Is there any? A quick google only added the existence of "Killkenny style" ale to my meagre knowledge. I'm staying at the Climbers Inn in Kerry, is there anywhere I should be visiting to try a pint thats not keg porter?
The Irish aren't big on cask conditioned beer. Guinness abruptly removed cask stout in 1967 IIRC, and several generations have grown up believing that fizzy pasteurised keg beer is what being Irish is all about. Even the Dublin brewpubs serve most of their beers under nitro pressure with a nice creamy head.
Your best approach is to forget about cask beer, and enjoy the pubs on their own terms. There are some *very* good pubs in the Republic, despite the lack of proper beer.
Best regards, Paul
-- Paul Sherwin Consulting
and indeed there are a several very decent pubs that serve very good beer (albeit unreal).
For OP's information - I've not been back very recently & last visit only went to the Porterhouse & Maguires plus a few classic old Dublin pubs, then a 'Spoons & another couple in the North, but a google-groups search in ukfdra & other beery ngs should dredge up some useful stuff.
I'd agree with Paul - if you go with your beeradar set to cask you probably won't find much, but quality is there if you look in the right places.
My sister was in Maguires a month or so ago & enjoyed the (presumably own-brew) Pilsner along with decent food. I've previously enjoyed the food there too, but the atmosphere has seemed a bit lacking in comparison to some of the more characterful old boozers, or the heaving heartiness of Porterhouse. Enjoy & let us know how you get on? cheers MikeMcG
BTW - just heard about a new Irish/Northern Ireland Brewery - Strangford Lough Brewing Co. - already bottling beer & exporting to Scotland, England (with plans to contract-brew in US!), more details at
Following up to MikeMcG
will do.
It actually says that the beers are brewed in England somewhere on the site. Don't know who is doing them though.
I didn't see that on their site, (but did spot it on your site on my travels! ) my guess is some contract-brewing micro like Meantime or maybe, as they're ales Hepworth? But I am guessing, I really don't know.
Rick, some proper info for your site - I spoke to ZeroDegrees' London brewer a week or two ago - brewing has begun at their new Bristol brewpub - again with shiny, brand-spanking new German techno-brewplant. AFAIK the bar itself is not open quite yet - I presume they want the lager to have a bit of time lagering before serving. cheers MikeMcG BTW talking of (hopefully) decent UK lager - I still haven't got around to going to Cain's tap for their new proudly well-matured lager
- R.Protz seems to be doing wonderful (paid?) PR for them ATM. Anyone else tried it yet?
Following up to The Reids
we decided that as it would be an uphill struggle anyway and that being in a remote area unlikely to find anything, that we would go with the flow and drink Guiness. After all, as said, it appears to be part of Irishness to drink it. We saw one pub claiming to be the "first brew pub in Ireland" on way south from Shannon but didn't have time to stop, but then we saw three "oldest pubs in Ireland" in Kerry alone, so who knows. A week of drinking Guiness was alright, the five minute wait for it to settle proved a good time to start conversations and after dinner there was always whiskey.
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