Nailed It marks the fifth birthday of Cork Brewery Eight Degrees in some style. In fairness after brewing forty odd different beers they had to get it right eventually! I jest, of course, the brewery that brought us such epic beers as the Full Irish has a well above average strike rate. This one is fruity, juicy and has a nice level of hoppy bitterness. A good test was, I wanted another straight after finishing my first. And it was a weekend night after all. Fair play lads and here’s to five more successful years!

Here’s a link to a brand new blog and a little look behind the scenes at Eight Degrees;

https://edgeofwest.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/8degrees-the-next-chapter/

The Crafty Brewing Company beers are brewed in Rye River for Lidl Ireland. This one had eluded me for a while but I was happy when I spotted it on the shelf in the Tullamore branch of Lidl. This is a proper IPA. It’s 6% and comes with a decent dose of Vic Secret hops. It’s very easy to drink and comes in at great value, €2.45 for a 500ml bottle, sure you couldn’t bate that with a very big stick! I saw a comment recently advising new comers to Irish Craft Beer to stay away from Irish IPAs with a very few exceptions, while I don’t wholly agree I would be happy to state that these two are definitely exceptions to that rule. Sláinte!