The Irish are known for liking a good pint. But while the country’s beer scene has been dominated by the ubiquitous stouts for generations, a new breed of brewers from Waterford to Portrush are bringing exciting new beers to the beer scenes on both sides of the border including many of them reintroducing cask ale to the island.
MBCF has picked out ten of the best Irish craft breweries – six from Northern Ireland and four from the Republic – to showcase their beers on cask and key-keg / keg formats.
Beimid ag ól! – Lets be drinking!
Click on column headings to sort.
Boundary | A Question of if | 7.4 | Belfast | County Antrim | Belgian Golden Strong ale | Keg/Key-keg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boundary | Blind Artist | 2.8 | Belfast | County Antrim | Belgian Table Beer | Keg/Key-keg |
| Boundary | Means to and End | 6 | Belfast | County Antrim | Belgian Stout. Complex and generally wonderful | Keg/Key-keg |
| Bullhouse | Brainwashed | 4 | Newtownards | County Down | Germanic lager. Hallertau Blanc for the buttering, flavour and aroma additions, dry hopped with a small amount of Chinook. White grape and fresh lemongrass. Easy drinking session lager for the masses. | Cask |
| Bullhouse | P45 | 4.2 | Newtownards | County Down | Easy drinking Pale Ale. Pale and Crystal Malt. Columbus and Amarillo. | Keg/Key-keg |
| Bullhouse | Small Axe | 4.3 | Newtownards | County Down | Hoppy, sessionable IPA packed with resinous West Coast hops. When Bob Marley wrote Small Axe in 1970, The Wailers were the 'small acts' stepping up to chop down the 'big tree.' Here's to the little guys.. with their Small Axe | Cask |
| Bullhouse | The Dankness | 5.5 | Newtownards | County Down | Dank dank dank. Haze haze haze. Juicy juicy juicy. Intense tropical fruit aroma and flavour. Full bodied. Low bitterness | Keg/Key-keg |
| Eight Degrees | Knockmealdown | 5 | Mitchelstown | County Cork | Evolution of the traditional Irish stout, it resembles a Victorian-era Irish porter and provides complex dark malt characteristics with distinctive espresso flavours. Without the weight of a stout, the porter is well rounded with mellow English hops. | Keg/Key-keg |
| Eight Degrees | The Full Irish IPA | 6 | Mitchelstown | County Cork | Colour/appearance: pours a pale gold colour, with lovely white head. Medium carbonation. Aroma: lots of hops! It’s a hop bomb with citrus and floral characters, particularly grapefruit at the fore, with hints of lime, melon and lychees. Flavour: hoppy f | Keg/Key-keg |
| Farmageddon | Anzac pale ale | 4.5 | Comber | County Down | Full bodied flavour from the Australian/NZ hops. Summer and Galaxy hops combine to make a dry but fruity flavour | Cask |
| Farmageddon | India Export Porter | 5.2 | Comber | County Down | Well hopped with grains leading to complex layers of thirst quenching bitterness including a chocolatey-orange finish. definitly not a black IPA, its a well hopped porter following the same tradition as IPA (except this was for the troups not the officers | Cask |
| Farmageddon | IPA | 5.5 | Comber | County Down | Big, hoppy American IPA, using hops from the pacific Northwest balanced with a bit of crystal malt | Keg/Key-keg |
| Farmageddon / Hopcraft / Waen | Wreckin' Crew | 5.5 | Comber | County Down | Golden strong pale with citra galaxy and bit of Sorachi Ace | Cask |
| Knockout | Cascade IPA | 4.5 | Belfast | County Down | Heavily hopped with Cascade to give smooth floral and citrus aroma and flavor | Cask |
| Knockout | Irish Red Ale | 4.5 | Belfast | County Down | A gluten free Red ale hopped with Willamette | Cask |
| Lacada | Devil's Washtub | 5.2 | Portrush | County Antrim | We, and our customers, are having fun pinning this one down. Like the landmark it is named after this beer is more than a little mysterious – Dark IPA? Cascadian Dark? Dark Ale? What you do get is a dark, almost ruby red beer. The creamy head exudes a ser | Cask |
