Craft beer is awesome. It’s about having a great experience at the hands of some incredibly caring alchemists who turn humble water, yeast, & barley into something truly incredible. Irish craft brewers are truly stepping up their game in recent times with many finally abandoning caution in their creativity to producing flavor-crammed powderkeg beers. But, many of these are one-offs and they disappear, often never to be seen again. And it’s a damn shame. 

So, let’s get right down to the business end of things. Here’s five irish craft beers I’d love to see again (and I’m sure there’s other folks out there who’d agree).

1. Galway Bay & BeGyle Brewing – ‘Goodbye Blue Monday’

They called it an oatmeal IPA; I called it an Extra-IPA that frankly out-torpedoed Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo by a country mile.

2. Rye River Brewing – ‘Toothless Dec’

Brown Ales are just too bloody rare in our beer market. Those we have are fucking undrinkable. This one; by christ it was beyond good. It was fantastic and was a benchmark brown ale in my books.

3. Trouble Brewing – ‘Chasing the Dragon’

‘Dead Pony Club’ on steroids is the best way to describe this beer. And it was glorious.

4. Otter Bank Brewing – ‘Farami’

Thought I wasn’t going to name this? Yeah, and monkeys might fly outta my butt. Simply the single best stout I’ve ever had still to this day. C’mon, get this back out already lads ……

5. Eight Degrees Brewing – ‘Enigma’

In the words of  Crocadile Dundee, “That’s not a knife, this is a knife.” Well, there are Pale Ales, and then there’s this. THIS is a hell of a Pale Ale.

What are your five Irish Craft Beers you’d like to see brought back for either a ‘last tango’ or permanently?