Sullivan's Brewing Co.

Paid a visit to Sullivan's Brewing Company launch night this week and I was very impressed with the setup. Firstly the brewery (or soon to be) is located in the heart of Kilkenny on John Street, just a few steps away from Matt The Millers pub. This makes a refreshing change from breweries located in out of town industrial estates. The taproom and brewery occupy old storage space linked to the wine cellar off licence. It's a great, large space with nice sized outdoor/beer garden area which hosts a wood fired pizza oven too. 

The taproom is pretty amazing to be fair. On the right hand wall as you walk in there is a brief history of the brewery in a timeline murial. The bar is on the left with cool light fixture it really stands out. There is also a small test brew kit in the corner which we were told is used to do test batches all the time. I assume it was just on display for the night.  

Of course the main focus should be the beer! So onto Maltings Red Ale. It's a lovely dark ruby red ale. Someone on the night said they felt it was closer to a brown ale than a red. I'd disagree but say it was somewhere in between. Tasty sweet caramel with some roasty malt flavours. Historically so we were told people drank the red ale topped up with barley wine! Thankfully, Sullivan's have gone and brewed a barley wine so we were able to try this. For me, the barley wine gave the beer that bit of an extra kick which was very impressive. Hopefully they decide to experiment and maybe barrel age some of Maltings Red Ale. Would make for some very interesting beers. There are lots more beers in the pipeline anyway I was assured.

Sullivan's is headed up by family members of the Smithwick dynasty. They have wanted to bring the brewing tradition back to the heart of Kilkenny and this will officially happen in the next 8 months or so I was told by their accountant (sorry forgot his name). Currently the beer is being contract brewed in Boyne Brewhouse. From speaking to plenty of Kilkenny folk on the night (I am part of the Kilkenny beer club myself) they seemed thrilled to have brewing brought back to the town. 

There was a fantastic turn out on the night, probably the biggest I have seen for a beer event... And on a Tuesday! Plenty of bloggers, Brewers and public and publicans were in attendance along with the nations grandfather, Gay Byrne and former Tánaiste Dick Spring! This made for a fun if somewhat quirky night. I must at this point give credit to Wayne, Rebecca and the rest of the team at Burrell PR. They put on a fantastic night and re-introduced brewing to Kilkenny in a Big Bang! I was told they are going to focus on the export (US) market more than the national market so I am looking forward to getting back to Kilkenny to try more of this fine beer shortly. In the meantime, Sullivan's will be pouring at next weeks Irish Beer Festival in the RDS. Make sure you pop along and sample this new beer. If you can, request a top up of barley wine in your Maltings Red Ale! Cheers - The Beer Hopster 

 
 

 
 
 

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 

 

Welcome to Newbridge Brú House

3 years I've been living in Newbridge and to say the craft beer scene is poor is about right! One or two pubs (Coffey's, Flanagan's) make an effort with some bottles and Judge Roy Beans has its own house beer on tap (made in Clane). JRB's is more of a TGI Fridays place though and I could never see myself going in for few pints. 

Anyway finally Newbridge has caught up with its neighbours - Naas (Hayden's), Sallins (Lock 13), Kildare (Harte's) all offering good range of beers! I won't lie, before now I hadn't been a huge fan of Brú Brewery's beers but they have pulled out all the stops in the first bar! 

 

Massive range of beers including 8 rotational taps which I was told will change on a monthly basis. All the Brú range are available also at the very reasonable price of 4.20 a pint. Other pints range from 5.50 to 5.90. The Brú IPA and once-off BOB were fantastic on draught. A large range of bottled beer and wine/spirits also available. 

We arrived there late enough, missing food service. However I was told by one of the very knowledgeable and friendly staff that food will be served daily 12-9 (hoping to extend until 10 on weekends). Can't wait to get back to try the donuts that were recommended! 

 

 
 

 The place has been given a lovely makeover for anyone who had previously been in Rose Earleys/Dunnes bar. Not much of a layout change on the Dunnes side and I was glad to see they have kept the snug area. Outside there is a large open smoking area too. I have yet to have a look upstairs but have been told it will be a late night cocktail bar opening on weekends. Of course all the Brú beers will be available upstairs too! 

I have to say if the staff remain as welcoming and passionate about the beer and pub then this place will be packed out every week! For a hushed Monday night opening, there was a decent crowd and a nice mix of ages too! This could be just the place Newbridge needs to kick start it's nightlife (several places closed in recent years). I for one will be back again and again.... At the very least for Greg's great hair! 😉 cheers - The Beer Hopster 
 

 

 

A night at the Guinness Open Gate

Had a fantastic nights in the Guinness Open Gate Brewery Friday night! Myself and another beer fan (@vinylhops on Twitter) were treated to a wonderfully informative run through of all the specials that were available. 

 

Personal highlights were Tropical IPA, botanical ale and the Antwerpen export! If I had to choose a favourite it would prob be the latter. Big malty number with lots of chocolate aroma and flavour as well as coffee bitterness! I really enjoyed the Brewers project and look forward to more releases soon but I feel so far the best is kept inside the open gate. There are plans to release a lot more of these soon in pubs across Dublin and Belfast! I really hope they choose to bottle some of better ones also. If you're a beer fan, it's a great way to spend a Thursday or Friday evening. Plans are being made to extend these opening hours into the weeknd and also to create a nice beer garden in the opening courtyard as you walk in.

