The day started out badly. Trust me. But don’t worry about that, it got steadily better. Until the very end. I was kindly invited by Padraig Fox to attend Meatopia in the Open Gate Brewery. Vegans and vegetarians should probably stop reading now…
Malcolm Lee was being interviewed on stage when we arrived and he spoke about his food and the food scene in Singapore. His was the first stall that you met and his pork shoulder skewers were delicious. The lovely Singaporean Tea Pilsner helped offset some of the heat from the spices.
Next we tried Kwame Onwuachi’s very tasty short rib and lamb.
My wife really enjoyed Anna Haugh’s Chicken Boudain.
Inside we tried the Grilled Pineapple which wasn’t part of the Meatopia event but came highly recommended by Caoimhe O’Brien. Great shout Caoimhe.
I also rather liked the Maritime Stout which contained molluscs apparently! All told, a very good afternoon was had, cheers to the Open Gate crew for looking after us.
Most normal people think one festival a day is plenty. But sure look…next stop The Harbour Bar in Bray for the second day of the Harbour Brewha! O Brother’s Bale Out tasted great on the warm summers evening that was in it.
I was glad to get to try Larkin’s draught only Amber Lager; The Drayman Cometh! This is a pretty rare style here but I like it for a change.
For the second weekend on the trot I found myself drinking Wicklow beers, this time I opted for their Black 16 Stout. Maybe someday this one will make it into bottles.
Quincey from Wicklow Wolf was giving me major shirt envy! There was almost as many hops on the shirt as there were in their new IPA; Matty Baby, which was brewed with their friends from Belfast’s Boundary. He noted that despite it being 7.5% I made pretty quick work of it.
Fair play to Mark ‘Antrim Man’ Molloy and The Harbour Bar yet again for a small but craicing local event.
On a slightly bigger scale we then went to the Iveagh Gardens as my better half wanted to have a little shimmy to Jenny Greene. And I had a flat white.
A quick visit to Underdog then for a night cap…Northern Monk’s Even More Death seemed appropriate being a bit like boozy melted dark chocolate. And then back to retrieve our car…where an over enthusiastic security guard told us we were ‘trespassing’. Misunderstanding sorted, we headed home, no, I wasn’t driving! Hopefully I’ll see some of you this weekend in Moate. Sláinte!
