This week I’ve been assaulted, not once, but twice with blasts from the past – packaged as cans of IPA! Most (some) of you know that I started in the beer business ten years ago when I signed up with Rye River. One of the landmark releases in my time was Miami J in 2018. It has returned annually with little tweaks to the recipe. This time around it features Prysma liquid hops from BarthHaas. The end result is super smooth and as juicy as advertised. I think I prefer it to last year’s but, as I will ask twice in this blog post; can you actually remember how something tasted a year ago? I now work for Fourcorners and am selling the Rye River small batch releases along with a host of other great Irish and international breweries. Just goes to show what a small world Irish craft beer is.
In 2021 I started working for Galway Bay Brewery. But they’d obviously been on my radar many years before that. Back in 2013 I started writing this blog. (I know I post less frequently now, but I’m not going to promise to change!) Coincidentally I was in Galway the night that Of Foam and Fury launched in the Salt House. I wrote a very enthusiastic review at the time! I also neglected to mention that I completely over did it on the night prompting an apologetic phone call the next day to a very understanding designated driver who wittily stated: ‘… first you had the foam and the fury came after!’ Galway Bay has changed the recipe for this beer over time to suit changing tastes. This year they’ve returned to the original recipe. I tried a few places to find it but it had either sold out or not landed in yet, thankfully the lads at the brewery organised a can (and a few others) for me. Sound for that! The beer certainly looked the part. Unfortunately the pictures didn’t translate over from my old wordpress site but you can look up pictures if you really want to check. It has all the classic hallmarks of an old skool double IPA – pithy, piney hops, and some lovely balancing sweetness from the malt. Does it taste the same as it did in 2013? I don’t know, but apparently lengths were gone to sourcing the same ingredients. This time I didn’t over do it, just savoured my single can. Older and maybe a little wiser. Let me know if you’ve tried either of these.
It’s a challenging time in the beer industry but I’m still enjoying it and looking forward to seeing what the future holds. Sláinte!
