2010 A year remembered

Pin It Now! So another year has gone by and 2011 is nearly here so what happened in 2010? Well for a start there was the launch of Ireland's first beer consumer group called Beoir, following the likes of CAMRA in the UK and EBCU which covers all Europe and Beoir will likely join.

In Ireland we saw the opening of a number of new craft breweries as well as some new beer bars around the country.

Cask ale has been making a slow comeback with a few of the new bars serving cask ale even if its limited. I doubt cask ale can make the sort of comeback seen in Britain because they never lost it, only stopped its demise where as Ireland had not seen cask ale in decades until recent years.

So without further waffle I give you my 2010 golden pint awards with thanks to Mark Dredge of Pencil and Spoon fame for the template.

The Golden Pints Beer Awards 2010

Best Irish Draught

A tough one but for me it was Helvick Gold from Dungarvan Brewing Company. On cask it was mouthwateringly good, refreshing and even people who normally shy away from cask enjoyed it.

Best Irish Bottled Beer

Hand down it was O'Hara's pale ale from the Carlow Brewing Company. Ireland finally has a US style IPA in bottle and its damn good.

Best Overseas Draught Beer

A tough one indeed. No clear winner stands out as I had so many wonderful beers on tap. If I have to pick one, using the criteria of if it was the only beer available to me then I would have to pick Speakeasy's Big Daddy purely from a drinkability perspctive. There are better IPA's but few that are as sessionable. I drank a lot of these in San Francisco.

Best Overseas Bottled Beer

Another tough call but considering how many I bought and drank I will need to go with hopfenweisse from the Schneider & Brooklyn collaboration. Pure magic.

Best Overall Beer

How do define this? In 2010 I had my first taste of Westvleteren 12 which many consider the best beer in the world. It was fantastic but not worth the hype. I think I will go with Pliny the elder from the Russian river brewery in California. Racer 5 being a close runner up.

Best Pumpclip or Label

Just as beernut cheated for this one, I also must because when Grainne showed me her business card I was speechless for a few moments until I said "That's the best brewery name I have ever seen and the logo its fantastic". I think I repeated this a few times. The Metalman Brewery, named after the sculpture of the same name in waterford.

Best Irish Brewery

For dedication and some of the best beer in Ireland and for concentrating on bottles and cask, Dungarvan Brewing Company gets my vote. Cormac and the team have created a great following in Dungarvan among existing pubs which its no easy task in Ireland. Also they have popped up at every food and beer related event in the country and Cormac still found time to brew beer.

Best Overseas Brewery

This one was easy. I visited a lot of breweries in 2010 but for pure entertainment at the brewery and quality of beer this crown goes to Lagunitas in California. I spent a memorable afternoon there this summer.

Pub/Bar of the Year Beer

A tough one because The Bull & Castle is my favourite still but I arm going to go with L Mulligan Grocer because of all the little touches like no Guinness, no TV, soft music that you can talk over and listen to people, the aprons the stadd wear, the brown paper bag of sweets you get with the bill. Colin and the staff have turned the northside pub in to a beer haven.

Festival of the Year

Franciscan well Easter Fest was the best for me, though having not gone to any in other countries I can't compare.

Supermarket of the Year

Following Beernuts assessment I name Superquinn simply because of the special on craft beer they did during the year. And most superquinns have craft beer unlike many other Irish supermarkets. It is sad however that our choice of supermarkets for craft beer is so small.

Independent Retailer of the Year & Online Retailer of the Year

I'm combining these two because Drinkstore covers both. This tiny off license opposite L Mulligan Grocer launched its online shop and has probably the most comprehensive range of beer in the country.

Best Beer Book or Magazine

The only one I read all year was Hops & Glory by Pete brown and since I only got it for Christmas I have not finished it so it wins by default.

Best Beer Blog or Website

The one I consistently read most often is thebeernut so he gets my vote with a worthy second place mention to Al over on fuggled. Though really I enjoy and read them both equally so it was more a toss of a coin as to which came first.

Best Beer Twitterer

Hardknott dave for consistently good tweets and of course soap opera entertainment with back and forth comments with hardknottAnn who you would swear its not in fact in the next room at all.

Best Brewery Online

I can't argue with beernut over this one. Dungarvan Brewing Company has done a phenominal job online this year.

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year

While not new, I did not come up with anything else this year so Galway hooker pale ale with seafood pie at The Bull & Castle takes this one.

In 2011 I’d Most Like To…

Set up a brewpub, in order for that to happen the government needs to make it easier for microbreweries to open. Oh and I would not mind winning the lotto to finance such a venture.

