334 weeks of #beersaturday should make for a huge hangover but not for the professionals.
Being The Blockchain Beerologist definitely has its perks, including but not limited to getting paid to tour breweries and sample new beers! When I am not globetrotting and chugging pints, my fridge looks like a colourful mosaic of regional craft beer I enjoy sharing with the #beersaturday alliance of #beer bloggers on #hive.
This week, fellow beerologist @leaky20 inspired me to keep an eye out for a classic Irish beer and it worked!
O'Hara's Irish Ales!
It turns out that O'hara's Brewery is AKA Carlow Brewing and is only about 20 minutes drive east of Kilkenny which I have definitely heard of before. Looking a little closer, it is located in the heart of Ireland’s traditional malt and hop-growing “Barrow Valley” region and values traditional brewing methods even though the brewery is only 25 years old.
Apparently these variety packs come in a few different varieties. The only one available to me is this one with some beautiful dark beers though there is supposed to be an IPA variety pack. Good enough for me as the O'Hara's Irish Ales variety pack will give me a chance to enjoy some traditional stouts it seems!
Irish Red
I have been enjoying some dark and brown ales recently so I thought I might start with the Irish Red. The bottle looks huge but is only 500ml and fits barely into the pint glass. You can see it is plenty dark and you can't even make out the red hue for the dark malt. I was expecting a thick malt flavour and some deep body in this one.
The back of the label reads like a legal contract but suffice to say, this is an Irish Red meant to be enjoyed by those who speak many languages. The beer itself is deceptively dark for how light the alcohol is and the nice sweet taste to it. Also surprising to see it listed at 34 IBU as it has a nice smooth malt body but subtle hops for that IBU. Damn good beer that was nice whether you sipped conservatively or gave it a healthy glug. Been too long since my last red ale!
Irish Stout!
Next up, I had to opt for the Irish Stout One of my first pub pints way back in the day was a Guinness. So smooth and dark and scary made me feel like a real man! Since then, I have had a soft spot for stouts and LOVE to discover them on cask when I get to the UK. It is described as sessionable stout beer is filled with rich complex coffee aromas mingled with light liquorice notes. The combination of traditional stout hops with an extra pinch of roast barley allows us to stay true to Irish tradition, recreating a taste so often yearned for by stout drinkers so this one should be good!
Unfortunately, as you can see from the picture, it poured as flat as a pancake with no visible air in the dark black brew. What a let down! The hue was interesting and I gave it a little sniff to see if it was off. Smelled fine with a bit of malty coffee aroma. Might as well take a sip anyhow. Actually this is not off at all and tastes just fine!
Nice round body even with a whiff of bitterness but not enough to change the taste. Disappointing mouth feel as you can expect but you damn right I finished this one. It would have probably been even better if it had some air in it but you have to give it to a beer that tastes good even when flat. I definitely have to find another one of these and give it a shot to see how good it is as carbonated as it should be!
Leann Folláin Extra Irish Stout
To end on a strong point, I had to save Leann Folláin for last. “Leann Folláin” happens to be Gaelic for “wholesome stout” which sounds about as good as it can get and this one poured much nicer! I am used to stouts being 5% ABV or less so one with a 6% punch may be right up my alley.
Same wordy back label that is meant to communicate to the world that this black beauty will give you notes of coffee and chocolate and a nice bitter yet refreshing hop zing to it. This one was a sipper for sure as there was so much tasty body and round/full roasted flavour in even a small sip, it would be a shame to chug. The bitterness at the end was more of a slight spice that seemed to shift back and forth from the malt as it faded away.
Each sip tasted like another and this was my favourite from the pack. Not sure I can find them individually here so I will just have to buy another of these variety packs and hope for a bubble stout next time.
#BEERSaturday!
This week for #BeerSaturday, I would going to invite @ekavieka as surely the Balinese like beer too? Take a few pictures, tag #beersaturday and raise a glass with us on Hive! When Hive reaches $10, we are going to have one hell of a global brewery tour!
Cheers to our global family of beer-drinkers!!
