Supporting craft breweries

Pen Rua

Whiplash have dropped another round of beers, this time 3 brewed for To Ol's beer club. Order placed for one of each from Whiplash's webshop.

I was thinking there was some serious volume from them in Ballyfermot - 11 limited editions during June. https://twitter.com/whiplashbeer/status/1410193273688309761

Keeping it Irish, White Hag have a new beer in their "Spree" series, which previously included the (in)famous shamrock shake from back in March. This time it's an orange split ice cream ale. As I've shared many times, Lervig's Orange Velvet is one of my top beers, so I'll be for sure trying this one.

https://twitter.com/TheWhiteHag/status/1408485988658200577

Basq

Tried WH’s Super Split last night.. found it (thankfully) not too sweet or artificially orangey, and quite refreshing.

Basq

Just tackling my Hope Birthday box now..

.. their Overnight Oats IPA is savage tbf!

Glass is lovely but too small.. what's the point of a, what, 300ml glass?

TaurenDruid

Basq wrote: »

Just tackling my Hope Birthday box now..

.. their Overnight Oats IPA is savage tbf!

Glass is lovely but too small.. what's the point of a, what, 300ml glass?

Fits the contents of a White Hag can perfectly, after the WH can has done it's usual "I'm gonna foam everywhere" thing? ;-)

Gotta agree, that Overnight Oats is lovely, just had mine last night.

Basq

Couldn't get the 330ml Phantom in it!

the beer revolu

Am I the only one who mostly likes to top up a beer? I rarely size my glass to my can/bottles size (bottle/can conditioned beers excepted).

I just don't see the need to fit all my beer in my glass at once.

I’d never bother underfilling one just to top it up but I do like a glass that’s a smaller volume than the package so I can fill it and then top it up.

Brock Turnpike

Any suggestions for "reliable" beers to get on a gift box for someone that may not have dipped their toe into craft beers before?

flended12

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Any suggestions for "reliable" beers to get on a gift box for someone that may not have dipped their toe into craft beers before?

To ease them gently, get a range of Sessions. 8 Degrees, Wicklow Wolf, 4 Provinces, Yellow Belly and Kinnegar Sessions all worth a dabble.

Pen Rua

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Any suggestions for "reliable" beers to get on a gift box for someone that may not have dipped their toe into craft beers before?

Going over my Untappd from the last couple of months...

Kinsale Pale Ale by Black's.
Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale by Galway Hooker.
Scraggy Bay by Kinnegar.
Althea by Galway Bay Brewery.
Rollover by Whiplash.
Yarrnody by Kinnegar.
Westport Red Tripel by Mescan (maybe a step too far for a "craft newbie", but this is excellent).
Imbongo by Boundary.
Orval by Orval.
Orange Velvet by Lervig (for something a little sweet - with lactose, controversial).
Black Bucket by Kinnegar.
Sierra Nevada IPA by Sierra Nevada.
Rustbucket by Kinnegar (something a little different).

I started THIS thread last year looking for IPA suggestions. I found the style to be very hard to like at first, but some of the suggestions in there were the reason ~90% of my beer is now IPA.

Macy0161

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Any suggestions for "reliable" beers to get on a gift box for someone that may not have dipped their toe into craft beers before?

They're a bit pricey, but beercloud.ie have beer boxes, with a Primer Pack option (although I'd probably go for the Progression Pack tbh).

https://beercloud.ie/product-category/beer-boxes/

Starlord_01

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

Any suggestions for "reliable" beers to get on a gift box for someone that may not have dipped their toe into craft beers before?

A mate of mine recently asked me a similar question, this was the shopping list I sent him:
Kinnegar - Rustbucket & Scraggy Bay
Rascals - Big Hop Red, Yankee & Happy Days
White Hag - Little Fawn & Atlantean
Whiplash - Rollover & Body Riddle
Bru - Tutti Frutti
Galway Bay - Althea, Full Sail & Bay Ale

I’d go with a couple of lagers, couple of blonds, and a couple of session IPA’s in that order.

