The social drinker

Afew weeks ago I wrote about the joys of the relatively famous Belgian beer, Hoegaarden. A reader was kind enough to suggest an Irish alternative with a similar mix of hops, yeast and citrus-fruit peel. Always curious about local alternatives, I popped out to buy some Freebird White IPA the other evening, and I’m glad to report that it is a very good, Irish-made beer that is likely to appeal to anybody who likes the Belgian taste.

It turns out that this is no coincidence. Freebird White IPA is a new beer (only released last month) from the Carlow Brewing Company in Bagenalstown using Belgian yeast strains, and the orange peel that is also used to brew Hoegaarden. So a copy of sorts, but an excellent copy, and one with a twist, when it comes to production techniques.

The Carlow brewer is far from the only brewery to pay homage to Belgium recently. White IPA is a hybrid beer; this style is only four or five years old, but is sweeping across the many craft breweries in the US.

White IPAs try to combine the flavours of two very popular beers: tart, spicy, wheaty Belgian witbiers, and hoppy India Pale Ales.

The combination is easy on the palate, and probably as good an introduction as any other to the whole craft-beer movement. It is also good for drinkers like me, who find many so-called craft beers completely overblown and often downright monotonous.

As the weather improves, beers like White IPAs will come into their own, compared to the often heavy beers made by so many craft brewers here and overseas. The old truism that success has many fathers, means that nobody is sure who came up this clever marketing trick, but like many marketing tricks, White IPAs look like they are here to stay, and it is good to have an enticing Irish version.