Quick post about an Irish Times mention

I told you all about the Porterhouse award for best Irish beer in this blog post. Now you can read a professional account of the day. John Wilson is the wine correspondent with the Irish Times and his account of the day is here. I think he captured the day well and I thought it was interesting that we all concluded that the bottled versions of many of the beers were better than their draught counter parts.

I'd have to agree with his point that most Irish breweries seem to make the same range of beers and that maybe small quantities of more unusual beers would be the way forward. I think this is certainly true. When Galway Hooker's IPA came along there were was nothing else like it on the Irish micro market and it has achieved great success. Perhaps because the sorts of people who try Irish micro brewed beers are the type who try different beers anyway. So maybe the Irish micros should be more adventurous.

There are signs that this is happening. Sadly study prevented me from making the Franciscan Well beer festival this year. But reports tell me that many great beers have been launched this year including White Gypsy's oak aged imperial stout. I think that definitely qualifies as adventurous. Carlow Brewing have been releasing some cracking new beers including their tasty Easter stout that was part of the Porterhouse competition. There's also Whitewater's new Copperhead ale which was one of my favourites at the competition. The Irish micro brewing scene is definitely in great health. Two new breweries launched at the Franciscan well, Trouble Brewing and Dungarvan Brewing Company. Both are fellow Irish Craft Brewer members. I wish them both well and I hope when all my study is done that I will be able to relax and enjoy their beers over the summer.  

While flicking through the paper I noticed that 9 Bean Row also gets a mention in The Times. Hopefully this will cheer her up as she is stranded away from home due to the volcanic ash.