A Quart of Ale± #108. On the craft journey with Whitefield, Whiplash, Porterhouse, O Brother

 A Quart of Ale± #108

On the craft journey with Whitefield, Whiplash, Porterhouse, O Brother

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Whiplash “Prisoner of Love” Cascade Pale 5.2%, 440ml can Bradleys

Colour is a hazy mid-orange colour with a soft slow-sinking wheat head. Nose is fruity (citrus), floral notes too and a background touch of pine. It is certainly very drinkable, more grapefruit on the fruity palate but little enough bitterness evident until the lip-smacking finalé. Indeed, there is a slight sweetness in the juicy mouth.

This beer goes down well with Whiplash, and their customers: “A relatively new beer in the history of Whiplash, but one that's earned its spot as a team favourite. Prisoner of Love is an all Cascade Pale Ale that we just have to slip into the schedule every year now. These hops are bright & lemony with complimentary floral and herbal notes and that translates beautifully in this beer.”

Geek Bits

Malts: Maris Otter, Wheat Malt, Oat Malt, Caramel

Hops: Cascade

Whitefield “Bradley’s Row” Dortmunder Style German Lager 5.3%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

Lots of crafty beer out there for the hop addicts but this one is for the malt heads.

The Dortmunder style is a pale lager but this has a bit more colour, closer to a dull amber. The bubbled head is soft and sticks around a bit. As well as a “malty finish” it also has a malty start which comes through on the aromas. And indeed it is malt led all through. 

The Whitefield label tells us their Dortmunder style German lager has a malty finish with a complex hoppiness. “Brewed with 100% German Brake Pilsner Malt, a variety of barley grown throughout the 80s in Germany and became synonymous with the German style lagers we all grew to love. Brewed with water from our own well, master barley, hops and yeast.”

The Beer Bible says the Dortmunder is “not a style  of enormous character” and that “the style’s future looks uncertain”. 

There are, for some reason, a few Welsh words on the label and Google translates as “there is a black sheep in every flock”. 

As you know the Templemore brewery was previously called White Gypsy. The rebranding also led to changes in their beer names, now being called after local landmarks. But their website doesn’t always keep up with their new beers so I can’t tell you what the ‘Bradley’s Row” refers to. I think though you can take it it refers to a local landmark rather than to the famous Bradley’s off licence, a beer landmark in Cork’s North Main Street.

Don’t think I’d be going out of my way to find a Dortmunder style. But I did appreciate this one and, so if you are a malt person rather than a hop person, then you will certainly like it.

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Porterhouse Rambler Juicy Pale Ale 4.6%, 440ml can Ballymaloe May Fair

The Rambler has a light orange colour (and haze) in the glass, with a white head. “One for the juice heads,” say Porterhouse, based on the three hops used at whirlpool and hop. Well, it is juicy, moderately hoppy also, with a good dry finish.

The three hops added to the basic Magnum are: El Dorado (Apricot, tropical, citrus), Enigma (Grape, Berry, Melon), Eukanot (Mandarin, Melon, Mango). Their individual characteristics are in the brackets so you can see how they contribute to the result with a mild enough citrus and mango to the fore. Crisp and refreshing to the finish.

Dextrin, Ale, Wheat, Oats, and Crystal keep the malt end up, noticeable in the fuller body and a touch of caramel. Quite a delicious and easy drinking fruity ale to be fair, well made, and worth a try for sure.

They say: Rambler pours a light orange colour with a tight white head. We have used 3 hop additions of El Dorado, Enigma, Eukanot at whirlpool and dry hop. This combo contributes flavour & aromas of orange peel, watermelon, citrus and white grape for drinkability of smooth fresh juice with low carbonation.

Geek Bits

Malts: Ale, Wheat, Oats, Dextrin, Crystal

Hops: Magnum, El-Dorado, Eukanot, Enigma

ABV: 4.6% IBUs: 10

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O Brother Singularity IPA 6.3%, 440ml can Bradleys

This IPA by the brothers has a hazy light orange colour with a big soft white head that sinks but slowly. There’s a kind of sweet tangerine peeping through in the mostly tropical aromas including a hint of coconut. 

Quite a complex melange on the palate (a smooth one - they have oats in the ingredients), tropical for sure including mango (strongest), pineapple and a touch of coconut, not forgetting the citrus. They’ve struck quite an impressive balance here and the beer is all the better for it, nothing off the scale at all. Sure to find quite a few admirers, I’d say, including myself!

