AURORA Borealis – one minute they’re nowhere to be seen and then, there they are in all their glory. It’s a bit like Galway Bay’s first foray into the Belfast bar scene. The brewers of such well-received ales like Full Sail, Of Foam and Fury and Banished Sun last week took over the Brewbot Bar on the Ormeau Road and flung open the doors of what is now called Northern Lights on Tuesday night.
As well as brewing some cracking beers, Galway Bay run 12 pubs in Galway and Dublin so their first outlet in the north should fill beer enthusiasts up here with great excitement.
Northern Lights will have about 20 taps with around half-a-dozen featuring Galway Bay beer and the rest rotating between other Irish beers and brews from across the UK, Europe and other far-flung places. In time, they will also serve food but the desire to get the beer flowing as quickly as possible explains the almost stealth-like operation last week.
These are exciting times for Galway Bay and in particular head brewer Tom Delaney, who I was fortunate enough to have a decent chinwag with at the recent ABV Fest. Tom’s side project Land & Labour collaborated on the festival beer Screaming Trees and hopefully we’ll see more intriguing brews from the mixed fermentation venture in the near future.
Tom and the rest of the GBB crew have been more recently occupied with knocking out another excellent collaboration with Nola Brewing from the US and the fruits of that labour dropped a couple of weeks ago in the the form of Perfect Union – a double IPA which is heavy on trans-Atlantic influence.
The Irish pale malt is married with oats and a little bit of wheat to give a smooth mouthfeel and hazy look and it’s crammed full of hops – Citra, Simcoe, Eurkea, Nelson Sauvin – which give it a wonderfully juicy and tropical flavour.
It’s fermented with Vermont ale yeast and clocks in at 8 per cent. According to Tom it’s “the best double IPA we’ve made to date” which may raise the eyebrows of Of Foam and Fury fans, but if you haven’t tried it yet, go out and get a can and you’ll see what he’s talking about.
