A Very Tiny Rant

I know some beers are hard to pronounce and I do realise that people will often get the names of foreign beer wrong. But...... IT'S NOT "DUVELLE" it's simply Duvel. "Doo vil" would be something like it - it's Dutch (Flemish) not French and even if it was French, Duvel would not be pronounced "Duvelle".
It's particularly annoying when bar staff correct my reasonably correct pronunciation!
Now you know.

Keeping Up To Date

Today I want to report any updates on previous posts -what's been going on in my beer world, so to speak.


Very recently, I did a post on The Bierhaus which can be read here.

Unfortunately, I forgot to mention their Summer Beer Festival which took place last weekend (20,21,22 June). By all accounts my plugging was unnecessary as they had a full house all weekend, despite - or maybe because of - serving no mainstream draught beer. Dave got in a number of guest draught and bottled beers for the weekend, the stand out one, for me, being the Meantime Pale Ale from England . There was music and Uncle Pete's Pizza (second next door) did Bradwurst. Who said there wasn't a market for quality beer. The Bierhaus had an absolutely hopping weekend while not selling a single pint of Guinness or Heineken. Look out for their Octoberfest!


My post on the standard of bar serving (here) caused quite a stir on this forum - a debate that still rages.

I had made reference to a bar serving Weihenstephaner but their staff didn't seem to have a clue what it was or, in some cases, that they even stocked it. At the time, I didn't name the bar. It was The Crane Lane. I can now happily report that the staff now seem to have gotten to grips with said beer and even know how much to charge for the Vitus (7.5% Weizenbock). The management were a little slow off the mark in getting their staff familiar with this new beer but better late than never. It must be noted that The Crane Lane does sell a fine varied selection of world beers and local microbrews from The Franciscan Well, not just a rash of 'premium' lagers like many bars do when they want to up the beer selection.


Again, a heated debate arose in this forum when I criticised The Pavillion for having such a poor selection of beer - the post can be read here.

I've been in since. Again, I say I do like the understated, modern décor. A look over the counter told me that, yes, they have changed their beer selection. For the better? Yes, sort of. On the down side, they seem to have taken out bottled Hoegaarden. But they have started to stock Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen - add the dunkel to that and we'd be getting somewhere. While I often complain about too many lagers in bars at (the expense of other beers), The Pav have put in one of my favourites - Vedett. The people who make Duvel (come on, guys stock that too!) make this fresh, crisp lager that actually has some flavour, and while clever marketing and packaging doesn't make a bad beer good, I am a sucker for the look of this bottle and all their marketing gimmicks (check out the site). Budweiser 1795 has also made an appearance, which I do prefer to its neighbour Budvar (the story is here)
In the name of fairness, I handed over my hard earned cash to try their coffee again. I'm very sad to say that it was even worse than the last time I tried it. It just didn't taste like coffee at all. There are obviously some serious problems with their coffee procedures or machine - people don't seem to appreciate that it takes a lot of effort and training to make a decent coffee and The Pav don't seem to be bothered in fixing their problems.
On a happier note, they are now serving lunch in The Pavillion. The person responsible for the food is Mary who previously did Janey Mac's in South Court Terrace and her reputation speaks for itself. I'll be having lunch there myself soon but I'll go elsewhere for my coffee.

Update; I've had lunch there and can confirm that my expectations were correct - the food is well made home style soup and sambos, with a bit of flair at reasonable prices (and it's not that easy to find good soup about town).


In this post I heralded the arrival of Weihenstephaner in Ireland.

Well, finally the Dunkel version had come in. For people who like Schneiderweisse Original, Weihenstephaner should very much appeal. It has a similar sort of darkness to it (quite pale for a dunkel) and while very much its own beer, does have similarities. I think it may just be my regular pub drink.
I had written that their Vitus was somewhat of a disappointment to me. Well, after a few in The Bierhaus and The Crane Lane, I have developed somewhat of a fondness for the pale strong weizenbock that is Vitus. Weihenstephaner have a huge catalogue of beers so who knows what other ones will come to our shores in the future.


