Supporting craft breweries

Beanstalk

Would be interested to see what they're like. In other news regarding Aldi, has the Trick of the Light recipe changed slightly? Seems slightly maltier than before...

BeerNut

Beanstalk wrote: »

has the Trick of the Light recipe changed slightly?
Seems slightly maltier than before

I doubt there has ever been more than one batch. Hop flavour will fade over time based on storage conditions.

Macy0161

Hugo_Whoriskey wrote: »

That's what I thought, something about the design said that to me. Interested to try them out now

Had them last night. They're sold as Lough Gill, not as an Aldi brand. Both nice, but Rough Wave the pick for me, preferred it to their "outback" session.

youcancallmeal

Macy0161 wrote: »

Had them last night. They're sold as Lough Gill, not as an Aldi brand. Both nice, but Rough Wave the pick for me, preferred it to their "outback" session.

Just had one each there and agree with this. Rough Wave is a perfect session NEIPA at a great price. I'm guessing these are just one off Aldi exclusives from Lough Gill, hopefully see other decent brewers do similar.

Beanstalk

Just had one each as well! Rough Wave the winner, very refreshing.

ciaran76

Had both the Aldi Lough Gill beers last night but I preferred the "ON THE OTHER SIDE".

Think I am starting to tire of the NEIPA style. Just find them a bit too acidic on my stomach.

irish_goat

ciaran76 wrote: »

Think I am starting to tire of the NEIPA style. Just find them a bit too acidic on my stomach.

Same here. I find them all much of a muchness now. A lot also tend to either be too soupy, have too much garlic flavour and rarely enough bitterness. The good ones never leave a lasting impression either.

Definitely all gone too sweet for me. Maybe the session one mentioned above might be nicer.

Macy0161

Definitely feel there's not a lot of difference. However, wasn't that long ago that any craft was hard to find, and now I'm complaining that there's too much the same!

Feel a bit bad on Craft Central/ Beer Club/ Beer Cloud, but picked up a few of each of what they had of the Ballykilcavan/ 12 Acres/ Four Provinces in Lidl. I guess if they got a regular supply line into them it would be pretty significant for the breweries. They didn't have the Four Provinces porter or session, which I think they were supposed to have.

Also picked up a few of the Pyynikin Black Lager (after trying it a few weeks ago after Liam from St Mels mentioning the style on the Midlands Craft Beer Festival). Any Irish Schwarz options, as I really enjoyed it? Only one on the usual sites was also an import on Beer Club.

Beanstalk

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Definitely all gone too sweet for me. Maybe the session one mentioned above might be nicer.

well in fairness, i enjoyed it, but the Aldi Lough Gill one is not really NEIPA in terms of the style as presented, more pale ale with low bitterness.

Zaph

Macy0161 wrote: »

Also picked up a few of the Pyynikin Black Lager (after trying it a few weeks ago after Liam from St Mels mentioning the style on the Midlands Craft Beer Festival). Any Irish Schwarz options, as I really enjoyed it? Only one on the usual sites was also an import on Beer Club.

Only Irish one I can think of is one that Trouble Brewing did about four years ago called Blag Flag. It was pretty decent but was only available for a while and I haven't seen it since. Sadly it's a style of beer that's not really favoured by either local brewers or the beer importers here, so even finding foreign brewed schwarzbiers is usually by chance more than anything.

Pen Rua

FYI, Craft Central.ie have a handful of clearance offers: https://craftcentral.ie/collections/summer-madness

Primarily Hope Brewing moving into 4 for €10, and Wylam cans at 50% off.

Pen Rua

Pen Rua wrote: »

FYI, Craft Central.ie have a handful of clearance offers: https://craftcentral.ie/collections/summer-madness

Primarily Hope Brewing moving into 4 for €10, and Wylam cans at 50% off.

The Hope Summer one is lovely, great pickup at 2.50 a go.

odyssey06

Wasn't sure where else to put this...