| Lacada | East The Beast | 6 | Portrush | County Antrim | Mango & pineapple aroma from Mosaic hops comes steaming off the head with a sweetness left single pale malt bill | Keg/Key-keg |
| Lacada | Shore Dulse Stout | 7 | Portrush | County Antrim | smooth velvety stout with a complex malt profile including the use of dulse seaweed which leads to a subtle wood-smoke and sea salt aftertaste, reminiscent of a camp fire by the shore. | Cask |
| Lacada | Utopian Stout | 8 | Portrush | County Antrim | Brewed with four malts. Surprisingly, there are no oats in this Stout but we use a mashing regime/ratio that gives us plenty of body in the finished beer. It is silky smooth, not too dry and so is devilishly easy to drink with the big malt flavours of co | Cask |
| Metalman | Equinox | 4.6 | Waterford | Co Waterford | A refreshing wheat lager designed with lazy sunny days in mind. Hazy bright yellow, it’s a smooth and refreshing beer with a light dry finish. Orange and lemon peel are added to the brew kettle for a burst of citrus, along with some ground coriander to gi | Cask |
| Metalman | Ironmonger | 6.5 | Waterford | Co Waterford | Luscious malty body and a fruity citrus finish | Keg/Key-keg |
| Metalman | Pale Ale | 4.3 | Waterford | Co Waterford | American style pale ale. Dark gold, with citrus & floral aromas produced by American hops. A dry bitter finish | Cask |
| Mourne Mountain | Export Stout | 6.5 | Warrenpoint | Newry | A smooth, rich and warming stout | Cask |
| Mourne Mountain | Mourne Gold | 4 | Warrenpoint | Newry | Gold from the Mournes has a distinct composition, containing around 10% silver. The grist of our Mourne Gold beer combines lager malt with 10% wheat malt, producing a very pale ale. Continental Brewers Gold hops give a fresh and fruity aroma, making this | Cask |
| Mourne Mountain | Mourne Mist | 4.5 | Warrenpoint | Newry | We love those grey, misty days because they slowly replenish our water supply. Just like the original source of Pilsner, we combine soft brewing water with biscuity barley malt and the classic Bohemian hop variety, Saaz, for a floral aroma and an earthy b | Keg/Key-keg |
| O'Hara's | 51st State IPA | 6 | Bagenalstown | Co. Carlow | Tropical flavours of grapefruit, passion fruit, apricot & peach. Intense citrus aroma & well-balanced mild bitterness | Keg/Key-keg |
| O'Hara's | Irish Red | 4.3 | Bagenalstown | Co. Carlow | Smooth malt body complimented by caramel tones and perfectly balanced in bitterness | Cask |
| O'Hara's | Leann Follain Extra Irish Stout | 6 | Bagenalstown | Co. Carlow | Full-bodied extra Irish stout. Dark chocolate tones with a hint of vanilla combine with mild mocha aroma | Cask |
| O'Hara's | Opsession | 4 | Bagenalstown | Co. Carlow | Opsession IPA is a sessionable IPA, created to be light and refreshing whilst keeping all the flavour profile that we love and expect from an IPA. The generous hop additions perfectly play off a crisp malt backbone delivering a flavoursome beer to satis | Keg/Key-keg |
| Rascals | Bourbon Milkshake Stout | 6 | Rathcoole | Co. Dublin | Bourbon barrel aged version of Milkshake Stout. Brewed with coconut, vanilla & chocolate | Cask |
| Rascals | Swankee White IPA | 5 | Rathcoole | Co. Dublin | American IPA meets Belgian Witbier. Swankee is a hybrid of the two styles, hopped like an American IPA with the malt bill of a wheat beer and fermented with Belgian Wit yeast. Big CITRUS and PEACH fruity profile with subtle spice from the Belgian yeast. S | Keg/Key-keg |
| Rascals | Wunderbar IPA | 6 | Rathcoole | Co. Dublin | Wunderbar is our WONDERFUL IPA brewed with 100% German hops. This is a hop forward IPA, full of fruity hop flavour with a medium bitterness. Late and dry-hopped with Hallertau Blanc and Mandarina Bavaria. The hops offer sweet tangerine on the nose and swe | Cask |