Showing posts with label 12 Acres. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 12 Acres. Show all posts

Monday, December 5, 2022

Beer of the Year 2022. The Final Selection (16 of the best)

Beer of the Year 2022. The Final Sixteen


2022

Beer of the Year 

The Final Selection (16 of the best)


November: Kinnegar Rustbucket Rye IPA 

October: Wide Street Coolship Spontaneously Fermented Ale 

September: Bradleys with Dot Nice One IPA 

August: 12 Acres Pale Ale 

July: Wicklow Wolf Locavore Summer 2022 Foraged Elderflower Saison 

June: Wicklow Wolf Mescan Wit or Without You Belgian Wit 

May: Wicklow Wolf Locavore Spring 2022 Barrel Aged Farmhouse Ale 

April: Whiplash True Love Waits Dry Hopped Pils 

March: Lineman Schadenfreude Schwarzbier 

February: Wicklow Wolf  “Apex Cherry” Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout. 

January: Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel 

December 2021: Lough Gill Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut 

Wildcards: 

#1

Amber Lager: Hope Limited Edition 26 Born To Be Free

#2

 Pale Ale: Whitefield “Eastwood” 

#3

 Belgian Pale Ale: Wide Street Spéciale 

#4 

IPA: Lough Gill If I was in LA Californian IPA

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November Short List

Rye IPA: Kinnegar Rustbucket Rye IPA

IPA: Lough Gill If I was in LA Californian IPA

Belgian Pale Ale: Wide Street Spéciale 

Session: Third Barrel Day Drinkin 111 Revenge of the Hops Session IPA

Stout: Sullivan’s Black Marble Stout.   

Black IPA: Wicklow Wolf Sirius Black IPA

IPA: Blacks Stratasbeer Intergalactic IPA. 

Marzen: Kinnegar Leaf Kicker 2022 Marzen

Export Stout: Whiplash The Wake Export Stout, 7.0% 

Red Ale: Galway Bay Bay Ale Red Ale

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Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Beer of the Year 2022. New contender added!

My Favourite Irish Beers of the Year 2022

So far!!

(just two months to go!)


Contenders to end of September

September: Bradleys with Dot Brew Nice One IPA

August:12 Acres Pale Ale

July: Wicklow Wolf Locavore Summer 2022 Foraged Elderflower Saison

June: Wicklow Wolf Mescan Wit or Without You Belgian Wit

May: Wicklow Wolf Locavore Spring 2022 Barrel Aged Farmhouse Ale

April: Whiplash True Love Waits Dry Hopped Pils

March: Lineman Schadenfreude Schwarzbier

February: Wicklow Wolf  “Apex Cherry” Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout.

January: Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel

December: Lough Gill Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut

Best of September Short List

IPA: Bradleys with Dot Nice One.

Helles/Pils/Lager: Hope Limited Edition No. 27 Munich Helles. 

Session: Third Barrel Day Drinking Part Deux Citra Strata; 

Belgian Style Pale Ale: Wide Street Sound by Design 

Pale Ale: Post Card Ha’penny Bridge


Here's a plea  for info (for a forthcoming podcast) from Brian O'Connell of Beoirfest: Any brewers out there who want to tell how the energy prices are affecting them can do so quickly and in their own words at https://event.beoirfest.com/e6d59220  

Monday, August 29, 2022

A Quart of Ale± #121. On the craft journey with Bullhouse, 12 Acres, Wicklow Wolf, Eight Degrees

 A Quart of Ale± #121

On the craft journey with Bullhouse, 12 Acres, Wicklow Wolf, Eight Degrees



12 Acres Pale Ale 4.6%, 440ml can O’Brien’s Douglas


Not my first time coming across this 12 Acres Pale Ale, from County Laois, with its soft white head that sinks fairly quickly. The colour has more amber than pale. And the aromas speak more of malt than hops and so it continues onto the palate. In addition to their own malt, they also use a small quantity of three European speciality malts, giving even more malt body, texture and additional caramel flavours to the beer. 


But the three Americans hops,Cascade, Willamette and Citra, help give bitterness plus citrus and tropical flavours to balance the malt sweetness. So what you get is a delicious refreshing dry hopped golden pale ale.


They say: Our award winning flagship beer, our pale ale is a take on the American Pale Ale (APA) style, with more emphasis on the malt flavour than a traditional APA. Our own spring water is the main ingredient and we add our own pale ale base malt which forms the majority of the grist, to give the fermentable sugars and flavour to our beer…By brewing with our own malted barley and Killeshin spring water from deep beneath the same land, we are producing unique Irish craft beers with traceability from our ground to your glass.”


