The festival that nearly didn’t happen happened and I’m glad to report that it happened to be pretty darn good too. There were some issues with the licence for White Hag’s tenth birthday bash which meant a bit of a slimmed down line up of international breweries and a few more of the domestic guys who we all know and love. Fair play to Bree’s in Strandhill for saving the day. I kicked off the session with Weldwerks Juicy Bits, having enjoyed a few of their cans lately. It delivered exactly what it said on the proverbial tin.
I was delighted to see Brickyard return to Ballymote with a few White Hag collaboration brews. Erwin recommended the Hag & Haand, a barrel aged Brett Apricot Pale Ale. It tasted like some of those boiled sweets you could buy by the quarter, but I couldn’t quite decide which, maybe pear drops crossed with rhubarb and custard. There just happened to be a Black Lager from Two Sides pouring too. So I had to get one of those. Lovely malty drop, try it if you are in Dundrum over the next while.
When The Seagulls Follow The Trawler is a typically great name for a Boundary beer. The Belfast boys nailed this west coast ipa. Hopstravaganza 10 was White Hag’s celebratory brew, a relatively sessionable 5.8% Hazy IPA. Relative to the bigger boys of the last few years that is.
I also enjoyed Lineman’s Electromode Pale Ale. Mark, as always executing the style very well. Sierra Nevada’s Rose Window was a big Belgian style Strong Pale Ale at 9.8%. I was talking to Steve Grossman of Sierra Nevada about cheese as we waited for the train to Sligo, and I reckon this would’ve been nice with a cheeseboard. I had some pizza and a very nice chicken roll over the course of the afternoon and the food worked a lot better than last year. The atmosphere was great and I had fun catching up with some folks I hadn’t seen in a while. Well done to the White Hag crew for putting on a very good show.
Myself and Kev Third Barrel hit the Swagman early for a couple of Bitburgers. And I finished the night with a complete unnecessary Snuble Juice in Brees where a band was performing Nirvana and Foo Fighters covers. It was a fitting end to a brilliant day. Sláinte!
