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Confession and confusion
Having made a bit of a fuss over Tallaght's Priory Market, and its built-in brewery, when it opened last summer , I was overdue a revisit. I stopped by on a recent Friday afternoon to find it's all still there and going, though no longer thronged by the crowds from its early days. The good food and fresh beer all still feature, I'm happy to say. The final outstanding beer from Priory Brewing's advertised relaunch line-up is Confession Bock . This proved very much on the dunkel end of the bock spectrum, a specification it meets with its dark garnet colour and 5.8% ABV. I'm ever wary of too much vegetal hop bitterness in bocks in general but this emphasises the caramel malt instead, almost to doppelbock levels, with an extra dose of invigorating coffee roast. The hops are present but restrained, bringing a mild tang of celery and damp lettuce, clearly signalling that authentic noble hops have been deployed. It's almost but not quite sticky, and well-balanced with properly integrated flav
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Bréif encounter
Today's beer is a coda to Monday's post about the Mullingar beer festival. This bottle was very kindly suitcased all the way from Cavan by Mr Thomas Carroll . Bréifne Gael Brewing is, I think, Ireland's newest brewery, and possibly the first legitimate one in Cavan in the modern era -- I never saw any evidence that Ó Cléirigh ever troubled themselves with acquiring a licence. Ór Dubh is the name: "Black Gold" writing a big cheque for a 4.3% ABV stout. It doesn't say if it's bottle conditioned but there looks to be a bit of murk in the brownish black body. A head forms on pouring though fades quite quickly. That doesn't stop it from having a fabulously chocolatey aroma, suggesting the classy high-cocoa sort. It's light and sparsely carbonated, and the chocolate takes a backward step in the flavour. Not that it's any way bland. The vestiges of chocolate meet a raspberry-jam fruit seam and a super-clean dry charcoal roast. So, there's complexity to pick apart for those who ind
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Backroom barrels
Ireland's most bijou beer festival returned to the rear of Smiddy's Bar on a glorious day in late April. Combining two previous themes of the event, this was officially the Mullingar Wild Beer & Cask Festival, although willd beer was a little in short supply, with Third Barrel shoring up that bulwark by serving a couple of its well-established (and delicious) Brett beers. On the cask side, Rough Brothers of Derry was a new addition. I encountered their IPA at the CAMRA festival in Belfast last November . I said it was clean and simple but unexciting, and that's very much the case for their Northern Pale Ale as well. This is only 4.5% ABV, but I'm fully aware that other cask brewers can do a lot, flavourwise, within that parameter. This offers a clean and crisp base, like a cream cracker or water biscuit, and then an extremely mild hop bitterness which threatens to become actually citric but never quite manages it. My guess is they're going for something retro with these. They
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Non-conformists
Czech brewery Zichovec didn't get the memo that high-variety craft beer is out and reliable-but-dull heritage beer is in. They're still churning out a vast array of different styles, with influences from all over. Today I have three of them. First up, it's another of those purportedly Irish-style beers from a foreign brewery, a genre I find endlessly fascinating. This one is called The Irish Black , and is a stout, at 4.6% ABV. No nitrogen is involved but it still formed a very full head, with a dome and all. The aroma is plain-spoken but nicely roasty, with a pleasing dry charcoal buzz. That's there in the flavour, alongside a metallic tang of old-world hops, but there's an unwelcome sweet side too. It's a little like the caramel one finds in Czech dark lagers, but more intense without the lager cleanness, coming across here as almost saccharine. I wouldn't say it puts this beyond the style boundaries of Irish stout, but at the same time, it isn't a good one. It's just too severe, and
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Big flippers
Scouring the lower beer shelves at speciality grocer Polonez turned up these two beers, from Lithuanian conglomerate Aukštaitijos Bravorai. Both are in distinctive flip-top one-litre bottles. A big commitment, but that just shows the effort I go to for you. Keptinis is first, and I know enough about Lithuanian brewing to tell you that that's the style rather than a beer name: a traditional brewing method which involves oven-baked malt. That it says so on the label in English steals my nerdy thunder somewhat. It also says it's an unfiltered dark lager, and I'm not sure if that's part of the spec, but it is helpful. In the glass it's a murky red-brown colour, with a thin and fine head of off-white bubbles. Few beers have an aroma as malt-forward as this, smelling like nougat, Mars bars, and assorted other confectioneries which rely heavily on malt extract. Thankfully it's a lager, so while the flavour goes all-in on malt sweetness, that's set on a pristine clean body, feeling very
