#264: By Degrees

A few weeks ago, Dave and Ronan from the Bierhaus organised a trip to the Eight Degrees brewery in Mitchelstown. The first trip to Black's in November was a success (though notes were regrettably not taken - in my defence, Black IPA was flowing freely, as well as immature Model T), and given the way in which the Aussie/Kiwi operation is churning out top-notch hop fodder of late, this trip was highly anticipated.

The keg positively trembled when it saw us coming

We arrived not long after midday, and after being greeted by Scott we made our way directly to a neat little bar with a keg of Hurricane, which was all ours to abuse for the day. It was delicious as always, being quite round and fulfilling underneath its sharp citrus fruit attack. After filling our glasses we began to wander. Closest to us at the time was an open-top freezer full of hops that I think I heard Scott say contained €20,000 worth of lupuline goodness. I mean really. I was perfectly happy to stay by the Hurricane but to keep up appearances I guess we had to do the whole tour thing.

What surprised me for a brewery turning out a handful of core beers as well as a smattering of limited releases was just how small the system is. Yes, it's a craft brewery and all that, but I was expecting more than a two-vessel system. At the moment it turns out about 15 hectolitres, which will be upped to a five-vessel 60 hectolitre system with the new brewkit the guys sourced in Mauritius. 80% of the sales are made up by Howling Gale Ale and Barefoot Bohemian, so as you can imagine it's a pretty busy brewing schedule to keep up demand and have the other cores and specials on the go too. 

Sneaking some Full Irish from the FV

What they may lack in brewing capacity at the moment, Eight Degrees make up for with a rake of fermenters. There was plenty on the go, and we were treated to a sneaky taste of The Full Irish, around 1 week before it was 'ready'. Lemon and lime and low carbonation made it quite pleasant actually, but it was no Hurricane on the day. Another sneaky pull was had of Knockmealdown Stout, which I feel fared better in its youth than the Full Irish.

We crossed the industrial estate then to a newer, bigger warehouse, which was to be the new home for the brewkit arriving slowly from Mauritius. Said brewkit is a Kaspar Schulz system; German made (obviously) and apparently the system of choice for esteemed brewers like Sierra Nevada and Firestone Walker. There wasn't a lot to see in this new space, aside from some massive horizontal vessels that I'll leave the brewing men and women out there to geek out over. 

After a little look around and some Q&A it was back to the original warehouse, which has been home to Eight Degrees for its four years of operation, to indulge in a couple more glasses of Hurricane while we wound down the visit chatting with Scott. It was then that the Aussie pointed to the labels of all his beers by the bottling station and fondly recalled being shown an Untappd checklist by a guy who'd had all but one of the beers. Not to be outdone by another nerd, I pointed out with mock-modesty that I'd had them all at least once. So there, guy I don't know. More Hurricane and a luminous green t-shirt later and the bus had arrived to bring us back the Bierhaus.

Thanks so much to Scott for giving us the tour and to the Bierhaus for putting it together. We'll have to be back when the new system is up and running.

But wait, there's more!

It was also around this time that I had the latest Eight Degrees special, Enigma. They had originally thought that they'd been the first to brew with this hop in the Northern Hemisphere, but they may have been pipped to it by a week (Kernel in London may have been first). The hop in question is, yes, Enigma, and it's an Australian descendant of the Swiss Tettnang. I had some of the beer on tap and in the bottle, with these notes in particular coming from the bottle, for what it's worth. 

Pouring a pale, hazy yellow, the aromatic effect is leafy and herbal with plenty of citrus zest and lemongrass on show. It's quite different to the previous two specials and certainly intriguing. A full and wheaty body - typical of the brewer - gives more green, crunchy herbal-ness with even more citrus fruit, again predominantly lemon, but with a lick of sweet candied fruit. The bitterness is all the middle and there's a suggestion of spice too, but with none of the tongue-tingling afters of the Full Irish or Gasman. I didn't really know what to make of the hop profile; its not quite the bitter, citrus fruit bomb you'd expect, even though most of the fruit expression I perceived actually was citrus. Some honeydew melon sweetness made a show too, and the whole thing is more candied than it is pith and peel brashness. 

Whatever the case, it's a gorgeous beer, the third gorgeous special release they've done this year. 

In essence, an industrial estate outside Mitchelstown is a dreadfully boring place to be, but when the brewery housed therein is doing such compelling stuff, the trip is well worth it. I thank again those involved and leave you with a photo roll of the visit.

Inspecting the hops

Scott with the two vessel system

The Hall of Fermenters

Some of the new Mauritius kit

Some more of the new kit 

Cheers

#239: Dogged

Four Corners recently had Jonny from Brewdog doing tasting sessions of new (at the time unreleased, apparently) Brewdog beers in both Bradley's and Bierhaus. I meant to attend both, but only made it to the Bierhaus. Here's how it went down.

On arrival, the guest Brewdog draught beers were revealed to be Dead Pony Club, Jackhammer (which was deliciously juicy) and spanking new Magic Stone Dog, billed as a saison-IPA hybrid and hopped with citra and amarillo.

