On the Craft Trail with Brehon Brewery, Western Herd, Third Barrel and Eight Degrees
Eight Degrees Howling Gale Pale Ale 4.5% ABV, 440 cl can
Like a smack around the gills
when you're "clain lifting it" down Ballyhoura hills
I'm not the only one to rate this Pale Ale highly. Howling Gale was the first beer Eight Degrees ever brewed. We’ve all changed a lot since then but not this superb ale, their first, and it is still their most popular beer.
They add: “It’s like blitzing down the Ballyhouras on a bike with an icy wind in your face, this pale ale delivers a refreshing crisp smack around the gills.” Never came down those hills on a bike but I can certainly relate to the smack around the gills, especially with the refreshing finish.
It pours a pale golden colour into the glass, with a white head. And yes, you do get that citrus on the nose, along with pine notes. It is smooth and crisp with that modest whack of bitterness in the finish.
Eight Degrees, now happily restored as a team, got this right from the start. And, also from the get-go, they provided food pairing hints. “Try with fish and chips, smoked salmon or anything off the barbecue…. With a pleasant grapefruit citrus aroma from Cascade and Simcoe hops, it is a great match with spicy or fried food”.
Malt: Irish pale malt, Carapils, Munich, Cara
Hops: Nugget, Cascade, Simcoe
Brehon Red Right Hand Barley Wine 11.0% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys
“gentle to drink, clean, mellow and smooth”
A gorgeous ruby red is the colour of out Barley Wine from Monaghan’s Brehon brewery. It is crowned with a coffee coloured soft head. Despite the high abv, It is a bourbon-aged beer, earthy and sweet. The bourbon influence is unmistakable but quite subtle here. It also has a very high abv, but nonetheless, it is gentle and easy to drink, clean, mellow and smooth. Like any good wine, it comes with a lingering finish, leaving the taste buds anticipating the next sip
Brehon have made a name for themselves with barrel-aged beers, beginning with their Crann Beatha barrel-aged stout. This Barley Wine is well up to standard and, by the way, is a terrific match with Christmas pudding, with the Dunnes Stores Simply Better Black Barrel Whiskey edition in particular. Yum on the double.
Speaking of their strong beers, be sure and look out for the super Oak & Mirrors Cask Aged Imperial Porter.
They say: The red right hand is symbolic of the historic clans of Ulster. It embodies strength, unity and character, just like our Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine.
Western Herd Blue Jumper IPA, 6.2% ABV, 440 ml can Matsons
Baptised by Fr Dougal!
The bright amber colour and all those little bubbles of this Western Herd IPA is quite a come-on. The beer’s name is a Father Ted reference.
There’s a citrus and tropical fruit presence in the aromatics and palate, plus a hint of pine and resin, even a little dankness as well. And that vibrant hoppy edge continues all the way. After all, as the brewery indicates, India Pale Ale, or IPA, is a bigger, hoppier version of a pale ale.
This one certainly is and that background bitterness is with you right to the finish, quite a good finish as it happens, with the malts having a say in the outcome ensuring that it is not all about the hops. But make no mistake, this a hoppy beer, an old school IPA.
Inspired by Father Ted! Yep, the name Blue Jumper comes straight out of the classic Fr. Ted episode where Sr. Assumpta is re-introduced to Fr. Dougal. “You were wearing your blue jumper? Ah Sister Assumpta!” An icon of Irish comedy meets an icon of West Clare brewing.
The Clare brewery has been in good form on social media in eecent weeks. Having explained the beer’s name, they have a question. Spot the Coastline? “The can design features the stunning Clare Coast line, an epic slice of the Atlantic coast that’s as refreshing as the beer inside. But which part of the coast features on the can?”. Not too sure myself, but I think it is from Liscannor Bay up to Black Head.
Geek Bits
Style Indian Pale Ale
Colour/Appearance Amber in appearance with a clean white head
Aroma Orange and other citrus, pine, and light peach
Flavour Candied orange and a background bitterness
Hops Citra, Idaho 7, Centennial
Malts Pale, Stout Mix, Caramunich I, CaraPils, White Wheat
Yeast LAX
Original Gravity 1.059
ABV 6.2%
Third Barrel Texture Like Sun American Brown Ale, 5.5% ABV, 440 ml can, Bradleys
“absolutely SLAMMABLE American style brown ale”
The colour is a deep red, rather than brown, with a soft off-white head. Caramel and chocolate are in the aromatics, and they are also found in the mouth along with citrus flavours from the Centennial hops, the only one used. Quite an interesting example from Third Barrel and Highly Recommended. The brewers are very happy with this one: “Complex yet absolutely SLAMMABLE American style brown ale.”
The history of this style dates back to U.S. homebrewers being inspired by English-style brown ales and porters. US Craft brewers then took it up; while inspired by the English, the Americans weren’t content to be just imitators and took the style in different directions.
One of the Brit beers that came under the US focus was the Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale. This “was a huge influence on a generation of American craft brewers.. in 1983,” according to Jeff Alworth in the Beer Bible. American-style brown ales generally have evident low to medium hop flavour and aroma and medium to high hop bitterness.
Not many Brown Ales are being produced by Irish brewers, and most have been once-offs. Look out for examples from Ballykilcavan (Bambricks), Lough Gill (McNuttys), Lineman (Big Calm), and Outer Place (Silent Orbit). Samuel Smith is already mentioned but the first English Browne Ale to catch my attention was Newcastle Brown Ale, and that came in a generous 550cl bottle.
