WeirdBeerGirl.com

You’ve skipped the longer 2020 summary narrative (fair enough) or arrived here after slogging through it, so well done. And, really, well done in any case for making it through 2020. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are my favo(u)rite beer and whiskey discoveries of the year.

The Breweries
Hope Beer
I love everything about Hope – quality all around, something for everyone in the standard lineup, and fantastic seasonal releases. Bonus points for being not only train-accessible, but train-celebratory: their Hop-on Session IPA features the Dart train. I LOVE TRAINS. And great beer.

Four Provinces Brew Co
MILD JOY. Gob Fluich is a perfect dark mild – absolutely the ideal ‘school night’ beer, and one that goes with everything from pizza to chocolate (so, essentially, all the key food groups of lockdown). But again, the whole lineup is delightful – a very more-ish lager and a fantastic session IPA, among other tasty beers. Very much looking forward to their pub re-opening since 1) I’ve never been and; 2) they will have a beer engine. Cask of all sorts is hard to find in Ireland, but I can’t wait to have the mild on cask. Additional plus for being a good entry point for the new learners of Irish – their bilingual approach is a handy excuse to get studying.

Whiplash Beer
Wonderful beer, friendly people and top-class branding – Whiplash cans are instantly recognisable and always a sign of good times to come. I’m not, on the whole, a fan of hazy beers, but a hazy IPA from Whiplash is always welcome. There are some wonderful stouts and grisettes in the mix, too, and I cannot wait for their Fidelity Festival in 2021 (vaccines permitting). We had a great time interviewing Lynsey, Whiplash’s lead cellar brewer, on the Beer Ladies Podcast, and learned some fascinating inside information – give it a listen!

Ballykilcavan  Brewery
Who doesn’t love a good brown ale? While the style may currently be too thin on the ground for my liking, Ballykilcavan Bambrick’s Brown is outstanding, another ideal go-to beer with nearly everything. Once again, the year-round beers are great, and all named after features on their beautifully-photographed family farm (truly a strong Instagram game). The seasonal and one-off specials are all worth a try as well – some lovely surprises in the mix.

And on to the honourable mentions: I have thoroughly enjoyed a number of beers from Lineman, Kinnegar, Trouble, Rascals, Heaney and Yellowbelly – all Irish breweries doing a lovely job, and I look forward to more from each one in 2021.

Distilleries
Tipperary
I’m still very much learning the basics when it comes to whiskey, but have been very impressed with the various bits I’ve been lucky enough to sample from Tipperary, and love their approach to mixing technology and tradition – you can scan the QR code on the bottle to find out about the barley used in the whiskey, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Their own-barley single cask whiskey is amazing.

Currach
The whiskey is matured in seaweed-charred barrels. It sounds weird. It is weird. But it’s good weird. They also feature great art direction and beautiful bottles, but it’s very much backed up by the product inside. Another pleasant way to wind down after a day of not leaving the house.

Shops
I’ve only had the good fortune to discover all these brands through the thoughtful sourcing and speedy delivery from a number of amazing local Irish businesses – many of which had to develop an e-commerce function overnight. So, massive shoutouts to: L. Mulligan Whiskey Shop, Craft Central, Beer Cloud, The Beer Club, Martin’s Off-License and Craft Geek Merchandise – you’ve each had a hand in introducing me to a new beer or whiskey and/or kept my wardrobe up to date with appropriately-themed merch.

Here’s to a better 2021 for all.

One year ago this week, I came to Dublin for the last time as a visitor. I’d landed my new job in August 2019, and as we knew we would be moving to Ireland for said role when all our paperwork was sorted out, so this trip was a combination of local work meetings and advance neighbourhood reconnaissance. The planets aligned in an even more fortuitous way: the Bram Stoker Festival and a meeting of The Ladies Craft Beer Society of Ireland were both scheduled during my brief stay. In retrospect, this very quick trip was fated to be much more impactful than I could have possibly imagined.

My previous work trips to Dublin during my tenure as an Amazonian had been much more circumscribed; I never had the time to explore beyond the city centre, and my last one was especially odd, as my then-boss insisted on constant togetherness, even over the weekend – I still have no idea whether she was aiming to keep tabs on me, or if she was just uncomfortable being on her own, so I had little chance to do my own exploration (though I had no idea at the time that I’d one day live here). This visit, then, was my first chance to really look around properly, get into some local events, and, I hoped, meet some casual acquaintances who could help give us advice as we prepared to move.