 

 It's a great set up and sitting in the middle of a working brewery tasting some fine beer (with delicious snacks to accompany) makes the evening even more special. I told Domhnall (our friendly guide) I would be back with my father soon! Then my wife! It really is something everyone can enjoy, not just Guinness drinkers. Well done guys I was very impressed.

 

New Beer Books!

Hello Beer Fans!

Excuse the crudeness of this post, I am currently trying out a new blog  host and haven't it properly set up yet. Recently I have had the pleasure of being sent some beer related books to review and have been  pleasantly surprised by the quality of said books.

I will go in to these all in more detail but as a quick intro, I have a cooking with beer cookbook imaginatively called 'Cooking with Beer' by Mark Dredge, a beer recipe book (more on this later) called 'Craft Brew' by Euan Ferguson and finally a guide to homebrewing  book called simply 'Brew' by James Morton.

Starting with the cookbook - this is a beautifully pictured and simply to use cookbook. BUT with beer as an ingredient in every recipe which makes it totally manly and awesome! Broken into sections such as Breakfast, Snacks, Mains, this recipe book is ideal for any beer lover who wants to dabble in the kitchen. I've yet to try any recipes out myself but they all seem very simple to follow and I cant wait to russell myself (and the wife) some breakfast stout pancakes or ultimate beer pizza!

Again apologies for the crude images, snapped from my phone. I may find a good blog host eventually and load up better images etc.
There are also a couple of nice sections on pairing beer with food and a guide to different beer styles but one of the things I'm most excited about is the little mini recipes within recipes for stuff like Beer Ketchup and Hop Salt. I cant wait to have jars of these in the press to impress! 

I'll keep this brief enough so on to book number two. Euan Ferguson's 'Craft Brew' is a collection of recipes from established craft breweries scaled down for homebrewing. This comes hot on the heels of BrewDog's DIY DOG release off all their recipes earlier this year. I love the idea of this but from flicking through this book I'm not sure there is enough information for a novice brewer. Sure for a seasoned home brewer, this is probably a fantastic recipe book that they will get lots of use from but I would find it hard to follow myself as I'm sure many would... or I'm just a bit thick!
What I do love most about this book is the inclusion of a couple of recipes from Irish Breweries. Euan Ferguson being an English author living in England has gone for a couple which I was surprised to see included. From what I know about Irish beer being exported and from what I have seen in the UK its rare enough to get any Irish craft beer. You might find some O Hara's or Rye River here and there but Euan has gone for Trouble Brewing's Hidden Agenda and Brú Brewery's Rua. I will look forward to trying to emulate them at some stage in the future. There's some nice sections on equipment, ingredients and a step-by-step guide to home brewing too which is quite useful. As with the cookbook, this is largely a flick-through coffee table book. I don't mean this in a negative sense at all, but you would be unlikely to sit down and study this in any detail.

On to our final book, 'Brew' by James Morton. Now this one I can see the beer-nerd that I am reading this cover-to-cover. Saving the best to last in traditional style, Mr.Morton has written a very simple, easy to follow guide to home brewing. As the preface to this book states, James is more of a baker, having released two books already on the subject. However just from flicking through the first few pages you can tell our author is a passionate beer lover and really does know what he's talking about. I don't know what his qualifications are but he is knowledgeable and informative on beer and home brewing. Respect!
What I love is the attention to detail that has gone in to this. As with the previous books there is a beer style guide, ingredients guide, equipment guide but there are also hops guides, beer colour charts, off-flavour guides etc.

Malt Colour Guide

 However it is the simplicity with which James explains everything about home brewing from extract brewing to all-grain that I think is the best thing about this book. I know that this book will help me and many others become much better home brewers. AND when we do have the skills to brew to decent beer, he has included plenty of recipes for all styles of beer for us budding home brewers to give a lash. There is a bit more attention to detail in these recipes than in the previous book and I feel most would be able to follow these once they have got the knack of basic home brewing.

I'd quickly like to thank Mullett Fitzpatrick and especially Siobhan Mullett for contacting me and providing me with three amazing books to review. It has taken me a while to get around to it, sorry! Been a busy few weeks. I urge everyone with an interest in brewing or home cooking to get their hands on any of the three above. All the main book stores (Easons, Waterstones, Hodges Figgis etc) will have these.

Enjoy the brewing and the beer cooking! I will :) - The Beer Hopster

Kildare Craft Beer - where are we at?

As with the rest of the country, the Kildare craft beer scene is really kicking off. More and more the buzz is spreading from the cities (ie. Dublin) to the smaller urban areas. I would like to take this opportunity to look at the Kildare brewing industry and craft beer scene. As I see it, there are currently 4 breweries - Trouble Brewing (Kill), Rye River Brewing (Kilcock but soon to be Celbridge), Kelly's Mountain Brewery (Clane) and Two Sisters Brewing (currently contract brewing in Kill). There are also some pubs that have their own 'house beer' including Hayden's in Naas, Judge Roy Beans in Newbridge and Cathedral bar in Maynooth. I know Kelly's make the beer for Judge Roy Beans but I'm not sure about the others. I believe Lock 13 in Sallins may be planning their own beer/brewpub but haven't heard anything concrete yet. They did however just start Kildare's first beer festival which was held earlier this month. Hopefully this becomes an annual event.

So what else is happening in Kildare? This is what I want to know. Are there more breweries on the way? More festivals being planned? Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best craft beer pubs/off licences? Please feel free to comment and let us know of anything going on in your area! Cheers - The Beer Hopster