Westport, County Mayo - A beer lovers destination?

Well that might be a bit of a stretch but I do remember saying to my wife back in 2012 that while the town of Westport was one of my favorite holiday destinations, there was one thing that it could really use to clinch the deal .... a local brewery or two.  The place already had great scenery, nice pubs, trad music in many of said pubs, plenty of hotels and B&B's to choose from, and the last decade even brought better cuisine to the town as they know have several very good restaurants to choose from.  What more do you want??  Well something other than Guinness and Smithwicks on tap would be a good.  Now they've got it all.

It all started with the opening of West May Brewery in July of 2013.  Then this year a brewery right in the town of Westport itself opened up called The Mescan Brewery.  Their focus seems to be on Belgian styles and I look forward to trying them on my return.  Lastly a new brewery is just opening up near Ballina (further north in County Mayo) called Reel Deel Brewery.  I don't know much about them but hopefully all goes well.

The opening of West Mayo in 2013 worked out perfectly for me as my return visit to Westport with my daughter came in May of 2014.  Now all we needed to happen was for local pubs to offer it on tap.  This also happened with several pubs in Westport now offering West Mayo Beers on tap.  I was able to find their Pale Ale on tap at Cobbler's Bar that is conveniently attached to the Wyatt Hotel that I was staying at.  I was really impressed with the Pale Ale.  It rivaled some of the best Pale Ale's that we have on tap over here in the US and I think it would go really well on cask and hopefully we'll see that in the future.

Also discovered the Pale Ale on tap at Matt Molloy's pub.  I went over there on an early afternoon to try it.  I sometimes avoid Molloy's at night due to the crowds jamming in the place to see the trad music but it's a nice spot in the afternoon to enjoy a pint or three as it is yet another lovely pub in a town full of them.

I also should mention that Cobbler's is trying to become somewhat of a craft beer bar as they served other beers from around Ireland in the bottle such as Dungarvan from Waterford.  They also listed on their chalkboard Blue Moon as American Craft beer.  This gave me a chuckle.  I opted for the very tasty Dungarvan Black Rock Stout.

Another pub I had visited for the first time in 2012 with my wife also jumped on the West Mayo bandwagon called McGing's.  McGing's is up the street a bit just past the clock tower and is also a place where you can enjoy a jazz session and bluegrass music sessions.  We attended one of each that weekend and they were both very good.  McGing's had the Red Ale and Stout on tap from West Mayo.  Again both winners.  We sampled each while listening to some live Jazz.

As I mentioned, there is some great scenery in County Mayo.  We took advantage of the nice weather on the Sunday we were there and drove up to the stunning Achill Island and after touring around found a nice pub on the way back for a late lunch and they also had West Mayo Stout on tap.  The pub is in Newport (just north of Westport) and called The Grainne Uaile

Some token scenic photos of Achill Island:

There's lots of great pubs in Westport overall.  Not all of them are carrying these beers but still worth a visit nevertheless for the atmosphere and hospitality.  I've made it a point to try and visit as many different ones as I can over the years since I'm as much of a pub lover as I am a beer lover.  So here are shots of two of my other favorites but there a many more:

So this beautiful little town on the shores of Clew Bay and in the shadow of Croagh Patrick (St. Patrick's mountain on the shore of Clew Bay) now has quite a bit to offer us beer lovers.  I reckon it won't be too long before I visit again.

Franconian Beer Hike - Bad Staffelstein to Ebensfeld

I've been very lax, as usual, about updating this blog and so I've got some catching up to do.  Hell, I still hadn't caught up with 2013 let alone this year but better late than never.

So this beer hike was done with friends Rick, Isa, Juergen, and Elmar.  Two Americans, two Franconians, and for good measure Isa from Hamburg.  What could possibly go wrong?

The thing I loved about this hike, apart from the wonderful breweries along the way, was the variety of terrain.  Rick, Isa, and I met Juergen and Elmar at the small train station at Bad Staffelstein about 30-40 minutes north of Bamberg and Elmar drove us out to Vierzehnheiligen and the hike started out at the rather impressive church/former monastery/brewery complex know as Vierzehnheiligen where the next door Brauerei Trunk bier garten provided a nice start to the day and a wonderful Helles and Dunkel lager biers to enjoy.  Both beers were solid and I could have spent more time there but there was a lot of ground to cover so we moved on.

