2025 has been something of a wild year, not just in beer, but personally and professionally: lots of travel (mostly, yay!), races run injured (bad idea!), new jobs started and lost (boo!), and a favourite pub closed (sadness!), with the community it created scattered and more than a bit forlorn. But we close out the year with things looking rather brighter, with half of the family now Irish citizens (delighted!), and the rest midway through the naturalisation process, plus a book manuscript finished and in the production pipeline (finally!), as well as some exciting news on the employment front to be revealed early in 2026 (insert positive parenthetical here). With so many handbrake turns, it is perhaps unsurprising that my favourite Irish beer of the year was by Whiplash…but before we get to that, a roughly chronological set of Golden Pints:
Best Beer Bar, Zurich
I travelled to Zurich for work-related reasons, but I had a chance to visit the FIFA Museum (better than I expected, though they are really missing a trick by not having corruption-related merch in the gift shop) and BIERlab, one of many great European beer tips from Charlotte. There were excellent pretzels and I very much enjoyed their house-brewed Black Betty Black IPA, and a good dark mild, Inverted World – it’s as if they knew I was coming.
Best Birthday Bar
I had a Big Birthday this year, and celebrated with a surprise party at Rascals, organised by my amazing local crew (you know who you are, and you are all THE BEST). I don’t get to Rascals often enough, despite loving their wonderful pizza, but on this special occasion, I especially enjoyed fresh Sidekick – their old-school, West Coast IPA that is a must-have in my fridge – and Riptide NZ Pilsner. And thus began an unexpected theme…
Best London Pub
I was lucky enough to be back and forth to London quite a few times this year, both for work and Divine Comedy reasons. And while I hit up some of my usual haunts, there were two standout pubs: The Seven Stars and The Wenlock Arms. I last went to The Seven Stars as a postgrad in the 1990s, but I had time to stop in for some excellent cask bitter, Adnams Southwold in this instance, and to see The General. The General is an adorable black cat who wears an Elizabethan ruff (as you do). But I have to give a slight edge to The Wenlock Arms for an excellent beer lineup – more cask mild for me! – and for a great-but-chill evening out. Definitely want to get back for another visit.
Best Beer Bar, Stuttgart
We took a family holiday in August, and while Stuttgart may not be an obvious destination, it has an excellent public library, a beautifully laid-out zoo and an extremely cheap direct flight from Dublin. It’s more of a wine area than a beer location, but we all very much enjoyed Kraftpaule, which had not only lovely beer, but also great tacos. I seem to have an uncanny ability to find decent Mexican food in continental Europe…while I didn’t ask for this power, I am in no way complaining.
Best Beer Festival
As much as I’d like to love the Dublin Beer Festival, the lack of a reasonable taster size makes it tough to really enjoy beyond the first beer or two…even the half-pint option is just too much. So the crown must go to Billie’s Craft Beer Festival in Antwerp…the tastings are all-inclusive, right-sized and the water bottle and easy access to separate glass-washing stations and water fountains encouraged more sensible behaviour. The tacos were affordable – and excellent – as well! I’m looking forward to going again next year.
Best Pub, Glasgow
How to pick just one? This was another Divine Comedy-related trip, but we also had the privilege of getting a local guide in the form of Nix of the Glasladies Beer Society. We’d first ‘met’ when we interviewed her for the Beer Ladies Podcast, then said hello quickly at 2024’s Indie Beer Feast in Sheffield, so getting to hang out in person on her home turf was great fun. And while Nix took us to all sorts of wonderful spots, like the Laurieston Bar and Koelschip Yard, I had a soft spot for Phillies of Shawlands, and would absolutely visit again. Also, hairy coos!
Best Beer Bar, Antwerp
Obviously, this is an impossible choice, and even with Charlotte’s local knowledge, we could never dream of seeing everything on such a short trip. And (especially compared to Dublin) there is so much variety – classic brown cafes with amazing traditional Belgian beers, independent beer bars catering to a more hipster crowd, and other indie bars with a mix of local families and beer nerds. Billie’s is an obvious standout (in this case, the bar, not the festival), but my favourite spot was Spéciale Belge. It’s an airy, modern taproom in the airy, modern taproom mold, but the combination of an interesting beer list , handy snacks and an extremely laid-back/family-friendly setting was a winner for me. Should Charlotte start her own beer tourism company? Probably.
Best Beer Bar, Paris
Again, another work trip, and oddly, I’d never been to Paris before. It was a flying visit, so I was once more relying on Charlotte’s always-excellent tips. Kilomètre Zéro was a cosy and laid-back beer bar, and I very much enjoyed their Varappe Porter. I’ll also give a plug to Bières Cultes Châtelet, an independent bottle shop with a few well-chosen taps that reminded me of some of my favourite Philly-area bottle shops, and to Hoppy Corner, which I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time in (despite Charlotte’s recommendation)…one for another time, but for ‘best’ of this trip, it’s Kilomètre Zéro.