As luck would have it, the events I was going to for the Bram Stoker Festival (you know, hanging out with my Good Friends Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffatt and Sue Vertue) were mostly north of the river, so I spent a good deal of time walking around Northside neighbourhoods that seemed like possible good fits for our family – something that would become a point of contention months later with several of our more peculiar relocation consultants, who insisted that ‘the likes of us’ could not possibly live in, say, Stoneybatter. (Nearly a year later, I’m still not entirely sure what she was trying to convey with that line of thinking, but I digress). I ended up at L. Mulligan Grocer, where I discovered Trouble Brewing (lads, I was first on the Ambush – then, later, the Dark Arts) and Rascals Brewing (Social Hops 2019 – see, Untappd is useful for this sort of exercise!). I also had some absolutely amazing food, and enjoyed one of the warmest welcomes I’ve ever had in a pub.

And when I met up with the amazing, fierce, opinionated and thoughtful Beer Ladies (or ‘my Beer Ladies,’ as my smaller kid now describes them), I knew I’d found My People – thought I had no idea how quickly after our arrival that would be cemented. Also on that night at Piper’s Corner, I discovered Kinnegar and Four Provinces – both breweries that have become go-tos for us. Fast forward a few months, and by the time all the work permit/relocation administrivia was complete, it was late January. Our arrival week also coincided with a beer-y meetup, so although I was a bit jet-lagged (and, frankly, exhausted from taking no meaningful break from work to move countries), I prioritised meeting up with my new friends – another stroke of good luck, since the next scheduled meeting coincided with the start of Lockdown One in Ireland.

The pandemic and the move to virtual socialising have, in many ways, sped up the ‘getting to know you’ process – who knew that shared trauma would be such a great way to make close friends? What would have been monthly-ish meetings became much more frequent Zoom calls and Discord chats. We have helped each other grapple with career and relationship insanity in ways that would not have been nearly as intense under ‘normal circumstances’ – and we’re better for it. We’ve even launched a podcast. (Like! Subscribe!) L. Mulligan’s virtual whiskey tastings have also become a regular occasion on our household calendar – even if we cannot get there in person at the moment, we’re happy to be able to support them in some way. I doubt I would have sampled this many local breweries by this point if we were simply going to pubs normally – but being forced to discover fantastic businesses stocking excellent local beers has been another side benefit of this odd time.

And that accelerated process of getting acquainted applies to Dublin as a whole, too – while museums and shops may be closed (again) for Lockdown Two, our 5K walks have let us do real exploring, and our house hunting has led us back north of the river…while our current Southside rental is in a convenient location, it’s not really ‘us,’ and we’re working to buy a house in an area our relocation agent would be horrified by – hopefully, that will be a good way to kick off 2021. Funnily enough, it’s in one of the areas I explored during that trip one year ago – so it may turn out to have been something of a prophetic trip in multiple ways.

It’s wild to think I’ve only had the chance to properly get to know this city and the fantastic friends I’ve been lucky enough to make here in such a relatively short space of time – not to mention how lucky we’ve been to avoid the absolute disaster(s) continuing to unfold in our home country – but I certainly look forward to the time we can get together in person, in a pub, without a second thought.

I knew before we moved that I’d be discovering Dublin through local beer to some extent, but I could not have predicted how crucial it would come to be in helping to form friendships and in directing us as far as where to put down long-term roots.

And now, I’m off to choose some good Halloween beers…without leaving the house.

So, what was it like?

Irish pubs were allowed to re-open, with COVID-19 precautions in place, on 29^th July - and we were very much there. I'll confess I would not have felt comfortable going to a pub or bar in the US or UK at this point, given How Things Are Going There, but since things seem more well-controlled here in Ireland, we opted to take the family out for an early dinner. We duly made our reservation and headed back to The Merry Cobbler for the first time since early March. We chose The Merry Cobbler for a number of reasons, though it's not our nearest pub: first, we knew it was large enough to handle meaningful social distancing inside. Secondly, the food is fantastic, and, closely coupled, the not-just-Guinness (more on that in a moment) beer selection is most welcome. Finally, we wanted to support a pub with outstanding service, and the team there delivered, just as they had prior to lockdown – in fact, it was our last port of call in The Before Times.

Beyond the obvious lack of allowed spontaneity - we made sure to arrive just before our reservation time to maximize our allotted 90 minutes of pub time - what else was new?

There are directional guides on the floor to help drive more-or-less unidirectional foot traffic, and there are dedicated entrance and exit doors. The Merry Cobbler already has a series of snugs and separate tables throughout the pub, so that likely required less rework than many spaces might have required, but we had the section we opted for entirely to ourselves. It's table-service only, and while that's handy whenever we're out with the family, not being able to wander to the bar to see what else is on tap is a minor quibble. To the credit of the waitstaff, they were very much aware of their taplist, so no worries there – and, really, in 90 minutes, unless you are very, very dedicated, how many pints are you likely to get through?

Speaking of pints, having a freshly-tapped Hope Hop-on For The First Time In Forever was absolutely glorious. And it seemed churlish not to also have a Guinness, given that they'd delivered the brand-new kegs only days before, and it was perfect, especially with the wonderful brownie. While it would have been nice to linger longer, that's not much of an option with a smaller child anyway, so we had no difficulty sticking within our 90 minutes without feeling rushed.

