Beer in Ireland

Yawn, you and tut can continue your circle jerk and offer nothing of substance and no "feet on the ground" recommendations other than throwing out the names of beers on the RB top-25 list (sans Guinness of course), which any one could do. If I recall Beamish is hard to find in Dublin, so not surprised it wasn't mentioned, regardless of the motivations of the FrankenBier.

That said, FrankenBier's post was very helpful, I'll be in Dublin for a few days beginning Thursday before heading to County Cork, and I will definitely head to L. Mulligan Grocer, WJ Kavanagh's, Black Sheep and the Brew Dock.

Looking forward to it, thank you!

 

I didn't mention the Porterhouse but it is worth a stop too. I was amazed at how much better the Oyster Stout was in Dublin vs. London. Plus they always have interesting guest beers. Say "hi" to Ken if you see him

 

My feet on the ground recommendations were in my first post in suggesting some breweries beyond the 'obvious' ones that most folks have heard of:-

"You won't get to see any of the new wave of Irish Craft / Micro stuff in the US and you need to hunt it down when in Ireland. Think ... Trouble Brewing, 8 Degrees, Metalman, Burren, Franciscan Well, West Kerry to name a few"

Multiple offerings from Trouble Brewing, 8 Degrees, Franciscan Well and West Kerry all available at Abbots Ale House store, 17 Devonshire St, Cork earlier this year.

 

As a full-time Dublin resident, I'd like to add:

- Ireland now has 25 craft breweries. There's just no need to talk about nitro-stouts.
- Beamish is the discount stout option for OAPs/retirees on a budget - I've never seen anyone under 50 drink it.
- RB ain't exactly up on current events: 6 of the top 20 are from breweries that folded almost 10 years ago.
- Frankenbier's is the only post of suggestions here that reads like he actually knows what he's talking about.
- Don't ignore O'Hara's/Carlow Brewing just because they're widely available.
- Aside from the ones mentioned, try beers from Mountain Man, Kinnegar, White Gypsy and Brown Paper Bag Project.
- Aside from the ones mentioned, drink Irish beers in Dublin in Bull & Castle, Against the Grain (first pub from owners of Black Sheep/Brew Dock), and the relaunched J W Sweetman (formerly Mssrs Maguire).

 

Ok so I glanced over some of the recommendations in this thread. I am leaving on the 14th for a trip to Ireland. 2 nights in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Dingle.
Does anyone have a list of Breweries to check out? Of course, I am doing Guinness and Smithwick's. Any thoughts of any beers to bring back home?

 

Breweries to visit or breweries to drink? Most are either out in the country or in an industrial estate. They're generally not set up to receive visitors like they are in the US.


For the places you name:
Cork you've got Franciscan Well Brewery (though they got bought by MolsonCoors) with their own beers and also the Abbot Ale House is a pub with a good rep.
Dingle look for West Kerry Brewery.
Galway check out Galway Bay Brewing at Oslo, plus the Salthouse is a pub a good range.
And Dublin is covered.

I drink mostly Metalman, Dungarvan and 8 Degrees.

Carlow aka O'Hara's has a Barrel Aged version of Leann Folláin (their export-strength stout) in 750ml fliptops; this would make a nice gift or souvenir.

 

So I've been on the island for a week now and these are my results, I've travelled from Dublin to Cork and Cork to Galway and Galway to Donegal. My top three so far have been Galway Hooker at number 1; it's a super drinkable pale ale that I really enjoyed. In fact, I liked it so much I stole the glass from the pub I was in. Coming in at number 2 was Dungarvan's helvick gold pale ale. I had it at the famous temple bar and really enjoyed it as well, not as much as Galway hooker but it was a nice light ale that was slightly less bitter than Galway Hooker. Sliding in at number three is Smithwick's red ale, although made by guinness, which was a pleasant surprise amidst the irish sea of the Heineken monopoly. It's a nice light refreshing ale with an amber color and a yeasty taste, very little hop taste to it. All in all, I've had just about every beer available at your average pub's draught (Guinness, Carlsberg, Smithwick's, Murphy's, Beamish, Bulmer's cider) and several that fall outside that category (Galway Hooker, Dungarvan*) with the exception of Heineken, because I don't enjoy lagers. I've purchased a bottle of Dungarvan Black Rock Stout, Eight Degrees Porter and Red Ale, all three are in the fridge and I will update my top three as I go along. But, so far, so good although I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to keep up my habit of trying every new thing I come across because I'm so limited in options. To prove this point, I saw a poster in a pub yesterday advertising the irish craft beer festival featuring 15 beers... Anyway, hope this helps for people that are visiting soon.

 

I well remember the old climate, back in 1970, in Elgin, Scotland, when in July they were experiencing a "heat wave". Said so in the papers. It might have gotten to 70% F, but shirts were off and folks were bitchin' and sweatin'. Felt like a New England Autumn to me, plus it was daylight well past a drunk's bedtime.