Hard to find much on the web about this one other than that the hops are Mosaic and Sabro.

But, while searching, I found out on the O Brother site, that craft beer didn’t reach America until the 1970s when air travel became cheaper. “As Americans sampled the hoppy delights of countries like Belgium and Germany many were hooked by their superior quality and began brewing similar beers illegally back in the U.S. As the craze didn’t appear to be slowing down, home brewing in the United States was legalised in 1979. A great decision we think!”

Very interesting indeed, but I would like to see a little bit more, not necessarily every little detail, about their individual beers.

A Quart of Ale± #95. On the craft journey with a couple of top IPAs by Boundary.

A Quart of Ale± #95

On the craft journey with Boundary, Whitefield

Boundary Inefficient Knowledge IPA 6%, 440 ml can Bradleys

This re-release by the Belfast Brewery, a cooperative owned by its members, tastes they claim, “just as banging as first time out”. Got a whiff of those hops as soon as I pulled the tab. Colour is a murky looking lemon. Those forward aromas give up citrus, mango and passionfruit and a touch of pine.

The head has vanished by the time I finished typing that first paragraph but the flavours are just waiting for the ambush which is carried out with some energy by the “banging” flavours of the more exotic fruit led by the mango and pomegranate. And it is the same combo of fruit right to the very satisfactory finalé, a finish defined by a firm note of bitterness but not at all a strident one. One of the better IPAs around these parts for sure.

It is dry hopped with 16 g/l of Nelson Sauvin, Citra and Simcoe. Nelson Sauvin is a variety from New Zealand noted for its refined Sauvignon Blanc character  (from which its gets its name) and it is becoming very popular with brewers.

Inefficient Knowledge. A strange name, not that strange names are unusual in beer. Well a little knowledge is a dangerous thing but there’s nothing insufficient about Boundary’s brewing knowledge and nothing inefficient about how they’ve applied it here.

Boundary Lounge Capacity IPA 6%, 440 ml can Bradleys

Just like the Inefficient Knowledge, the hops just cannot wait to show off, doing their aromatic stuff the second you pull that tab. The head seems too go even quicker than the other one though but you can see the murky lemon coloured liquid is more or less crammed with bubbles.

With two US hops, Amarillo and Citra, used here, you can expect citrus and mango and more and that is what shows in both aromas and flavours and they are not at all shy, going all out to deliver a tasty fruity delight of an IPA. Another very satisfactory outcome from the Belfast Brewery, though if I had to pick one, I’d give a slight edge to more complete Inefficient Knowledge.

Boundary is a cooperative owned by its members. While sipping, be sure and check out the artwork on the can by John Robinson.

This IPA has been dry hopped with 16 g/l of Amarillo and Citra.

Boundary Excellent GIF Work Imperial Stout with Tonka Beans 10%, 440 ml can Bradleys

This Boundary stout, a collaboration with Beer Hut Brewing, is a black one (you guessed?). The tan head gets out, fast! Tonka beans (Masterchef followers will know of them) are the rather exotic ingredient. It is the aromatic seed of a large tree from the Amazon rainforest.

Boundary say: “We’ve been wanting to brew with Tonka for some time.” I picked this can up on the strength of their excellent Inefficient Knowledge and Lounge Capacity IPAs but it turned to be, for me, an overly-sweet letdown.  

Just as well I’d a can of the superbly balanced Eight Degrees Devil’s Ladder (11.5% abv) on standby. Previous review here. 

• Much more on the bean in this BBC Future article here.  

Whitefield The Viscount Weizenbock 7.5%, 500 ml bottle Bradleys

Tipperary brewery Whitefield said The Viscount was “our drink of choice for Christmas Eve. A Weizenbock made with 30% sake rice.”

The German-style Weizenbock is a wheat version of a German-style bock, or a bigger and beefier dunkelweizen. They usually fall within 7-9% abv so the Templemore beer gets in. Bitterness normally is 20-35 IBU but there’s no IBU on the Tipp bottle or on the website. Indeed, there’s not a mention of this beer on the site.

Not too sure that any German producer uses or would use sake rice in a Weizenbock. So why did Whitefield do so? “Strong white beers can be overpowering but we use sake rice to add lightness and floral tones to bring about a wonderful balance. Fruity and strong, balanced,” they say.

