PUBlin, Ireland

I took a rather quick trip to Ireland with my wife, Ashlee, and besides a whole lot of Guinness (16 pints if I counted right) I found some pretty good less known Irish beers and microbrews along the way.

The first came while still in the U.S. at the Newark Airport as we awaited our flight to Dublin. I had a Brooklyn IPA 20 oz. draught that was excellent. Brooklyn's a strong contender in the U.S. microbrew market and I have been pleased with their product in the past and they did not disappoint with their IPA.

Of course, no trip to Dublin is complete without a visit to the amazing Guinness Brewery. The story of the Guinness empire is great, the tour was great and the beer is great (sorry, I didn't taste a real difference between a pint in Ireland vs. a pint in the U.S. although it may be a just a hint more watery here, but that may not have anything to do with the brewing process). I highly recommend a visit and a tour and will probably do it again if I get a chance because jet lag kicked in during our tour and I do feel I missed a few things because the place is enormous. It was also cool to visit the brewery during their 250th Anniversary...not that they are making a big deal of it or anything (ha ha).

Also while in Dublin we had a great pub crawl thanks to a little research on the internet by yours truly before our trip. Our first stop was The Bull & Castle - a pub, German-style beer hall and restaurant all rolled into one. They specialize in microbrews including several Irish brands. I started with the Galway Hooker IPA draught. It was extremely good with great body and finish, but not chock full of hops as I was hoping. Although it's named after the famous Irish fishing boats of the port city of Galway, it's always fun to order up "a hooker."

Next I ordered a small O'Hara's Stout draught. This dark and yummy concoction is heavier than Guinness and with less carbonation. It is made my Carlow Brewing and their motto is that O"hara's is the way beer "used to taste in Ireland" - an obvious dig at the worldwide monster that is Guinness.

We moved on to The Brazen Head Pub, one of Dublin's oldest pubs (Est. 1198). A very cool, charming place. Here I ordered a Macardle Ale draught. It was dark red and good to the last drop. Macardle's was an original Irish brewery that I have since discovered was closed in 2001. It was swallowed up by the Guinness empire in the 60's and is still produced by them I suppose.

Next stop, The Porterhouse. This place has no history to speak of. It's a fairly new microbrewery chain actually. However, they are producing some tremendous beer. I started with their Hop Head Ale draught. It was very hoppy as the name promised and I loved it. I deemed it best of the trip up to this point. Next up was the high-alcohol brew, Brain Blasta (photo above). It had a good taste, but my memory seems a little foggy after drinking it.

We finished our crawl at Messrs. Maguire, an excellent three-story pub overlooking the River Liffey. They also brew their own beer and I started with the Rusty Ale draught, their version of a red Irish ale. I had recovered enough from the Brain Blasta to recall that this was a good tasting beer, but nothing to go on and on about. I finished with their Bock which was also had a good taste and body.

During a day trip to the famous Blarney Castle we stopped in the village of Bunratty and I was able to try Kilkenny Smooth Ale (photo below) at the original Durty Nelly's Pub. This was a very rich orange in color ale that I enjoyed very much and would currently rank a close second in my "Best of Ireland" ranking.

On our last full day in Ireland, we went back to The Bull & Castle not only for the beer, but because it was where we had our best meal of the trip as well. I switched to some of their bottled brews on this visit and started with the Chotworthy Dobbin, a dark, bitter from Whitewater Brewing. It was OK and there was plenty of it since it came in a true pint bottle. I turned next to Belfast Ale also from Whitewater Brewing. I enjoyed this dark ale more than the Dobbin and again it came in a huge pint bottle.

My first trip to Dublin was everything I was hoping for in terms of being a tourist and a beer drinker. I hope to return someday and continue being both again.

FOOTNOTE: Back in Nashville: I had an Amarillo Pale Ale draught from Yazoo at La Paz Mexican Restaurant. It was served with a lime. It had a beautiful copper color and good clean taste that complimented the south of the border fare just right.

Southern Brewers Festival

I made it down to the 15th Annual Southern Brewers Festival in Chattanooga this past weekend with my wife, Ashlee, and my brother-in-law, Andy, a budding beer snob. This event has really grown from the small gathering of just a few brewers setting up on the corner of the host, Big River Brewing and Restaurant, located downtown. It was so small when it started out in fact that they would run out of beer within a couple of hours of starting. But, with steady growth each year it has become what it is today, a large and anticipated downtown event held on the river at Ross' Landing with at least a couple dozen brewers from mostly around the south as the name of the festival would imply, but even some of the bigger boys from across the U.S. like Sierra Nevada and Yuengling.