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Of age
It's only Tuesday, so just a modest celebration for this blog's 21st anniversary. I've pulled out a bottle of Insulator , a barrel-aged barley wine released last winter by Lineman. I've had a differently-barrelled version of this before, back in 2021 , and this one is Margaux wine. The ABV remains a decidedly wintery 14.8%. The visuals aren't lovely. It's a muddy red-brown, though has a tight snowy head on top. The aroma makes it very clear that wine is involved, smelling richly of plums and raisins. A warming, fresh-baked cookie waft is present too. The fruity high notes take a backseat in the flavour, which pushes dark warming cake or pudding first, then bitter liquorice and nutmeg spice. After that, the fruit is back: sultana and orange peel, with a little fresher raspberry tartness. Not that this is in any way a summer beer. The booze isn't exactly concealed, and the malt is concentrated and emphasised, exactly as the words "barley wine" imply. It could have done with a bit more cl
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Be cute, rebrew it
A promise of botanicals is where I left my last visit to Open Gate Brewery, and that materialised in late February as a beer called Ancient Gruit . Details of what they've used instead of hops would be nice, but as usual, there's no mechanism for finding that out once they've decided not to put it on the menu card. It's 5.2% ABV and a cloudy yellow-gold, the paleness suggesting the malting techniques are very modern indeed. It doesn't taste like other gruits I've had. They tend to be spicy and herbal, usually with a strong sweet side due to the lack of hops. This is bitter, centred on a raw vegetal effect, like the thick white stem of a red cabbage leaf. A rasping acidity and weedy, dandelion tang give it a medicinal quality: it feels like something you drink for solely health reasons. I quite liked the oddness, but it won't be for everyone. Some darker malt and some brighter flavours might make it more accessible. There was also another flavoured stout, following on from the pistachio
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Fresh fish
Assuming a 12-month best-before, I drank these Lough Gill beers six days after they came off the canning line. It's not a metric I pay a whole lot of attention to, in fact I think the importance of freshness is massively overstated by a certain sort of beer geek who are marks for the breweries, but I thought I should mention it on the rare occasion it happens. "NEIPA" proclaims the headline on Nectaron Drift , even though its 4.5% ABV might boggle the minds of any visiting Vermonters. The "drift" means that Comet, El Dorado and Citra are also in the hop mix. It's a fairly standard beaten-egg yellow murk job, and there's a lovely spice aspect to the aroma: fresh grass and rocket leaves, to an almost peppercorn intensity. The flavour carries that right through without much change. I know Nectaron is from New Zealand, and their hops tend to have Germanic roots, but I've never encountered Nectaron tasting so Saaz-like. Isn't it supposed to be fruity? Regardless, it's lovely. The other hops
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Imported enjoyment
Villa Torlonia is a grand 19th century mansion in Rome, which latterly served as Mussolini's official residence and then as Allied High Command headquarters after the war. The Italian state subsequently redeveloped it, opening the grounds as a public park. The orangery is now a rather grand café with a terrace, and in recent years it has hosted an annual festival of Franconian beer -- FrankenBierFest -- organised by Roman beer institution, The Football Pub. It just so happened that the 2026 edition was taking place when I was in Rome with EBCU a couple of weeks ago. The programme lists 91 different beers, poured both from kegs and Bayerische Anstich wooden casks, though I reckon not more than half of these were on sale at the bars at any one time. Arriving when things were in full swing on the Saturday evening, I could tell this wasn't a gig for tasting samples: you're meant to drink . My drinking began with a half-litre of Ur-Kö , an economically-named beer from the economically
fromThe Beer Nut - news
The crawl of Rome
In an age of beery uncertainty -- when the consensus of the craft era is, if not completely dismantled, then at least creaking with important bits falling off -- it's nice that some certainties remain. I've developed a newfound appreciation of the beers and bars I discovered in the early years of this blog, and before, which are still operating despite the barbarians being inside the gates. So it was especially pleasing to arrive into Rome and find that two of its fondly-remembered institutions are still going, same as ever. Open Baladin is one of them. I first visited this outpost of the Piedmontese brewery in 2014 , and was impressed. The place has rather more of a worn-in look now (don't we all?) but the range of beers is still excellent. I started with Alla Ceca , a Czech-style lager and indeed a collaboration with the Budvar people, who do seem to be getting around a bit these days. Their international collaborations never seem to be as good as the original, however, and this was
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Going straight?