A lot of attention to detail here and it pays off. Best served 6-8 degrees and it goes great with spicy foods.

****


8 Degrees Citra Single Hop IPA, 5.7%, 440ml can O’Brien’s Douglas



They, 8 Degrees, say: Citra, with its fruity, juicy aroma and flavour, is one of our favourite hops. To showcase it, we’ve used a simple, yet elegant, malt body …. This is a beer that is both sweet and tart, with a gloriously juicy mouthfeel.

Orange/gold is the colour of this Citra Single Hop from Eight Degrees, the adventurous brewery. It’s got a white bubbly head. Aromas are, surprise, surprise, citrus with a floral touch as well. The combined fruit flavours come out to play on the juicy palate and you’ll note peach, melon, lime, gooseberry, passion fruit and lychee in the mix with the malt on display. It’s a refreshing really well-balanced beer, with a nicely judged bitter finish. 


Geek Bits
2020 World Beer Awards – Gold
2019 World Beer Awards – Gold

Style: Single hop IPA
Malt: Irish pale ale malt
Hops: Citra, Citra and…Citra!
Strength: 5.7% ABV
Bitterness: 62 IBUs

Food pairings from the Mitchelstown brewery are among the best around:
The bitterness in this Citra Single Hop IPA will cut beautifully through sweet low-and-slow pulled pork served with a chilli-spiked peach relish. The beer also will counterbalance the bold flavours of barbecued chicken wings and play nicely with some grilled spicy fresh Gubbeen chorizo sausages. Try it with a not-too-sweet Key Lime pie for a full-on citrus ending to your meal.

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Bullhouse Suds DDH Pale Ale 4.5%, 440ml can Yards & Crafts



Slurp down some Suds! More hops.


That’s the can label encouragement from Belfast Brewery Bullhouse. And this Double Dry Hopped murky orange coloured Pale Ale is certainly well endowed with hops  (Eldorado, Talus and Azacca) especially in the aromas, and also on the palate.  By now the soft pillowy head has slumped to mere disc but you won’t be worried as the tropical fruits and an input of citrus take over on the smooth and satisfactory ride to the finish. Well made, well balanced.


Last May, Bullhouse took delivery of a brand new (to them) 25HL brewhouse and 6 additional 25HL FVs. 



“We’ve always invested more heavily in our cold-side equipment than in any hot-side stuff, because you can make really good wort on pretty basic kit, but you can’t make really good hoppy beer with poor quality cold-side equipment.”


“We ended up going for a system from a cask brewery in England that had closed down. We now have a 50HL direct fire HLT, 40HL German made mash tun (with side manway) and a 30HL direct fire kettle.” 


The new kit means Bullhouse have the capability to “double our weekly production to 60HL with the same amount of effort”. Well if this Suds is anything to go by, the investment is well worthwhile. Best of luck.



****



Wicklow Wolf Jeff Bezos Hopfenweisse 6.3%, 440 ml can Bradleys


Introducing No. 30 in our Endangered Species series; Heff Bezos. This release is another example of our brewer’s passion and creativity running wild. A modern twist on the classic hefeweizen beer style, Heff Bezos is a hop forward wheat beer. 


That’s the Wicklow Wolf intro to Heff Bezos. Colour is a murky, opaque, orange with a. Soft slowly sinking bubbly white head. Aromas are a puzzle. I’m expecting banana and clove but initially getting a smoky bacon whiff but go again and it is somewhat closer to the expected combo.

On the palate, the Hopfenweisse continues to carry the banana clove combo yet is is somewhat tartier than the usual. Perhaps the yeast ( a hefeweizen yeast strain from our friends at WHC) is the disrupting factor? No shortage of flavours though with notes of citrus, tropical (including mango) and pine. And, as this first meeting comes to an end, I’m feeling very much at home with Jeff, sorry Heff!

I’m presuming the name Heff Bezos is a play on Jeff Bezos. Jeff, the multi-billionaire (ex Amazon), may be rare but hardly endangered.

Wicklow say this is a style of beer “that we have planned to brew for quite some time now, this Hopfenweisse is brewed with modern hops (Citra, Idaho 7 & Talus)  and fermented using a hefeweizen yeast strain from our friends at WHC*. You can expect a burst of citrus & tropical fruit flavours complimented by aromatic, fruity esters coming through from the hefeweizen yeast.” 