They added a few "new to me" brewers this year while a couple of others I was hoping would be there were sadly missing for some reason or another - Good People Brewing from nearby Huntsville who were announced in earlier festival promotion as gong to be there this year was not to be seen, nor was Duck-Rabbit Brewing out of North Carolina who I discovered at this very same festival a few years ago.

Tickets to the event are $15 and all those proceeds go to the local "Kids on the Block" campaign and includes a commemorative plastic mug to sample beer in and one free token to use to buy one said beer. You can purchase more beer tokens for $3 each and they in turn each get you a generous 10-ounce pour of any craft beer available. Most of the microbreweries bring two or three of their offerings of various styles. There is no chance of beer running out too early nowadays as tractor-trailer loads of kegs stand nearby at the ready. The event lasts all day and into the night with a musical stage for various local bands and even the preliminary round of the World Krystal Hamburger Eating Contest being held during the festival...the winner ate 4 big Angus burgers and 42 of the little ones...wow!

A lot of the usual suspects were there representing great Southern microbrewing - Sweetwater out of Atlanta, Terrapin out of Athens, GA; Starr Hill from Virginia; Foothills from Winston-Salem, NC; Highland from Asheville, NC; and Abita out of Louisiana. A few of the "new to me" brewers that I tried included:

Moon River Brewing out of Savannah, GA - I tried their Slow Vannah Pale Ale and it was very good. Crisp and smooth.

Seven Bridges Brewing out of Jacksonville, FL - I tried their Sweet Magnolia American Brown Ale. Ashlee, Andy and I all gave this one the unanimous festival grand prize in our opinions. Great brown ale taste with a smooth finish and aftertaste. It's the only one I went back for seconds on.

Bold City Brewing out of Jacksonville, FL - I had to try their Mad Manatee IPA of course. It was decent, but nothing to blow your socks off. I also tried their Duke's Cold Nose Brown Ale. It was nice, but just didn't compare to the Seven Bridges product. It was good to see Jacksonville having some competing brewers coming out of that area.

A1A Brewing out of St. Augustine, FL - Their Red Rocket Ale was my first purchase of the day (because they were the first booth I came to) and it was a great starter. Nice, crisp Irish-style ale. Perfect for a warm summer's day on the river.

I ended the day with some Sweetwater 420s (in bottles) at the Blue Plate Restaurant adjacent to the festival as we met some friends for dinner, good conversation and a lot of laughs late into the night.

MO fun, MO beer in St. Louis MO

A recent trip to the fine city of St. Louis, MO gives me the opportunity to write another guest blog for my favorite beer blog. Some plans for Memphis were thwarted so on a whim we opted for a first time ever trip to St. Louis. A fine decision it was as we found St. Louis to be a great town.


We arrived AM Staurdayafter spending the night about an hour and a half short of our goal form getting out of town Friday evening from Paris, Tn. Straight to the Arch to get tickets which turned out to be for 1:30 PM so we had some time to kill. A couple of times around the Gateway grounds and "Expansion Memorial" museum still left us short of lunch time so, thanks to some help from a great employee at the Arch, we found Morgan Street Brewery for lunch and a brew.

Boasting 13 regular brews, and five always on tap, I was unfortunate enough to time my visit when there were no Stouts on tap so I opted for the modestly named "Red Lager." Given that they had an "Irish Stout" that they claimed was their version of Guinness Stout, I figured i'd end up with their version of Bass Ale and I wasn' far off.

When I ordered my beer it was five o'clock somewhere, but only about 11:20 AM Central time and since I had the family with me and a great deal of sight-seeing (prefereably sober) to do, I went with the pint rather than the 22 oz size. Not a bad beer at all and I would be perfectly satisfied if I had brewed it up my self, home brew style. I do intend to try that sometime soon. The picture makes it appear darker that it was and in reality it was a tad darker than a Bass and truely red. Their menu said "Similar to a Vienna style lager, our Red is the perfect compliment to a hearty meal. Full body, smooth malt flavor, and subdued hoppiness makes this beer very drinkable." I found it to be less malty (thankfully) and a bit too full bodied. It lacked a definite flavor. A bit smokey, a bit malty, a tiny bit bitter and almost no aftertaste (if I understand that term correctly). Now I am sure that if it were after dark, a live band was playing some smooth blues, and I was surrounded by a group of friends for some good conversation I would be able to drink enough of it to become the conversation, but as it was, one was enough. I finished my beer and on the next trip by, the waitress said that they had just tapped a keg of their Irish.... *sigh* Story of my life. LOL Next time I go, I try the Oatmeal Stout for sure! I love meesa Oatmeal Stout!