 

The Irish Craft Beer Festival is running from this evening in the RDS Dublin. Up to one hundred Irish craft beers available, some are festival-only special brews. Who would have thought this possible 10-15 years ago?
http://www.irishcraftbeerfestival.com/

 

I get to Dublin once or twice a year and will be in town again on Monday with my wife for a honeymoon trip. Does anyone here have any ideas on new places to go or the best spots to look for "leftovers" from the festival this weekend? I'm pretty familiar with L. Mulligan, Kavanaugh's, Bull & Castle, Against the Grain, Brew Dock etc. and can attest to wonderful things going on with Irish beer compared to just a few years ago - I'm most excited to try anything new from White Gypsy and Brown Paper Bag Project (my last visit was in early March). We'll be in Dalkey with easy access to DART. Just looking for somewhere to dig deep or something new to try that may not be on my radar from Chicago, if anyone here has any thoughts (suggestions for Beamish, although appreciated, are misguided)?

 

Brown Paper Bag Project is run by one of the owners of L Mulligan Grocer and W J Kavanagh's, so those are the best places to look for his beers.
If you're in Dalkey, Dark Horse in Blackrock is handy to you - that's the 4th location for the Cottage Group (aka Galway Bay Brewery).
Where to find festival leftovers is an excellent question. Bull & Castle is my first guess; Farrington's in Temple Bar has also gotten deep into craft quite quickly. Watching twitter feeds for the fest itself and the individual breweries is probably your best bet.

 

You are an absolute idiot, and a "tourist" of the worst sort.

You were a guest in a foreign country and you brag about stealing a glass from a pub??

I travel extensively and would never steal ANYTHING. I have a large beer glass collection from the UK, Belgium, Germany, and Austria. When I see a glass I want to keep, I ask if I can buy one. More often than not they give it to me, but I'm more than happy to pay a couple bucks if asked.

There's no justification for theft and dishonesty If they noticed, your selfish act would have just reinforced the negative stereotype Americans have among many Europeans.

Stay at home or show respect for the places you visit.

 

I'll add Dark Horse to my list, I've enjoyed there other spots. L. Mulligan is a favorite for me and the wife, so that should be easy. Thanks.

 

Really? Let's try it:

First the obvious ones:
1. Belgium
2. Germany
3. England
4. Czech

And then the new comers:
5. Netherlands (140+ breweries)
6. Italy (300+ breweries)
7. Denmark (100+ breweries)
8. France (150+ breweries)

And for cask culture and all the reasons outlined above:
9: Scotland

So who definitely gets the 10th place over Ireland?
Sweden, where you pay 10 euro a pint?
Spain is coming along, but you're really only talking about half a dozen bars in Barcelona.
Poland? Definitely a player, but still a lot of dodgy brewpubs.

Don't mean to stir the pot, but I just came from the Irish Craft Beer Festival at the RDS, where festival specials included a cask mild, an India Brown Ale, an Australian-hopped amber, a toasted lager with Sorachi Ace and a pale ale run through a Randall.

I have a lot of trouble believing this kind of variety puts Ireland no better than 11th in Europe.

 

You're quibbling with Ruds over whether Ireland would rank #10 or maybe #11 on the list?
Regardless of which it is, his point that Ireland ranks behind plenty of other European countries in brewing is valid.

 

Scotland and England are the same country. Note how this is the "UK & Ireland" forum.

 

No, his point is actually that Ireland "still wouldn't make it into the top 10 beer countries to visit in Europe if your holiday was beer themed."

And my list was being generous. Nobody's flying to France from the US just for the beer.

Ireland's got the most famous pub culture in the world and 12 breweries opening before the end of the year.
How is it *not* a top 10 beer destination?

 

Most of that though, comes from stereotypes created by Americans that the Irish people I know and have heard talk about it, really hate. Mostly guinness, whisky, folk singing and fighting.

Ireland is more worth visiting because it's a beautiful country with a cool history/prehistory.

 

Certainly agree with you on France, but I don't consider Ireland a serious beer destination either. I know it's much improved, but I don't waste my time and money going there for beer - there are too many better choices.

Ireland's got the most hyped pub culture in the world - overhyped, IMO. I don't find them any better for atmosphere and craic than Scottish pubs, and I much prefer the cask ales and whiskey available in many of the latter.

Still, if Irish beer continues to improve at the pace it's going, I'll consider giving it another shot in a few years.

 

Scotland was discussed separately earlier in this thread, so I did the same.

There are some stereotypes around drinking that do no favours to the Irish. But the Irish identity is its most valuable cultural export. And the simple truth is most tourists are here for the landscape, the heritage - and the pubs.