Although this post was somewhat disjointed (and all the links took me ages), I feel it is necessary to report on how things are changing and if people are responding to my criticism.

My last drink was; Pint of draught Beamish, 4.1%abv (I think)

A Small Rant

I was at Lou Reed in The Marquee in Cork last night. There was a big Budweiser Tent. I know that this is too big for The Beer Revolution to fight but my complaint is quite specific. I grudgingly accept that bars at big events like this are going to be dominated by the multinational breweries. I know that there will be no real choice. I've come to expect that despite a captive audience and a complete lack of competition, the prices will be somewhat inflated (€5 for a Guinness - not too bad). But what I do not accept is the refusal to sell half pints.

This didn't really affect me personally. I chose not to drink at all. But why couldn't my friend who just doesn't like drinking pints get a half pint of Guinness in a plastic glass?

I've written on this subject before here.

Great gig, by the way (apart from the awful Mick Jagger & Tina Turner meets James Last version of The Velvet's Rock 'N Roll during the encore).

My last drink was not a pint of Budweiser or Guinness from a plastic glass.

Finland Pt 2. How Not to Run a Microbrewery!

First instalment of my Finish experience is here.

So there I was, a little worse for wear on a dull, drizzly Finnish Summer's day, resigned to the probability that this trip would not turn up much in the way of interesting beer. I was quite accepting of this fact - I'd just had a wonderful day at a friend's wedding and was in a small town in the lakes of Finland looking forward to spending more time by the lake with my new Finnish friends and my old Irish ones.

Having missed breakfast, my wife and I went wandering the town in search of food. A little off the beaten path, my interest was stirred by the spotting of a sign. Restaurant and...were my tired eyes and fuddled brain tricking me?....no, it said Microbrewery. I wasn't even looking and we'd stumbled across a microbrewery!

Now, while consuming beer was not on my agenda in my slightly fragile state, this had to be checked out. The sign also said 'Restaurant'. No argument was had. Off we went.

No doubt because of the weather this sizeable bar and restaurant with huge veranda had a somewhat deserted air about it. Nonetheless we bravely entered Huvila Microbrewery and Restaurant. A friendly, fluent English speaking (like most Finns we met) waiter showed us into a formal dining room with tables set for dinner. Water for me, a glass of wine for herself and menus were proffered.

Oops. This wasn't beer snack food. It wasn't café lunch food. All I wanted a bowl of nice chicken broth and some bread but here I was faced with a modern, stylish dinner menu. A quick discussion decided that we would make our excuses, pay for the wine and arrange to return that evening for dinner and beer (for me). The beer menu looked promising with a pale ale and some darker offerings too. After declining to take a booking, the waiter informed us that the kitchen was open until 21.30 and that the place remained open until midnight.

I won't go into our adventures finding soup in Savonlinna. This is, after all, not a food blog. Fast forward to about half eight that evening when four of us walk hungrily to Huvila looking forward to a aperitif beer and dinner. Oh dear. The kitchen was closed and did so at 19.30 every Sunday.
Having assured the staff that we had not misunderstood the waiter it was accepted that maybe he had made a mistake as he was new to the job. So, some snacks? No. No food what so ever! What kind of fool eats food with beer? Surely, everyone knows people only eat gourmet meals with beer but not after half seven on a Sunday!

The need for food, at this point, far surpassed the need for beer so, having ascertained that the bar was open until midnight we left. One desperation driven kebab later, we are again trodding the, now well beaten, path back to the strange Brewery/Restaurant. The seagulls with chicks by the lake are now really starting to wonder are we just there to torment them by passing their unguarded nest six times a day. Onward we plough for beer! Finnish Microbrewery beer!

Hu? No. Can't be. It is. Ha, ha. No? Yes. It's ten 'o clock and the place is closed! Really closed. I won't quote my rantings or what I threatened to do. This is a clean blog. They had shut up early. It was a miserable day a little before the Summer season really gets going and, I guess, due to no customers, they closed early. Surely not a good way to encourage custom.