* WHC Lab is a Fermentation and Quality control company in Wicklow



Sunday, January 23, 2022

A Quart of Ale± #88 Craft journey with Whiplash, Brehon, Porterhouse and Journeyman. + Brewery News

 A Quart of Ale± #88

On the craft journey with a session of Whiplash, Brehon, Porterhouse and Journeyman


Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel 5.2%, 440ml can Whiplash Online


Dry The Rain sees us lightly decoct a more complex grain bill to produce our first Dunkel Lager.” Maybe not my favourite Whiplash lager but a good one.


Highlight here is the beautifully balanced bitterness towards the end.


At first glance, it is black but look longer and closer and there is an amber in there (from the Munich Malt) with a short-lived tan head. The aromas are modest, a sweet caramel and bread. And there’s more caramel on the palate, right through to the finish.

They say: We .. incorporate a traditional double stage decoction to produce a natural melanoiden that lends a rich dry and mellow caramel flavour throughout and binds this beautiful wort together. Hopped in kettle exclusively with German Magnum for a soft and unobtrusive bitter balance; this wort is cast off to meet our house German Lager yeast WLP833 in tank and is lovingly cold matured for over a month before packing - and your enjoyment.



Geek Bits

ABV 5.7%

440ml Cans

Artwork by @izzyrosegrange

Malts: MUNICH MALT; CARA BOHEMIAN

Hops: MAGNUm

Yeast: WLP833


Brehon Brewhouse Red Right Hand Barley Wine Beer 11%, 500ml bottle Bradleys


The Red Right Hand, a bourbon-aged barley wine, has a dark red, close to black, colour and is crowned with a coffee coloured soft head. Despite the high abv, it is rather gentle and easy to drink, clean, mellow and smooth. 


Really good but this bourbon-aged beer, earthy and sweet, good and all as it is, isn’t quite at the same level that their Oak & Mirrors Cask Aged Imperial Porter reaches, perhaps because the bourbon influence is very very subtle here.


Brehon have made a name for themselves with barrel-aged beers, beginning with their Crann Beatha barrel-aged stout. This one is well up to standard and, by the way, is a terrific match with Christmas pudding, with the Dunnes Stores Simply Better 12 month matured in particular. Yum on the double.


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. 




Porterhouse Renegade New England IPA 5.3%, 440ml can O’Briens Wine



Lots of hops here in the Porterhouse’s take of a New England IPA. So no shortage of flavours such as passionfruit, mango and peach, plus hints of resin. Still, in the end it is not very hoppy at all, underlined by an IBU count of 10.


It is a light orange colour, a fairly dense hazy one, with a soft white head that sinks slowly enough. Aromas are modest, citrus notes showing. It feels quite soft on the palate. The straightforward fruit flavours are pleasant enough as is the finish. Very drinkable, even more so if you’re not too pushed about the lack of hop bitterness towards the end (and that could apply to quite a lot of us).


They say: Renegade is our take on a NEIPA. With an extended whirlpool at lower temperature for a smooth soft finish. Unfiltered and heavily dry hopped with Amarillo, Galaxy & Mosaic…  This NEIPA is fermented on traditional East Coast yeast.


Journeyman India Pale Lager 5.2%, 500ml bottle, X-Mas present



I like the amber colour of this hybrid and the bubbly head that hangs around for a bit. Aromas break out with citrus, a hint of pine too. Citrus also plus tropical flavours feature on the palate where the hybrid features show themselves, the refreshing lager crispness and the punch of the new world hops. The lip-smacking lager style refreshment is the welcome quality here.


Journeyman is one of the beers made by the Pearse Lyons Brewery in Dundalk. The brewery is known as the Station Works and is one of the largest in the country. It produces beers under different brand names - Foxes Rock is another one - for various supermarkets.



Geek Bits

Malts: Ale, Oats, Cara, Wheat

Hops: Magnum, Galaxy (passionfruit, peach, citrus), Mosaic (tropical, berry, stone), Amarillo (grapefruit, peach, resinous)

IBU 10

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Brewery News

John and Phill....delighted to be back at the bar counter!
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We are delighted with tonight's announcement. We are all looking forward to getting back to normal .
Keep an eye on our social media for our entertainment schedule .Don't miss out , book your party early
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A fresh batch of Pale Ale kegged and ready to pour! After a very tough time for the hospitality trade the kegs are moving again, great to see normal bar service resume.






Tuesday, February 16, 2021

A Quart of Ale± #35. Moving on over to craft with a variety of IPAs, inc. 2 Big Bangers.

A Quart of Ale± #35

Moving on over to craft with a variety of IPAs, inc. 2 Big Bangers. 


 

Salt “A Different World” No Coast IPA 5.4%, 440ml can via Bradley’s


From a brewery that is roughly equidistant between the west coast and the east coast of England, comes this No Coast IPA. But the No Coast on the can refers to the US and the beer purports to bring the best of both American styles together.