It pours a cloudy (unfiltered) orange with a vigorous soft white head. There’s strong aromas, especially bananas. And that follows through to the palate as a sweetish element. This kind of wheat beer (including its less alcoholic cousin Weissbier) is ideal in the summer and also versatile at the table "pairing well with everything from pizza to pork, salad to seafood” according to the Beer Bible.

So did the sake rice work? Looks like it did as The Viscount has no noticeable warming alcohol sensation. The “sub-styles” of Weissbiers are Hefeweizen (cloudy orange, the original); Kristallweizen (filtered and clear), Dunkelweizen  (dark, more toasty), Weizenbock (dark, stronger), Rauchweizen (made with smoked malt, but rare).

A Quart of Ale± #92. On the craft journey with Dot Brew, Bradleys, Whitefield, Wicklow Wolf, Mourne Mountains

A Quart of Ale± #92

On the craft journey with Dot Brew, Bradleys, Whitefield, Wicklow Wolf, Mourne Mountains

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Bradleys & Dot Brew Shady Dealings BA Extra Stout 8.5%, 440 ml can Bradleys

This amazing barrel-aged (BA) stout has a very low carbonation so don’t expect much of a head on the black body. And that is how it pours out, black with a thin tan disc that slinks away very quickly. There’s a light fruitiness in the aromas and more on the rich velvety palate, dark fruits now though and chocolate, and there’s a sweetness too from the cask.

The cask? Dot Brew explain: Shady Dealings was originally meant for the export market but we've hijacked the shipment and brought it down to the real capital. This 8.5% illicit imperial export stout is aged in Banyuls dessert wine barrels and punches dark fruits and lush chocolate. Just don’t let anyone know how we got it…"

Where’s that 8.5%? The collaborators justifiably ask. You hardly notice it and this is so well balanced that the abv just doesn’t get the chance to take centre stage and swallow everything else up, depriving the beer of any display of individual character. Still, it is 8.5% so do take their advice and sip this from a wine glass. Sip and savour for there is much to savour.

Banyuls dessert wines come from the south-eastern corner of Roussillon, southern France, in the lower reaches of the eastern Pyrenees, just a few miles from the Spanish border. These sweet vins doux naturels are drunk both as aperitifs and as dessert wines. 

Quite a few Irish will have holidayed in the area, families in particular in the campsites around the beaches of Argeles sur Mer. Wish that I were there now with the beach out front, a glass of Banyuls or even of Shady Dealings (personally exported of course) and a lovely meal to come with the edges of the waves splashing gold as the setting sun leisurely slips behind the mountain tops. 

Might have to settle for a picnic table in Inchydoney. How bad! Or, keep a few cans in stock until next Christmas and sip it with the pudding! Or maybe there’s a 2021 pudding hidden away somewhere here. Must check.

Banyuls, with hilly sandy vineyard in foreground left.

Whitefield Ivy Hall Dark Lager 5.2%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

The label tells this is a Bavarian style Dunkel, a lager style beer, with a smooth velvet finish! 

Colour is as black as you’d expect and it comes with an impressive tan coloured head. It is probably the best head I’ve poured from a can or bottle over the past 12 months or so. That head is creamy and so is what follows on, yes, a very smooth palate indeed with a mild touch of caramel sweetness. You may not think this is a lager early on but the finish is dry and lip smackingly refreshing. 

A very satisfying beer and a very satisfactory style thanks to Cuilan and his team in Templemore. And big thanks too are due to the descendants of the last king of Bavaria König Ludwig III. Whitefield tell us the former royal family were largely responsible for saving this lager style.

It may befuddle the senses with those early sips but you’ll quickly grow to like it! Don’t be afraid of the dark! A lovely beer for these mid-winter days but it will also be very acceptable in the summertime. Dunkel simply means a dark German lager. 

This Ivy Hall, previously the Dark Lady, is yet another superb beer from Templemore. As you probably know, there is ongoing rebranding with the main change being that the White Gypsy brewery name has been changed to Whitefield.  “As part of the rebrand we wanted to link everything to our locality and Ivy Hall is a towns land in Templemore.”

By the way, how did you come to real ale? In an interesting piece on their website here Cuilan admits to having his first in a bar at Heathrow Airport!