The path from Trunk first took us uphill through a forest where we then came out to a plateau and walked a few kilometers to a hill (with a church on top of it of course) called Staffelberg.  Apparently this area was also some kind of ancient Celtic site and some ruins had been uncovered there.

 

Getting up to the top of Staffleberg was a bit of a chore and unfortunately the beer garden there was not open on that day due to some family issues for the owners.  Nevertheless the view was spectacular and we could clearly see down below to the village of Loffeld where our next brewery awaited us.  First we took in the views.

 

 

 

The walk down from Staffelberg to Loffed was steep and fairly long.  My knees were aching by the time we got to the bottom and I fell behind on this part of the hike.

But alas we made it to the picturesque village of Loffeld and Staffelberg Brau.

I have to say I really needed the break at this point and I really enjoyed the beer and lunch (trout) here.  I had visited this brewery with Juergen and Elmar in 2013 but the beer seemed better this time and they also seemed to have a larger selection.  I had the Rauchbier and the summer beer (golden lager with some nice hoppiness). 

The next stop would be Pferdsfeld and this would take us through a forest before emerging in a field on the other side where we would walk straight into a thunder storm.  Now I lagged behind on most of this hike but the prospect of getting struck by lightning in a Franconian field had me quickly take the lead to reach the autobahn underpass on the way to Pferdsfeld.  I suspect the lack of photos on this leg of the trip had something to do with fearing for my life but soon we'd reach the safety and hospitality of Brauerei Leicht in Pferdsfeld.  Pferdsfeld is a tiny village that takes all of 5-10 minutes to walk through but they have a wonderful brewery there serving a classic Franconian Vollbier that is now one of my favorites.  Juergen correctly pointed out that there is a hint of cane sugar flavor to the beer and I agree but the beer is not too sweet and cloying.  I found it clean and refreshing and I really didn't want to leave.  Really well brewed.  I wish I had the skill (and the soft Franconian water) to homebrew a beer like this.

 

I also add that the people of Brauerei Leicht are very friendly.  We felt welcome and you can tell it is definitely a locals hangout. 

 

 

Next stop would be the village of Unterneuses to see if Brauerei Martin was open.  Sadly the brewery was closed for renovations and they told us it wouldn't reopen until next year.  Let's hope so.  All too often this sort of closing is permanent in Franconia so let's hope for the best.  The brewery tap was still open though and serving beer from the excellent Brauerei Hummel of Merkendorf so it wasn't a total loss. 

 



After the beer in Unterneuses we parted ways with Juergen and Elmar and headed south to the train station in Ebensfeld while they trudged back north to their car.  What happened next was a bit of a surprise and I regretted that Juergen and Elmar didn't walk to Ebensfeld with us as we discovered that the Brewery Tap for Schwanen Brau in Ebensfeld had reopened.  We had tried to visit in 2013 and found the doors shut and thought it might be permanent but the place was open and lively and the beer was really quite good. 

We stayed for three rounds in Ebensfeld and in hindsight should have stayed longer but we thought it might be a good idea to catch a train back to Bamberg.  Next time as Ebensfeld is worth another visit and this hike is one I would do again.

The Craft Beer Incubator of Portland, Maine

So there is this one magical, industrial park building that has earned the nickname "The Craft Beer Incubator of Maine".  Located on the western outskirts of Portland this one building currently hosts three new breweries and had previously been the startup location of the now larger Rising Tide brewery and Maine Beer Co. 

You can see here from the sign that 3 out of the 11 companies in the building are breweries.  It comes in handy as a place to go try some samples because you can just walk from one front door to the other and visit three breweries in one fell swoop.  Take a cab!

The three breweries are:

Austin Street Brewery

Bissell Brothers

Foundation Brewing

Austin Street is the smallest of the three and therefore not easy to find on tap in the city just yet.  The other two there are several pubs in Downtown and Old Port that serve them such as Novare Res, King's Head, Mama's Crowbar, etc. 

Personally I liked the Austin Street beers the best with the Crushable IPA being my favorite at a very drinkable 3.7%.  Still I though all the beers were very good.  The Eddy Saison at Foundation was probably my 2nd and I quite enjoyed the Substance ale from Bissell.  Bissell is probably the best one to drink at as they will serve you a full pint and have stand up tables inside and out to drink it at. 

As an added bonus, the formidable Allagash brewery is right across the street.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to go over there for a tour.  Next time.

Some photos: