Of Foam and Fury - Galway Bay Brewery

Mmm Double IPA Goodness in the Brewdock

Once in a while something comes along in life which smacks you in the choppers and announces its arrival. Makes you sit up and pay attention. This ladies and gentlemen, is the Double IPA that Ireland has been waiting for.

Galway Bay have been tweaking the recipes on their staple beers, namely the Full Sail Ale, and there hop forward NZ Voyager. Meet its bigger more aggressive brother. Of Foam and Fury.

It pours a nice foggy amber, a vibrant white head contrasts perfectly. The aroma was a lovely mix of sweet citrus, and just smelt so fresh. (Yankee Candle, can you make a scent like this) Its flavour I described as Bombastic on Twitter, make no mistake this is a Hop Monster, an 8.5% ABV monster, but its a refined monster, well balanced with the malt, the citric taste stays on and leaves a wonderful aftertaste.

Available in all Cottage Group bars in Dublin and Galway, I picked it up in Brewdock for a 2/3 pint @ €5.75. The good news is though, this bad boy will be following in bottles soon and i hope to pick up some for the festive period.

Well done lads, and I can't wait to see what you come up with next! 

They are also running a competition on twitter to win your mug on the side of the bottle, you tweet your review, just put your hashtag as #galwaybeer. 

My review was 

"Refreshing aroma belies bombastic tropical hard hitting hops. Powerful full on flavour. Wimps need not apply. #galwaybeer"

Winter Craft Beer & Cider Festival - Kilruddery House Bray

The bar in the Marquee.

On the weekend of the 2nd November, Kilruddery House in Bray hosted along side its regular weekly farmers market, a Craft Beer and Cider event. 

I was piggy backing in with the lads from Bru Brewery, but also in attendance were Mountain Man Brewing, Trouble Brewing, White Gypsy, and Dungarvan Brewing. On the Cider side we had Orpens, who will be setting up shop in Slane, Co Meath next year, and Craigies from Wicklow. Also in attendance was The National Homebrew Club, and True Batch Brew.

Firstly, if you get the chance to go down to this farmers market you should, they've a lot of local food producers, including the ever delicious Hicks Butcher. 

The day was long, and the conditions were very cold, I wouldn't have liked to be running the Hell and Back the next day. Fair play to anyone who did.

Trouble brewing brought along a keg of the pumpkin ale, quite possibly the last keg, and it was delicious as always. They also rotated the 2nd tap between Sabotage IPA and Dark Arts. Our neighbours from White Gypsy were pouring a lovely Baltic porter called Gota, and Belgian ale called Semoy. 

On the Bru Stand we had the three products flowing, and after initial teething issues with the gas on the Rua we got things pouring great. The Dubh went down really well, but there were plenty of plaudits for the Amber Lager. 

Mountain Man probably had the busiest stand, his stand has evolved from the RDS where now one of the taps is actually made with a 50 cal bullet casing for the green bullet. Phil is a gas man, and it was great to meet up with him again, and Mrs Mountain Man was great too! Hopefully you enjoyed your snack box on the way home! 

One of the most interesting stands for me though was the team behind True Batch Brew. Essentially its a 1 gallon all grain brew kit contained with all the ingredients you need to make a small batch without loads of home brew equipment cluttering up space. They'd samples of their pale ale, and porter. The pale ale was very tasty. It was their first outing and judging by the visitors they seem to have captured the public's imagination. The kit is €45 and comes with very clear instructions. Well done guys, I hope to pick up a kit to test and post the results on my blog! Best of luck with the venture.

Lastly, the ciders, Orpens cider, coming soon to the royal county, taking up home in the Old Mill in Slane near the infamous bridge on the banks of the Boyne. The cider is lovely medium dry, and it very refreshing, I can't wait to have it more. Well done. We also had Craigies from Wicklow, who were there with their lovely cider. A bit on the dry side for my taste, but as I was tasting it I was thinking of the food matching possibilities, pork belly and cider mmm. Anyway, they've some pretty interesting plans for bottling into the future, and best wishes guys. A very tasty day.

A good day was had by all, and i'm sure there were some valuable introductions for all the exhibitors on the day that hopefully will mean we will see more of these bespoke, artisan, hand crafted products in more places in the future.

The day wound up pretty quickly from about 7 on wards it was very quiet, one or two comments from people locally was they were unaware it was on. Even though there was shuttles in operation and phone numbers for local taxi drivers in supply the crowd was a little light after the farmers market finished up, maybe for the next event, they could target market the locality, in pubs like Hollands, and others in the area. 

Founders - Dry Hopped Pale Ale

Yes, another Founders review. This one will be short and sweet. Unlike its centurion sibling, the Dry Hopped Pale Ale.

On my way to pick up a chinese, while en route I decided, I would try another of the Founders Stable, knowing these were in my local O'Briens (conveniently near the chinese) 

Cascade Hops, I love em, they are fresh and vibrant, and are plentiful here. The beer pours a lovely amber colour with a vibrant white head. There is a lovely citrus fresh aroma. I honestly preferred this to the Session IPA, a little less bitter, but I enjoyed it more.

Weighing in at 5.4% this is quite nice for an American Pale Ale. This is the little brother, with a Ratebeer average of 88

Founders - Porter - The Ratebeer Centurion

Founders have certainly been making an impact since they've arrived on our shores. I've already sampled the All Day Session IPA - link is on the right hand side.

I was eating out with a friend in Dublin recently, and it finished a little earlier than expected. So I decided to pop into my friends in Ugly Duckling Cafe to say hi, and also wait for Mrs Irishbeersnob who was on the late shift at work. Chinwagging as people who know me is my speciality and Derek and Darragh were really keen to tell me about their new beer additions, Founders. I asked for the porter as i'd not had this yet.

Firstly, I had had a few drinks already so I wasn't really paying much attention in terms of notes etc, but I was blown away by it. Served at room temperature this was sensational. However I said to myself i'll have to pick this up and try it again.  

So I was also more than pleased to see this in Trim Winehouse on my recent visit there, but have noticed it in O'Briens Navan. The Winehouse in Trim were selling this for €2.69 a bottle. I think they've also a special on with 6 for €15.00

This beauty pours dark. A lovely sweet aroma from the hops but notes of chocolate are there. You can also get a lovely hint of coffee. This has skyrocketed up the list to top of the pile as far as bottled porters go for me. Its also very easy to see how this has an average score on Ratebeer of 100.

At 6.5% its not a wimp, but this is perfect to sup on during these dark winter evenings.