A Shortened Day in Amsterdam

The joys of travel. My flight to Amsterdam was delayed over 5 hours, seriously cutting into my beer drinking time. That left me really only time to visit one place so I went with In de Wildeman.

Always tough choosing a first beer.

While deciding the bartender told me they had a cask of a Ginger flavored Pale Ale from a new-ish Amsterdam brewery Oedipus Brewing. Quite tasty, the ginger was not overpowering and only 4%

Next up was a beer from Emelisse an Earl Grey IPA. Wasn't sure about it but took the chance it it actually worked. The Bergamot made it really drying in the mouth, so one was enough but I enjoyed the one.

I ordered some cheese and the bartender recommended a plate they had, a nutty French cheese (forgot to note the name) with ginger snaps and marmalade. It went quite nicely with the beer.

I noticed a beer named "Dark Hops" and that is hard for me to pass up, so I didn't. A collaboration between Eem and a gypsy brewer Pampus it is a enjoyable black IPA.

 I had time for one more beer before catching my train back near the airport. I broke the rule about drinking only Dutch beers by having a Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 18. Not Dutch, but the chocolate served with it was.  A nice nightcap, though it was served too cold.

Upcoming Beer Trip...

An overnight in Amsterdam on the way to 5 days in Copenhagen...

I haven't been idle these past few months. I spent 3 weeks bicycling in Germany this summer, but blogged about that at www.TheMadBrewer.com  Then I went to Seattle for a long weekend but somehow forgot to post about it.

Lots of new places have opened in Copenhagen since I was last there 3 1/2 years ago. Looking forward to it.

To see my todo list, check out www.BeerGuideCPH.com

A Visit to the Suburbs

It is always good to get out of the city center and away from the tourists and that goes for Dublin as well as it does for London or Bamberg.

I have a friend who lives south of Dublin and we agree to meet at the Dark Horse pub in Blackrock, which is on the coast.

This is another pub of the Galway Bay Brewery group (owners of the Black Sheep, Brew Dock, etc). This pub was a little different -- it had big screen TV's and sold Guinness and Heineken in addition to the Galway Bay beers and decent selection of craft beers.

I hadn't had the Full Sale IPA this trip, so I started with that while I waited.

There is a large main room and a smaller, cozier side room off to the right. There also is a small bottle shop ("Off License") attached.

Brew Dog and Sierra Nevada seem to have good coverage here, their beers seem to be in just about every pub I visit.

They had the Of Foam and Fury Double IPA on draft. I had had it on cask at Against the Grain and thought that would make a good comparison. I think I like the draft version better -- the CO2 gives it a bit more of a bite.

My friend Dave wanted to show me a pub in his town, Dalkey so we headed down to the DART station. This is the Dublin commuter rail line that basically runs along the coast. According to his trusty DART app we had some time so we ducked into a pub along the way that had a sign saying "Craft Beers"

The craft beers were all bottles and the bartender brought them all out to show. We went with a Golden Ale from the West Kerry Brewery. He said he had only two bottles left. The beer was good but a little oxidized. The bartender said they were selling well enough. Maybe they'll put in a tap of one.

Well, it turned out Dave forgot to refresh his app and so as we walked up to the station we could see our train leave. Oh well, there were some nice views of the Bay.

Finally another train came and before long we were in Dalkey and at the Magpie Inn.

It had a fairly modern interior and about a dozen decent beers on tap and a good bottle selection as well.  I started off with an 8 Degrees Howling Pale Ale.

They had the Metalman Yerba, a collaboration beer brewed with the Hard Knott brewery in Cumbria, England. It is made with yerba maté tea.

I quite liked about the first half of it, but the second half was hard for me to finish -- the tea flavor built up and for me overpowered everything else. If you like yerba maté then this might be a good thing.

Then I broke a rule. I try and drink only local (or "local-ish") beers but I was sitting directly in from of their Schlenkerla tap and I could smell the wonderful smokey aroma as they pour beers for other customers. So I broke down and had one.

It was delicious.

The others were leaving to have dinner at a local Indian restaurant, but I decided to head back to town, not trusting my still delicate digestive system to some spicy food.

As penance for my Schlenkerla transgression I forced myself to drink three Oyster Stouts at the Porterhouse Temple Bar.

Tomorrow is my last day in Dublin. No plans as yet except to visit a couple of old favorites I haven't been to yet. 

