THE year may only be a couple of months old but it’s already been an eventful on from Wicklow Wolf Brewery.
Based in the ‘Garden of Ireland’, it’s no surprise that they have their own hop garden. It’s all part of their overall sustainability drive, looking after their own wee patch of the world while also making greats beers.
Well, they’re succeeding on both fronts at the minute. Just a couple of weeks ago they scooped the Oliver Hughes Award for Best Brewery, named after the Porterhouse founder, at the Beoir Beer of the Year Awards. Their barrel-aged imperial stout Point Shoes also won the Beer of the Year award.
They’ve undergone something of a rebranding lately, with an impressive range in 440ml cans, so I grabbed a couple to see if the Wolf had some bite.
First up was Apex Oatmeal Stout. It pours jet black and if you catch a glimpse of it on the curve of the glass, it has the shiny black look of a snooker ball worth seven points. There’s a slightly off-white head and roasty, sweet aromas.
It delivers the smoothness you would expect from an oatmeal stout, with a sweet malt and quite light coffee tones – more latte than espresso, if you like. It’s robust enough, though, and at 6.5 per cent packs a decent punch. There are hints of dark chocolate and even a touch of licorice about it too.
Mammoth IPA is one of those beautifully balanced IPAs I just love. First up, it pours a nice amber colour in the glass with a white head. There are sweet and tropical aromas coming off it, so you know you’re in for a blast of fruit, but the first gulp delivers a biscuity malty that is so sweet it’s got hints of toffee about it.
That gives way to the host of tropical and citrus flavours, with tastes of grapefruit and mango flooding in before a clean, piney finish that strikes just the right level of bitterness. The sweet malt helps to offset some of that bitterness but some lingers, which is nice.
At 6.2 per cent, it has a decent strength to it but it’s highly drinkable with it.
