Bran & Sceolan Irish IPA - Beer of the Month

KRISTIN JENSEN - co-author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders - introduces us to one of Ireland’s newest craft beers, White Hag Brewing Company Bran and Sceolan Irish IPA

ABOUT THE BREWER

You could say that the White Hag Irish Brewing Company hit the ground fighting in 2014. They had hoped to debut at the Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo in August 2014 with their appropriately named Fleadh Ale, but a small group of local publicans blocked the granting of a licence for a special Craft Beer Emporium at the festival. Craft beer fans nationwide were up in arms at the small-minded move, but the brewery was able to get some local pubs on board to host their ale instead.

The brewery also created a buzz at the Irish Craft Beer Festival in the RDS in September 2014, with punters raving about the quality of the beers and the impressive range. Incredibly, founder James Ward and brewer Joe Kearns launched the brewery with six beers. Most microbreweries launch with one flagship beer or a safe stable of a pale ale, a red ale and a stout or porter, but right off the bat the White Hag came out with a wit beer, heather ale, imperial oatmeal stout, Irish bog ale, a white IPA and an Irish IPA as well as that infamous Fleadh Ale, a one-off festival special.

The brewery takes its inspiration from ancient Irish mythology, starting with the name of the brewery itself: ‘The White Hag was a witch, a chameleon creature and even Mother Nature herself. We know she was all that, and more.’ Or take their Meabh Rua Irish Bog Ale, which uses peat-smoked barley and was inspired by Queen Meabh, whose name in old Irish translates as ‘ale’.

White Hag Brewing Company is the first brewery in Sligo for over 50 years, but they also have their eye on the US market and are exporting to New York. Already a highly regarded microbrewery in Ireland, ‘the White Hag is going to be huge in the States, mark my words,’ said brewer James Ward.

ABOUT THE BEER

Beer style: IPA
ABV: 7.2%
Colour: Hazy honey gold
Serve in: IPA glass, pint glass, tulip glass

Matches well with: Curry, game, smoked fish or meat, spicy food, Mexican food, Thai food, Vietnamese food

Writing about the inspiration for the name of this beer, the White Hag Brewery says, ‘Bran and Sceolan were the two wolfhounds of the famous Irish warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill…It is only fitting that our Irish pale ale bears the names of these strong legends whose story is as intense and complex as the flavours in this beer. Highly hopped, bitter yet fresh and floral.’

The beer has a head that pours an inch thick and the colour is a hazy honey gold. That cloudiness and the gentle carbonation aren’t surprising given that it’s a bottle-conditioned beer.

The aroma is predominantly floral, like roses, but with a sweet note of apricot jam in there too. The flavour is deliciously juicy: grapefruit, citrus peel, mango and passion fruit as well as some bracing resinous pine from all those hops.

The big surprise with this beer is the ABV: a heavy-hitting 7.2%. I did a double take when I saw the ABV on the bottle. It’s such an easy-drinking IPA that you’d never guess it has that kind of alcoholic heft – until it’s too late, of course.

IPAs are a classic match for a curry, as the hop bitterness cuts through the spice. A word of warning, though: if you love fiery hot curries, this particular beer isn’t the best match because of its high alcohol content - the higher the ABV, the hotter it makes the heat. IPAs are also good matches for Mexican food, Thai food, Vietnamese food and even game and smoked meats.

You might be surprised to learn that IPAs are a good match with blue cheese. The salty, raw milk Bellingham Blue would hold its own paired with this beer. IPAs also pair well with hard Gouda and Cheddar-style cheese, such as Mossfield, Hegarty’s Cheddar, Mount Callan Cheddar or a mature wedge of Coolea.

Kristin Jensen is a freelance editor specialising in cookery and food books and has worked with many of Ireland's top food writers and chefs.  She writes the Edible Ireland blog and is a co-founder of the Irish Food Bloggers Association and, together with Caroline Hennessy, is joint author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders .