Keeping ‘Er Lit – The Belfast Brewers’ Latest Meeting
The Belfast branch’s latest homebrew meet up was preempted with a spot of online forum discussion on the Friday afternoon.
As Barry would later point out, those final working hours before the weekend’s arrival must have been a slow burner, as members decided to cease for the day and instead take to discussing both the approaching, monthly tasting session and the latest young upstart on the craft beer scene; the black IPA.
An IPA coloured with dark malt? A light porter packed with hops? The Belfast branch was enthralled in debate over exactly what a black IPA was, and whether the concept should or could really be given any attention.
So it was with some trepidation that, some four hours later, the first bottle of the evening was popped open; a black IPA, brewed by Bill_00.
Despite being no closer to forming a unanimous opinion on the relevance of the dark hop-fest among the Belfast branch, all agreed it was a hell of a brew.
Chocolatey, with hints of molasses and fennel; the beer certainly exhibited properties that would normally have put it firmly in the porter category. And yet the relatively low ABV and aromatic punch of hops told a different story; that of a quaffable, fresh session beer. If the black IPA does indeed deserve pride of place within contemporary beer styles; this was a damn good effort.
Next up, a chocolatey stout, brewed by yours truly. This was the second attempt by myself and a friend to brew a traditional, mildly hoppy Irish red ale. However, over-zealousness with some rauchmalt and carafa on brew day had led, yet again, to a dark, thick stout. Winging it has never been a strong point of mine, when it comes to brewing.
A low ABV was balanced well by the definite presence of bitterness and aroma, aided by a hefty bite of espresso and chocolate. Again, all agreed; not a beer that would conceivably knock off the proverbial socks, but certainly an approachable session brew nonetheless.
Barry’s IPA followed; a beer which all members seemed to enjoy, with the notable exception of the brewer himself (modesty and self-deprecation seem all-too-common among the Belfast crowd). While Bazza was notably peeved at what he considered an unsuccessful attempt at priming, others were impressed by the strong, dry sherry notes which the IPA left at the back of the pallet. Descriptions such as underripe peach and plums were bandied about, along with an agreement that the recipe included just the right amount of hops to balance the sweet maltiness.
Hopefully Barry was convinced, and not too disappointed in the results. In his defence, the bottles in question were filled with the remnants of a pre-primed keg, and perhaps the distribution of sugar hadn’t been as even as it could have.
As the beer flowed, accompanied by a few ‘commercials’ (Joker IPAs and Fraochs from the Hudson’s own supply), talk turned from the black IPA to other controversial beer styles; notably the infamous sour, Belgian beer known as ‘brett’.
Luckily for us Belfasters, Ed from the Wicklow branch was on hand to join in the discussion and impart some of his beer wisdom. Whether or not the brett beers are indeed the ’emperor’s clothing’, again, remains to be seen.
But what this particular brewer admired was Wicklow Ed’s honest review of some homemade wine; a bottle of dandelion and a bottle of gooseberry, to be exact. The dandelion went down well – surprisingly so – with notes of lemon and summer fruits pinpointed, while the gooseberry effort was compared to nail varnish. You can’t argue with honesty…
Wine finished, the once-sumptuous bounty of homebrew was depleting; yet there was still time for an old-fashioned apple juice cider, made by Belfast’s resident springbok brewer, Andy. Made using off-the-shelf supermarket brand apple juice, it was a great palate cleanser to follow up the weighty stouts, black IPAs and nail-varnish wines.
Beautifully primed, dry and tart, its strong ABV was well hidden amongst a fruity, sharp kick and a hefty fizz that could teach Freixnet a thing or two.
By this stage, things were starting to get a bit hazy, and it seemed one of those nights doomed to finish in an absence of the polite reserve with which it had begun. Our Wicklow friends swiftly disappeared to join their own crowd, while Belfast rep. Matt was keenly aware of a birthday party he was due to be attending. I had my own appointments to keep, and waded my way through the bar to join a friend who was paying a flying visit from Sheffield.
We dispersed, as is our wont, tipsy and satisfied. It was only the third Belfast meet-up, and yet already attendees are massively outnumbering the homebrews. Hopefully the branch will continue to expand and, with a DIY kit demo day in the pipeline, the quantity of homebrew at the meetings along with it. Until that time, I guess we’ll all just have to put up with my homemade wine a little longer…
By Iain Todd (iain_todd)
