Hello.
I posted this to uk.rec.waterways last night and a regular suggested I post it here too.
==¾gins==== One of the problems about boating in Ireland is that there's nothing to drink.
Well, that's not strictly true. There are wines and spirits and, on my boat and one or two others, there are fine British, German and Belgian beers. And in one town, Enniskillen, there's a branch of Wetherspoons (guided tours to be provided later in the summer).
But in the vast majority of pubs, there is no beer.
There is stuff disguised as beer: a cold black thing called Guinness, a cold red thing called Smithwicks and several cold yellow things called Budweiser, Harp, Heineken or some other name.
Because we've had lots of Polish and other Eastern European immigrants, some pubs now stock Polish beers, usually in bottle. And off-licences in larger towns or tourist towns, encouraged by demand from Poles and from Irish folk who have had beer overseas, have begun to stock drinkable stuff. But very few pubs stock anything drinkable.
The number of such pubs has just increased by one. The town of Ballina in Co Tipperary, at the foot of Lough Derg on the Shannon, twin town of Killaloe on the Co Clare shore, has a pub called Tara's Speciality Beer House. It has 40 bottled beers (British, German, Belgian, American and a few others); British beers include Marsdens, Badger and Shepherd Neame. It has Hoegaarden and Erdinger on draft. And as of this evening, it has its own cask of hand-pumped "Irish red ale".
The brewer found that a vital part of his pump was missing and had to have one sent from the Hilden Brewery in Lisburn in Northern Ireland (on the Lagan Navigation), so the pulling of the first pint was delayed until after it arrived at 9.30pm. The part was cleaned and fitted; the pumping began; the first few fl oz were examined carefully. The first pint was pulled, photographed and handed to the man on my right; the second went to the man on my left; I had the third. A bitter beer: very hoppy and refreshing, and well worth the wait.
The brewer (a small operator) intends to send different beers from time to time: a porter is promised next. I can't wait.
If anyone is boating in Ireland, get to Ballina (the one in Tipperary, not the one in Mayo) and support this worthy enterprise by drinking the beer. Beer and boats: what more could you want?
Apart from batteries, of course.
bjg
===ends==== The cask is supplied by Cuilin Loughnane of the Shelta Beer Company, who also supplies Messrs Maguire in Dublin. This first cask used an English yeast, but I forgot to note its name; he'll be changing to an Irish yeast shortly.
I put pics of the event on
bjg