Real ale in the Irish Repubic

Thanks for the suggestions. I've emailed the two breweries mentioned to see if I can find out if there are any outlets in the Kerry area.

We found nothing in Kerry worth drinking last year. Some great pubs though. Biddy Early brewery is not too far up North in County Mayo.

Don't expect any real ale though. When I was last at Biddy Early's, it had CAMRA certificates all over the place, but the (admittedly good) beers were the fizzy keg version. It's a sod of a place to get to without a car as well.

Ennis is well worth a visit for the craic, though :-)

Carlow Brewery is right by the train station, which is about 1hr20 from Dublin Heuston station on the Waterford line. 15euro return. Right now they're not doing any tours as they're having new plant put in. Huge stack of kegs outside led me to ask about cask. The bloke said they do some, but not much. Most of it goes to England, but he recommended a place on the road to Cork. They sell cases of bottles on site, but not smaller orders.

Dublin - I stayed in the area around Trinity College. Found a nice place around there called the Ginger Man (or Gin German) selling non-cask micros from Cork, and another place on the Liffey across from O Connel St selling it's own brews on keg. Guinness is doing a "seasonal" thing, and qite a few places are currently carrying their "Toucan Brew", which has less roasted bitterness, and hence seems a little smoother. This is the second in a planned line, so seems to be a step in the right direction. Just can't see them rolling out "Real Cask Guinness" at the end of it...

And neither of them had the courtesy to reply!

Not at all sure that a dumbed down version of a dumbed down beer is anything to celebrate.

If they brought out a full flavoured bitter stout in unpasteurised form with a good dose of East Kent Goldings and a really roast flavour (like what's that drink again? Oh yes - Guinness as it used to be) that'd be a step worth rasing a glass to.

Or like Porterhouse Wrasslers 4X is!

Peter

But no doubt their offerings were available at the Sneem beer festival, the evening before we left for home.

The previous evening they had apparently featured beers from Poland, including (sic) Staropramen.

As for me, I don't care if I never see another pint of Guinness (or Murphys) again in my whole life! I didn't try the Bulmers or Smithwicks...

The principle works for virtually anything. It is why amateurs are frequently better at things than most of the "professionals" in the same subject. Plain and simple a love of the subject aids learning.

If people just stop and think about the word "amateur" they will realise why, and also see that the put downs of amateurs by professionals just represent sour grapes.