THERE'S nothing like an ice cold beer. Right? Well, when you consider the many different types of beer there are, setting an ideal serving temperature can be tricky. Indeed, if you were drinking wine, you'd hardly stick a nice bottle of shiraz in the fridge.
So it is with beer. Even a refreshing IPA doesn't have to be ice cold; in fact one Cork-based brewer want you to know the precise temperature their beer should be served at so much, they put it in their name.
8 Degrees is based in Mitchelstown and was set up by an Australian and a New Zealander. The name not only refers to temperature, but the fact that its home town is situated at eight degrees west longitude.
Their core range features Howling Gale pale ale, which has tropical and citrus fruit flavour and a refreshing, bitter finish, and Sunburnt Irish Red which has malty, caramel notes and toasty backdrop.
But, with summer upon us, 8 Degrees have brought out a few seasonal single hop specials for those hazy summer evenings.
Instead of chucking in a load of different hops, they’re taking one for each of these summertime sups and using an innovative technique to get all manner of flavours and aromas out of them. The first in the range is the Citra IPA, which showcases the wonderful flavours of the Citra hop against a light malt base.
Their second single hop IPA features a less common hop and they were kind enough to let me try out one of them. The Mandarina Bavaria has a an orange appearance and that hints at the mandarin-like characteristics of what is a fantastic summer ale. The wonderful ripe sunny aromas hit you straight away. There are sweet citrus and tropical flavours and I definitely picked up a hint of vanilla and a slight herby taste too. A lovely level of bitterness to balance out all that fruit too.
Those great sweet cirtus flavours go well with goats cheese or blue cheese and the Mandarina Bavaria is also a good accompaniment to fish too – maybe chuck on a few slices of lemon when cooking to bring out the flavours.
