Golden Ticket Pineapple DIPA
Blacks Kinsale Craft Brewery

look: three finger frothy white head with very good retention, beer is a darkish amber colour, lightly hazy, pretty vibrant carbonation.

smell: pineapple all the way, although lots of other fruity aroma, lemon and orange, fair bit of mango, some pine, little bit of caramel, pretty sweet.

taste: no joke with the pineapple, the flavour is super prevalent, along side orange, orange pith, pink grapefruit, lemon, mango, pine, some resin, caramel, little bit of biscuity malt, light to medium bitterness on the finish, sweet fruit flavours linger, pretty good.

feel: medium bodied, light to medium carbonation, some lingering bitterness on the back of the tongue, strength is well concealed, drinkable.

overall: i did not win the prize, although i am in kinsale right now so perhaps i should tour the brewery anyway, that aside, this is a nice beer that certainly does what it says on the tin.

I am usually one to hate fruity beers, but this one has achieved a beautiful balance -- an unusual harmony of pineapple and beer, that normally goes together like pineapple and pizza (that is, a small percentage of people love that but almost everyone else finds it disgusting). This one is worth the roughly 6 euros per can. The label peels off to reveal if you won a tour of the brewery Willy Wonka style (the message is in tiny print in one corner of the label, so look close). Although I'm not sure winning gets you an airline ticket to Ireland. Probably not.