The owner of the O'Hara's craft beer, the Carlow Brewing Company, has acquired a range of beers and pre-mixed canned spirits from the Boyne Brewhouse in Co Louth. The range of products will be sold under the Glassbox brand, the company said. Speaking with the Irish Independent Seamus O'Hara, the company's chief executive said that production of the beers will now move from Drogheda to Co Carlow...
It's thought the deal to sell its beer and pre-mixed brands to O'Hara's is part of a plan to enable the Cooney family to focus on its distilling business. Its spirits, including whiskeys and a cream liqueur, are sold under The Whistler brand.

https://www.hospitalityireland.com/drinks/carlow-brewing-company-acquires-eights-brands-from-boyne-brewhouse-105941

theteal

A lad I know/used to play football with has launched the above in Ireland in the last few weeks. I saw a picture from SuperValu Kimmage yesterday with a lump of stock. €3.50 a can seems steep to me but I'm still on UK time. Is that the going rate for these type of things these days? Anybody tried it? Thoughts?

Pen Rua

theteal wrote: »

A lad I know/used to play football with has launched the above in Ireland in the last few weeks. I saw a picture from SuperValu Kimmage yesterday with a lump of stock. €3.50 a can seems steep to me but I'm still on UK time. Is that the going rate for these type of things these days? Anybody tried it? Thoughts?

White Claw is typically going for 3 for €9 in Tesco etc, so that pricing seems reasonable. But I would suggest the single unit pricing is probably a poor strategy (albeit likely in the hands of the retailer). A 3 for €10 offer, in my opinion, conveys better value despite the unit price more or less being the same.

Knowing my own purchasing habit, I would be hesitant to get it for €3.50 on its own, but would have no problem trying three of them if they were bundled for a tenner.

FWIW, they are included in Craft Central's 4 for €12 range: https://craftcentral.ie/search?q=hard+seltzer&type=product&product_cat=all

Basq

FWIW - missus is a big fan of Seltzers and reckons Smirnoff's Seltzer is far one of the tastiest.. and they're 6 for 10 in selected Centra's at the minute.

Out of the ones she's tried:
1. Smirnoff
2. Wild Basin
3. Ska
4. White Claw

Not tried Grizzly mind.

matrim

What is a hard Seltzer?

MonkstownHoop

matrim wrote: »

What is a hard Seltzer?

Alcoholic fizzy water

Basq

matrim wrote: »

What is a hard Seltzer?

They're taking over in a big way..

.. was in a Centra today that had about 5 different brands each with 2-3 flavours.

As it goes, they're not actually bad.. less sickly and sweet than alcopops and fairly easily drank.

Pen Rua

I’ve had Ska Brewing & White Claws. They’re not terrible. On both occasions it was during the day so it was more easy going than a heavy beer and refreshing. They have their place. But you could equally just take vodka, sparkling water & juice.

theteal

I've just seen an ad for a brewdog seltzer a moment ago so it's becoming an ever more crowded marketplace. Hopefully the fact that it's an irish startup will give it an edge.

L1011

They're pushing local craft beers out of the fridge in my local Centra, so they can bugger off for all I care.

I've *never* seen anyone buy much of the stuff in the fridge (ten types of cider, multiple eastern european beers etc) but they can barely keep some of the 4-for-10 crafts on the shelf

Macy0161

Can't say the Seltzers hold any appeal to me. Unless someone produces a Vimto flavoured one.

BonnieSituation

I watch a lot of NFL and NHL, and last year the Bud Seltzer's launched and the ads (from Seltzer, PA; yes) were all over TV on almost every commercial break.

Little did I know this would be the "new thing" over here so soon. And the love for WhiteClaw that seemed to appear out of nowhere from female friends of mine was just plain weird.

We have a load of it here as bought by the missus when they were on special. Taking up valuable room on the beer shelves.

