WARM WATER FREAKS

an occasional beer blog

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #371: Galway Bay Brewery & Begyle Brewing Goodbye Blue Monday Oatmeal IPA

Abv: 6.6%

Served; From the fridge

Aroma: Actual porridge, pine, tropical fruit

Pour: Cloudy amber with a finger of white froth

Taste: Grapefruit hop kick with creamy oats after. Lots of pine notes, some light biscuity malt in there too and a lovely bite to finish. Pine on the aftertaste. Lovely stuff!

Notes: 440ml can, barley, oats, yeast.

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #370: Independent Connemara Black IPA

Abv: 6%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Coffee, malt, toffee

Pour: Cola black with frothy tan head bubbling down

Taste: Roast malted wash with shades of chocolate and caramel. Light coffee notes abound underneath and then some sweetness before the hop bite. A good black IPA that leans towards the stout end of things more than the hops. Coffee aftertaste is nice.

Notes: 500ml bottle

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #369: Kinnegar Special Swingletree Farmhouse Saison

Abv: 7%

Served : From the fridge

Aroma: Bread, herb, hint of apple and spice

Pour: Hazy gold with frothy white head

Taste: Yeasty wash with overtures of lime and clove spice. A slight citrus bite at the finish with pepper notes and predominantly sage on the aftertaste. This is a lovely, aromatic and very drinkable saison given the ABV.

Notes: 500ml bottle

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #368: James Brown Brews Semantic Pale Ale

Abv: 4.5%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Caramel, malt, pine

Pour: Cloudy dark amber with beige froth reducing to a skim

Taste: Biscuit wash with slight spice and then some lemon and pine notes. Nice medium bitter finish with decent balance and bite. This is a perfectly respectable IPA.

Notes: 500ml bottle, hops - Cascade/Chinook

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #367: Black Donkey Brewing Dubbel Saison (Argina Series 2016)

Abv: 8.3%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Toffee pudding, hint of cinnamon, malt

Pour: Opaque ruddy brown with tan froth bubbling down to a finger

Taste: Sweet malts with slight nutty fruitiness, raisins, toffee and caramel in the wash. Lovely hint of spice at the finish and a light, dry bite. Not an overly complex brew with medium carbonation but a solid heart warmer for chilly winter months

Notes: 500ml bottle

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #366: 8° Brewing Enigma Single Hop IPA

Abv: 5.7%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Grapefruit, citrus, hint of cedar

Pour: Hazy amber with creamy beige froth

Taste: Zesty wash with grapefruit and pine kicks, lots of little fuzzy hints of berries, watermelon and cedar. A nice dry bite at the finish. Tashty shtuff.

Notes: 330ml bottle, limited edition.

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #365: Brewers and Union Unfiltered Helles Lager

Abv: 5%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Grass, slight salt. hay

Pour: Hazy pale gold with white froth bubbling down

Taste: Wheat and cereal creaminess with a light bitterness and bite. Hints of sweet malt, lemon and yeast. A really nice and crisp beer, lovely.

Notes: 330ml can

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #364: Jack Cody’s Curly Hole Samhain Ale

Abv: 4.5%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Straw, nuts, malt, faint cherry

Pour: Clear light brown with a finger of off white froth

Taste: Light smoky malts with nutty fruits in the background. There’s a hint of cherry in the finish with a crisp bite but no apricots anywhere. A decent little brew if a little middling flavourwise.

Notes: 500ml bottle, sour cherries, apricots, brown ale, seasonal brew

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #363: Dungarvan Brewing Co. In The Pink Hibiscus IPA

Abv: 5.8%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Light toffee, floral notes, tea

Pour: Dark tea brown with a hint of rose and off white finger of froth

Taste: Some caramel malt upfront before a wash of floral sweetness from the hibiscus and then a bitter hop bite to end on. Lots of pine and lemony tartness with a medium dry kick. This is a good variant IPA, nice balance on the malt and hops with subtle notes of tropics with citrusy afters.

Notes: 500ml bottle, malts - Pale/Munich, hops - Chinook/Cascade/Columbus/Amarillo/Simcoe, hibiscus.