Last week, I reported on Irish wild beer specialist Wide Street producing a couple of tamer offerings. Today it's more of the same, except the brewery is Denver's Crooked Stave. Again, we begin with a hazy pale lager, although rather than "Kellerbier", the brewery has called it their Italian Pils . This is a light 4.9% ABV and smells ripely fruity, of soft peach and mango. The flavour is calmer, and rather more pils-typical, with a crisp pale malt base, adorned by citric hops which add a modest amount of bitterness but lots of lemon and grapefruit flavour. The unfiltered fuzz adds a softness of texture, meaning it's both crisp and smooth; thirst-quenching and filling, in a way I associate most with Bavarian Helles. Some may argue that the hopping makes it too American to be classed with any kind of European pilsner, but I think that's par for the course when the "Italian" card is played: "Italian pils" should never be confused with "pils from Italy". This is a highly enjoyable lager, a
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Budget destinations
I'm not in this for the clicks, but I have noticed that for some reason my blog posts about Aldi and Lidl beers are the most popular thing I write. It is a source of some dismay to one of such a refined palate as myself. And much as I hate to give the people what they want, there are very often new beers to try at the supermarket. Aldi tends to have the turnover and the most amusing knock-offs, but today's are Lidl's work, though very much in the same vein. Birra Bionda (or "Bit of Beyond That", as it's rendered on Dublin's northside) is their answer to Moretti. The cheery chap on the parchment-coloured background isn't wearing a hat, so it's a completely different look to Heineken Italy's original. This is stronger than Moretti, at 5% ABV, and it poured with a surprise Kellerbier haze. The label gives us no clue as to what country it was brewed in, but there's a definite German influence. The texture is candyfloss-soft, making it feel like a pillowy Munich Helles, and ther
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Them'uns
Something happened in Paris a decade ago. I don't know what it was, but it was significant enough for Our Brewery to name a beer after it. Ten Years Since Paris is a Rotbier, which I confess isn't a favourite style of mine, though I remind myself that this brewery doesn't always brew according to a homebrewer's level of tight fidelity to style, which is good. This one is clear, looking polished, not rustic. It's a bright copper shade, and little is given away by the aroma. The flavour is more full-on, and quite sweet, with notes of red cherry and Norn Irish favourite, brown lemonade. The finish is funky and earthy, a stark contrast with the sweetness, fully on-spec for Rotbier, and one of the reasons I dislike it. The mix of caramel and mushrooms does not sit well with me. It does seem like an accurate rendering of Nuremberg's flagship style of red lager, however, so if you actually enjoy them (not just the charming Franconian taverns that serve them) you'll likely enjoy this. At
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Feel the width
The best brewery in Longford, Wide Street, makes a return to these pages today, with a whole three new beers. The first, Keller Pils , has been around since last autumn, but had eluded me until recently. This strikes me as the kind of beer a brewer makes primarily for their own consumption, and that's generally a good sign. A 5.5% ABV lager, it is only slightly hazy, and attractively golden. Its aroma is even more enticing, balancing snazzy Saaz grass with soft and cuddly candyfloss malt, plus a little hint of lemon on the end for a cheeky extra piquancy. Saaz "in its purest form" reads the label copy, and you certainly get that in the foretaste: a big bitter hit of mixed dried herbs, spicier than the damp cut grass which I more readily associate with the hop, but no less enjoyable. A softly floral honey effect follows, and then the malt is right in behind, giving it a gentle spongecake sweetness, before a clean finish with no aftertaste. There's a nicely full body, making it satisfyin
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Amber to red
Who's up for some malty goodness? Today's pair are of the russet persuasion, noteworthy for being something Irish brewers don't produce very often. Tellingly, they're quite different from the usual formula for Irish red ale. O Brother, for example, has allied with coffee roasters Velo to create a Coffee Amber Ale , exclusive to Aldi. It is indeed amber: a dark shade, though not at risk of being mistaken for porter or brown ale. That's topped with a head of fine bubbles, looking almost nitrogenated. The aroma is dry and roasty, though very much in a beer way, not coffee. There's a hint of cherry or similar red fruit too. The coffee waits until the flavour to appear, but isn't shy when it does. It doesn't taste like the frighteningly serious gourmet coffee that I associate with named roasteries, but is sweet and somewhat powdery, suggesting (to my untutored coffee palate) instant with a dollop of cream. Next to that, there's lots of genuine malt character, bringing more of that red fruit
