Foreword By Ciaran Cunningham
So I would like to welcome Neil Bolton to the Blog, Neil is a passionate beer drinker, he up until 2017 was one of the many...drinking mass-produced beer from St James gate and a beer that 'Probably' isn't.
He was introduced to Craft Beer at the 'ABV' festival in Belfast in 2017 by Steve....Think Obi-Wan to Neils - Young Skywalker.........Neil being the type of guy he is, went balls deep on his first-ever glass of Craft Beer, he ordered a No 13 off the Festival menu. No 13 unlucky for some, but No 13 happened to be one of the most revered Imperial Stouts ever produced. At 12% ABV this absolute banger of a stout, is jet black and is likened to pouring liquid chocolate down your throat, it is that good...can you tell I like it - Evil Twin Brewing 'Even More Jesus' has reached godlike status in the craft beer world and for good reason, this heavenly drop has a thick fudge-like body, pitch-black color, amazingly overwhelming aromas of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits and muscovado sugar and at that the ABV - liquid painkiller.......Now to Neils first ever and hopefully not his last Blog Post...........
Excitement was in the air on the morning of Saturday 1st August. At last, a craft beer meet up with the lads after months of virtual pubs, we would finally get to sit together and enjoy some good beers and company. With visitors from Midlands Beer Club Ireland and a few other people from around the country, this taproom proved to be a resounding success.
Beer Hut Brewing Co.. Neil at the pumps
Any fears of social distancing were put to rest upon arrival @ Beer Hut with plenty of hand sanitizer and clearly marked routes, and table layout well-spaced to prevent any issues. With the compulsory sign in and details taken by the guys, the beer started to flow.
The tap list had some crackers on it as well with fresh kegs of the new single hop series Mosaic and Simcoe to get stuck into, and a DIPA called Insert Hops to Continue, I have no problems in life when my beer is telling me to insert hops, I duly obliged, and thereafter the hops continued to be inserted.
As the afternoon lead into the evening and I was getting more intoxicated on the force that was IPA, I could hear the dark side calling me. There were two crackers on the menu with Beer Hut’s own Salted Caramel Imperial Stout Interstellar (a personal favourite of mine) coming in at 11% abv it’s a lovely thick chewy bodied beer with lovely bitter chocolate and caramel upfront and a nice touch of salt on the end, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Barrel Aged version later this year. To follow this was Boundary’s 11.7% abv Soteriology Coffee Imperial Stout – another cracker from them, lovely malty and loaded with coffee upfront, full-bodied mouthfeel I could have and probably tried to drink it all night.
The guys at Beer Hut do know how to make good beer, as do their guests Lacada and Boundary who graced us with their presence on the day as well as their beer – Lacada offering their 5.6% Reostan Gose. Nice lightly salted sour beer - a style I’m finding my feet with and enjoying the more I try them.
With the beer now flowing so were the tunes and as has become a custom at these shindigs the singsong started, and the queen numbers got belted out into the final hours of the night. This craft beer lark is after all a Crazy little thing called love.
Steve and Paul in their own little Beer Hut bubble belting out the tunes....Air guitar anyone?
As with all these events I have not only enjoyed meeting up with my existing friends again but also meeting and hopefully making more new friendships that will be continued at a future beer event not far away.
The taproom was brilliant and I can only applaud Neil and Andrew for delivering another brilliant day for all the troops, Steve, Paul, Lar, Darren, Jessica, Gary, William, and Ciaran – here’s to the next one and hopefully plenty more events to come in the not too distant future.
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