I don't get out to the pub nearly enough. I read with envy other bloggers who frequent their local, especially if their local stocks and understands good beer. Most of this envy is directed at UK bloggers who have an abundance of great pubs to patronise, but here in Dublin there is but a handful worth visiting and all of that handful are a long bus trip from my house. Last week I visited the Bull and Castle for some long over due Irish craft beer but while their managed to take in some American beer and some not so Irish, Irish beer. The American beer was Sam Adams Double Bock, sadly a let down and all the more sad because I really like Sam Adams beer - most of it is excellent, but this didn't really work. It was very bock like I suppose; sweet, sticky and heavy with nice warmth but a little sickly and just didn't sit right.The other non Irish beer is in fact Irish in the eyes of many who are not fully informed because the marketing is superb. If the label is to be believed this is the most Irish beer ever in the history of the world. Much debate has been spawned in Irish craft beer appreciation circles by Árainn Mhór's beer mainly because it aggravates us that this beer is pushed as Irish when it is in fact brewed under license in Belgium and then shipped off around the world benefiting greatly from the awful blarney that is spouted on the label. For example the label states the beer contains:
'...a secret essence of Árainn to deliver an aura reflecting the authentic romance of this Irish island...'
And later:
'Árainn Mhór Bán. One of our own. Brewed in the EU. Árainn Mhór Island, County Donegal.'The first piece of blurb is bullshit. The second is just plain misleading, though no doubt within the letter of the law. It's the brewed in the EU part that is so perfidious because it is entirely accurate but the addition of the island after it would lead most to think that is where the beer is brewed. It is not, and despite suggestions by the guy who set up the business, it will never be brewed on the island.
In some respects I am torn about what this business man is doing. He wants to be involved in the brewing of good beer, and the beer is good, but not remotely Irish tasting - it is a solid Belgian ale through and through with lots of fruit, bottle conditioned to boot and is a welcome addition to the Irish beer scene, but I don't like the way he is doing it. It is misleading and purposefully so.