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #362: 8° Brewing Cumulus Lupulus Cloudy IPA

Abv: 7.2%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Pine, mandarin, faint porridge

Pour: Cloudy amber with bubbling white froth reducing to skim

Taste: Big citrus kick with an underlying tropical sweetness, subtle fruit and honey notes, some pineapple and then a lovely dry pine cone bite of hops. Aftertaste is sweet and cedar. Top notch brew.

Notes: 330ml bottle, hops - Citra/Mosaic/Amarillo/Mandarina/Bavaria

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #361: 8° Brewing Berliner Weisse

Abv: 3.1%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Natural yoghurt, tart fruit

Pour: Pink tinged pale orange with no head

Taste: Very faint sweetness from the currants but an almost immediate tsunami of tart bitter rhubarb that doesn’t stop until you hit the dry smack of the final bite. A lovely sour rasp with aftertaste of sherbet. A good example of a Berliner Weisse, I love the sours but a little more sweetness up front wouldn’t go astray.

Notes: 330ml bottle, grain base - 50% wheat / 50% malted barley, red currant, rhubarb.

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #360: Arthurstown Brewing Co. Hook Grapefruit Pale Ale

Abv: 4.7%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Grapefruit, watermelon

Pour: Opaque amber with a finger of white foam

Taste: Light toffee malt to begin with but swiftly put to bed by the grapefruit wash. Lovely tropical notes floating around with the tart citrusy grapefruit. Ends on a medium dry bite. Some sweetness in the aftertaste. Not the best beer they’ve done but not bad either.

Notes: 500ml bottle

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #359: 8° Brewing Monsoon Mango & Lime IPA

Abv: 5.7%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Mango, grapefruit

Pour: Clear amber with off white, one finger head

Taste: Big fruity hit which is washed away in that “zing” bang of lime and citrus. Wowee, some sour savage bite to it. This is a very tart IPA with lovely tropical fruit notes hiding in the background. The aftertaste is all lime!

Notes: 330ml bottle, hops - Mosaic, Enigma.

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #358: Brewdog Nine to Five Wizard India Pale Wiezen

Abv: 7.5%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Straw

Pour: Clouded dark amber with cream froth reducing

Taste: Weird creamy wheat with a heap of spicy grass and bitter hop bite. Some mild floral notes with that high alcohol cut. Interesting. I wouldn’t call it entirely pleasant. What I usually like about wheat beers is the citrusy bread flavour but here it’s more akin to a saison with the amount of peppery spice on the palate and the cut from the ABV is dampening any of that soft breadiness from the wheat. Cool can art though.

Notes: 330ml can

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #357: Wicklow Wolf Brewing Co. Summersalt Blackcurrant Gose

Abv: 4.9%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Salt, straw, summer fruits

Pour: Rose tinged amber with bubbling down pinky white froth

Taste: Holy feck there’s some whack of salty fruit, a bit weird, lots of grass and straw immediately after it and a very light heat from the coriander. Ends on a mildly sweet tartness with aftertaste of faint blackcurrant.

Notes: 330ml can, blackcurrants, sea salt, ground coriander seeds

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #356: Metalman Brewing Co. Obliquity Saison Lager

Abv: 6.1%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Spice, grass, lemon

Pour: Hazy yellow with frothy white head

Taste: First wash is doughy bread with some herbal notes underneath. There’s a very light spice that appears then before the final citrus dry bite. A lovely hazy sup, they’ve created something unique here and they know it.

Notes: 330ml can, European hops, German lager yeast, Belgian saison yeast, Pale malt.

[warmwaterfreak]

Brew #355: O’Hara’s Stormburst IPA

Abv: 5%

Served: From the fridge

Aroma: Weed, honeycomb, mango

Pour: Cloudy gold with reducing white froth

Taste: Straw and grass upfront with some light malt underneath. Very little of the advertised fruit, some citrus and mango notes before a medium bitter bite at the finish. This is an ok beer, decent enough but it’s not displaying anything that’s talked about on the bottle blurb. So on that level, it’s disappointing.

Notes: 500ml bottle