Good chat with Martin Costello from the Brexit Party on the balls up that is Brexit.
Done before today’s (18/10/2019) announcement of Boris’ “great deal”, which we predicted would be simply a rehash of Theresa May’s old deal……………………..
Check out Martins youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Costellomp
and his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MartinCostelloUK/
and The Brexiteers channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXljBHGlUCs9do_CeDi-6bA
http://franciscanwellbrewery.com
Brewed by Franciscan Well Brewery (Molson Coors)
Style: Irish Red Ale
Cork, Ireland
Built on the site of a former Franciscan monastery and well dating back to the year 1219, in Cork City, the brewery was founded in 1998 by publican Shane Long.
The brewery has won numerous awards over the years across Europe and beyond. Wins include Best Seasonal Pale Ale at the World Beer Awards with its seasonal Summer Saison brew, the World Beer Awards Gold twice, for Rebel Red (European section) and for Shandon Export, and a Bronze for its Coffee Porter.
Review: 330ml tiny can of Franciscan Well Rebel Red Ale: 4.3% vol.
Have had this on draught which I loved, very crisp and so easy to drink.
For the tiny cans bought in the supermarket, I dig the well designed colourful red setting with white lettering and distinctive Franciscan Well monastery logo, “crafted the Cork way” with a “smooth revolution”, love it.
The name “Rebel Red”, of course, a nod to Cork, the “Rebel County”.
Very nice on the appearance, getting a nice reddish hue and a general dark amber look, a good white head, not a bad looking beer.
A bit of carbonation, fizzing around, makes a decent white head.
A very light aroma on the nose, barely registering anything to be honest.
Getting a lagery type smell, caramel malts, some hops, yeast, citrus, and that’s about it. All light though.
Initially, lovely big refreshing mouthfuls on the taste. Getting a regular red ale taste to it, the malts, dark fruits, and hops are there, also getting a taste of caramel.
Also get a decent amount in the glass from the can, considering how tiny they are, not bad.
Taste does go a bit watery though, and I am getting a slight off taste to it.
The aftertaste is a bit strong, a bit “urgh”, all a bit too much in the caramel, too sweetish and too hoppy for me.
Overall, it is not that bad of a red ale I suppose and has all the main characteristics of a red ale as one would expect.
I have had this on the taps, and I can tell you it tastes much, much better. It is really a very decent brew when in the bar. Not so much from a cheap can off the supermarket shelf, which is less smooth and has a bitter taste that was not as appealing.………..
Brewed by Carlow Brewing Company
Style: Irish Stout
Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, Ireland
Located in Bagenalstown, County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, the Carlow Brewing Company, founded by the O’Hara family in 1996, is one of the largest and most successful craft breweries in Ireland. It is more popularly known as O’Hara’s Brewing Company after the family name that still runs the business today.
After seeing the wide success of the craft beer revolution in the United States and Continental Europe, Seamus O’Hara, along with his brother Eamon, decided to produce Irish craft beers, at first to export, and later, to Ireland after it took the natives to come round to the idea of anything but macro beers.
They produce a wide variety of exciting and adventurous beers. From the regular Red Ales, IPA’s, Stouts, to beers that perhaps are a bit of a rarity to Irish drinkers……Smoked Ales, Golden Ales, and Celtic versions of Wheat Beers!!
I have tasted O’Hara’s well known Irish Red Traditional Ale, a beer that many reviewers rant and rave about, but alas I thought was very disappointing and slightly overrated.
Review: 50cl brown bottle of O’Shea’s Irish Stout: 4.5% vol.
Incase you are confused, the O’Shea brand is made by the Carlow Brewing company for the Aldi cheap discount store, think of it as the ugly sister to the O’Hara’s beers!
Coming in a nice big brown bottle with an interesting logo of a swan, pretty lettering of “O’Shea’s” which looks nice. “Craft brewed In Ireland”
On pour I get the, as expected, stout look of a pitch black appearance, creamy with a tannish frothy head. It is not a Guinness head but not bad all the same.
