (2007) and Brewers reserve I bought back in April. I also had a bottle of O' Haras Celebration stout courtesy of The Beer nut, as well as a bottle of Lovibonds Gold reserve wheat wine. All of them went down an absolute treat but what struck me was the brewers reserve. Originally I had concurred with Beer Nut that while it was a good beer, you might as well spend the extra money and get the Vintage Ale. Beer nut did not think the oak ageing did anything for it. This time around I found the brewers reserve a little more to my liking than the vintage ale? The oakiness and whiskey feel were more prominent than I remembered. The vintage ale was very smooth though.
Similarly the Lovibonds gold reserve was also very smooth and even my mother in law said she liked it (thought was satisfied with a taste).
The Celebration stout was unspeakably good and did not last as long as I would have liked.

Anyway on to the last beer of the night, which is the one pictured above. It is Harvisoun Ola dubh 16. I was commended for my choice at the till where I purchased it in McCambridges of Galway. He was obviously a beer fan but had never heard of Irish craft brewers so I gave him a card that Beer nut had given me and he said he would check us out.
Anyway this was the first beer I have had from Harvistoun and I was very impressed as was my brother in law. It poured a dark thick black with a hint of red, smelled of dark chocolate, treacle and had a light smokiness to it.
It tasted very rich, smoky, sweet but also a perfect bittering balance and had an earthiness to it.
We were both very impressed and I was sad to have only bought the one little bottle. I will have to look out for more.


More recently I picked up a Lindemans Kriek. This was for my wife but I tried a little naturally. Having had a proper kriek from Cantillon which is very sour and acidic, I could immediatly tell that this had added sweetness to it. The bottle even mentions that this is the case. Cherry juice is mixed in with the lambic when bottling so it gives you a sweet cherry beer that tastes a lot like cherry Kool-Aid with plenty of sugar.

I was in lidl recently and noticed a new (to me) Shepherd Neame beer called Late Red. As the name suggests it is a seasonal Autumn beer. It is a red colour and smells like toffee, caramel, fudge, pine needles??? It tastes a little grassy. It also has a metallic taste. There is peraps a little caramel in there too but mostly it is quite bitter. It feels a little chewy in the mouth too.
I liked this, though it is not the best Shehard Neame beer I have had. I would imagine this being interesting on cask.