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| Treebeard, Guardian of the Beers! 942 in the glass. |
Recently, Dominic Lombard, an Irish man, who is a Beer Sommelier, living in Spain got in touch and asked would we be interested in sampling some beers from a Brewery he know’s called Dougall’s.
From the Cantabria region of Northern Spain, the brewer Andrew set up shop in 2006 to bring hop forward beers to the masses, rather than the usual ice cold lagers that are widely available. After many years of bureaucratic red tape, they got up and running and began the crusade to improve the local beer offerings.
Using US Hops, and Maris Otter Malts as the base of their beers the team at Dougall’s have given themselves a strong foundation to base themselves on. With a widening portfolio also to cater for other tastes this will see them continue to grow, and now look at exporting. So in Ireland we are luckily able to pick these beers up in Dunne’s Stores a national supermarket chain.
There are two beers available to us in Ireland.
Lets start with 942 an American Pale Ale, that comes in at a very sessionable 4.2%. It pours a pale yellow colour, owing to the malt. Pours very clear with no hazing or cloudiness. The aroma on the nose is very pleasing, citrus notes, mainly grapefruit, and orange zest. Now for the taste, it’s quite light, which given it’s a low abv beer is to be expected, but there is a slight bitterness, that makes the palette want more. Not overly carbonated and very pleasing finish. I really enjoyed this. I could definitely see myself drinking this on the Playa on a hot sunny day. It’s easy to see how this beer scores so well on Ratebeer. Definitely a 3.75 out of 5 for me.
Next up we have the Leyenda, or Legend to you and me. Moving up to 5.8%, we have an Extra Special Bitter. A good bit darker, more an amber, due to the presence of crystal malt in the grist. The aroma on this is a little more understated than the 942, there is a light hop aroma, with more malt aromas and biscuit coming through. On tasting the malt flavours are definitely to the fore hear. A pleasant sweetness, leads way to soft hop bitterness. The bitterness is pleasant, and again carbonation is spot on. Hides it’s alcohol quite well, and that’s a sign of a well made beer. Malty beers aren’t really my style, but this is solid, so 3/5 for me.
My preference of the two is the 942 personally, but for those who prefer a malt forward beer the Leyenda will scratch that particular itch.
I note that the brewery have mentioned they are hoping to have a canning line installed, and the 942 is a beer that would lend itself well to canning, and retain a lot of those vital hop characteristics.
Sláinte, or should that be Salud!
*Please note, these beer samples were provided by DouGall’s for review.*
Irish Beer Snob 