Thundercats Ho

A fella I work with who isn't into craft at all, raves about the Foxes Rock lager, so maybe try a few of it, and that style. Anything with too much punch is likely to put them off if they're unsure about dipping their toe into new brands.

Macy0161

Lagers would've put me right off tbh. Only now am I really coming back to them.

Just to add, a few of the breweries have their own mixed boxes. It'd hard to go wrong with the Kinnegar box, and Brú were advertising one with all the urban jungles and a cooler bag. Wicklow Wolf have a mixed presentation box. Rascals do their BoomBox with a glass.

Slobberdawn

Couple of us looking to head away for a weekend. One of my criteria when it comes to picking a location is pubs with a decent selection of craft beers.

So outside of Dublin and Galway, and considering the Covid restrictions, could I have some suggestions please?

flended12

Slobberdawn wrote: »

Couple of us looking to head away for a weekend. One of my criteria when it comes to picking a location is pubs with a decent selection of craft beers.

So outside of Dublin and Galway, and considering the Covid restrictions, could I have some suggestions please?

Its remarkable the amount of towns ive been in that have brewerys on their doorstep and dont want to know about supporting local business.

In longford only 3 weeks ago and asked in 3 bars "any St mels?" - was met with a resounding no.

Same in Ballymote - no bar after the recent hagstravaganzas stocked any white hag. they could have had at least 1000 extra customers on the day after hagfest finished.

Carlow similar, the list goes on. Typical irish Bo**oxo*gy!!

Hard to beat cork, athlone or at least find a town that has a recognised craft pub in it.

Slobberdawn

flended12 wrote: »

Its remarkable the amount of towns ive been in that have brewerys on their doorstep and dont want to know about supporting local business.

In longford only 3 weeks ago and asked in 3 bars "any St mels?" - was met with a resounding no.

Same in Ballymote - no bar after the recent hagstravaganzas stocked any white hag. they could have had at least 1000 extra customers on the day after hagfest finished.

Carlow similar, the list goes on. Typical irish Bo**oxo*gy!!

Hard to beat cork, athlone or at least find a town that has a recognised craft pub in it.

Thanks. I’m just back from a frustrating week off. Beautiful weather and nothing but the regulars in the hotel. Had shortlisted Cork but hadn’t considered Athlone. Thanks.

Redsoxfan

Does anyone know

Why Metalman can only deliver a minimum of 60 cans due to 'licencing laws' while The White Hag can deliver 24 without issue?

flended12

flended12 wrote: »

Its remarkable the amount of towns ive been in that have brewerys on their doorstep and dont want to know about supporting local business.

In longford only 3 weeks ago and asked in 3 bars "any St mels?" - was met with a resounding no.

Same in Ballymote - no bar after the recent hagstravaganzas stocked any white hag. they could have had at least 1000 extra customers on the day after hagfest finished.

Carlow similar, the list goes on. Typical irish Bo**oxo*gy!!

Hard to beat cork, athlone or at least find a town that has a recognised craft pub in it.

Tully’s in Carlow is good. Or always used to be anyway.

Redsoxfan

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Does anyone know

Why Metalman can only deliver a minimum of 60 cans due to 'licencing laws' while The White Hag can deliver 24 without issue?

Type of licence I think. Some go through an off-licence.

LollipopJimmy

I just got my hands on a White Hag Supersplit from my local offie, the rep had left a couple of samples in unstickered cans, its fair tasty but one really is enough

TaurenDruid

Slobberdawn wrote: »

Couple of us looking to head away for a weekend. One of my criteria when it comes to picking a location is pubs with a decent selection of craft beers.

So outside of Dublin and Galway, and considering the Covid restrictions, could I have some suggestions please?

It's something I always do now, check out pubs in the area we're heading to, and/or even phone the hotel and ask what they have. Stayed at the Gold Coast in Fungarvan a couple of years ago, the hotel didn't have a single Dungarvan tap. Next time after numerous complaints from the gang of us staying, they at least had a load of bottles in for us. Shouldn't have to go to so much trouble to find the local beer.

But to answer your question, we were in Westport last summer and found Mescan in a few of the pubs. And a couple of pubs in Limerick last weekend had Treaty City on tap.