Wicklow Wolf Canis Rufus Red Rye IPA 5.5%, 440 ml can Bradleys 

The updated Beer Bible (well worth getting your hands on) says Rye thrives in poor soil, so its use in both bread and beer has been concentrated in colder, harsher regions. Finns and Russians used it to make their traditional beers. I was thinking that the endangered Red Wolf (Canis Rufus) also came from these northern lands but no, the handful that are left are mostly in the south east of the US. 

Red, a murky one, is the colour of this Wicklow Wolf beer. Aromas have a touch of the wild with notes of resin but there’s also a fruity element with citrus to the fore. And the fruit is prominent on the complex toothsome palate, the balance, and it is very nicely balanced, coming from the sweet malt with, of course, the spice from the rye.

The Endangered Species brews are a series of small batch, limited edition crafted beers. These beers are so rare that only a lucky few will get to experience them in the wild before they become extinct and this one is inspired by the Red Wolf.

They say: We have taken a classic American style IPA with American hops and given it a Classic Irish Twist. Citra and Chinook make up the double dry hop addition to this IPA… This is a fiercely bold Red IPA in honour of the Red Wolf.

 

Mourne Gold Pale Ale 4.0%, 440 ml can Bradleys

Gold is the name and gold is the colour of this Pale Ale, my first beer from the Mourne Mountains Brewery, Warrenpoint, Co. Down. No shortage of rising bubbles either and a white top that gives you a few minutes of its time.

Malts used include Cara Gold and that can help enhance the colour and give a softer mouthfeel. The lightly roasted Amber brings a deeper malty flavour to the party and helps balance the hops.

They use a combination of German, English and American hop varieties for a clean bitterness, spicy kettle hop flavour; and a floral, fruity hop aroma. All more or less borne out with the first few sips. Well balanced and easy drinking, this comfort beer (it doesn’t wander outside of the style) can be recommended for your session shortlist. And for mine!

They say: Mourne Mountains Brewery was founded in 2015, situated in the foothills of the beautiful Mourne Mountains. At our 16HL brewery in Warrenpoint we brew a diverse range of beers from fruited sours to imperial pastry stouts and highly-hopped IPAs - all vegan friendly!

At our traditional brewhouse we use the finest whole leaf hops from around the world and the highest quality brewing malt but the ingredient we treasure the most is our water supply. Originating in the high Mournes, it is beautifully soft and perfect for brewing a wide variety of beer styles.

A Quart of Ale± #91 On the craft journey with Whitefield, West Cork, Clonakilty. + news via Rascals, Killarney & Craic Beer.

 A Quart of Ale± #91

On the craft journey with Whitefield, West Cork, Clonakilty and Journeyman

(+ news via Rascals, Killarney &  Craic Beer.)

Whitefield Old Smoke Smoked Porter 5.4%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

Whitefield (formerly White Gypsy) is a brewery in Templemore, County Tipperary. Cuilán Loughnane is the main person here and, according to Sláinte  (2014), his fingerprints “are all over the Irish brewing scene”. I knew that he (through White Gypsy) had helped Cork’s Elbow Lane and Waterford’s Metalman get up and running by contract brewing their beers and more. 

But Sláinte also details his earlier involvement, first with Dwan’s Brewery (Thurles) from 1997 and, from 2002,  he was head brewer at Dublin’s Messrs Maguire (the forerunners of J.W. Sweetman) before setting up on his own as White Gypsy in 2009, a move that saw him join the “Second Generation: Mid 2000s to 2011” of Irish craft brewers.

He has grown his own hops and also brewed beers specially for food, beers in wine sized 75cl bottles and aimed at the restaurant trade. He is still going strong under the new label. By the way, this porter is named after Templemore legend, Old Smoke Morrissey.

They say: Traditionally, beers made in the midlands would have had a slight smokiness due to the malt being dried from peat fires. This stout brings out that combination of smoke and roast while remaining light on the palate.

Black as a newly tarred road between Templemore and Nenagh. There’s a tanned head, soft, and soon sinking away to the black. Aromas are smoky, a hint of bacon as you sniff. And it’s much the same combination on the palate. But nothing too extreme, all rather svelte and subtle, terrific balance right to the very satisfactory finish indeed.

