Beamish Stout

After a leaving the Blarney area we decided to head into Cork to have a look around. Putting it bluntly, Cork is a little bit dull, very grey and not worth getting out of the car for! we headed down for the coast then and pulled into a little town with nothing but a caravan park and a pub called The Speckled Door. A quick glance over the taps at the bar showed all the usual suspects and one I had yet to come across - Beamish Stout. The initial taste is a dry, but hop laden stout - more in tune with a London porter than other Irish dry stouts and the beer is also more 'real' and not so 'creamy' even though the beer was dispensed through a nitrokeg system. Overall it is probably one of my favourite Irish stouts as it has a fresh, roasty, but still hoppy taste.

Beamish has been brewed in County Cork since 1792 and has produced their stout ever since. The brewery was acquired by Scottish and Newcastle earlier this year, and now produces Beamish Red, Fosters, Miller and Kronenbourg in addition to its flagship stout. Website: http://www.beamish.ie