Some good lacing. Overall a good looking stout.
The aroma is quite light, getting the coffee and roasted malts notes with hints of toffee, but overall it is all disappointedly light on the nose.
On the taste, found it quite strong in the hops, a very bitter unpleasant taste for me.
In addition, I got a very strong taste of coffee and dark chocolate. too strong, also a bit too creamy. It has all the characteristics you need for a good stout, but its seems they overdid it a little with them.
Initial mouthfuls were a turnoff, not nice at all, more a bad IPA than a stout. Very hard to stomach really, disgusting even.
Taste got slightly better in the second bottle, with less lingering bitterness, but less taste too!
It can be manageable to sip slowly, but it’s a bit bland with no exciting flavours and those hops are a killer on the taste buds. Overall it never felt like a stout.
Also found it to be quite strong in the alcohol, a bit boozy, gave me a slight head the next day, even if it was just 4.5% vol…….
Brewed by Champigneulles (TCB Beverages)
Style: Pale Lager
Meurthe-et-Moselle France
Not much info on this beer online, needless to say that’s the way they like it in cheap discount beer land, just buy the fucker and dont worry about it.
Brewed for the supermarket chain Lidl, and sold at a relatively cheap price. This is bargain basement beer!
Yet the name “Excelsior“ is Latin for “ever upward” and represents superior quality and of excellence!
Review: 500ml blue can of Excelsior Lager: 4.0% vol.
Can find it with 4.1% to 3.9 % in strength, depending on the region.
Coming in a pretty cool looking logo of a Knight’s sword, in a nice blue can.
Aroma is pretty shit, in fact it smells a bit like shit, had the aroma of a fart! Lagery smell, and very metallic on the nose. Not great!
Looks good on pour, a nice frothy white head, nice and creamy, and a golden coloured beer on show. Not bad. Head maintains well, and some good lacing apparent.
Get a lot in the can.
Bit of an off taste found initially, not great at all……….
Overall, it is a bit tasteless, and any taste you do get is bittersweet and lacking in flavouring.
Second can, it improved a little, and was slightly easier to drink, a bit smoother and nicer on the old stomach, but still lacking any real depth to the beer. Malty and a little hoppy, but overall not a nice beer at all. Very forgetful and not worth trying again, cheap as it is and all………..
Brewed by Trouble Brewing
Style: IPA
Kill, Co. Kildare, Ireland
Founded in 2010 in Kill, a small town in Kildare. Trouble Brewing have introduced some new and exciting craft brews into the Irish market and beyond.
Trouble Brewing produce several different craft beers, such as Deception Golden Ale, Dark Arts Porter, Sabotage India Pale Ale, Graffiti Pale Ale and Remix India Pale Lager.
Review: 500ml bottle of Trouble Brewing Graffiti: 3.6% vol.
Can be found on tap at certain selected places around the country but I got it in the bottle from Lidl, the German supermarket discount chain.
Loving the logo on the brown bottle, nice and colourful, a funky look that definitely stands out.
On pour getting a lot of carbonation flowing about yet results in a quite small flat looking head when it all settles. Colour is golden. Some lacing.
Overall look is ok…….
The smell, on the other hand, is very pleasant. Typical IPA aroma, light but am getting the hops, the fruits and citrus………
Getting the hops a lot on the taste buds, all very manageable though, very easy to drink and appreciate.
Has all the typical IPA style characteristics checked and mastered. Citrus and tropical fruits, caramel and sweet malts all easy to find.
It is ok, nothing amazing, and pretty average for the style.
Might be a little off taste, I got from the second bottle.
Strong in the taste which is a surprise since it has a low ABV, hops (amarillo) come to the fore in this beer, and all very manageable.
Sessionable and not bad, but I dont think I’d go for it again.