Category: UK

2015, Beer, Bottleshop, Craft Beer, Hops, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, IPL, Irish, Listener Submitted, Off Licence, podcast, UK

Podcast Episode 13 – A nomad walked into a Bottle Shop!

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Podcast Episode 13 – A nomad walked into a Bottle Shop!

What started out as brunch, turned into a quest. A quest to find Nomad, 8 Degrees new IPL, India Pale Lager. A rare beast on draught – this was proving difficult to find. Thanks to our local innkeeper we had no shortage of supply of bottles, but we wanted to try it as nature intended. On draught. Thankfully the Beerhouse on Dublin’s Capel St satisfied that particular itch.


Nomad is the latest in a list of great specials from 8 Degrees. And she’s a cracker – get this while you can. But it’s the best of both worlds. 

Also in our latest episode we highlight the best independent off licences country wide as suggested by our listeners/followers?

Dublin
Probus Wines – Fenian St, Dublin 2
McHughs, Artane and Coolock www.mchughs.ie 
Drinkstore, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 www.drinkstore.ie 
Martins Fairview, Dublin 3 – www.martinsofflicence.ie 
Baggot Street Wines, Dublin 4 
Redmonds of Ranelagh, Dublin 6
Devenney’s of Dundrum, Dublin 14 
Devenney’s Rathmines, Dublin 6
Corkscrew Lucan, Lucan Co Dublin
Blackrock Cellar, Blackrock, Co Dublin
The Dark Horse, Blackrock, Co Dublin
Carryout Tyrellstown, Dublin 15 http://www.carryouttyrrelstownofflicence.ie/ 

Cork
Bradleys Off Licence, Cork City – http://www.bradleysofflicence.ie 
Abbotts Ale House, Cork City 

Meath
The Wine Well Off Licence Dunboyne
Conways Off Licence Ratoath
The Winehouse, Trim
Arthur Smyth, Smyth’s on the Square, Navan

Portlaoise
Egans Off Licence, Portlaoise www.eganswines.ie 

Wicklow
Hollands of Bray, Bray

Belfast
The Vineyard, Lighthouse Wines, Laverys, Wine Works, Neilwine, and Brewbot Belfast

Donegal
Dicey Reillys, Ballyshannon

Louth
Callans, Dundalk

Kildare
Boyles of Kildare Town

This list is by no means exhaustive or complete – if there any others you think are worthy of inclusion please let us know!

Here’s the link to the podcast direct download here 

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS in your favourite podcast player it is http://irishbeersnob.libsyn.com/RSS

Thanks for listening

2015, Brehon Brewhouse, Craft Beer, Craic, Guinness, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Ireland, podcast, Pubs, UK, Worldwide

Podcast Episode 12 – Summer Ale & Watering Holes!

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Podcast Episode 12 – Summer Ale & Watering Holes!

In the current instalment of the Irish Beer Snob podcast, our intrepid beer explorers talk through the latest news in the Irish Craft Beer Scene, and review Brehon Brewhouse’s Summer Ale.



We also opened out to our audience to give us their favourite watering holes wherever they may be to share with our audience.

There are some great beery spots on the list which is by no means a complete list.

The direct MP3 link is here

The RSS for our feed is Http://irishbeersnob.libsyn.com/RSS please add this to your favourite Podcast Player to get our updated episodes directly to your device.

2014, Bath Ales, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, real ale, UK

Bath Ales

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Bath Ales

Recently I enjoyed a trip across the pond to Bristol with my mum for a few days. Got to spend quality time with my family. I was delighted when i arrived to find they bought some beers for me to enjoy. My cousin was delighted to tell me they were local beers too.

Bath Ales was established in 1995, with their brewery located in Warmley, situated between Bath & Bristol. They even boast 12 pubs, which sadly I didnt get to visit (always next time) http://www.bathales.com/our-pubs/

First up to try was Golden Hare, described as full flavoured light ale. When I poured it there was a citrus aroma that was mirrored by the taste. Had a very thin head. Was light and crisp to drink. At 4.4% it was a nice drinkable ale. I would have preferred it to be a little more bitter in taste.

Next up was Wild Hare, an organic pale ale at 5%. Poured a golden colour that was slightly cloudy. Nice hop smell to this one. The label described brewed using pale ale malt and english hops. This was nice and refreshing to drink. Slightly more bitter so appealled to me more. Nice dry finish to it.

