The random stuff thread

L1011

Gollem packed to the rafters. Really considering buying another tram card as I'm staying dead centre (Victoria) and its all tourist traps around.

BeerNut

You could try De Prael. Lots of people seem to like it though their beer is total Russian roulette to me.

Creamy Goodness

beer temple is worth the look. actually not sure of the prices but was given the recommendation from here before.

MonkstownHoop

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

beer temple is worth the look. actually not sure of the prices but was given the recommendation from here before.

It's a bit pricey if you're going for American beers, they have some decent local stuff, was 2 years ago when I was in tbf.

dudara

Try Cannibale Royale near Spui. It's really a burger bar, but they have a decent selection of craft beers. Or head to Westerfabriekpark for Brouwerij Troust. All walkable from city centre.

You don't necessarily have to buy a new chipkaart, just buy a daily ticket.

RasTa

All tech coming up, don't like this paying for a taster

BeerNut

RasTa wrote: »

don't like this paying for a taster

Buy a pint then :pac:

johnnykilo

Didn't want to create a new thread for this, but can anyone tell me any shops where I can find 8 Degrees Sunburnt Red Ale in South Dublin City Centre? I've tried Tesco and Dunnes in Rathmines. All the Centra's near Camden Street, Fresh Camden Street, Dunnes George's street. I should have went to Deveney's when I was in Rathmines but I won't be up that way again for another few days.

Supervalu Aston Quay? Anywhere in Temple Bar? Thanks in advance.

Creamy Goodness

Whelan's Off-licence on Wexford Street?

BeerNut

johnnykilo wrote: »

Deveney's when I was in Rathmines

Doesn't exist any more.

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Whelan's Off-licence on Wexford Street?

Doesn't exist any more.

I don't think SuperValu Aston Quay has it. There's a possibility Tesco Fleet Street might. Stephen Street News maybe, or Spar at the bottom of George's Street. You might have to go all the way to Redmond's of Ranelagh or Baggot Street Wines, though.

Creamy Goodness

BeerNut wrote: »

Doesn't exist any more.

Hah, shows how long it's been since I've been up that way. Apologies.

Johnny Drama_11

Does anyone know where I can get loughgill cans in Dublin? Preferably on the northside!

oblivious

Johnny Drama_11 wrote:

Does anyone know where I can get loughgill cans in Dublin? Preferably on the northside!

Drink store I bet has some

L1011

Didn't get in to anywhere except my hotel bar in the end - city was far more packed than I'm used to at this time of year but my visits haven't hit the weekend after Valentines before and it seems that dragging your boyfriend around the Red Light on a look-but-do-not-touch basis is 'romantic' now :pac:

Back in June; spent half an hour looking for my chipkaart and only found my Dublin library card and my Nectar card. Think its probably expired now anyway, though.

Subcomandante Marcos

Johnny Drama_11 wrote: »

Does anyone know where I can get loughgill cans in Dublin? Preferably on the northside!

Alltech festival this weekend.

Johnny Drama_11

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Alltech festival this weekend.

Unfortunately wont make it this year.

matrim

Wrong thread.

L1011

€1 a sample at alltech? Jesus, I'll be broke if stands actually enforce that in all cases - last year I had a few brewers go down the row of taps while chatting to them. Suspect having bought an actual proper size off them first might have helped and may still this year.

Hotblack Desiato

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Alltech festival this weekend.

Thought there'd be a thread of its own about this, there's been so little mention of it I thought it wasn't on for another few weeks.

the beer revolu

Overheard Conversations.

On hearing, "do you know the history of IPA?" my beer geek radar ears perked up, wondering how inaccurate the description would be. I never in a million years thought I'd hear the gem that I did.

"IPA was originally brewed to about 40%, shipped to india where it was diluted to make beer and other drinks and sodas"

You learn something new everyday:D

L1011

Was someone reading that German nutters blog or books I wonder?

BeerNut

L1011 wrote: »

Was someone reading that German nutters blog or books I wonder?

Sounds like they're trying to out-Horst Horst. There should be a competition

Lovely Bloke

Anyone around town tomorrow, drop in to Alfie Byrne's in The Conrad for the National Homebrew Championship

Judging starts at about 10, then the medals will be handed out from about 6 onwards.

Always a cracking evening.

BeerNut

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

Always a cracking evening.

Especially when you start drinking at 10am :pac:

Good luck contenders and, especially, judges.