I don't think I'd chance a busy, crowded pub with a non-family group at this point, but a relaxing meal, seated far from other people, worked well. Obviously this is only going to work for a subset of pubs, and there are no easy answers there, but hopefully this is a small step forward, and COVID-19 cases will continue to go down, allowing more flexibility. But until there's a working vaccine, it seems like it's possible, with some sensible precautions in place, to support local pubs and breweries in person from time to time.

And as much as I've had the opportunity to try some amazing local beers at home that I might not have come across in a pub in Normal Times, it's hard to beat a fresh pint in its natural setting. I hope to do it again in the not-too-distant future.

It's a fair question.

Even if we weren't in the midst of a global pandemic (and, beyond the obvious, the archivist/historian in me gets both very excited about the level of documentation of this 'experience,' as well horrified the thought of what it means for digital preservation librarians of the near-future), it's probably time for a blog update. My new job and our new country were meant to be an opportunity to have a bit more free time (HAHAHAHAHA/please come work for me) as well as the ability to spend more time together as a family than Planet Amazon allowed, but hey, at least we managed one of those things, albeit without furniture. Let's back up - but I promise, we'll get to the beer.

We arrived in Dublin from Seattle at the end of January; the plan was to spend about 6-8 weeks in temporary accommodation, find a long-term rental and quickly sell our house in Seattle, then enjoy weekend trips around Ireland and the odd hop over to London for theatre. We achieved only the first and second of those milestones. We have, on the whole, been fortunate: our cats arrived with no difficulties, we found a house near schools that suited both our offspring (no small achievement when you are working with a 10-year age gap and a lack of secondary school places in Dublin), and got our first set of immigration 'stuff' done, all while I was flying back and forth to Basel for regular business trips. Side note - there are some good breweries in Basel - Volta Bräu and Kitchen Brew - and, oddly, a very good Mexican bar/restaurant. We moved out of our (furnished) temporary accommodation into our (unfurnished) rental with the understanding that everything in our sea shipment - all our furniture, clothes, books, PELOTON, electronics - would be with us in 1-2 weeks. And it duly arrived at the port and cleared customs, and then everything shut down. We were told everything was to be moved to long-term storage with no known target date for delivery, and to 'make do.' Of the inflatable furniture we managed to get before the machine stopped, we're operating at about 35% capacity…not having a sofa is not something I envisioned, but again, everyone is, so far, healthy, we are not stuck in the US, which looks horrifying right now, so…it'll make an interesting story, down the line.

With that long preamble out of the way, on to the beer - and beer has been part of one of the biggest positives of this entire situation. I managed one rather jet-lagged in-person meetup with the Ladies Craft Beer Society of Ireland the week we arrived (I'd made a previous visit in October, when I was in town on a pre-relocation work trip, and I knew I'd found My People), and then, as Circumstances Changed, we switched to weekly Zoom meetups. Ironically, I feel like I've made firmer friends faster with all the physical distancing than I might have otherwise; whether it's commiserating over Zoom with drinks or just popping in to our Discord to chat about the weather (and what we're drinking). We're all going through this bizarre shared experience, and I couldn't have found a better group of fierce, beer-loving women to bond with.

And what have we been drinking?  How much? How often? I will say that the inability to go to pubs has, in an odd way, fast-tracked our discovery of the Dublin beer scene. We were able to happily wander to The Old Spot or The Merry Cobbler, I'd most likely only be trying whichever local brewery happened to be featured that week; while I did get in one run with the Mikkeller Run Club chapter here and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out at The Underdog afterward, that would be only a monthly opportunity to sample their (excellent) taplist. With the lockdown, breweries and off-licenses quickly mobilized to offer delivery, and getting a weekly mixed box from Craft Central, Martin's Off-license and Beer Cloud has made discovering new (well, new-to-us) beers The Thing We Do At Home (it's also been our chief solution to our lack of furniture - the boxes are very handy). I don't think we've been drinking more per se, but I have had the odd after-work whiskey more often than I would under normal circumstances, though again, this may simply be down to working 12-hour days without any breaks and the availability of Really Good Local Whiskey and/or Gin.

I already have some favo(u)rite local beers: Hope Beer's Handsome Jack IPA, Pass If You Can Pale Ale and Hop-On Session are all wonderful, and Ballykilcavan's Bambrick's Brown is delightful. Eight Degrees Hill of the Serpent is one of the best Black IPAs around, and Mescan's Belgian-inspired beers have really impressed. I'm trying the new mild (NEW MILD JOY) from Four Provinces tonight…for people who can't leave the house, we're spoiled for choice.

While I can't wait to see everyone in person over a fresh pint in a pub, we're firmly in the 'can't complain too much' category; let's hope it stays that way.