EASTER is about many things – resurrection and chocolate eggs to name a couple – but one thing that we always see a proliferation of at this time of year is bunnies.
Kinnegar are the beer brand with the bunny logo and the amusing tagline ‘follow the hops’, but if you have been enjoying/enduring the morning PE workout with Joe Wicks all week, you’ll know all about bunny hops of a different variety.
If you have been getting your sweat on before doing a crash course in teacher training in the morning, then you deserve a beer and this bunny always delivers for me, Easter or otherwise. To be precise, I picked up a couple of Kinnegar’s ‘Brewers At Play’ series from a recent online order from Dublin-based Craft Central.
The series is numbered and the two I picked up were No. 5 and No. 6. Now, I wouldn’t consider myself to be Jamie Oliver – truth be told, I’m barely an Ainsley Herriott – but I do like a bit of cooking and I know Easter is usually accompanied by a nice leg of lamb, which can be augmented by the addition of some fresh rosemary.
I don’t know if there has been a surplus of that herb up in Donegal, but it has found its way into both beers I sampled this week – a saison and a sour.
First up is Uncle Grumpy – aka No.6. This is billed as a session saison, but Uncle Grumpy will do just fine if you haven’t the dentures in properly. It clocks in at 4.5 per cent and is a collaboration brew with Boundary, who certainly are prolific when it comes to hooking up with other breweries.
Anyway, this one is quite a sparkly number, with a bit of that funky tang you’d expect from a saison and a hint of citrus which leans more towards lime. The rosemary is quite subtle but there is the hint of a herby, earthy taste to it before a little bitter bite and a dry finish.
Next up is No. 5, a Rosemary Apricot sour. This is quite a philanthropic brew as it was made for Brewgooder’s worldwide campaign to provide clean drinking water in Malawi.
It clocks in at 5 per cent and it’s not suck-your-face-off sour. It’s quite refreshing and, again, the rosemary is understated. The apricot gives a sweet and slightly syrupy flavour and it’s nicely balanced.
