IT’S funny the information you absorb over the years without even knowing it. It may have been when I was getting ferried to school in the morning or hurriedly stuffing a piece of toast in my mouth a short time earlier, but the backdrop to the frantic morning rush back in the day was always the Ian Dempsey show on RTÉ 2FM.
As well as the easy patter and the tunes, there were the regular news, sport and weather updates, which probably washed over my teenage self, although I always managed to pick up on the last phrase of the weather report – ‘From Malin Head to Mizen Head’. And that’s how the original radio vehicle for Zig and Zag also helped me learn Ireland’s most northerly and southerly points.
That memory springs up every now and again, especially when you hear of some intrepid charity crusader hurtling between the two points on foot or under pedal power. It came flooding back to me too this week when I picked up a can of one of the latest offerings from Lacada.
Simply called Malin, there’s no intriguing nautical conundrum around the naming of this one, but in many ways its simplicity is its biggest strength.
Malin is a 6 per cent single hop IPA with the single hop in question being Strata. If you’ve been paying attention (and you should, because there’s an exam at the end of all this) I waffled on about the properties of the Strata when reviewing a single-hop offering from Larkin’s a few weeks ago. Therefore you’ll know that it leans far more towards the fruity end of things than the bitter.
Malin follows is a classic example of this, although there’s a slightly moreish malty spine to it all too. It pours an amber colour with a nice white head, which help impart some of that fruity aroma around the nostrils.
There’s initially a nice bit of sweet malt on the palate before a flood of tropical juicy flavours. I pulled out some mango and pineapple, with a hint of lemony bitterness. However, there is definitely a nice, pillowy softness to this and any slight bitter hint doesn’t linger.
There’s a little bit of a floral and herbal feel to it as well and it’s almost as refreshing as standing facing the Atlantic at Ireland’s most northerly point on a windy day.
