Blog Tracker
15-12-2021, 09:00
Visit The Beer Nut site (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2021/12/by-return-post.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkIYjjIMh50eRFpTd0d9tG7V-TDxABTb5DGnCtNC3ADt8YYt1JCLpTaxnTctt96WdiUy0f7xmkm q6I80VS5pU8-BISG8TmVAfBLHzj0TPNoaHxLkdXKlk2R49hfXOaWcgPnx1UnRq VSubA6GUrzJigeMYSNZI_WGUjugG84-58EEUPfNbaiaw=w161-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkIYjjIMh50eRFpTd0d9tG7V-TDxABTb5DGnCtNC3ADt8YYt1JCLpTaxnTctt96WdiUy0f7xmkm q6I80VS5pU8-BISG8TmVAfBLHzj0TPNoaHxLkdXKlk2R49hfXOaWcgPnx1UnRq VSubA6GUrzJigeMYSNZI_WGUjugG84-58EEUPfNbaiaw=s2048)Look who's back! I can't believe it was 2018 (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2018/11/from-edge.html) when Post Card last featured here. The brand is owned by drinks industry veteran Jonathan Spielberg and was originally brewed at his Craftworks/Select Batch brewery. When that closed it disappeared, of course, but Jonathan is now involved in a new start-up brewery in Co. Kildare: Farringtons. With production under way, Post Card has cuckoo'd its way in. I spotted two of the cans on my last visit to Martin's of Fairview.
Ha'penny Bridge was one of the beers they brewed before but the recipe has changed so I'm giving it another go. Having previously been 5.2% ABV, this is now 4.4% and quite a deep amber colour, in a way that's far from fashionable these days. It looked a bit flat as it poured and the carbonation is very faint, the aroma suffering as a result. Still, there's plenty of flavour and it's a resolutely old-fashioned one: American pale ale in the Sierra Nevada mould. You get a jangling pine and grapefruit bitterness, spritzy at first, turning dank and resinous at the end. That sits on a base of crystal malt, from which comes occasional flashes of toffee. It's all good, solid fun, but the poor conditioning does let it down a little.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-LmPFPEQwsWU9uiT6lbmEqh-EPHjOse3Io0MjiB7vJMKt7alU3Oap5eamDgBqWV9sGw_L1EMWg Vl64Lyx5_Zq6JueE6oiKqIBbFKKS2afKcsmhsmJqiOM2Qw6kXm Cse-eyFyqp0_kR6el3OXTjRe4L0goWQgMYGYIy_T_5YfjZKTmsCH8i _Y=w176-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-LmPFPEQwsWU9uiT6lbmEqh-EPHjOse3Io0MjiB7vJMKt7alU3Oap5eamDgBqWV9sGw_L1EMWg Vl64Lyx5_Zq6JueE6oiKqIBbFKKS2afKcsmhsmJqiOM2Qw6kXm Cse-eyFyqp0_kR6el3OXTjRe4L0goWQgMYGYIy_T_5YfjZKTmsCH8i _Y=s2048)The next one is much more en vogue: Poolbeg Haze, a New England-style IPA with Mosaic, Citra and Idaho 7. First impression is... it's barely hazy at all. Still, it smells like a NEIPA: juicy and slightly unctuous. Again the carbonation is lower than it should be, but again the flavour manages to present itself well despite this. Satsuma, mango and pineapple suggest the hops are doing their jobs well, though the Citra is a little quieter than I'd expect. There's a certain vanilla sweetness, but not so much that it makes the beer cloying. And of course it's clean: no murk = no grit. This is quite an easy-going affair and doesn't taste the full 5.8% ABV. Still it has plenty of character and offers everything you might expect from a hazy IPA except, y'know, the haze.
There are more in the revamped Post Card range and I'll be keeping an eye out for them if they ever cross to my side of the Liffey. Carbonation issues aside, the revival is promising so far.
