Sweetwater Beers Launch

It's been a busy week on the beer scene but Wednesday night was my personal highlight! Last week Rye River Brewing Co. announced they would be the distributors of beer from American brewery Sweetwater Brewing Co and would be holding a launch party in Dublin's Mercantile pub. 

So off I popped of a Wednesday evening to find out more about these new (to Ireland or anywhere outside of the US) beers. 

First up I tried the 420 extra pale ale. Apologies for photo quality already, quite dark pub! And shitty phone camera! Fortunately the quality of the beer is awesome. The 420 along with the IPA were available on draft which I was delighted to hear. I do have a slight concern with the freshness of bottled beer coming from the US. Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn often suffer in my opinion. 

Sweetwater beers are being shipped direct from the brewery to Ireland so we should have lovely fresh American beer available in pubs and off licences shortly (perhaps even as I type this). Anyway I digress, back to the 420. It's name derived from the date it was first brewed, April 20th (1997). Nearly 20 years and it's a delightful fresh easy drinking pale ale. Surprisingly light beer for an abv of 5.7% and well balanced between malt flavour and delicate hops. I tried the IPA after this and it was everything you would expect from a big bold American IPA. Full of citrus and a lovely level of bitterness. My favourite of the 3 beers I tried on the night. Columbus hops really shine through here, making you want to come back for more and more. At 6.4% abv though it's not long before you're as hazy as the beer! 

 Next up we tried the delicious Georgia Brown. This was one of two bottled beers available on the night. The other was Sweetwater Blue, a light ale infused with blueberries. Unfortunately I didn't get to try this as it sold out quickly. I heard mixed reviews on the night but I'll reserve judgement until I try myself. Sounds nice anyway.... Back to the brown! A lovely slightly smokey brown ale with big chocolate flavours on the palate. Can't wait to try this on draft. I needn't have worried about freshness, fantastic beer. 

Overall a great night was organised by the Rye River team. Hat tip to Simon Broderick especially for the work he put into it. A live link to the brewery in Atlanta for a chat with head brewer Nick Nock (great name) failed  due to technical problems but there were some games and prize giving throughout the evening as well as finger food. 

Wonderful new American beers for us all to try. Just goes to show how popular craft beer is becoming in Ireland, was a great attendance on Wednesday night too. "Don't float the mainstream " indeed! Well done to all involved in organising - cheers! The Beer Hopster