Best Dublin Pub
Obviously, for me and my group of beer weirdos, it was Underdog – past tense. It’s difficult enough to find independent beer in general in Dublin, and while Brickyard also has a very nice selection, it’s such a long way out of town that it doesn’t fill the same gap. And while I have some local go-tos I love that all carry at least a few non-macro options – shoutout to The Cat & Cage and The Bald Eagle, where we went for a post-citizenship ceremony lunch – it’s not the same. So, for now, nothing beats Underdog, even in its absence.
Best Beer Book
Am I biased? Absolutely. But with good reason: my good friend and co-conspirator podcaster Christina Wade’s Filthy Queens is a spectacular trip through Irish beer history, and Donal Fallon’s The Dublin Pub is a wonderful read, with excellent photographs of local pubs throughout the decades that’s now become a reference for my other side project. And for those wondering, we hope to be back with the Beer Ladies Podcast in 2026, once we are all back to full health. In the meantime, listen to Donal’s Three Castles Burning if you’re not already doing so.
Best Pumpkin Beer
Look, we don’t get many pumpkin beers in Ireland, and I love (good) ones – this year’s Trouble Pumpkin Brew was very nice indeed. One of the genuine highlights of the aforementioned Dublin Beer Festival for me was a lovely Canadian pumpkin beer, Garrison Brewing Company’s Oh My Gourd, and there was a similar offering at Billie’s in the form of Spain’s Cervezas Speranto Kukurbo… while it’s a close-run thing, Spain wins out this time, though not in the next category…
Best International Beer
The year’s worst international beers were consumed (rather than enjoyed) in Madrid, another work trip that doesn’t otherwise get a mention here. It is perhaps unsurprising that the ‘wow’ beers from new-to-me breweries were enjoyed at Billie’s Craft Beer Festival. But the contenders were not from the hype breweries with long queues – it was a very close-run thing between Hungary’s Brew Your Mind Strange Symmetry and Keep Dreaming IPAs; both were absolutely top-notch. And away from Billie’s, I absolutely loved Garage’s No Wheels ESB, which was also on my ‘top’ list for the year. But the overall global Golden Pint goes to Third Moon Brewing’s Riwaka Kills NZ Pilsner. If you’re keeping score, that’s a Canadian New Zealand pilsner enjoyed in Belgium…
Best Irish Beer
…which leads us to my favourite Irish beer of 2025. While I have my regular standbys in Ballykilcavan’s Bambrick’s Brown Ale and Rascals Sidekick, for this category, I’m looking at new beers for the year. There were some surprising (to me) contenders, and some were very close, so it’s a top 5 countdown from here:
5) Whiplash Covered in Dust IPA
Whiplash typically make hazy IPAs. I don’t love most hazy IPAs. But when they make crystal-clear beers, like this old-school IPA, they are gorgeous. More, please.
4) Whiplash Sailing Shoes Pale Ale
Once again, Whiplash coming in with a beer you can see through…and it’s a beautiful thing. No further notes needed.
3) O Brother/Lineman Maybe I Like The Misery ESB
Yes, it’s a Father Ted-themed beer, and also yes, it’s got Earl Grey tea in it. And while I am a giant tea nerd, I don’t *usually* like tea in beer, and I’m not a particular fan of Earl Grey. But I love ESBs, rare as they are here, but this is no gimmick; it’s lovely. I first enjoyed it on tap at Underdog (sob), but I’ve also been stockpiling it in cans in my fridge. It’s excellent with pizza…just odd enough to be weirdly wonderful.
2) Wicklow Wolf Locavore Hop Harvest 2025 ESB
Didn’t you just say you don’t have many ESBs in Ireland? Yes, and it’s true. I was also a little bit unsure about how a fresh hop ESB would work, as it seemed a bit unnecessary for the style, but it’s absolutely delicious. I have yet to track it down on tap for the reasons detailed above, but hope to try it that way before the year ends.
…and finally…
1) Whiplash Cold Facts NZ Pilsner
Taking the top spot, yet another NZ pilsner, and another unusual-for-Whiplash style. Is this a NZ pilsner fan site now? Maybe! Have any of these mentioned in this year’s Golden Pints wrap-up adhered to the BJCP guidelines? Probably not! Does that matter? Not really. I adored this beer, and would love to see it back at Fidelity more regularly. Here’s hoping.
So, those are your 2025 Golden Pints; here’s hoping for actually-steady employment, a speedy race or three, decent book sales, further Divine Comedy-related travel, more ESBs, dark milds, black IPAs and – apparently – NZ pilsners in 2026.
See you next year!