Lovely Bloke

BeerNut wrote: »

Especially when you start drinking at 10am :pac:

Good luck contenders and, especially, judges.

nah, I'm not a judge, just a steward.

I abstained until a pint at lunch time, then I stewarded the BOS last year, so had a sip of all the Gold Medals

matrim

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

nah, I'm not a judge, just a steward.

I abstained until a pint at lunch time, then I stewarded the BOS last year, so had a sip of all the Gold Medals

You got any beers in the competition this year?

Lovely Bloke

matrim wrote: »

You got any beers in the competition this year?

Already won a bronze in Speciality IPA with a Black IPA made with Southern Hemisphere hops - some categories were already judged 2 weeks ago in the 13th Lock pub in Sallins. Gold in that Category was a 47/48 NEIPA, so I'm chuffed with that bronze. Apparently the standard and scores were high.

I had a Milk Chocolate Stout judged that day too that didn't medal.

I've an Irish Stout in tomorrow, and I won Gold in that in 2015, didn't medal last year, so hoping for one this year, although I think there's a touch too much chocolate malt in it and it's not dry enough to tick all the boxes. That said, it's a clean ferment with no off flavours, so we'll see. Irish Stout is a tough category though, usually largest or second largest behind IPA.

Ronan|Raven

May pop in for a look. See the results from the meads..

Lovely Bloke

Ronan|Raven wrote:

May pop in for a look. See the results from the meads..

The very first bottle on the Cider / Mead table exploded!

Ronan|Raven

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

The very first bottle on the Cider / Mead table exploded!

Oh dear! Thankfully I have nothing entered! Just down for a nose to see how some of the south dublin club do. Good crowd in so far.

Creamy Goodness

Probably a long shot but I've a week in Saõ Paulo in a weeks time with a 9 hour layover in Madrid, anyone got any recommendations for good craft beer pubs for some drinks and some food in either location?

BeerNut

Not beer related, but La Venencia in Madrid is an amazing bar.

c - 13

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Probably a long shot but I've a week in Saõ Paulo in a weeks time with a 9 hour layover in Madrid, anyone got any recommendations for good craft beer pubs for some drinks and some food in either location?

Madrid really surprised me for beer selection last time I was there. I was expecting to be drinking Tropical/Cruz Campo for the week and was pleasantly surprised.

La Tape (Bar - www.latape.com)
Good spot for local beer. Food here was good too.

Irreale (Bar - https://www.facebook.com/irrealemadrid/)
Loved this place, seemed to stock a good selection of spanish beers. We were there for a hop hunters tap takeover. Great crowd, nice barstaff. Walking distance (2 - 3 min) from La Tape.

Madriz Hop Republic (Brewery - http://www.cervezasmadriz.com/)
Wasnt mad on this place. Very young crowd and very hipster. Couldnt even get standing room inside. Bottled beer only it seemed like, beer was pretty decent. Walking distance (10 min) from Irreale. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

Fabrica Maravillas (Brewery - http://www.fmaravillas.com/)
Busy spot, very small, decent beer. Not sure if there were tours running or not bcause we were there relatively late in the evening. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

El Pedal (Bar - www.facebook.com/CerveceriaElPedal)
Bit out of the way from the other bars but relatively close to El Rasto Market if you are going that way. Was very quiet when we where there. Opens later than the other (5PM I think?)

Naturbier has a brewery there but I wouldnt bother.

By far my favorite thing there was going to Be Hoppy (Off Licence - http://www.behoppymadrid.com/) picking up some local brews and walking on to Retiro park for the afternoon to sit about and people watch.

You want any further details on any of those let me know.

Creamy Goodness

Perfect, that's a great list guys. Now just need to ensure some of them open before noon as my flight back is at 3pm

BeerNut

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Perfect, that's a great list guys. Now just need to ensure some of them open before noon as my flight back is at 3pm

Good luck with that! Madrid is not a day-drinking sort of town in my experience.

Liamo08

c - 13 wrote: »

Madrid really surprised me for beer selection last time I was there. I was expecting to be drinking Tropical/Cruz Campo for the week and was pleasantly surprised.

La Tape (Bar - www.latape.com)
Good spot for local beer. Food here was good too.

Irreale (Bar - https://www.facebook.com/irrealemadrid/)
Loved this place, seemed to stock a good selection of spanish beers. We were there for a hop hunters tap takeover. Great crowd, nice barstaff. Walking distance (2 - 3 min) from La Tape.