Colour is a light amber and you’ll see - you’ll have to peer through the cloudiness - loads of bubbles streaking up towards a rapidly vanishing head. Aromas are citrusy. The first sip is quite promising and the promise is maintained as the citrus is balanced by a finely honed bitterness.


Enjoyed this superb beer, like the feel of it, its flavours, and the results of the balance between hops and malt. Probably impossible to reconcile the two main US styles but this is indeed a worthy attempt. And, in any case, the result is an excellent beer in its own right. Is there any Irish brewer doing something similar. By the way, is there a Mid-West style?


They say: SALT is a micro-brewery on a mission to unify heritage and modern brewing. Our homeland, the UNESCO village of Saltaire, was built by a super-progressive pioneer of workers' rights in the 1800s. We adopt the same progressive spirit through our modern brewing styles. The inspiration of our forefathers can be seen in our name, throughout our brewery, and the textiles used to name our beers.


Quite a few SALT beer names are associated with textiles, including Seersucker, Alpaca, and Ikat.


Details:

Hops (Kettle and Dry-Hop): Mosaic, Citra, Amarillo, and Centennial.

Malts: Pale, Oats.


12 Acres The Far Side Hazy IPA 5.1%, 440ml can via Ardkeen Store 



Colour is a mid-orange, hazy as you’d expect from the name. Soft white head keeps up appearances for quite a while as micro-bubbles gush upwards. This “New England” style contains some oats and there’s a creamy mouthfeel. It is heavily hopped though with Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra and Amarillo, yet the results seem toned down so the fresh hops, from the late additions, are not very obvious. Banana seems to be the main tropical fruit. Not bad but not my favourite IPA from the brewery. I’d prefer the Make Hay.


They say: The by-products of the brewing process are the spent malting barley grains, spent hops and excess yeast. All of these by-products will be used as animal feed on our farm, resulting in zero solid waste from the brewing process and a full life-cycle of our ingredients. This ensures a sustainable environmentally-friendly process from ground to glass.



McGargles Francis’ Big Bangin’ IPA 7.1%, 500ml bottle via O’Donovan’s 



Francis comes to your glass in a bright mid-gold colour, streams of bubbles rising towards a head that has little staying power. This “modern take” on the US West Coast IPA style has been “hopped to hell” in genteel Kildare with US hops Mosaic and Simcoe and so “tropical fruits” are more or less guaranteed and they appear first in the aromas.


The tropical character continues on the palate where the Marris Otter malt also shows up well. And a fruity yet dry finish follows. Quite a good finish, quite a good beer but do note that high alcohol count. It’s not called Big Bangin’ for nothing.


What’s in a name? This is my first McGargle. I ignored these beers for years, thinking it was a Trojan horse from one of the majors, a mockeyah (a good old Cork word for pretender) craft beer. However, it is produced, along with other lines (such as the Crafty series that you’ll find in Lidl), by Rye River Brewing which is listed in the Beoir directory. Must say though that while this IPA appeals to me, the McGargle name does not (nor for that matter does Crafty - haven’t bought one yet). First impressions and all that.


They say:  Tropical assault, restrained malt, gentle balance, fruit finish, unfiltered, unpasteurised, natural refermentation may occur, best served chilled.


Dot Brew “Throw Away Play” DIPA 8.2%, 440 can via Bradley’s



Pull the tab on this one and you get a message: Hops be here. The aromas are full of them. Colour is a murky amber, not much to seen in there. Pretty dense too on the palate with the hops,  Citra and Vic Secret, keeping their secrets close in a concentration of complexity.


Thought I might get a hint or two on their website but nada there other than a request for €300.00 of your euro “to join the fun”. They are based in Dublin but, being guerrilla brewers (apparently), can turn up anywhere. This is a quote from them, on fourcorners.ie: “We are adopting maturation and blending techniques from the Whiskey and Wine industries and applying them to break the boundaries of beer production.”


The label gives some info:  “Full and fruity - Vermont Ale Yeast, Malted and flaked oats and double dry hopped with a healthy amount of Citra and Vic Secret.” I did see somewhere that they do a session beer, might try that next if I can find it.


They use a lot of barrels and do lots of collaborations. Redmond’s of Ranelagh, Bradley’s of Cork, Wicklow Wolf, and Brú Brewery, were among recent partners. And it seems as if most of these collaborations are high in ABV. As is this “Throw Away Play”. 




Previously:

A Quart of Ale± #33. Moving on over to craft with St Mel’s Brewery.

A Quart of Ale± #32. Moving on over to craft with Lambic and Geuze