Bierhaus Cork Summer Beerfest 2008
The second Bierhaus Beerfest was held over the weekend of Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd June 2008. It was run in conjunction with the Shandon Street Festival which is a community festival held on the Saturday.
While Dave, owner of the Bierhaus, made great efforts to have everything up and running for the festival unfortunately the one thing he did not book was the weather! Saturday was a really horrible wintry day, which was more of a damper to the outdoor events at the Shandon Festival which I visited before adjourning to the warmth of the Bierhaus.
We had hoped to have an ICB meet-up but this did not materialise, but a few members were there at different times on Saturday and I hope this article is in tandem with their thoughts of what beers were on offer.
Just to summarise the following was the beer menu for the festival.
- Švyturys Baltas (Lithuanian wheat beer, 5.2%)
- Delerium Tremens
- Gambrinus (Czech lager, 4.1%)
- Paulaner
- Marston’s Pedigree (Burton pale ale, 4.5%)
- Purgatory (Pale ale from Franciscan Well)
Regular house draughts on were:
- Erdinger
- Krombacher
- Staropramen
- Hoegaarden
- Rebel Red
- O’Hara’s Stout
- Švyturys Ekstra
- Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru
- Meantime Pale Ale
- Harviestoun Old Engine Oil
- Sierra Nevada Summerfest
- Sierra Nevada Stout
- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
- Weihenstephaner Vitus (Wheat bock beer, 7.7%)
- Weihenstephaner Dunkel
- Weihenstephaner Hefe
- Ayinger Bräu Weisse
- Ayinger Ur Weisse
- Celebrator
- Mongozo Banana Beer
- Maredsous 8 (Dubbel style beer)
- Affligem
- Xingu black lager
- Palma Louca Pale lager
- 1795 Czech lager
- Švytury’s Baltijos (Lithuanian Dark Lager)
- Adam’s Irish Cider
- Rekorderlig Pear Cider
My first impressions at looking at the menu was that this was a broad-based menu with something for everyone and in particular with a few new additions for us beer nerds.
On Saturday I commenced my drinking with a bottle of Meantime Pale Ale – this was my first time having this and I was most impressed with it, maybe it was a little too chilled initially but it was a lovely beer. I followed this with Xingu, the Brazilian dark lager which I personally found a little too sweet but was glad to have had the opportunity of trying it. Next on the menu was the Švyturys Baltijos which is a dark amber colour lager and a most pleasant drink. It is the longest brewed beer from the Švyturys brewery. From talking to Dave at one stage he mentioned that he might hope to get it in as a guest beer on draught form at some stage which could be interesting. I followed this with a pint of Švyturys Baltas which is a Lithuanian wheatbeer – it is somewhere between Erdinger-type wheatbeers and Hoegaarden, but lovely and refreshing. I followed this with a Weihenstephaner Dunkel (my first time having this too) and was again not disappointed. I also had a sample of the Vitus from a fellow beer buff which was lovely as well. A nice friendly crowd in the bar with lots of friendly banter – the three guys sitting next to me had actually been in Bratislava a month or two ago and I am not long back from there we were also able to compare notes about beer amongst other things! We had even stayed in the same hotel! Small world!
I departed the Bierhaus in time to go home to watch Euro 2008 soccer on TV and was thankfully able to return again refreshed and recharged on Sunday afternoon for further sampling. In the meantime I was also able to do a few beer searches on the net, so eliminated one of two beers from my hit list – well Palma Louca anyway, though Dave said it was quite popular.
I started my sampling on Sunday with a pint of Švyturys Baltas wheatbeer – again a nice pleasant starter. I had hoped to have the Meantime Pale Ale but this was no longer available – too many punters the night before had finished the supply of it. I followed with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a half pint of Purgatory and did a bit of joint sampling/comparing. Initially I could detect the different tastes but after some time my taste buds became confused and I am not sure did I pour the rest of the Sierra Nevada bottle into the right glass or the Purgatory!
I followed on this with two pints of Marston’s Pedigree – my first time having this. I enjoyed these whilst watching a Munster hurling game on TV and it is indeed a most pleasant session beer as such. It pours out a little cold but after perhaps ten minutes or so it was very smooth and pleasant to drink. I would happily have it again. I must say at this stage that most of the beers were served in appropriate branded glassware and again thumbs up to Dave, Barry and Andrea for providing great service over the week-end. I followed these with a bottle of Švyturys Baltijos, the dark lager I mentioned already and finished the evening with Maredsous 8 – the Belgian dubbel-style beer. I would like to say it was a very nice drink but really I cannot remember! Think my taste buds had hit the wall at that stage.
Yet again congrats to Dave for putting on a great festival – I would doubt that there would be a bar in Ireland to have a menu like this any weekend. Bar owners have to consider all tastes and not just concentrate on one or two types of beer and I think Dave did this very well in providing a great selection this week-end as he does all the time anyway.
The festival was particularly busy on Friday night with Saturday night I believe also pretty busy. There was live music both nights too but unfortunately Grandad here was gone by then! Well done Dave – here’s to the next fest!
Click here to view all pictures (with thanks to Andy and Dave of The Bierhaus).
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