Barnsey, “our distinctive dark bitter” at 4.5% was next. Poured a lovely deep mahogany colour. The aroma was quite nice, fruity with a hint of chocolate. It was a lovely smooth taste, quite sweet like caramel, with a slight bitter finish. It went quite well with the beef casserole I enjoyed for dinner.

Finishing my night was Dark Side, a stout at 4.0%. Now stouts are usually not my go to drink but I really enjoyed this one. It was very smooth and creamy to drink. The head did disappear after a couple of minutes. The aroma was like coffee but tasted like chocolate. It was a very pleasant stout to drink.

I had quite an enjoyable time trying these beers, looking forward to a return visit so I can try the rest. 
2014, Beer 52, Discount for Readers, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Ireland, Parcel Motel, UK

Monthly Beer Club – Beer 52.com

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Monthly Beer Club – Beer 52.com

One of the perks from being at the European Beer Bloggers conference recently was that attendees were able to claim a free box of beer from www.beer52.com 

Now, Beer52 is a company based in the UK and the premise is rather simple. In exchange for a subscription of £24 they will ship you 8 beers, along with a colour guide for each beer, this months subscribers also got some tortillas but that doesn’t happen all the time. They use only small brewers, which makes the offerings quite unique.



I was wondering if they offered shipping direct to ROI, which at this time, they currently don’t, however there is a way to do it. It worked for me perfectly, but I think one or two people were getting their orders cancelled. Basically to get them shipped to you here you will need to use www.parcelmotel.com as the shipping address. Yes it will add €4 to your costs, but you’re more than likely going to get beers that will not be available here.

I’ve checked with Siobhan in Beer52 and they are happy for Irish customers to use Parcel Motel for shipping until they get sorted out.

Naturally too my UK based readers can join up and not fuss around with Parcel Motel or the like, the code is good for you too.

As an added bonus, readers of my blog will also get £10 off their first order, to avail of this just use the code BEERSNOB10 when placing your order. 

Now as to the package itself, there are 7 beers in the 8 there i’ve not had before and I look forward to trying them each individually. There is a great booklet which gives info on the beers and breweries. I was very impressed with it. The package was well packaged with no breakages to worry about. 


Belgian, Crew, Dungarvan Brewing, Flying Dog, Fullers, German, Germany, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Irish, O'Briens, Porterhouse, Promotions, Rogue, UK, USA

Pay Day Splurge @ O’Briens Wines in Navan

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Pay Day Splurge @ O’Briens Wines in Navan

So payday comes around, and you say to yourself, i must resist the urge to splurge.Usually its easy to restrain myself. However this time, I had a One4All voucher which was accepted in O’Briens (www.obrienswine.ie / @obrienswine) 

Kaching!

Anyway, after doing the grocerys we decided to hit up our local O’Briens. Dean will know i’ve been pining for Kona, especially Longboard since we got home from our holidays, alas, there was no kona in O’briens Navan, maybe next time. But there was plenty of other stuff.

Special Offers that stood out, 4 x Crew IPA for €10 and 4 x Rogue American Amber Ale for €10. The Crew Special Offer was mentioned on a previous blog post.

Again it was disappointing none of the Irish stuff was on Special, the 8 Degrees Knockmealdown was including in a 5 for 11 or 6 for 11 quid promotion, but lets face it, the current balmy weather isn’t really stout/porter weather. Come on O’Briens, promote the home grown stuff too!!!

Anyway, here’s the stash this time round.

Well excuse me! Nice Stash 

Well thats most of it, this is the craft stuff, there was other stuff in there, but this is a collection of stuff i’ve not had before, or in a while. I know I reviewed Crew IPA, but at that price I couldn’t refuse.

Anyway, here’s the line up.

Front Row (L-R)
Crew IPA (Germany)
Porterhouse Red (Ireland)
Porterhouse Hop Head (Ireland)
Flying Dog Doggy Style (USA)
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (USA)
Bellerose (Belgium)
Flying Dog Snake Dog (USA)
Rogue American Amber Ale (USA)
Crew Pale Ale (Germany)

Back Row (L-R)
Fullers London Pride (UK)
Dungarvan Brewing Helvick Gold Irish Blonde Ale (Ireland)
Dungarvan Copper Coast Red Ale (Ireland)

So i’m looking forward to sampling these, and sharing my thoughts over the next few weeks. 

If a major chain like O’Briens is beginning to carry a wider range like this. This is only a good thing for the Craft Beer afficionados in Ireland. 

Thanks for reading.