West Cork Baltimore Bitter 5.5%, 500ml bottle Upstairs at Quay Coop 

In December 2014, Dominic Casey, Henry Thornhill and brewer Kevin Waugh launched the West Cork Brewing Company. The 1st Brew-Hotel to set up in Ireland and also the country’s most southerly brewery.

It is based in Casey's of Baltimore Hotel and they started with three beers, Sherkin Lass a citrussy Pale Ale 4.4%, Roaring Ruby Dark Red Ale 4.4% and Stout X Stout West a chocolate porter 4.3%, the crew intent on their beers matching the quality of West Cork’s artisan foods. 

This Baltimore Bitter is one of their latest. Colour is a very dark red with a tan head, soft, and slow to disperse. Aromas are moderate, notes of pepper. On the palate, there’s quite an amalgam, fruit, honey and a tang of citrus, lime perhaps. Quite a lip-smacking finish.  

Refreshing and somewhat different, with a bitter aftertaste, and I can see it playing its part in the suggested pairings of Pulled Pork and Smoked Gouda. “We have used our own well water and the most traditional methods.” It is unfiltered and vegan friendly.

Clonakilty Smuggler Irish Porter 6.0%, 500ml bottle O’Donovan’s 

Dark stuff this with a bubbly frothy tan head that sinks slowly. Moderate aromas of roast and chocolate as the head sinks another notch, just a thin disc now. And, now on the palate, it is sweet chocolate, coffee too and a medium touch of bitterness at the finish.

They say: We are passionate about making beer with no compromise, brewing small batches with big personality. Using locally sourced grains, the best hops and water from our own well, our beers are handcrafted with care…. 

Pour slowly for a smooth creamy head. Enjoy at 10-12 degrees. It goes well with dark meats, rich desserts and chocolate, and is delicious and satisfying on its own.

The Deasy family brewed beer in Clonakilty (known as the brewery town) for almost 200 years, including the famous Clonakilty Wrastler. The Deasys also had a legendary reputation as successful smugglers along the dramatic and rugged coast of West Cork.

Journeyman IPA 5.2%, 500ml bottle, X-mas gift

Hazy amber is the colour here and the white foamy head lingers a while. Expecting more middle of the road from the final bottle of my five pack (all different styles) but certainly more of a punch here. Big whack of hops on the palate - they say, and I agree, “bursting with fruity hop flavour”. And, as was the case in the previous four, the balance is good, thanks to the malt. 

No details on the hops or malt used, at least none that I can find. Not too many details at all. And certainly nothing about food pairings. All I can tell you is that it went down pretty well with the middle chapters of the John Banville piece of crime fiction playfully titled April in Spain, though hardly a playful mystery, at all, at all, as Banville’s Chief Superintendent Hackett might add.

But there is something of a mystery on the label, and indeed on all the Journeyman labels in the pack. It tells us you of need of a great barrel to make a great beer, that Journeyman is steeped in the tradition of the highly skilled craft of coopering. Are these Journeyman beers are matured in wood rather than stainless steel?

Cooperage can be confusing. I walked past one earlier, in a building once owned by a distillery. It now houses the Aquaculture & Fisheries Development Centre, a research facility of UCC and embedded within the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences (BEES).

Brewery News

The Rude Couple Canned By Rascals

NEW BEER ALERT! Say hi to our next limited edition release: Rude Boy white stout and Rude Girl black IPA.

The former is a full-bodied pale stout with chocolate, caramel and coffee tones, brewed with coffee from our neighbours Imbibe, with oak-smoked wheat adding a lovely touch of character. The latter is a robust medium-bodied IPA with a unique blend and balance of dark roasted malts and piney, resinous hops. 

We're very excited for Feb 24 when you'll be able to get your hands on these. Not only that, we're also having a launch party! Click here for FREE tickets. 

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Killarney Brewing & Distilling Co.

We're on the hunt for waiting staff for the Taproom on Muckross Road in Killarney. The role is made for someone full of energy who enjoys the craic and would like to know more about brewing and our premium Irish beers. Does that sound like you? Send your CV across to Ivan at Ivan@killarneybrewing.com.

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Craic Beer Community - Brew Project Four breweries, four unique beers all packaged up exclusively for the Brew Project. Includes online tasting session as well as in person meet-up in Dead Centre Brewing, Athlone to taste and discuss the beers! €65.00  Only 24 boxes left!