Tag: Wexford

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Yellowbelly x Irish Beer Snob - the tale of Juice Wayne

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Yellowbelly x Irish Beer Snob – the tale of Juice Wayne

The weekend that Storm Doris was lashing the UK & Ireland out of it seemed like as good as any to drive down to Wexford to brew a beer with that awesome bunch of lads at Yellowbelly.

We’d hatched a plan to brew a collaboration beer with Yellowbelly as part of Sheffield Beer Week. We were over there to attend Beer Now, and the stars were aligning. I’d met with Declan and Danny in Bar Rua one evening after work to discuss, the plan, the concept was simple, make a Pale Ale / IPA that paid homage to that most awesome of soft drinks, Rock Shandy. An awesome thirst quencher in a glass, mix of Orange and Lemon. The lads came up with the name!

In fairness, the lads were also in the middle of commissioning their new Wild Goose canning line, having worked through the night to package their Lager in cans, they were still working at the brewery as we were leaving the house at 530 that morning. We met the lads in the brewery and got a sneak peak of the machine, and their new bigger brewery.

So after a quick breakfast in Simon Lambert’s, which was delicious I must say, we began on the brew. The recipe was really simple. Pilsner Malt, Jumbo Oats, and some dextrose. We used Lemon Drop to bitter, and used Azacca with Mandarina Bavaria as late addition / Whirlpool hops, with some fresh Orange & Lemon zest. It finished up at 7.2%.

A few short weeks later we found ourselves in Sheffield, in the UK for Beer Now, and Sheffield Beer Week which was set up by our good friend Jules Grey. Ran every March it’s a veritable treat for all beer lovers with many events. We were going to be part of the YellowBelly TTO in The Sentinel Brewery & Tap House, which i’ve written about here. For the night they developed an Irish food menu to go with the beers. It was great to have the beers with friends who’d come from far and wide to share this moment with us.

The brewday was a long day but Declan and the lads, made it a good laugh, and it was great to have some grub and beers after with them. Next time I have to try a rizzole, after seeing Matt from Boundary enjoyed his so much.

Janice and I are extremely grateful to the team in Yellowbelly for firstly being such a sound bunch of lads, but also for the opportunity to brew with them. It was great sharing beers with them in Sheffield and hopefully we’ll be doing the same next year. It’s great to see where they’ve come from to where they are going and no doubt they’ll continue knocking it out of the park. Sláinte

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BarSnob

BarSnob - Simon Lambert & Sons, and The Sky & The Ground, Wexford

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BarSnob – Simon Lambert & Sons, and The Sky & The Ground, Wexford

After threatening to visit Wexford for so long, Janice and I finally made the trip down to Ireland’s sunny South East. Probably helped that Declan from Yellow Belly, goaded us into it while we were over in Holland, at EBBC16

Wexford is a traditional harbour town, with narrow streets, and lots of history. We made the drive from home in just over two hours, but the traffic in Enniscorthy had me thirsting for a beer as soon as we got there.

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Our first stop, just had to be Simon Lambert and Sons, on South Main St. The home of course of YellowBelly Beers, we just had to pay here a visit. Upon landing we spotted young Danny, he of The Bottle Podcast Fame, and we immediately ordered a drink. I didn’t know they did food too, but that was a welcome surprise. I opted for the Citra Pale Ale, which I can only say was brilliant. Everything you’d expect from citra, and given the pedigree of this brewery’s pale ale, I wasn’t disappointed. Janice had the excellently named, if a little bit of a tongue twister, Jack Bauer’s Power Shower Sour. The guys here are getting a name for ace sours, and this was no disappointment.

For food, I’d a Toasted Special and Chips, and Janice had what was a delish Seafood Chowder. The food was reasonably priced, as was the beer. Extra marks for the fact a half pint, costs exactly half of a full pint measure. Infact they also had their own infused spirits which look really tempting.

The fact the beers are made on sight, the Pale, Lager, and Sour, means they are all mega fresh, and rotate often. There is Guinness & Carlsberg for those who want that kinda thing, but there is plenty of choice from Irish and International Craft Breweries. They also have a Cask Engine, which they tap up every Thursday, and once the cask is gone, it’s gone.

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Later on that evening after we had a lovely meal in Mi Street Food we decided to hit up The Sky & The Ground which is just a little further down the Street than Simon Lamberts.

We’d met Enya from here earlier to record the podcast, and I really liked the look of the place, it had totally transformed when we went in and there were some lads playing traditional Irish music with a rapt audience. The skill of the young lad playing the flute was something that had to be witnessed.

Similar enough they have a good range of craft on draught, plus plenty of the other stuff to keep everyone happy. I noted however though they had a really impressive spirit selection. Lots of interesting whiskeys and gins to try.

Upstairs they have a bottle bar that is only open at weekends, but over all I was very impressed with this bar too.

So if you’re in Wexford, and looking for good food, good drink, and good craic, you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere better in my humble opinion.