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No, I think it was genuine. Though it looks from a glance at the Internet chatter that there's still something at 5.5% being sold under the name in North America.

think i must have been at the same james gate do as adeptus, how many years ago was that? i think i tried them initially in the palace bar. i also knew the brewer of them from college, not sure if he's still working there. they were good beers (the red was nice but revolution was better). breo was weird but interesting for a change.
i remember a mate having the smithwicks barley wine in o'loughlins in dun laoghaire a few years ago (real old style pub) and the best before date was about a year previously, tasted great though. and it was about 6.5% if i remember. had a nice barley wine in durham recently too.

"Hendrixcat":t6o58rzm wrote: Was Smithwick's Barley Wine a real barley wine with respect to ABV or was it a barley wine in the sense that Greene King IPA is an IPA?[/quote:t6o58rzm]

No where near!

"dereko1969":1r3k5cgs wrote: think i must have been at the same james gate do as adeptus, how many years ago was that?[/quote:1r3k5cgs]Man, it was a good while ago. 1998!
Actually, just found this from the archives[/url:1r3k5cgs].

[quote:2371xab3]Man, it was a good while ago. 1998! [/quote:2371xab3]

That makes sense to me now. I remeber having a few pints of Breo in the UCD bar during my first year in college. It was my first foray into beer of any sort really, and I recall it tasting of washing up liquid. Perhaps the lines had been poorly rinsed or maybe my immature taste buds just didn't appreciate it's zestiness. I'd love to try another pint to see what it was really like.

Yeah, the James's gate beers came out a little after Breo but they were certainly around at the same time. I remember trying Breo that night and thinking exactly what you just said: washing up liquid. A kind of orange flavoured washing up liquid. As you say, tastes change and I think I have a far more open mind about beers than I did ten years ago, so yeah, it'd be nice to at least try it again <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

I was just thinking, I remember people talking about it as being a "white Guinness" or something, so I'm sure it was a shock to the system when it was nothing like it! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->