---

On beer; the gf collected my online order from Stephen's St yday and she picked up a few things, but I had the Trouble Brewing Passion Fruit lager out of her batch. Can't say it was anything really.

I love my lambics and fruit sours and I love my Pilsners and Helles but these beers/lagers with a hint of fruit in the brew really do nothing for me. Naturally she picked up a few others long the same team. Some weekend ahead, fruit beers and seltzers for all!

Pen Rua

theteal wrote: »

I've just seen an ad for a brewdog seltzer a moment ago so it's becoming an ever more crowded marketplace. Hopefully the fact that it's an irish startup will give it an edge.

Agreed. I haven't taken notice of any other seltzer products, but if I happen to see Grizzly cans I might think about it since they are Irish. I have no real interest in trying any other brands for now.

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I watch a lot of NFL and NHL, and last year the Bud Seltzer's launched and the ads (from Seltzer, PA; yes) were all over TV on almost every commercial break.

Little did I know this would be the "new thing" over here so soon. And the love for WhiteClaw that seemed to appear out of nowhere from female friends of mine was just plain weird.

We have a load of it here as bought by the missus when they were on special. Taking up valuable room on the beer shelves.

[snip]

My SO is American, so was asking her sisters (still in US) about these hard seltzers. They tell me it was the huge trend last summer, with a running joke being "There ain't no laws when you're drinking Claws" so I guess that trend was just imported here.

theteal

Pen Rua wrote: »

Agreed. I haven't taken notice of any other seltzer products, but if I happen to see Grizzly cans I might think about it since they are Irish. I have no real interest in trying any other brands for now.



My SO is American, so was asking her sisters (still in US) about these hard seltzers. They tell me it was the huge trend last summer, with a running joke being "There ain't no laws when you're drinking Claws" so I guess that trend was just imported here.

I know himself spent quite a bit of time in the US last year and that's exactly where the inspiration came from. When I first got wind of it I thought he might be onto a winner - I had no clue there were so many established competitors. Whatever I've searched in the last couple of days is now haunting my fb page, there must be 6-7 different brands for the stuff.

Pen Rua

theteal wrote: »

I know himself spent quite a bit of time in the US last year and that's exactly where the inspiration came from. When I first got wind of it I thought he might be onto a winner - I had no clue there were so many established competitors. Whatever I've searched in the last couple of days is now haunting my fb page, there must be 6-7 different brands for the stuff.

I guess it's relatively cheap (spirit, water, flavour) and less time tied up in brewing so its an "easy" new product to move into. Interesting! Evidently there is a market, so it's nice to see an Irish brand moving in on it.

...

On beers, I think I'm reaching maximum capacity for (D)IPAs. I went from never touching them pre-COVID to being what I have 90% of the time over the last number of weeks. Now I am at the point where they taste broadly similar with a couple of standouts. I think my next Bradley's run will focus on Belgian/Trappist beers and maybe some new types of beers (e.g. lambics)

BonnieSituation

Pen Rua wrote: »

I guess it's relatively cheap (spirit, water, flavour) and less time tied up in brewing so its an "easy" new product to move into. Interesting! Evidently there is a market, so it's nice to see an Irish brand moving in on it.

...

On beers, I think I'm reaching maximum capacity for (D)IPAs. I went from never touching them pre-COVID to being what I have 90% of the time over the last number of weeks. Now I am at the point where they taste broadly similar with a couple of standouts. I think my next Bradley's run will focus on Belgian/Trappist beers and maybe some new types of beers (e.g. lambics)

Lambics FTW!

Macy0161

Managing to convert the better half and the in laws to craft over Covid, mainly through IPA's, I've really expanded my own taste! Doing the virtual beer festivals (and other mixed beer boxes), and having people to share them with*, really got me trying styles I would've skipped. Trying to support Irish breweries has kinda had me resisting imports. May have to bit the bullet on some with no Irish options though.

*much easier to take a punt if you're only committing to half a can/ bottle.