A Quart of Ale± #105. On the craft journey with Wide Street, The White Hag, Whiplash, Larkins

A Quart of Ale± #105

On the craft journey with Wide Street, The White Hag, Whiplash, Larkins 

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Wide Street Vienna Lager 4.9%, 440ml can Bradleys

It’s a Vienna Lager, so it is from the darker hemisphere of the style, opaque orange with an off white soft slow-sinking head. Some rich malt in the aromas but spicy and floral elements from the hops also prominent. And so it continues, malty, floral, spicy, an engaging combo on the palate. But nothing extreme, all in moderation and the result is an excellent beer with great depth of flavour. It has perfect balance and a good finish.

Lip-smackingly refreshing, nice bit of cutting in this one. The medium bitterness comes from the Magnum hops while a finish of Saaz keeps it spicy and floral. The majority of the malt is Vienna and Pilsner with a tiny amount of dark crystal giving even more colour plus a slight malt richness. For all that, you don’t immediately jump to the conclusion that this is a lager.

Wide Street, who are Longford based, say they love experimenting with alternative and wild fermentation methods. “We use traditional brewing processes with open top-fermenters. Our beers are unfiltered, unpasteurised and can-conditioned which means that beers are re-fermented in the can with a champagne yeast strain. Most of our beers are very dry and fully fermented with a final gravity below 1.003.”

In previous Quarts, we have reviewed their Cashmere IPA here, their Peach Berliner Sour or Sweet here, and their Mills Pils Farmhouse Pils here. 

The White Hag Little Olcan Brett Session IPA, 4.2%, 330ml can Bradleys 

This little White Hag is a hazy light yellow colour with a soft slow-fade white head. Not too sure about the claimed “white wine bouquet” but certainly it is citrous, even a little on the funky side. And that funky bit continues on to the palate, nothing too far out mind you. Fruity, floral and herby and dry on the finish. A refreshing little number for sure..

They have put a lot of work into it: Little Olcan is the baby brother of our original brett IPA, Olcan. This Farmhouse-style session IPA is fermented with our house Brettanomyces blend, in French wine barrels specially sourced from the Bordeaux region. This beer is matured for up to 12 months to allow the Brett to develop its bright, unique character. Then, just before canning, we dry hop in steel tanks with Mosaic and El Dorado to further accentuate the complex and fruity character of the yeast.

Whiplash Got To Keep On Pale Ale 5.3%, 440ml can Bradleys

There’s a burst of aromatic hops as you pull the tab on this one. It pours a light hazy orange in the glass with a soft bubble-laden head that hangs around for a spell. Citrus (they suggest lemon drops and I could agree, no problem) leads the fruit in the aromas and turns up again on the palate which is beautifully balanced, no extremes whatsoever, just very smooth and extremely drinkable. Perfectly acceptable finish also with just enough bitterness to keep it on the rails.

Web: Our #IWCBD beer is here! Got To Keep On was brewed for #IWD and had input from the whole team – like all our beers. A beer created by a team that features our talented female brewers is not a special occasion, it’s any day of the week and any of our beers, and we wanted to highlight that as part of the Unite Celebration theme. We landed on a Pale Ale as we wanted something pint-able and crushable and we’re pretty sure we’ve done that!

By the way, #IWD stands for International Women’s Day. I’ll leave you work out what #IWCBD stands for, something to do as you sip this gorgeous beer! 

Geek Bits

Malts: Golden Promise, Oat Malt, Carapils, 

Hops: Aus Vic Secret (Passion fruit, resinous, pineapple), NZ Azacca (Mango Tropical Orange), USA El Dorado (Apricot, Tropical, Citrus).

ABV 5.3%

440ml cans and kegs

Artwork by @sophie_devere

Released: March 2022.

Larkins Judge Fudge Imperial Stout 8.5%, 440ml can Bradleys

Close to black with a tan head that stays around. A hint of nutmeg and cinnamon in the otherwise toasty aromas. Maple syrup steps to the front in the flavours where there is a lot going on, maybe too much. After all, ingredients include Barley, Lactose, Cinnamon, Fudge brownie, Oats, Hops, Water, Yeast, Cacao Nibs, Sea Salt, Nutmeg, and Maple Syrup. Much too sweet for me though.

The label says this is a “spiced salted maple fudge brownie imperial stout” and is best served warmer than chilled. They are obviously happy with it: “..feckin delicious! Not sure there's much more to say on this but when we sat down together with @dot_brew, we decided we wanted to achieve layers of flavours that balance where it's not overly sweet and no one flavour is overpowering.”