On Wednesday I had the pleasure of exploring the taste of Guinness as The Open Gate Brewery came to Belfast. You may remember from earlier nigossipguy blog posts, Ive actually been down to the Open Gate Brewery in Dublin and I had a very enjoyable day tasting the different experimental blends. So when I was invited along to the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast I was intrigued as how Guinness would bring the Dublin experience to Belfast.
Luckily they brought lock,stock and barrel to the gallery and I felt transported to James Gate right in the middle of Belfast. The Gallery had its very own bar and visitors where treated to a lot of Guinness flavored treats and tipples from Goat wraps (with some interesting condiments see below), to Guinness doughnuts, honeycomb ice-cream I was in my element.
Myself,fellow bloggers, media and invited guests had been invited along to be told some exciting news! And as usual as I was running late I made just in time for the announcement:
Continuing in a long-standing tradition of brewing innovation and excellence, the Guinness brewers at St. James’s Gate are proud to announce that some of their latest beers will now be made available in 25 select pubs in Belfast.
For over a hundred years, there has been an experimental brewery at St. James’s Gate where the brewers are given license to explore new recipes, reinterpret old ones and experiment freely to bring exciting new beers to life. For the first time in its history, the brewers in St. James’s Gate opened the doors of its home of brewing experimentation and innovation with the launch of The Open Gate Brewery last November.
Over the last seven months, the brewers have welcomed thousands of people into The Open Gate Brewery to enjoy the unique brewing experience at St James’s Gate; chat to them about great beer and of course, savour the regular pipeline of amazing, small batch brews that are created each month, which has included 1516 Pilsner, Chocolate and Vanilla stout, Antwerpen Export stout and Strawberry Porter.
From today, people will be able to enjoy some of The Open Gate Brewery beers in select pubs in a limited edition capacity, which will be updated every two months with the latest new brew.
Speaking earlier today, Peter Simpson, Brewer in the Open Gate Brewery said; “Since we launched The Open Gate Brewery, we have had many requests from publicans and consumers to make our small batch brews available beyond the Open Gate Brewery so that people can experience our beers. While some of the brews will remain exclusive to The Open Gate Brewery, we are delighted to announce that some of the small batch brews will now be available in 25 pubs in Belfast.
The first beer that will be rolled out will be a Rye Pale Ale. It’s an evolution of the Rye Pale Ale brew that we created for our association with Offset back in April. It’s a blond colour beer with full bodies and is slightly sweet with grapefruit coming though. You can also detect a slightly spicy/peppery flavour and it has a malty end, which comes from the rye. It has beautifully balanced bitterness. We are looking forward to hearing what people think of it”, continued Peter Simpson.
The Open Gate Brewery tap will be a permanent fixture in select pubs and the new brews will come on stream every second month. To find out which bars are serving The Open Gate Brewery beers log on to www.guinnessopengate.com.
I honestly have to say as a non-beer drinker (well a sip a pint to be mannerly 😉 ), I’m more a spirits girl I actually really enjoyed the Rye Pale Ale. It was light and perfectly balanced. So my advice check out your local bar and see if it’s one of the lucky 25.
Emer D xx
EmerDBlog 