The Buster

flended12 wrote: »

Its remarkable the amount of towns ive been in that have brewerys on their doorstep and dont want to know about supporting local business.

In longford only 3 weeks ago and asked in 3 bars "any St mels?" - was met with a resounding no.

Same in Ballymote - no bar after the recent hagstravaganzas stocked any white hag. they could have had at least 1000 extra customers on the day after hagfest finished.

Carlow similar, the list goes on. Typical irish Bo**oxo*gy!!

Hard to beat cork, athlone or at least find a town that has a recognised craft pub in it.

Made same comment to a local bar lately. When the bars were reopened a month ago he posted pictures with tag supportlocal all over social media. Fair enough except he was leaning on a line of taps. Not one of them was local.

Both Mescan and Reel Deal brewery are about 30 mins or less from him. I said it to him and to be fair he said he will contact them

L1011

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Does anyone know

Why Metalman can only deliver a minimum of 60 cans due to 'licencing laws' while The White Hag can deliver 24 without issue?

Metalman are selling a wholesale volume to you under their brewery licence

White Hag are using an extension of a pub licence (I believe The Swagman in Sligo but I may have got that totally wrong - but its unimportant) to sell as an off-licence.

A few other breweries sell direct under similar schemes (Whiplash using the Big Romance for instance) and most other breweries that sell smaller volumes online have a pub themselves (Dead Centre, Kildare, Rascals etc)

Starlord_01

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I just got my hands on a White Hag Supersplit from my local offie, the rep had left a couple of samples in unstickered cans, its fair tasty but one really is enough

The promos with the ice cream / cream is putting me off

Pen Rua

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I just got my hands on a White Hag Supersplit from my local offie, the rep had left a couple of samples in unstickered cans, its fair tasty but one really is enough

Bradley's got in just one case and it sold out in the day.

Macy0161

TaurenDruid wrote:

But to answer your question, we were in Westport last summer and found Mescan in a few of the pubs. And a couple of pubs in Limerick last weekend had Treaty City on tap.

I was actually going to suggest Limerick. Never been, but on my list after a couple of the on-line festivals. There's another micro brewery isn't there as well as Treaty City (name escaping at the moment).

fwiw one of the locals hasn't been open here in Roundwood yet, and they posted on facebook the taps full of the usual with the support local stuff. I posted about Wicklow Wolf, and they've retained the two WW taps (Elevation and Hoppy Red) and have added a Wicklow Brewery (Helles). That's The Coach House. Byrne and Woods under new management have retained Elevation. That's it out of the 5. The Wicklow Wolf hop farm is 2km out the road, brewery 10 minutes drive. :rolleyes:

L1011 wrote:

A few other breweries sell direct under similar schemes (Whiplash using the Big Romance for instance) and most other breweries that sell smaller volumes online have a pub themselves (Dead Centre, Kildare, Rascals etc)

A couple have the new-ish licence to sell direct. St Mels and Wicklow Wolf. You can walk up to Wicklow Wolf and buy a single can if you so wished (rather than two or three growlers!)

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Tully’s in Carlow is good. Or always used to be anyway.

Saw their line up posted on facebook or insta in the last couple of weeks of their tap line up, and I was well impressed!

Ivefoundgod

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Tully’s in Carlow is good. Or always used to be anyway.

As a local, Tullys is by far the best in terms of craft beers and almost always has at least 2/3 local beers (Ballykilcavan and 12 Acres usually) as well as 5 or 6 others, change it up regularly as well and they do growlers which is great. They don't seem to support O' Haras much anymore which is fair enough I think. Dinn Ri actually has an ok selection of craft now as well though typically only 2/3 taps and usually O' Haras and 12 acres though I have seen other brands like Lagunitas there as well.

dominatinMC

Macy0161 wrote: »

I was actually going to suggest Limerick. Never been, but on my list after a couple of the on-line festivals. There's another micro brewery isn't there as well as Treaty City (name escaping at the moment).

Limerick is decent enough tbf. Mother Macs has an excellent range of craft beers. Crew Brewery is probably the micro you are thinking of?