Monday, July 28, 2008

A winning combination

I rarely get the opportunity to avail of an after work pint owing to my use of a fossil fuelled Ford Fiesta to travel to work, but sometimes I brave the shabby bus service in North Dublin and leave the car at home. This always seem like a terrible idea while I walk grumpily to the bus stop, but the day takes a decided up swing when I sit down with a pint of something tasty after I am liberated from work. I took my most recent after work pint yesterday in Messrs Maguire pub on the quays of the river Liffey where I settled in with a superb pint of Extra, a full on stout that shames Guinness or any other of the commercial stouts on the Irish market. Paired with this pint I had a P.G Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster caper in one of those wonderful early orange and white Penguin editions. I can't really ask for much more than this to make me happy when I am whiling away a lazy evening. Messrs Maguire serve two other stouts on rotation so it's always worth dropping by to see which is on. Plain is another of their offerings which is lighter than Extra but still knocks the socks off most other stouts. If you're really lucky their Imperial might turn up and this one is worth travelling for. I spoke with the brewer about it and he explained that he had the old style stout in mind which he surmised was smoky due to the manner in which the malt was kilned back then. Whether he managed to recreate the flavour of these old stouts I know not, but it's a real treat when it turns up.

2 comments:

The Beer Nut said...

Don't you just love the way it's impossible to take a photo in Messrs Maguire without getting a Coors Light beermat in shot?

There shall be cask MM Imperial at Earl's Court next week. I pray to Ninkasi that there'll be some left by the time you get there.

Thomas said...

I took a second photo after that one without beermat but posted the wrong pic.

If MM Imperial is in London next week that means there is some in this country. Right now. It's only a matter of time before a keg creeps its way to Dublin.