The Beer World Cup quarter finals now gets under way. Click on pictures and links to get a general review and info on the beers we will be a drinking during the later stages of the Football World Cup
Chile V Japan
Kirin Ichiban V Nomade Scotch Ale: 0-1 to Nomade. Looked good, nice fruity and malty aroma, with a taste that was of a sweet malty flavor with notes of grapes and smoked malts. The expected aftertaste wasn’t overwhelming, and the flavours kicked in near the end. It wins out as it was a stronger drink with stronger tastes. Kirin is a nice light pale lager that goes down easy and smooth. On pouring, the appearance was of a pale yellow colour with a very big creamy head that lingers for some time, and leaves a bit of lacing on the glass. Had a nice look to it. Kirin also had a sweet smell of a light grain and malt aroma. The taste also had some initial sweetness followed by a very enjoyable bitter aftertaste of hops, kind of creamy. Tastes of hay, wheat, and light floral hops. A good clean, crisp beer, smooth, I liked it. Nice but its the quarter finals and I go for the ale this time around, the stronger the drink and alcohol content the better chance of progression at this stage of my competition!
Germany V Argentina
Quilmes V Friedenfelser Hefe-Weizen. 0-2 Win for Friedenfelser as its taste was delicious and left me wanting more! A lot of carbonation but that’s normal for a German wheat beer. Once it settled the colour was of a very clear orange beer with a nice frothy head, that looked very appealing.The aroma was quite strong with notes of sweet banana, yeast and wheat.But it pulled way ahead of Quilmes due to its fantastic taste and was very nice, very easy to drink. It tasted very sweet, and contained flavours of yeast and wheat, with a strong fruity banana aroma, and the aftertaste, was very manageable. Overall it was a good, pure and clear well balanced drink with a nice strong feel to it. Quilmes was also a decent beer, drinkable and does the business, i.e quenches the thirst. It has a very interesting taste of a little corn and grain sweetness to open it up, a kind of sickly sweet, with a bitter aftertaste in the end. A nice beer, enjoyable, but no match for a Bavarian master brew. Again Freidenfelser pull out a winning beer from their vast collection. 
Australia V England
VB Bitter V London Pride. 1-2 Win for London Pride. The Ale from England’s capital city gets victory in a very close battle with VB of Australia. London Pride pours an amber reddish colour with a very good sized head. The aroma of some biscuit malts and earthy hops with hints of caramel sweetness, is all pretty great on the nose. While the taste is of light caramel, some earthy hops with a mild bitter aftertaste. I also found it a bit strong in the taste which I enjoyed, more of a kick to it than other ales. Australia’s famous VB with its iconic brown stubby, and the famous aftertaste, pours a dark golden color, clear, topped with a thin white head with good retention.The aroma is mostly of faint grains, sweet malts and low hops. It has a sweet malty taste, and the expected creamy aftertaste hits you pretty quickly. I have gotten to appreciate VB over the course of these few weeks, and its now a beer I can definitely say I have developed a taste for, but London Pride gets this victory as its taste is more subtle and complex, having a lot of interesting flavours that make the beer easy to enjoy and strong enough to give me a good alcohol buzz.
Nigeria V USA
Guinness Export V Samuel Adams. 1-2 Win for Samuel Adams in a close battle, that both beers held up well in. Guinness Extra Stout has its unique taste, with its famous black colour and tan whitish head, that smells of, well, Guinness! The smell is very strong on the nose, and is of dark cocoa, coffee and roasted malts. The taste is also quite strong, with a long bitter aftertaste, that had a bite to it. Overall a good strong stout, tasting of roasted malt with traces of coffee. Samuel Adams, on the other hand, had a great appearance, of a nice dark golden colour with a good sized frothy head that hangs around. The look of a decent beer. The smell was pleasant and not overbearing, of malts and a bit of floral hops. The Samuel Adams taste had a variety of strong flavours from the hops and malt which were well balanced, all tingling away at my taste buds. Caramel was one taste that stood out. The finish is strong with a long lasting heavy aftertaste. Overall a nice solid beer and a great delicious taste. I gave the victory to Samuel Adams for two reasons. One it had better flavouring, and the other factor was that it was much smoother, so hence more enjoyable than the strong stout. 
The city was first constructed in the early twelfth century by the King of Connacht, Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, and bears the nickname “The City of the Tribes” because “fourteen tribes” of merchant families led the city during the middle ages. Then city was a bastion of international trade, with French and Spanish merchant ships passing through, and even the famous Christy Columbus stopped off here once en route to Iceland.
Also its a student town, with University College, Galway (U.C.G.) having an enrollment over 15,000, all adding to the general feel good vibe of the city.
Just off the bus, and after a bloody long journey, was just itching for a good pint. First port of call was Garavan’s, for no reason other than it was fairly central in the pedestrian zone, and looked decent from the outside. Inside it was all traditional, and very cozy looking, with a lot of great comfy looking snugs around the pub which is always cool to see.