A Quiet Day in Dublin

Something I ate on Friday violently disagreed with my Friday night, so Saturday ended up being a slow day.

I had never been to the Porterhouse North, so I hopped a bus and was soon there. It is just north of the Royal Canal, in what looks like was once a auto mechanics or car dealer.

Inside was very much in the style of the other Porterhouses though it was a bit more open. It looked like it was more of a nightclub than a brewery tap, though. In addition to the Porterhouse beers they served a number of mass market beers (the big G among them) and the ads around were almost all pushing some sort of cocktail or mixed drink. But the Oyster Stout was the same.

Unless you happened to be staying in the area, I would stick to the two Porterhouses in the city center.  I wouldn't rate this worth the effort unless you just wanted to see some of Dublin on the bus.

That short effort wore me out a bit, so it was back to the hotel for a rest. Finally I headed out again, to L. Mulligan Grocer on Stoneybatter.

This is one of my favorite places in Dublin and the beer selection has increased since last year. Some of that I'm sure is due to their closing of W.J. Kavanaughs -- Mulligans now has 6 or 7 hand pumps -- and there seem to be more tap handles as well.

I started with a Trouble Brewing Fuzzy Logic Wheat Beer. Very refreshing.

It is an old pub (with a dining room in the back) with a low ceiling and very cozy.

Next up was Brú Brewing Dubh Stout. The beer menu said it was on cask and tap but the cask had run out so I went with the draft. A very nice Irish Dry Stout. I wished I had gone for a full pint rather than a "glass" (half pint).

Somewhere in there I had a nice pan fried haddock filet. The food at Mulligans has always been good and sometimes a slight bit off center. My mushy peas had a health dose of mint which was interesting. Last year it was wasabi mushy peas which was probably the first time I enjoyed mushy peas.

I noticed they had a Gose bier front the Brown Paper Bag Project. This is the brand formed by the owners of Mulligans. Currently (it is my understanding) that the beers are contract brewed but the acquisition of a physical brewery is in the works. I had tasted their first beer, Dr. Rudi in the bottle last year and it was quite nice.  So I was hopeful for the Gose.

It was definitely tart but not nearly as sour as the Gose I've had in Leipzig and at 5.8% it is stronger as well. Still, it was a very drinkable and enjoyable sour wheat beer.

It was getting late so I hopped a bus back to the hotel.

If you want the latest info on the pubs mentioned here, check out  www.DublinBeerGuide.com

More Drinking Beer in Dublin

First stop of the day was Against the Grain on Wexford St. This corner had been a bit of a jinx with pubs and restaurants going under on a regular basis. They seam to have broken it as they've been going strong for nearly four years now.

First beer up was  Rye Ale from a new brewery, N17. This is one I hadn't come across before so it was a surprise. The beer was very good, with just a hit of spiciness from the rye. I look forward to future beers from them.

The pub is larger inside than it appears from the outside. In the picture below there is another room off to the left plus seating upstairs.

Next up was an old favorite, the Dark Arts Porter from Trouble Brewing. As always, it didn't disappoint.

Against the Grain is owned by the Galway Bay Brewery group -- it was their first Dublin pub. They have recently released a Double IPA call of Foam and Fury. At 8.5% it is one of the stronger Irish Beers I've seen and such is served in a smaller glass. This one was on cask and was excellent.

It was time to move on, hopping a bus headed south, to a new place 57 The Headline. It is a bit off the beaten track but easily reached by bus from the city center.

The don't open until 3pm so I had a few minutes to kill...

They do have an amazing selection of beer, with quite a few I haven't had before. I started of with the Liberities Dublin Ale. The brewery opened in 2012 and it's current location is not far from 57 The Headline.

Next up was White Gypsy Ruby, their red ale. It was the second beer I've had from this brewery and I look forward to trying more.

Next up was a beer from Hilden, in Northern Ireland (so technically an import though still Irish), their Mill Street IPA. I nice hoppy aroma and good hops in the finish. The tap handle said 5% but it tasted stronger.

My final beer at 57 The Headline was brewed by Blacks Brewery. It is a double IPA brewed in honor of the Irish beer consumers group and is called Beoir #1 Wow is this a big beer. At 9% it is the strongest draft beer I've had from Ireland (I did once have a bottle of the Porterhouse Celebration Stout that was 10%).

After that, I need to move on or take a nap. There were a couple of inviting looking sofas but I figure that would be a bit rude and my snoring would disturb the other customers. So I moved on.