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Where beer geeks fear to tread
Today it's another chapter in the ongoing history of Dublin's Smithfield Brewing Company, last seen in this post from 2024. Back then, a shiny new brewing kit had been installed at the old soap factory on North King Street but there was no sign of the brewery opening, nor indeed of any brewing happening -- I understand there is a well-established contract brewing link to JJ's in Limerick. I suspect that will be the case for a little while yet, as the soap factory has been earmarked for redevelopment into student flats, meaning the brewery will be on the move again. Smithfield Brewing is part of a company which owns a small chain of central Dublin pubs, clustered around fashionable Fade Street, which are the only venues in which the beer is served. Finding out what they're pouring these days meant going undercover as one of the cool kids, to Drury Buildings, where four unfamiliar Smithfield beers were on tap. Smithfield IPA looks a bit flag-shippy, leftmost of the tap array and wi
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Secrets and mysteries
Hazy IPA and barrel-aged imperial stouts are very much the stock in trade at Lough Gill Brewing, and they're generally pretty good at both. Here are the latest examples. The new New England-style IPA is called Mysterious Haze . It's the standard pale yellow, with custard-grade opacity. Your hops today are Galaxy and Cascade, and the former's orange-accented juiciness forms the aroma. The flavour is rather more savoury, suggesting red onion relish and salad leaves, the fruit showing up late, and briefly. After that swish of marmalade, there's little else to tell you about. While this looks like top tier haze, the flavour doesn't measure up. There's nothing off about it, but I think the hops don't suit it. These recipes tend to use more modern varieties, and that's not simply fashion. Lough Gill's beer don't normally want for boldness, so this plain affair is unusual. It was only last summer that I encountered new stouts Emerald and Shamrock. The brewery wasn't long get
fromThe Beer Nut - news
A mountain to climb
Today's beers are from the unlikely brewery at the Caisleáin Óir Hotel in western Donegal: Errigal. While on-premises drinking is presumably the main goal, they also bottle and distribute as far as a few select off licences in Dublin. These came from Blackrock Cellar. GRMA (Irish for "thx"), is a session, sorry, seisiún pale ale, and very seisiún indeed at only 3.5% ABV. It's pretty damn pale too, a wan straw shade with a dusting of unhelpful haze. It smells sweet, and a little syrupy, like a cheap strong lager. If they used any aroma hops, they didn't make it across to the east coast. It's as light as one would expect, and unmistakably watery. Plenty of fizz means it's cleansing and refreshing when cold. There is no hop flavour to speak of, leaving it with an air of pale mild or cream ale, styles I've never particularly cared for. That includes the same sickly syrup as found in the aroma, and a buttery slickness. This last element is why it wouldn't work as a ses
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Dublin's west coast
A couple of weeks ago, I made a return visit to Urban Brewing to see what was new. I'm not sure if it's a positive sign that the big winter beers which were there in December were still on: the Wee Heavy and Winter Stout, though it's nice that more people get to enjoy them, perhaps. New was an American Cream Ale , a style we almost never see in Europe, never mind Ireland. I'm not much of a fan, but that doesn't usually stop me. It's the yellow-green shade of a Golden Delicious apple and very slightly hazy. The aroma is that of a pilsner: clean, crisp grain husk and a gently fresh grassiness. While there's a bit of lagerishness in the flavour, and moreso in the texture, sitting in the middle is a huge honking mass of perfume or fabric-softener taste. Bleuh. The brewery says they've intended it for session drinking (it's 5% ABV) but before the half-way point of a half pint, I was finding it tough. I had been expecting bland, so getting something actively unpleasant was a shock. This migh
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Accommodating everyone
