What beer are we drinking this week? Episode 3

Dot have a short write up in the Irish times, and costs are mentioned in relation to their new core range (which I have not sampled).

“We’ve had an insane amount of cost increases; you see it everywhere in the supermarkets and at the petrol pumps, but the pressure is less obvious with producers. We have had three rounds of price increases since January alone. The utility costs for running a kettle and cooling a tank are enormous, and our supply chain is tricky.

“For instance, most aluminium comes from Russia and Ukraine, but there is a squeeze on malts, labels and all the other materials – we have retained our original retail price by adjusting our processes while still retaining quality.”

That would be good for another few months at least.

They really should give minutes and hours as well as a date 😁

Desperado 🍻

Session IPAs are my go-to beers. I got some Shaka from Lough Gill last weekend and thought that it was really good

@Geuze if you like Budvar, give Spaten a go as well.

Lomza is kinda the new Tyskie (which was blanded and weakened a few years ago). Decent ABV, tastes OK. A step up from Stella etc. at a reasonable price - well, if you could call any alcohol prices reasonable these days

That Perlnbacher stuff from Lidl is gut rot and a few bottles arent good for the head next day. Ive had killer headaches the next morning after that stuff and generally dont get headaches after drinking

Got a pint of Full Sail earlier. It tastes nothing like it used to, and looks nothing like it either. Its nowhere near the same colour.

Maybe the standard answer is true and my palate is changing, but surely my eyes arent

All GBB beers have changed drastically over the years and not for the better. They used to have quality brewers creating interesting beers but at some point the focus shifted.

Well they only started doing that this year. The beer quality dipped years ago imo.

Very true. The whole craft beer movement, or at least the mainstream players in it from a pub point of view, seems to be turning in on itself. Its a shame

Think we've passed "peak craft" tbh. Far too many "me too" producers out there, and GBB and Porterhouse just seem to be catering for the don't-frighten-the-horses market now. Food and slightly-less-blander-than-mainstream beers appear to be the thing now for them.

Meanwhile I got my White Hag Clann box last week, the single "guest" can was brewed by... White Hag (Dick Mack IPA). FFS. The rest just their own mainstream IPAs which are unremarkable (no Fionn) except for two coffee/oatmeal stouts which were almost tasteless, and a 330 of non-barrel aged Black Boar which was very nice. But the cost of the box really is not justified lately, it was better than this a few months ago.