I probably should just have stayed. There was a major traffic accident and traffic was blocked. The bus sat for awhile and finally the driver said "you might as well walk, we aren't going anywhere."  So I did.

I ended up going by the Merchants Arch complex and they have a "Beer Hall" called Brewery Lane that I had never been to. It doesn't open until 4pm and I had never been by while they were open. They were, so I went in.

You go up a winding spiral staircase for about two stories and then you are in this huge hall with great views of the River Liffey.



They had a decent selection of craft beers (plus many industrial beers as well).



The above chalkboard was out of date because I had the Bru Brewery Lager. Probably not the best beer to have after a Double IPA but it is one I hadn't had before. I quite enjoyed it but I need to have it again when I am fresher.

 At this point I decide to call it a night and headed back to the hotel. I'll leave with a non beer picture, the lights of the River Liffey from the Ha'Penny Bridge.

First Full Day in Dublin

The "Festival" at the Porterhouse caused a change in plans. I have a beer friend in Dublin and he was interested in the festival as well so we agreed to meet at the Porterhouse around noon.

On the way there,  I passed by J.W. Sweetman, a brewpub that was formerly Messers Maguire. 

Towards the end of its life the beers were fairly bad, so I was hopeful that the new ownership would have improved things. Only way way to find out.

It turns out they have 7 beers on tap, 5 regular and 2 seasonals. I went for the full sampler...

The standard beers are a Golden Ale (they call it a Kölsch but it isn't), Weissbier, Red Ale, Porter and Pale Ale. The seasonals were an Old Ale and an Amber Ale brewed with Austrialian Galaxy hops.

All were well made and tasty. The "Kölsch" was much much better than I expected -- usually these type of brewpub beers are fairly plans. My overall favorite was the Porter but the Amber came a close second.

They have beer quotes on the wall, this one being one of my favorites.

There were a bunch attributed to Benjamin Franklin that are not from him, but I wasn't going to argue.

After my 7 tasters it was off to the Porterhouse. Dave wasn't there yet, so I had a pint of cask TSB. This is a beer they brewed initially for their London pub. At about 4% it is a great starter beer -- if you just hadn't rushed down 7 brewpub tasters.

They had quite a few beers for the festival. Glad I was going to have help.

By the time I finished the TSB, Dave arrived and we started in. First up was Mountain Man Green Bullet Ale (using a NZ hop of that name) and Trouble Brewing Deception.

I would expect a beer named Green Bullet to be a bit more aggressively hopped, but it was tasty. The Deception was also very good.

Next up was Trouble Brewing Sabotage, Metalman Chameleon Solstice and 8 Degrees Amber Ella

The Chameleon Solstice is a wheat beer brewed with ginger and was very interesting. Sabotage is Trouble Brewings IPA and was fairly hoppy (not by California standards, though). The Amber Ella is described as an American Amber Ale and that fits the bill pretty well. It was my favorite of the day, to this point.

The two Porterhouse entries were both stouts (go figure) a Chocolate Stout ant the Celebration Stout.

I am not usually a fan of chocolate in beers but this one worked. It had a huge bitter chocolate nose but the flavor was restrained (or hidden by the dark malts).  The Celebration Stout was first brewed for their 10th anniversary in 2006 and was originally 10%. This version was 7% but still good. It was the first time I'd had in on draft and one I would drink regularly if they had it regularly.

We decided to finish up with a bottle of Black's Black IPA. This is a new brewery for me and if this is any indication they will do well.

Dave wanted me to meet some of his friends who are going off to Bamberg next month, so we headed over to the Brew Dock, another Galway Bay Brewery pub.

Since I belong to Beoir, the Irish beer consumer's group, I have some tokens good for 50 cents off of Galway Bay beers. So I started off with their Stormy Port Porter. I like porters and this one is tasty.

I noticed they had Schlenkerla Weizen on tap -- that is one that I hadn't seen on tap before -- certainly not in Bamberg (though my Swedish friends promptly told me they had it at Akkurat last month) . I was tempted to try it but I am here for Irish beer so I passed. They also had Sierra Nevada Bigfoot on draft.

They had quite a good tap selection, and two hand pumps in addition.

One of the cask beers was White Gypsy Brunette, a beer I hadn't had before so I went with that.

It was good but I not sure it is the best candidate for a had pump. I would like to try a draft version of it to compare.

At this point jet lag started to kick in so I called it an early night.