Madriz Hop Republic (Brewery - http://www.cervezasmadriz.com/)
Wasnt mad on this place. Very young crowd and very hipster. Couldnt even get standing room inside. Bottled beer only it seemed like, beer was pretty decent. Walking distance (10 min) from Irreale. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

Fabrica Maravillas (Brewery - http://www.fmaravillas.com/)
Busy spot, very small, decent beer. Not sure if there were tours running or not bcause we were there relatively late in the evening. Seemed to be a lot of locals.

El Pedal (Bar - www.facebook.com/CerveceriaElPedal)
Bit out of the way from the other bars but relatively close to El Rasto Market if you are going that way. Was very quiet when we where there. Opens later than the other (5PM I think?)

Naturbier has a brewery there but I wouldnt bother.

By far my favorite thing there was going to Be Hoppy (Off Licence - http://www.behoppymadrid.com/) picking up some local brews and walking on to Retiro park for the afternoon to sit about and people watch.

You want any further details on any of those let me know.

I'd add the Stuyck Company http://thestuyckco.com/ to the above list - again though probably not gonna be open early in the day.

willowthewisp

Does anyone know why you can't really get stubby cans of the mainstream beer (Heineken, Bud, Coors, carlsberg, Bud Light, Miller etc ) in Ireland. I'm fond of the 330ml stubby myself.

rubadub

willowthewisp wrote: »

Does anyone know why you can't really get stubby cans of the mainstream beer (Heineken, Bud, Coors, carlsberg, Bud Light, Miller etc ) in Ireland. I'm fond of the 330ml stubby myself.

I still see heineken the odd time, its usually relatively expensive, 330ml bottles would be cheaper, 20 odd years ago it was nearly always the other way around.

I reckon they are gone due to economies of scale producing them. The shops would have to charge a lot working on the same margins so I expect they would not sell well. Bottles became popular overtime and presumably became cheaper to produce due to economies of scale. If people want smaller amounts they stick to the longnecks -many people still view bottles as being far superior to cans.

I like the 440ml can size myself.

BaZmO*

Was pleased to see cans of Metalman Pale Ale on sale in my local Tesco......until I saw the price, €3.99!!!

Sure you'd almost get a pint for that price!

ciaran76

The Old school house in Swords building a brewery. Just read the signage outside it.

Lovely Bloke

I'm a hundred percent sure they've been brewing there for a few years now.

Subcomandante Marcos

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

I'm a hundred percent sure they've been brewing there for a few years now.

Tiny batches on a tiny kit.

ciaran76

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

I'm a hundred percent sure they've been brewing there for a few years now.

Yeah I drank the Pale ale and Stout last night. But I think they do only do very small batches. By the looks of it they are digging deep so should be much bigger.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

WJK gone again, that's the second time a craft enterprise has failed on that site.

Subcomandante Marcos

Pearl Silly Stucco wrote: »

WJK gone again, that's the second time a craft enterprise has failed on that site.

WJK?

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

WJ Kavanagh's on Dorset St

matrim

Pearl Silly Stucco wrote: »

WJ Kavanagh's on Dorset St

Damn. It was never very busy but there were always people in there.

Although in saying that their craft selection was very hit and miss and seemed to be getting worse. The last few times I was there, they had an increasing number of taps not kegged and the fridges in the shelves in their offie were getting more bare.

L1011

Any good bars in Porto? Athough the weather is making the Sagres taste wonderful as it is.

L1011

Found a few candidates but they open late or not early in the week mostly. First is immensely dear for Porto - a whole 9 euro for a pint of a local 7% IPA and a pint of Sam Adams.

L1011

Continuing the solo run of posts, Porto does have a pretty good craft scene. bog all on Ratebeer so I assumed I'd be on Sagres all week.

Coincidentally the annual beer fest was on. 100% outdoor and opened at 1pm as today is Corpus Christi and a lot of people are off work.

About 30 breweries, nearly all Iberian with one Brazilian, one Polish and one importer who was doing Mikeller and Brew Dog. Realistically far too hot during the afternoon for two pasty paddies. Bigger food van selection than you'd ever get at an Irish fest. Loads of people with kids etc. No entry fee but you had to have the official glass to get served which was €3.

Seems to be about 6 craft only bars; actually there's very few bars at all as most drinking is in cafes. Price range from what seems dirt cheap in Ireland (2.50 a pint) to one place that was nuts for Ireland (€8 a pint). Letraria is definitely the best of the lot - big range on tap, beer garden is an actual garden many times the size of the pub and the food is decent.