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I went down to cork yesterday .. and visited a friend, we was purchasing the usual Diageo crap in the off-license and I said, fair enough, I will buy some 'decent' beer - all I could find on the craft side was Dungarvan - Helvick Gold, Copper Coast, and Black Rock.

We tried the black rock first, I found if a little strange, like there was some herb or spice in there. To be perfectly honest it wasn't my cup of tea and I couldn't argue with him when he wanted to stick to his Guinness. We then tried the Copper Coast red. I thought it was real good, like a mild, easy to drink beer. We tried the Helvick gold ale - I liked it, it reminded me of the Belgian styles without the candy sugar. The bottle conditioned part worked out pretty good, except for the red which had some oddities floating.

What's your opinion of these beers ?

"Partridge9":bbzd5t7f wrote: I went down to cork yesterday .. and visited a friend, we was purchasing the usual Diageo crap in the off-license and I said, fair enough, I will buy some 'decent' beer - all I could find on the craft side was Dungarvan - Helvick Gold, Copper Coast, and Black Rock.

We tried the black rock first, I found if a little strange, like there was some herb or spice in there. To be perfectly honest it wasn't my cup of tea and I couldn't argue with him when he wanted to stick to his Guinness. We then tried the Copper Coast red. I thought it was real good, like a mild, easy to drink beer. We tried the Helvick gold ale - I liked it, it reminded me of the Belgian styles without the candy sugar. The bottle conditioned part worked out pretty good, except for the red which had some oddities floating.

What's your opinion of these beers ?[/quote:bbzd5t7f]


The Black Rock stout, when fresh is GREAT; truly hard to beat. (After 5 months in the bottle, I find that the flavors meld together and that in general it doesn't age too well.)

On cask its very different and on Friday at Against the grain on cask I'd say that it even had a bit of acidity; I've never had any hint of spice or herb in it ever.

The other two I haven't had on bottle often enough to comment but the Helvic Gold on cask is an absolute dream of a summer beer. It's GREAT on cask.


Adam

"Biertourist":a08gml6z wrote: The other two I haven't had on bottle often enough to comment but the Helvic Gold on cask is an absolute dream of a summer beer. It's GREAT on cask.
Adam[/quote:a08gml6z]

Would love to try it - I liked the bottle.

"Biertourist":a08gml6z wrote: I've never had any hint of spice or herb in it ever.
Adam[/quote:a08gml6z]

I maybe misleading here a little, I am very weak at identifying and describing unpleasant flavours, - but for me - I would reach for the red or gold before the stout.

I would consider Black Rock stout the finest stout money can buy in this country when it's on song, which is fresh and on cask. I have even recommended it to pub owners who are looking for a quality alternative to the usual, but the cask bit puts them off (hint hint: market opening for high quality draught stout). And bottled stouts are not the same!

I love the Black Rock its my favourite stout in any package and the Helvick is brilliant if you can get it fresh. That zesty hoppiness decreases when its been in bottle for a while but I think it benefits in that case from swirling the lees and dunking the "hefe" in to the glass a la weissbier. I have to agree that from the cask its superb.
I like the red when it is fresh too but it is not a style I go for much so I haven't tasted a lot of it.

Can't agree more with the lads about the helvick especially from the cask!

The stout and red are also good beers but for me the helvick gold is by far their best offering!