Dublin Beer Views

Williams Bothers is a Scottish brewer who I have blogged about previously http://dublinbeerviews.blogspot.com/2010/04/fraoch-20-year-anniversary.html They have wide range of weird and wonderful brews along the same lines as the Heather Ale, Fraoch. And a top notch range of lager, ale and stout to go with it. Here I have described a selction that I have tried over the last few weeks. Ginger I was a bit worried about this, I like ginger ale, real strong, spicey ginger ale, not Canada Dry, or Schwepps mixer strength soap. I was afraid this might be a bit limp NO CHANCE Its got huge, spicey warm ginger that trickles down your throat warming all the way down. Its fantastic, there is still malt there but the ginger shines through. Its absolutely fabulous Grozet Grozet is a light ale, which has been secondary fermented with Gooseberry. Now its a decent light ale, dry and fresh, but unlike the ginger, it seems to me a bit washed out. I didnt get any citrus as descirbed and certainly no gooseb...

I heard a rumour. The rumour said that Carlow Brewary were making beer for Aldi... hmmm, now Aldi (and Lidl) is great for beer, pick up a slab of lager for a BBQ - mini french bottles, something German, get some decent cheap Weissbeir or a tray of Guinness for the hoardes at a party. But own brand??? So as I was looking for something for the garden that was "on special" I spotted the rumour on the shlf. 4 33cl bottles of Aldi Traditional Irish Red Ale for €4.59... bargain. And yes it is brewed by Carlow. Result. And it tastes lovely, lots of caramel and lots of hop... Magnifico Its not as dark as the picture lends on though

A few years ago the Porterhouse celebrated an anniversary with a special stout brew. It has gone down in legend, the stores keep a single bottle for display purposes only. Now, with their new bottling plant they have released a 2010 Celebration Stout, et voila, here it is Its a lovely dark, 7% stout. less carbonation than some of their other bottles, which is good, the plain and oyster were both very carbonated, overly for me. This is just right. Its thick on the pour and choclatey and liquorice and just delicious. I have two more put away :-)

Beware the onslaught of the last months drinking escapades is on the way. IPA review Williams brothers mega review Plus a few little suprises

So had a look in the supermarkets whilst shopping this week Tesco €5 4X Hoegarden 330ml €5 4X Leffe Blonde 330ml Superquinn €10 4X Any Adnams beers 500ml they had in stock Innovation, Bitter and Lighthouse

Well last Friday night was Queen day - in Holland, so a coupe of bottles of Grolsch wheat beer spotted on the shelves in Tesco (€2.69) seemed like a respectful choice Its labelled as having won "world beer of the year - wheat beer, 2007" I may have missed those awards, I assume lots of celebs younger than most of my socks made fools of themselves etc etc ad naseum Anyway, its really kinda nice, in a plain sorta way. Its a wheat beer, its got lots of head, very very fine carbonation, amazing for just 4 ingredients... its got some of those indicative wheat beer flavours but its...well nice. Dare I say it, formulaic. I drank them both, enjoyed them and have now blogged them. Paulaner in future though.

This stuiff is magic, its a special co-op beer brewed by two fabulous breweries, Schneider Weiss from Europe and Brooklyn from over there in the US of A Its thick with huge body, pours like syrup and has the most amazing deep taste. All those wonderful wheat beer tastes, and bannan and chery, its stunningly delicious, and potent at 8.2%.... I made the mistake of destroying 2 in an hour, thats 4 pints down the pub and I felt it!!! As for value, the lovely people at Devenney's had them on special at €2 a bottle. I should have bought more.