Open Category: Most Ridiculous Brewery

And the Michael O'Leary award for Ryanair style advertising goes to none other than Brewdog for their ridiculous advertising shenanigans. Brewing stupidly high ABV beers in an attempt to get some cheap advertising was getting old very fast. Thankfuly their End of History beer should be an end to it. When not trying to be media whores, Brewdog actually brew some fantastic beers so lets hope they go back to basics in 2011 and stick to brewing great beer.

So there it is for another year. The Irish craft beer tank had been gaining momentum and maybe in 2011 will come out all guns blazing.

*If there are mistakes here, please excuse me as I wrote most of it on my android tablet pc which is awkward to say the least. I borrowed a computer to add in the links quickly. I am currently in Alabama visiting my Mother in law for Christmas.

To be Belgian....

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This is my supposed Belgian dubbel fermented cool with s33 yeast. It is 5.2% but not much in the way of esters.
I quite like it but not my best work. It might get better with age but I elected to keg it so not much ageing will happen.

No beer should be this difficult to drink.

Pin It Now! Some beers go wrong from the get go and this is one of them. The first thing you will notice, and you will see it in the picture below is the cap. That's not gold foil which is annoying in itself. No, that is probably supposed to be wax but I am fairly certain it's is not wax either. It is some sort of weird plastic concrete or something. There is a pull ring which is nice but this in itself is dangerous because as soon as I pulled it, bits of the plastic coating starting flying in all directions and hit me in the face and nearly in my eye. The pull ring then gives you a nice strip up as far as the cap but the plastic concrete is still securely attached to the rest of the cap so out comes the knife for a dangerous 10 minute ordeal of trying to open the bloody thing.

The beer in question is called Peak XV which is the original name of Mount Everest. It is an Imperial Porter from the Black Diamond Brewing Company. All American Craft Beer imports are expensive in Ireland but this being a large bottle and a special brew was painfully expensive. I don't recall exactly but I am thinking it was not too far off €10, perhaps €8.99?

Anyway the second thing I notice is that the beer is all foam as you can see from the picture above. Now you might say that the beer got shaken a little while I was wrestling with getting the thing opened in the first place but I left it for a while. The beer inside the bottle was quite settled but when being poured, no matter how gently it seemed there was some chemical reaction that made the head just expand. The sort of thing you see in Chemistry class.

Some 30 minutes later I had enough beer in the glass to actually try it. I needn't have bothered.

The aroma seemed ok with plenty of Vanilla, Chocolate and Coffee. At first I thought it was aged in Oak and that was where the Vanilla was coming from. I was looking forward to it. From the moment the beer entered my mouth I knew I was wrong. The vanilla was overpowering and tasted like someone had spilled a bottle of vanilla essence in to the beer. I grabbed the bottle and started reading and it turns out they use real Vanilla beans in the brewing process. It also said they use cocoa nibs for the chocolate.

The head never actually died down. In fact there was only about 50ml or so left in the bottle and my glass was mostly empty so I poured the rest in and the head foamed up to the top of the glass again. Bear in mind this is a full pint glass which takes 568ml of beer (a pint) and room for a head. I have no idea what could have made the beer so reactive, to itself for that matter but if it was some sort of additive I want no part of it ever again.

I could forgive the beer if it actually taste good but to me it had that cold coffee taste that the Black Jack Porter had the other day except in this case it was more like a pint of cold espresso with cocoa added in. I forced myself to drink it only because it cost so much money. It did not in any way grow on me or get better as it warmed.

Avoid this beer if you enjoy your sanity.

Out of left field

Pin It Now! The last time I had beer from The Left Hand Brewing Company it was suggested I get the Milk Stout by VelkyAl. However since that is not available here at the moment these two were suggested instead.

First up was Sawtooth Ale which is an ESB with an American twist perhaps? It did not remind me of the English style ESB's (many are quite boring) I would generally have access to but I can certainly see some similarities. The aroma is full on malt and mandarin, which is to be expected. The orange translates well when tasting along with some nuttyness and spicyness to keep you interested. A lovely malty backbone as well. There is a little citrus going on here as well with the obligatory American C hops, in this case Cascade but it is so muted that it might as well not be there and in fact it seems to only be included to turn this in to an American ESB. A little Chocolate is present to remind you of a Terrys Chocolate Orange, which is something I have never seen in the US. They really miss out on good chocolate in the US. Even where they have the same brand over there, such as Kit Kat for instance which is these days a Nestlé product in Europe and the rest of the world with a beautiful chocolate covering except in the US where it is covered in nasty Herhshey's muck of the quality we would not even cook with this side of the Atlantic let alone consume in a chocolate bar. Anyway I'm digressing and this is a topic for a differently themed blog. I enjoyed the Sawtooth Ale and want some more.