Dublin's newly-instated The Hoxton hotel has been in the news for other reasons lately, but it falls upon your correspondent to report that there is also Beer of Interest in the sparsely chic groundfloor bar. Alongside the predictable macro dreck and some Rascals options, they have two lines of their own beer, brewed by London's Coalition Brewing. Des has the goods , of course, may he rest in peace. There's something very British about lager at 4% ABV. Our lot seem to prefer adding a couple of fractional points when they're doing blonde and fizzy. So Hox Lager tells you by the strength where it's from. Still, it's a handsome looking pilsner: pure gold, Champagne sparkling, and with a very classy grass and herb aroma. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the low ABV lets the flavour down and it lacks a proper malt base to carry those noble hops. The flavour centres on watery fizz and you have to pay attention to catch the brief flash of basil and thyme. A sliver of dry waterbiscuit is as malty as it
fromThe Beer Nut - news
A toast
I have come to associate "barrel aged saison" with lambic-like beers. Many's a non-Belgian brewery has turned out beers described as such which had all the joyful sour and oak complexities of geuze. So when I spotted that Ballykilcavan had produced one, I had high hopes. We're not told much else about An Fheoir ("The Grass"), only that Chardonnay barrels were employed, and it's 6% ABV. There's certainly a geuze level of fizz as it pours, with an almost unmanageable amount of foam. The aroma isn't spicy like lambic, but it is interesting, with a hint of Chardonnay's (in)famous butteriness, a dry layer of clean farmyard straw and an odd-but-fun oily coconut waft. The oak is especially pronounced in the flavour, and it's not subtle. You get lots of vanilla and a generous spread of the butter. The saison has provided a clean and crisp base, but doesn't present much flavour of its own. There's no sourness, not that the brewery said there would be, and only the faintest Belgian-style spicing
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Over the barrels?
Time for some more DOT beers. As seems to be increasingly the case, the Dublin-based blending-and-barrelling facility has not blended or barrelled these ones, so what you're getting is straight-up contract brewed beers from either Hope or Third Barrel. A pale ale starts us off, only 4% ABV, which makes it seem like one of the "Spin Off Series" beers DOT makes for Aldi on the regular. Solas is a standalone, however. It's a dirty greyish orange in the glass, and while it claims to be "crisp" on the label, it's as soft-textured and fuzzy-tasting as it looks. That at least means it's not watery despite the modest strength. The flavour is centred on something that I haven't encountered for a while: the raspingly dry caraway and popcorn husk of some American hop variety or other. That means it doesn't sit well with me. More bitterness, more hop fruit, or more malt substance would have made it more enjoyable. As-is, it's just about palatable but not one I'd be rushing back to. I fully a
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Big fruit, little fruit
The White Hag made a big deal over the launch of Nektar . It was in the quiet period at the beginning of the year when little else seemed to be happening in Irish beer, so perhaps it was an opportune time to get the attention of the half-dozen people, me included, who give two shits about an Irish brewery releasing something new. Nektar itself was tricky to track down, and when I did, I found it's a peach-flavoured lager of 2.6% ABV. How worthy of attention would that be? It's hard to see from the photograph, but it looks like... a lager. It's clear and yellow, with a fine and thin topping of foam. The syrup makes its presence felt early doors, with an aroma which is very much nectar: all sweet and perfumey, more jam or jelly than beer. The benefit of a lager base is evident on tasting. While it's very sweet and novelty-driven, it avoids turning unpleasantly sticky by having an extremely clean -- bland, arguably -- basic lager base. One gets to, er, appreciate the fruit concentra
fromThe Beer Nut - news
Second spoonful
On Monday I started my epic quest through the beers of the JD Wetherspoon Spring Beer Festival, which finished at the weekend. Today's set picks up where we were, at Keavan's Port. The taps had turned over a couple of days after I had last been in, and next up was Yard Work , designed, presumably, as a refresher, at 3.6% ABV. There's no lack of complexity, however, and though it looks a pale innocent gold, it's packed with bright sharp lemon hop bitterness, plus a harder waxy kick beneath it. It's remarkably full-bodied for the strength, almost syrupy, and there's a honeyish malt flavour to balance the hops. All told, it's a very good sessioner, not wildly dissimilar to the brewery flagship, Trinity. I don't get to drink a lot of Redemption beers, but it seems like quality at a low strength is something at which they excel. Saltaire is another seldom-seen English brewery round here, and they've brought another golden ale: Elderflower Blonde , slightly stronger at 4% ABV. Th
fromThe Beer Nut