Come Here To Me!

Please tell me you’ve seen ‘Real Ale Twats’, the British comic strip poking fun at beer aficionados? No? Here you go, thank me later.

Here at Come Here To Me we’ve been trying to broaden our horizons beyond Arthur Guinness’ produce. The Bull and Castle, Against The Grain, L.Mulligan’s and the like have all become frequent spots, but so too have more standard pubs which are coming around to supplying more than the traditional and predictable. If you want a pint of Galway Hooker, why not just drop into The Palace on Fleet Street? It’s good to see publicans branching out a little.

In the past, we’ve given special mention to beers we’ve taken to. From Plain, the award-winning Porterhouse Stout, to the rather patriotic English Spitfire. Continuing this grand tradition of ordering anything we don’t recognise in a Dublin pub, a few more new beers have been tasted.

The Gingerman is a pub I very rarely drop into. We checked it out once on a Come Here To Me pubcrawl, but for me it’s just a little out-of-the-way in a corner of the city I’m rarely in. I found myself in it recently killing them waiting for a train to the countryside to arrive (Balbriggan, if you’re wondering 😉 ) and instantly was drawn to the options on tap from the Franciscan Well Micro Brewery in the rebel county Cork. The pub offer three options from Cork, including a Wheat Beer I’d heard only good things about. At €3.50 a pint, the microbrewery option is appealing. I’d heard much of the banana aroma and malt flavour. It’s mild yes, but I could knock through several pints of this. It’s also available in O’Neill’s on Suffolk Street and is worth checking out in my opinion. I enjoyed quite a lot of wheat beer when in Germany in the past, and this is a more than decent effort from the langers down South.

A favourite of mine in recent times has come from north of the border, from the College Green Brewery and their beautiful Molly’s Chocolate Stout.This one has character, and a beautiful almost coffee-like taste to her. I first tasted this stout in L.Mulligan’s, but was so taken by it I purchased several bottles across the seat in the off licence to consume at home. The College Green brewery are new into the game of microbrewing, based next to Queens University as their name suggests, and their other output is just as delicious in the form of Belfast Blonde and Headless Dog.

Lastly, an ale I’ve fallen head over heels in love with is Rusty at Messrs Maguire, ironic as I’m no fan of the pub itself to say the least in terms of layout or character. This is just like I like ’em, bitter and memorable, with a great hoppy finish. Haus Lager and Bock, other in-house produce, are perfectly fine and enjoyable for consumption, but within this premises nothing rivals Rusty. If Messrs Maguire’s truly has been … the venue of choice for raconteurs and ramblers, for imbibers of liquor and the loftiest discourse.” since 1808, I wish they’d turn off the pop music nonsense at night and go back to lofty discourse. Nothing goes better with real ale.