Magic Stone Dog (a collaboration with Magic Rock and Stone, duh) smells ever so slightly sour in an acidic, citrusy sort of way. There's lemongrass and coriander from the off and as it warms it starts to produce more fruity, herbal notes, as well as some background bubblegum sweetness. For this nose, there's not much to suggest any IPA hybridization. The same can be said about the taste; there's more sharp sourness than you'd expect from a saison, but nothing wobbly. Wheaty and biscuity at its core, with lingering white pepper spiciness. The citra and amarillo seem unwilling to participate, but the beer is better off for it, leaving us with a ridiculously drinkable and refreshing beer. Definitely one to try.

While I had plenty of this beer and Jackhammer, I also strayed from the headliners, indulging first in some Cutthroat Porter from Odell. Just a half of this smoky sweet beauty was enough to convince me that I should have opted for the pint - especially at €5.30. It's silky milk chocoloate throughout with slightly rubbery, smoky stuff hiding here and there, and all delivered on a body reminiscent of Founders Porter. Lovely stuff.

Since having Stonewell on cask at last year's Easterfest, I've vowed never to pass up cask cider again. This time it was Tempted's Summer Sweet, and it was incredibly delicious. Sweet, vinous, slightly tart and eminently drinkable. The other non-Brewdog beer I indulged was the magnificent Hurricane. This year's version seems altogether more delicious than the initial bottled release here, showing trucks of pine needle, grapefruit pith and lime peel on a candied pineapple and biscuity sweet backbone. A perfect go-to IPA.

Since the other new Brewdog beers were only available in bottled form I picked them up the next day in Bradley's.

Another collaboration is U-Boat (above), this time with Victory Brewing, makers of the godlike Storm King. I like my porters drinkable but robust, so an ABV of 8.4% raised my eyebrow a bit; many brewers would be happy to slap the word 'imperial' onto the label with a number like that. Unsurprisingly it pours very dark with a nice tan head that fizzles away before long. The aroma is intense chocolate and dark fruits, while the smoke is a sting rather than a pungent burst. On first sipping the beer you get a coating, oily wash packed with salted caramel, chocolate, raisiny sweetness and, again, just a tickle of woodsmoke. Carbonation is very light, which only adds to the slick, stickiness of the beer. Nice as it was at first, finishing the bottle was a bit more work than I'd like; that texture coupled with a predominant sweetness does no favours for the beer's drinkability.

From there, we get to the 2014 edition of Mashtag; a beer cobbled together with ideas and suggestions from the online public; the style, hops and special ingredients were decided in this way, which is a great idea. The resulting beer is an imperial red ale with 'global hops', citrus zest and blood orange. Bring it on. The aroma is a beautiful punchy, juicy, bitter and fruity treat, with discernible blood orange, citrus peel and grapefruit atop thick slabs of toffee chocolate. The palate is gorgeous, opening first with chocolate orange peel and pithy bitterness, building to a hefty caramel and marmalade finish. A much more layered and enjoyable experience than the U-Boat, and well worth trying.

Hats off to Jonny, Four Corners and the Bierhaus, as well as the ever-reliable Bradley's for doing the event (s). Always nice to leave a pub with free swag.
If you see a man wearing a Brewdog hat and t-shirt around Cork, tell him to get a grip.

#169: The North Cork North South Hop-Off

As Irish readers will have no doubt heard, 8 Degrees have brewed up two IPAs that they've then hopped with northern and southern hemisphere hops respectively. Cyclone is the southern version, while Hurricane is representing us northern hemispherians. Both pour a hazy shade either side of amber, with Cyclone more yellow in comparison to Hurricane's darker orange. 

On the nose, Cyclone exhibits plenty of tropical(ish) fruit, with mango, passion fruit and even hints of your average hardy strawberry coming through. In the background, there's plenty of candy or bubblegum sweetness to back this up. On the palate there's a more pronounced sweetness with just a tingling of the fruity bitterness from the aroma, although it does introduce pineapple and spice to proceedings adding another layer to the complexity. The afters are all of tropical fruit and biscuity grain, and I have to say that it's delicious. 

Hurricane has an aroma of citrus fruit pulp and peel, with Citra weighing in with it's pine needle notes and the rest made up of juicy blood orange and pungent grapefruit. As time goes on, the candied fruit sweetness of the malt becomes more prominent, as does a tropical fruit bouquet similar to Cyclone. Upon tasting, you are again met with a nice balance, with a more profound fruity and herbal bitterness to the fore and smoother, warmer caramel notes at the back. 

Both of these beers are very enjoyable, and I'd certainly have either again. My pick of the two is Hurricane, though, and it's not just because I'm rooting for the home team. Apart from being slightly more delicious than the Cyclone, I think it does a better job in exhibiting the hops of the hemisphere, whereas the Cyclone (while tasty) lacks a bit of punch.

Either way, great stuff, and well worth picking up the two for a side-by-side.