Writers note: read about our trip to St. Louis soon on www.molehillgardens.blogspot.com

Did Romeo Drink Beer?

The Great Carnac holds the sealed envelope to his head and ponders about what's inside. After a few second he flatly says, "Mount Juliet."

He tears open one end of the envelope, blows it open and extracts a slip of paper with a question typed neatly on it. He reads the question silently, smirks and then reads it aloud.

"What did Romeo do on his wedding night."

The audience erupts in laughter.

Does anyone else miss Johnny Carson like I do? Besides that, does anyone know why the little town in western Wilson County is called Mt. Juliet because there sure ain't no mountain anywhere near it and it's a long way from "fair Verona" where Romeo and Juliet did their dirty deeds?

I guess it really isn't important, but what is important to note is that Mt. Juliet (and Wilson County) now have a HUGE new beer store called the Mount Juliet Beer Company!! And I mean a real beer store dedicated only to real beer...ok, they do have domestics, but they are in the minority in terms of inventory and I guess a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do to scratch out a living among the uneducated masses, right?

The vast selection includes the option to do variety six-packs from their wares as well. And those selections come from most of what they offer, and not just old beers that have sat around for months and not sold -- like at another giant beer store I USED to frequent in Nashville.

I have been tardy in posting this entry since the Mount Juliet Beer Company opened, and in the meantime have made two different "shopping sprees" there. Here's a quick run-down of what I have gotten there so far.

My first variety six-pack included:

1. Dundee Pale Bock - very good German brew, light in color - made in Rochester, NY
2. Dundee Honey Brown Lager - not bad for a lager. The honey infusion certainly helps.
3. Sweaty Betty Blonde - a wheat beer with good flavor. Love the name. Another great product from one of my favorite craft brewers, Boulder Brewing in Colorado.
4. Hop Project from Yazoo here in Nashville. I have had this before and love its hoppiness so.
5. Harpoon Summer Beer - it was a kolsch that tasted like Budweiser to me. Not impressive even though this Boston-based brewery produces one of my favorite bottled IPAs.
6. Victory Sunrise Weissbeir - an extremely wheaty unfiltered beer that was a little overpowering to me in terms of wheat taste, but not an awful choice for a hot summer day. Victory's out of Pennsylvania near Philly and have just started entering the market here with a wide variety of interesting brews.

I also bought an individual 6 pack of Karma Ale from Avery Brewing in Colorado which was very enjoyable. Avery produces a great bottled IPA and this lighter ale was extremely smooth.

A couple of weeks later my next variety six-pack included:

1. Victory Prima Pils - a hoppy pilsner? very unique and definitely an A for effort. The taste was of decent hoppiness but the aroma was still pure pilsner.

2. BBC American Pale Ale - decent pale ale from our neighbors to the north in Louisville (Bluegrass Brewing). I may have had this. before.

3. BBC Amber Ale - nice, and a bit smoother than the pale ale

4. Dogfish Head - Festina Peche' - peach-flavored malt beverage...completely gross...terrible...had to pour it out. Enough said. These craft beer pioneers from Delaware ought to be ashamed of this product. Yuck.

5. New Belgium Skinny Dip - This craft brewery juggarnaut's new summer beer was pretty good especially ice cold.

6. Stone Pale Ale - perfect and smooth. The boys at Stone just keep on keeping on out their in northern San Diego. By far my favorite craft brewers who are putting their product in bottles.

Again, I also got an individual 6 pack of Pass Time Pale Ale from the great folks at Boulder Brewing. A great summer ale that I have enjoyed one of every evening over the past week.

The owner of the Mount Juliet Beer Company - who's name has slipped from me - also promised a future of kegged beer to be available to fill growlers with like the my favorite beer store down in Chattanooga. Oh, what a happy day that will be here in Wilson County! Definitely worth the climb up fair Juliet!