Next I tried the Black Jack Porter which is quite disappointing to be honest but maybe that's just me. The aroma was chocolate and molasses and some coffee so it was off to a good start. It all went downhill from there though. Firstly it was way too carbonated. Porter should not be as fizzy as a Lager and this was even fizzier than many a Lager I have had. And then there is what the taste reminds me of and in this case it is day old coffee that is obviously cold and has had way too much sugar put in it. So if Iced coffee is your thing then you will probably love it but I did not enjoy it the way I had hoped. It was a little carboardy as well and to be honest it reminded me of a kit homebrew so perhaps I just had a bottle from an oxidised batch and I am being a little harsh.

More Flying dogs....

Pin It Now! Dog Schwartz is one of the newer beers from Flying Dog. It's a Rauchbier which is a Smoked German Lager. This is a double lager though which is evident at 7.8% ABV. The aroma was Smokey, vanilla and some liquorice. This followed through to the taste and I was surprised by just how much vanilla bean I got. The body was a little on the thin side but I think that is more to do with the perception that there is so much more going on in this beer that you forget it is still a Lager so in that sense, it is more of a medium bodied lager.

This beer was fantastic and if you like smoked beer, I can not recommend it enough.

At 11.5% ABV Double Dog is a proper Double IPA and I may go so far as to say it is one of the best examples I have come across. The aroma is quite sweet with pine, grapefruit and maple syrup dominating. All of this comes across quite clearly in the taste with the addition of a sherry like booziness of that 11.5% hitting you on the finish. The lingering boozy and altogether bitter finish does it for me. A real winter warmer and an absolutely cracking beer. It left me wanting more but knowing that I should probably stick to just one of these every now and again but I reckon I would have no problem drinking them all night.

Gonzo is an Imperial Porter coming in at 9.2% ABV. Caramel and Vanilla in the aroma and some chocolate perhaps. No roast coffee though. The taste adds the roast coffee missing from the aroma but it is subtle with chocolate sweetness dominating.

A very tasty porter.

Trouble Brewing has a new porter

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Up until now, the only beer Trouble Brewing produced was Ór which is a Golden Ale. They recently brewed a Porter called Dark Arts and it is absolutely beautiful. Dark yes but it is a ruby red as you can see. Lashings of chocolate and coffee as well as some burnt toffee. Currently this is available at the Bull & Castle in Dublin and I hope to see more of it. I believe L Mulligan Grocer also has it and if Against the Grain has not got it yet, then surely it will soon.

I had Dark Arts the other week and last night was my Office Christmas party and I had told the guys about it so when I ordered some they had a taste and were very impressed and they then had a few of pints of it themselves.

Pin It Now! Yay another Brooklyn beer for me to try. This is the Oktoberfest and is a Marzen style lager. The aroma is nutty, malty, biscuity & dried fruit. Unfortunately the taste is rather less impressive and indeed it is rather thin on body as well. That said I enjoyed it and the beer did not last long.

Grottenbier on the other hand comes to us courtesy of Saint Bernardus, the Belgian powerhouse of Trappist ales. I had the Brune which at 6.5% is not all that strong by Belgian standards but it is rather tasty. The aroma is all caramel, dried fruit and a little hint of sourness.

The taste is caramel, burnt toffee & caramel and more raisin like qualities. It is not one of the sweeter Belgians but certainly has enough sweetness to go around. The mouthfeel was very bubbly. This is a very carbonated, perhaps overly so Belgian Brown Ale. I enjoyed it though and will look forward to another one some time.

Pin It Now! For those outside of Ireland, it is un-naturally cold and there is a lot of snow. Ireland as a rule does not get much snow. We get mild winters usually with last year being and obvious exception., I say last year but it was the beginning of 2010 so really it is 2010 that is just too damn cold. Since Ireland does not get this sort of weather, we are unprepared for it can't cope. Since I live so far away from work, this means it is a lot of hassle an quite dangerous for me to drive and public transport is not an option. I was housebound on Tuesday and yesterday I came in to Dublin with an overnight bag and stayed last night. So I went to the local off license for some beer for the evening. I got some Schneider Weisse beers including one I have never had before.

Schneider Weisse Tap 4 Mein Grunes (My green??) is a bit of an odd beer. The aroma is sort of sour, floral & fruity. The sourness is evident in the taste as well and I also got something that made me think it was smokey, even though I know it is not. The usual Heffeweisse characters are there but subtlety is the name of the game here.

It reminds me of my own Wheaty Goodness which may have had an slight wild yeast infection giving it sour lambic style qualities. Mine mellowed out to be a very drinkable wheat beer with a slight sourness, rather like this Tap 4 so I quite enjoyed it.

I will pick it up again as I am not fully over a cough so my ability to taste is a little questionable.