More... (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2021/12/by-return-post.html)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkIYjjIMh50eRFpTd0d9tG7V-TDxABTb5DGnCtNC3ADt8YYt1JCLpTaxnTctt96WdiUy0f7xmkm q6I80VS5pU8-BISG8TmVAfBLHzj0TPNoaHxLkdXKlk2R49hfXOaWcgPnx1UnRq VSubA6GUrzJigeMYSNZI_WGUjugG84-58EEUPfNbaiaw=w161-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkIYjjIMh50eRFpTd0d9tG7V-TDxABTb5DGnCtNC3ADt8YYt1JCLpTaxnTctt96WdiUy0f7xmkm q6I80VS5pU8-BISG8TmVAfBLHzj0TPNoaHxLkdXKlk2R49hfXOaWcgPnx1UnRq VSubA6GUrzJigeMYSNZI_WGUjugG84-58EEUPfNbaiaw=s2048)Look who's back! I can't believe it was 2018 (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2018/11/from-edge.html) when Post Card last featured here. The brand is owned by drinks industry veteran Jonathan Spielberg and was originally brewed at his Craftworks/Select Batch brewery. When that closed it disappeared, of course, but Jonathan is now involved in a new start-up brewery in Co. Kildare: Farringtons. With production under way, Post Card has cuckoo'd its way in. I spotted two of the cans on my last visit to Martin's of Fairview.
Ha'penny Bridge was one of the beers they brewed before but the recipe has changed so I'm giving it another go. Having previously been 5.2% ABV, this is now 4.4% and quite a deep amber colour, in a way that's far from fashionable these days. It looked a bit flat as it poured and the carbonation is very faint, the aroma suffering as a result. Still, there's plenty of flavour and it's a resolutely old-fashioned one: American pale ale in the Sierra Nevada mould. You get a jangling pine and grapefruit bitterness, spritzy at first, turning dank and resinous at the end. That sits on a base of crystal malt, from which comes occasional flashes of toffee. It's all good, solid fun, but the poor conditioning does let it down a little.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-LmPFPEQwsWU9uiT6lbmEqh-EPHjOse3Io0MjiB7vJMKt7alU3Oap5eamDgBqWV9sGw_L1EMWg Vl64Lyx5_Zq6JueE6oiKqIBbFKKS2afKcsmhsmJqiOM2Qw6kXm Cse-eyFyqp0_kR6el3OXTjRe4L0goWQgMYGYIy_T_5YfjZKTmsCH8i _Y=w176-h200 (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-LmPFPEQwsWU9uiT6lbmEqh-EPHjOse3Io0MjiB7vJMKt7alU3Oap5eamDgBqWV9sGw_L1EMWg Vl64Lyx5_Zq6JueE6oiKqIBbFKKS2afKcsmhsmJqiOM2Qw6kXm Cse-eyFyqp0_kR6el3OXTjRe4L0goWQgMYGYIy_T_5YfjZKTmsCH8i _Y=s2048)The next one is much more en vogue: Poolbeg Haze, a New England-style IPA with Mosaic, Citra and Idaho 7. First impression is... it's barely hazy at all. Still, it smells like a NEIPA: juicy and slightly unctuous. Again the carbonation is lower than it should be, but again the flavour manages to present itself well despite this. Satsuma, mango and pineapple suggest the hops are doing their jobs well, though the Citra is a little quieter than I'd expect. There's a certain vanilla sweetness, but not so much that it makes the beer cloying. And of course it's clean: no murk = no grit. This is quite an easy-going affair and doesn't taste the full 5.8% ABV. Still it has plenty of character and offers everything you might expect from a hazy IPA except, y'know, the haze.
There are more in the revamped Post Card range and I'll be keeping an eye out for them if they ever cross to my side of the Liffey. Carbonation issues aside, the revival is promising so far.
More... (https://thebeernut.blogspot.com/2021/12/by-return-post.html)