LONG before I knew where Ormeau was, I knew that I loved soda farls.
Although they came in a packet labelled with the more truncated branding ‘Ormo’ (other sodies and tatty bread is available).
That’s what happens when you live in the sticks, but then when the student days came around, I knew all about the Ormeau Road, upper and lower for that matter.
The bakery may have baked its last loaf, but grain is still being put to good use in this popular part of south Belfast.
Ormeau Brewing Company is one of the north’s newest breweries had has been churning out a steady line of great beers for the last year or so.
Whether by necessity or design (or a bit of both) they are committed to keeping their environmental footprint as small as possible. The irony that the head brewer is from Australia is not lost here.
As a fairly small operation, therefore, their beers are currently only to be found in the greater Belfast area. I picked up a couple of cans in DC Wines on the Boucher Road.
First up was Monk’s Beer. As the name might suggest, this is a 5 per cent Belgian-style blonde ale. While many Trappist ales are often big, heavy numbers the monk’s beer is usually a light and refreshing brew, one they could drink themselves while slaving away in their monastic breweries.
This one is crisp and refreshing, but with some pronounced yeast characteristics. This affords it a sweet and fruity edge – think apples and pears (and we’re not talking rhyming slang here).
The beer itself pours a golden colour in the glass with fairly lively carbonation and a white head and those fruity esters come through on the nose before flooding the palate.
Next up is Garden Grove, a West Coast IPA which clocks in at a hefty enough 6.2 per cent. There’s enough going on to conceal that strength though.
It pours an amber colour in the glass with a slight white head. Lots of tropical and citrus aromas give way to some rich, sweet malt flavours. As you’d expect from a West Coast IPA, there’s a sharp, piney and resinous feel throughout it all and bitter, almost spicy finish.
