O Shea's Pale Ale & Irish Stout Review - Aldi

[GrahamR]

Made by Carlow Brewing company for the Aldi Company, these are the slightly more affordable little sister of the O Haras range

The Pale pours that lovely golden colour of O Haras with a lovely fresh hit of hops in the nose. At 4.3% it is a very sessionable beer, perfect for a Summers day if they ever arrive. Highly carbonated, perhaps overly so but it does maintain a head to the bottom of the glass which is always a plus for me.
Not quite as fresh tasting as the O Hara's and I would imagine containing less IBU's which is where I imagine the savings in brewing come but at €1.89 you cant really go wrong. Considering O Hara's tend to be closer to the €3 mark in most local offies, this could be your new best friend at the weekends, other then homebrew of course.

The stout is my personal preference of the two. Pouring to my eye a slightly off black, it retains a lovely coffee coloured head as you drink. You immediately get the hit of roasted grains which always reminds me of proper freshly ground coffee. Again is more carbonated then most stouts tend to be but it doesn't harm your enjoyment. At a similar price and ABV to the Pale you can take your pick between the two.

If you had both the O Shea's and O Hara's in front of you playing a game of Russian Roulette, I like most would be hoping that O Hara's was the victor but O Shea's definitely has its merits.

Think of it as shopping in TK Maxx over Brown Thomas's. You are getting the product at a reduced cost as its not quite as good as the current season, but its pretty damn close and that will do most of us.

[DEMPSEY]

I personally prefer the O'Shea's red over the O'Hara's red

[Chris]

I love the stout

[brenmurph]

generally stout is bang on...chocolatty, roasty, creamy.... few nights ago we wernt too impressed, but generally its great

[GrahamR]

Not a fan of red in general and have never bothered with the O Hara's so cant compare. Are there any other breweries in Ireland that make beer for other companies ala O Haras

[Chris]

Not a fan of red in general and have never bothered with the O Hara's so cant compare. Are there any other breweries in Ireland that make beer for other companies ala O Haras

you should try the Bru Rua it's a red but a hoppy one

[Greg2013]

Not a fan of red in general and have never bothered with the O Hara's so cant compare. Are there any other breweries in Ireland that make beer for other companies ala O Haras

Bulmers makes the apple and pear ciders for Aldi.

[Samael]

I like Pale Ale and Red, but Stout is awful for me