Good friendly service, and a top barman who kindly let me charge my phone, which was near dead. Pint was good, went down a treat. Local’s friendly, easy to have the chat here, good atmosphere was building up. Not a mad crowd of craziness, more like a good place to have a quiet chat in good company.
Was meeting the supporters group in the Hole In the Wall pub. First impressions, it had pretty cool horse racing murals at its side, and was also bloody difficult to find the entrance. Door tightly shut, and not very welcoming!
(After the game) Since it was lashing down, and I didn’t fancy waiting the 40 minutes or so for the next bus back to Dublin, popped into this bar, right across from the station, and located just off Eyre Square, in the heart of Galway.
The following season they changed their name to Galway United and it most have been a good omen, as the club went on to compete in two cup finals in successive seasons. United made their first appearance in an FAI Cup final in 1984–85 but lost 1–0 to Shamrock Rovers. With Rovers doing the domestic double this meant that Galway United qualified for European football, a first for the club. Playing Lyngby BK from Denmark, in the Cup Winners Cup, they certainly didn’t disgrace themselves, exiting the competition with a very respectable 4-2 agg. defeat. The second cup final I mentioned was against Dundalk in the League cup in 1985–86 defeating the “Lillywhites” 2–0 to win the clubs first major piece of silverware. A good season all round as they came second to Shamrock Rovers in the league, their highest ever placing in the top division.
But the fans were brought back to earth with a crash, when the next season, Galway United inexplicably got themselves relegated to the First Division. It was for only one season, but this became something of a pattern for a good few years, promotion and relegation the main themes from the 1990s to the 0000’s.
But Galway is too big a city not to have a LOI team, so with the help of the FAI (cough, spit), GUST (Galway United Supporters Trust), Salthill Devon, Mervue United and the Galway Football Association, all working together to form a unified club for the city, a team to play under the new name of Galway F.C., starring in the 2014 season and in the newly renamed Eamonn Deacy Park (ex Terryland Park).
Ayman Ben Mohamed was doing a lot of good work for Bohs down the wing, and had a chance that Galway net minder Conor Winn comfortably caught..
The goal eventually came, and it was coming, when in the 77th minutes Padraic Cunningham played a suburb weighted pass from the wing onto Faherty who, with a deft touch, turned the ball past Dean Delaney in the Bohs goals. Lovely goal, particularly as many in the stand were wondering was the pass a bit of luck with the wind, or was it really a weighted pass. It was extremely windy and I guess you have to give Cunningham credit, a suburb pass considering the conditions.
I think we will beat Bohs, I think it will be tough, Bohs have had a poor start, they won during the week, in the league cup though, so they probably have a little more confidence though, and they have couple of players back, I know Anto Murphy is back for them, he is a strong player for them, I think it will be tight but I think Galway united will be good enough tonight
Longford (An Longfort) is a smallish town, with a population of about 9600 in the centre of Ireland in the county of Longford, easily accessible from Dublin and beyond by train, bus and road. The town is most known for its St Mel’s Cathedral dominating the skyline of the metropolis. And a certain famous Mr. Gibson was called after the Cathedral, his mother hailing from the town.
First pub ventured into was Andy Byrne’s Pub, a good mid-day crowd in, watching the horse racing and the early afternoon football on the box, good bit of banter from the bar man, decent atmosphere and noticed that they had 
The next beer was in Kavanagh’s Bar, which had a bit of life in it, had a nice long bar to spend the time in good company. Looked like a decent boozer, and had a good atmosphere for that time of day, just buzzing along.
Kane’s Bar had some strange frontage, doubling up as a travel agency, and easy enough to pass by if in search of a pub. Not really a whole lot happening in this bar, was very dead. Got another St Mels beer, and left not long after that.
Pre match pints were to be in J P Reilly’s Bar, where Section O, the Longford supporters group, managed to get a really good deal, all pints for three euros, and a free bus to the ground. Top job.
Founded way back in 1924, the club were only elected into the league of Ireland in 1984, 60 years later! A history of not much happening, usually a low feeder team at the bottom of the first division. That was until a certain Stephen Kenny took the reins of the club in 1998. Kenny was an unknown, having virtually no playing career to speak of (just 4 games for Home farm) and at just 27, it was a gamble I guess a team like Longford, with no real expectations, could afford to make. His three season stint at the club transformed the club, as they won promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Division, reached an FAI Cup final for the first time (losing out to Bohemians), and subsequently, qualifying for Europe in the Uefa Cup, another first for the club. Leaving in 2001, he didn’t win anything but there can be no doubt he laid the foundations for what was to come.
The club will be particularly remembered for a quite simply awful fuck up in the Uefa Cup, 3-1 up in the tie and with an away goal away to the mighty Carmarthen Town, they let in four soft goals in the second half to exit Europe 5-3!
This game was pretty much ninety minutes of pure boredom, offered up by both teams in a wet and cold night. I had brought a friend who hates football, his first time at a LOI game. I think he hates football even more now!
