Life

Craft Beer: Kilkeel's Beerhut Brewing Company host their first taproom today

Three beers from Warrenpoint-based Mourne Mountains Brewing
Three beers from Warrenpoint-based Mourne Mountains Brewing Three beers from Warrenpoint-based Mourne Mountains Brewing

IT’S been a busy time on what locals sometimes sarcastically refer to as the South Down Riviera. We may not have the yachts and high-roller casinos of Monte Carlo down here, but we do have some brewers knocking out some pretty good beer.

Today in Kilkeel, Beerhut Brewing Company are hosting their first taproom in their brewery in the town. Among the many Beerhut brews on offer is a new milkshake double IPA and a guest tap will be pouring Even More Jesus imperial stout from Evil Twin.

There’ll be food available from Bunty’s Street Food and admission is a recommended £5 to the RNLI. So it you’re in the area, pop in a support your local brewery and if you’re not, well just hop on a bus and enjoy beautiful views of the Mourne coastline before getting tucked into some great beer.

Further back up the coast, and there are great things coming out of Warrenpoint in the form of Mourne Mountains Brewing’s new double oatmeal stout Bear Grease.

It’s an intriguing name and one which prompts a quick Google to uncover its origins. Nothing particularly conclusive came up, but seems that ‘bear grease’ was either used by Native Americans to get a nice shine on their long, straight hair or as some form of relief from debilitating pain, inflammation and indigestion. So, a kind of ‘looking good, feeling good’ effect.

Well, to start, Bear Grease the stout does look good. It pours a lovely jet black colour, with a thin tan head. It throws off nice roasty aromas, with a hint of bitter chocolate and espresso.

Take a sip (this is a 7 per center after all) and you soon get to the ‘feeling good’ end of things. There’s a nice bready malt base before those lovely coffee and plain chocolate flavours kick in.

But it doesn’t end there. There’s a slight smokey hint to this stout, a little bit of licorice and a wee bit of dark fruit in there too before a nice bitter kick at the end. The relatively high abv gives it a nice, warming feel as well – adding further to the feel-good factor of this soothing stout.

MMB have also canned a new version of their Ott IPA, which now comes in a 440ml can and it is a citrusy and zesty number with a nice bitter and piney finish.