Trip to ireland

So, I'm going to be taking a trip to Dublin in a few weeks and wanted to ask everyone here if they new any beers I should try to find and bring back, besides the obvious answer of Irish stouts. Any suggestions?

I too am going to Ireland later this year. I've already started doing some research. So far I've found that the Beer Mapping Project is a pretty good resource. I really want to try some of the Galway Hooker beers.

Are you one of the many south side Irish going back to the motherland?

Get this: http://www.dublinpass.ie/dublinpass/ Covers airport transfer, city transit, museums, and the Guinness store house. Each entry there gets a free pint of beer and a great view of the city!!! My trip was pre-homebrew days, so I mainly had stout. SWMBO found a cider that was pretty good, but I can't recall the name.

Inside the box... had a buddy bring me a real Guinness... life changing experience.

Last time I was there I had soemthing called "brainblaster" from Porterhouse Brewing, I think. it was on tap at the pub down the road from where my relatives lived. Expensive! But tasty.

IMO, Guiness in Ireland was lacking. Better back here. I drank Smithwicks most of the time. Good luck, I was disappointed.

I would try to find as many beers served from a cask/beer engine as possible. Totally different flavor, absolutely the best way to serve beer.

I've been to Ireland before, but I wasn't into brewing like I am now, and didn't have such an appreciation for beer as I do now. I thought Guinness was much better there, though. You just can't get it like that here.

loapathy said:

Last time I was there I had soemthing called "brainblaster" from Porterhouse Brewing, I think. it was on tap at the pub down the road from where my relatives lived. Expensive! But tasty.

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True...on Nassau near Trinity College (south side) and the infamous Molly Mallone, hit Porterhouse for a pint or two. The pub grub is pretty good and their stout was good, especially after a long walk! This was actually the only pub in Dublin I went to that didn't serve Guinness.

jbrookeiv said:

I would try to find as many beers served from a cask/beer engine as possible.

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Hate to say it, but Ireland is pretty much another beer wasteland for the most part. You got your Guinness, Murphy's, and the Beamish... and a handful of generics. I lived in Ireland for two years and only saw cask ale a handful of time and that was mostly at festivals and craft beer bars. I also recommend getting out of Dublin and seeing something a little more authentically Irish.

I enjoyed the Guinness. I loved the Murpheys, but my favorite was the Kilkenny. If you go to Killenny, check out Smithwicks brewery, and stop at the pump house for good beer and music!

bierhaus15 said:

Hate to say it, but Ireland is pretty much another beer wasteland for the most part. You got your Guinness, Murphy's, and the Beamish... and a handful of generics. I lived in Ireland for two years and only saw cask ale a handful of time and that was mostly at festivals and craft beer bars. I also recommend getting out of Dublin and seeing something a little more authentically Irish.

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unfortunately this is pretty true... you will see morebudweiser on tap there than you will in the states

if you can try the galway hooker beers and any of the porterhouses in dublin those are probably the most craft beers you will find

Definitely hit Porterhouse. There are a few locations. I was at the one in Temple Bar, which was awesome. The Oyster Stout's tasty as hell and most of their other beers were pretty good too. I enjoyed that more than the Guinness tour.

http://www.porterhousebrewco.com/templebar.html

When I was there in 1986, the sold Guinness in six pack bottles with a weird plastic syringe thing. The idea was to pour it into a glass, then give it a few puffs of air to make the proper head. Now that's something I'd like to see again.

astropunk said:

I enjoyed the Guinness. I loved the Murpheys, but my favorite was the Kilkenny. If you go to Killenny, check out Smithwicks brewery, and stop at the pump house for good beer and music!

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My wife and I honeymooned in Ireland last May, and drove a complete U of the country, starting in Dublin and ending in Donegal. If you can drive a stick shift, buy an international GPS and rent a car - it is an adventure. Over two weeks I found that Kilkenny Red was the best beer I came across, but not everyone had it. It is an Irish Red that is served on nitrogen. Also, you will quickly find that Murphy's beats Guinness. Also, I think that Guinness in Ireland tastes the exact same as Guinness in the US. As I understand it, we are one of the few countries that receive Guinness directly from the brewery in Dublin and do not rely on the magic extract. Sadly, I agree with other posters that there is way too much Budweiser and Heineken being consumed, and if my memory serves me right, the Cider that was referred to earlier is made by Bulmers, and it is pretty good.

Have fun,
Joe

I laughed when I learned that the Budweiser in Ireland cost more than the Guinness! It is huge over there. They serve it out of ice cold taps with visible frost on them. Never seen that in the states.

Have you ever found Kilkenny Red in the US? That is one brew I would like to try a clone of.

And you are right about being an adventure. We reserved a car that was automatic and had GPS. When we got it, they had neither, so we got a manual and crappy rental car map. Talk about adventure. I can drive a stick, but shifting left handed was new to me!

FYI....Do not order a Kilkenny in County Kerry...we were informed from quite a few locals that those kegs sit around forever in that County. One said, ..."in County Kerry, you drink Guinness."

jfowler1 said:

Also, I think that Guinness in Ireland tastes the exact same as Guinness in the US. As I understand it, we are one of the few countries that receive Guinness directly from the brewery in Dublin and do not rely on the magic extract.

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I agree. Our pubs in Ontario get the kegs direct from Dublin. Perhaps the difference may be in the dispensing system. I know here they just changed the taps all around. They used to have a dial in the back that would adjust the pour which caused every bar to have a slightly different feel. It is all standardized now though.

mafeeker said:

So, I'm going to be taking a trip to Dublin in a few weeks and wanted to ask everyone here if they new any beers I should try to find and bring back, besides the obvious answer of Irish stouts. Any suggestions?

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O, by the way, you have to read a book called McCarthy's Bar before you get there. Funny funny true travelog of a guys trip through the country.

The tour at the guinness storehouse wasnt bad, but wasnt that good either. The building is cool. the entire center of the building is glass and in the shape of a pint glass. The very top is a bar with glass all the way around. It was great to have a fresh guiness and see all of dublin from up there.

There is very little beer selection there. Either guiness, or Inbev .

Porterhouse did have a big selection of there own stuff. I had a Wrasslers Stout that was good, and whatever there Red ale was called was good.

Im going to agree with some of the people here. I went to Ireland expecting the Guiness to taste so much better...I was disappointed. It tastes exactly the same (I live in a college town where lots of Guiness is drank...so our kegs are probably fresh, so that could be why there was no change). I ended up ordering Murphy's when I went places. It seemed to be what the real locals drank too. When I went I rented a car. We started in Dublin, and it was cool, but it wasnt "real" ireland. We drove west to Doolin/Dingle. Beautiful over there. Then went around the south end of the island. It felt more of like I was expecting once we got out of Dublin. My advice, skip the beer, drink whiskey Oh and if you get to Dingle, go to Foxy's. Its a hardware store by day, bar by night. Mostly just locals though, so you hear a lot of gaelic being spoken.

BrewNinja1 said:

Im going to agree with some of the people here. I went to Ireland expecting the Guiness to taste so much better...I was disappointed. It tastes exactly the same (I live in a college town where lots of Guiness is drank...so our kegs are probably fresh, so that could be why there was no change). I ended up ordering Murphy's when I went places. It seemed to be what the real locals drank too. When I went I rented a car. We started in Dublin, and it was cool, but it wasnt "real" ireland. We drove west to Doolin/Dingle. Beautiful over there. Then went around the south end of the island. It felt more of like I was expecting once we got out of Dublin. My advice, skip the beer, drink whiskey Oh and if you get to Dingle, go to Foxy's. Its a hardware store by day, bar by night. Mostly just locals though, so you hear a lot of gaelic being spoken.

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Sounds a lot like my trip last year...spent a couple days in Dublin then took the train (Iarnród Éireann) to Galway. Immediately rented a car and drove south to Dingle...that peninsula is stunning and Foxy's was great. After a couple days there, we drove north up the coast crossing the Irish Sea on the Shannon Ferry, with a few stops including the Burren, the Cliffs of Mohr, and finally a rest in Doolin. Then continued on up through the Connemara and a day trip to the Aran Islands... breathtaking scenery. There are still a lot of Gaelic speaking communities over on the west coast. I'd highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Ireland...the driving can be a little sketchy at times though!

mafeeker said:

Are you one of the many south side Irish going back to the motherland?

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You bet'cha.

Sounds like the folks that have been there before are giving us some great ideas on where to go. Thank you all.

you can probably find it somewhere in dublin, its called whitewater brewery out of northern Ireland, its nothing to special but is still craft brew... they offer three or four different bottled beers... its not bad stuff and better than the majority of beers there

Smithwicks is good and bass is good also the bulmers cider is great, there are quite a few different stouts ie: Guinness, beamish, Murphys. Try them all and decide for yourself.


Go to the porterhouse they have good beers

We spent 3 nights near shannon at dromoland castle.

http://www.dromoland.ie/

I would go back there in a heartbeat.

We spent a few days in killarney also. If your there in the summer, try to hit the horse races in killarney, you wont be disappointed.

Going to Ireland for 10 day in mid April with my grandfather to meet my extended family. We're only going to be in Dublin for a day or two so it looks like I should try to hit up the porterhouse. We will be spending the rest of the time in the country around Enis and Shannon. If anyone knows a decent pub/bar in that area let me know!

Yeah the first time i went i stayed in Kilarney and Galway, and we went all through the dingle peninsula. The west coast is beautiful and very authentic. I never got to Dublin though, so I have to see it. Thanks for all the suggestions, sucks to here Ireland is pretty much a beer wasteland.