The thing is, we had arranged to meet up with about eight others of our group there and at this stage we had all recovered enough to drink several good, outrageously expensive, microbrews. Instead we ended up elsewhere but that, I'll save for the final instalment of the Finnish entry.

It's great to see a small out of the way town with a microbrewery. And it's great to see beer being associated with good food but Huvila seem to have a very strange view of what a microbrewery should be. By all means, have an attached fine dining restaurant, but should not a beer specialist bar with a kitchen have some other food available throughout the evening for beer drinkers. Some cheese, salamis, breads, pickles, chicken, chips? But not a sausage, literally. Should a bar not stay open for its advertised hours? And should a microbrewery's beer not be priced somewhere close to other local bar's beer. Maybe a little more expensive but not almost double.

Huvila seems to want to make quality beer exclusive - the exact opposite to what The Beer Revolution wants. Or maybe they're confused as to what they want. It's as if they want to run a fine dining restaurant but got lumbered with a brewery. The really strange part of this story is that due to a complete lack of good restaurants in Savolinna, we actually went there for dinner the following night. It was good. Very good, albeit with tiny portions, but not bad value by Irish standards (or Finnish for that matter). Many of their beers were out of stock but I did try their pale ale and that was very good too.

They have a very good restaurant with an interesting wine list and they have a brewery that makes good beer ( I tasted my friends cider which also had a sense of quality) but they seem to have absolutely no idea of how to run a bar or of customer service.

Despite making good beer, Huvila don't seem to be interested in serving it to the locals or visitors to Savonlinna. Hulvia could be a great bar in a beautiful location serving well made house beer and snacks with an attached restaurant. But it's not.

The Beer Revolution does not take its hat off to Huvila Microbrewery and Restaurant, despite its fine food and beer.

The beer saving grace of Savonlinna will be the topic of my next entry and then it will be back to hassling the providers of beer in Ireland.

My last drink was; Weihenstephaner Vitus. 7.5%abv 50cl.

A Valuable Lesson from the Finns

Right, I’m back from Finland and sufficiently recovered to write about my experiences – the lack of darkness there at this time of year does tend to encourage late nights without epic lie ins.

On my very first day there, The Beer Revolution learned a valuable lesson. I guess that this lesson could have been learned anywhere but it took a wonderful visit to Finland to bring it home to me.

Believe it or not, the lesson learned was; there are far more important things in life than beer. That statement may seem obvious, even to me but I learned that, even in the context of social celebrations, beer and wine are really secondary elements.

To explain; I was at a close friend’s wedding in Finland. After the ceremony, we all gathered at a rural equestrian centre where a Finish buffet was laid on, complete with barn dancing and musical recitals (the family in question are, without exception, ridiculously musically talented – even the in laws). We ate, made new friends, danced, listened to music, petted goats and horses and drank wine from wine boxes and generic Finish lager from cans. Not the kind of drinking one might associate with The Beer Revolution (who’s also rather particular about what kind of wine he drinks) but did I care? I was far too busy enjoying the occasion and appreciating the people around me to give one flying toss about what I was drinking. You know, sometimes it really just doesn’t matter!

I always knew that people are far more important than beer but I would have thought that at something like a wedding, the alcohol served was of paramount importance. It’s not. This was one of the most enjoyable social events I’ve been at and the unpretentiousness of the beer and wine became a part of that.

For our wedding, my wife and I put great thought and effort into what alcohol was served and we had a wonderful day. I’m glad we did but that’s our thing. I now realise that our guests would have enjoyed the day just as much had we not done so. Oh, but we had some nice beer and wine, all the same!

I guess, what I’m saying is that if beer and wine is your thing, then go for it – source fine beer and wine for your celebrations. If it’s not, don’t. Either way your guests won’t judge you, good or bad. If they’re real friends, that is.

So, after my first, long day, bright into the morning, I had no great expectations for beer in Finland. At this stage, I was so in love with the place and so enamoured with the people we’d met that I didn’t really care. It wasn’t, after all, a beer trip.

But did the Beer Revolution find any beer to tickle his fancy, any bars to stimulate the senses? Well, children, that is a story for another day!

My Last Drink Was; Herencia Remondo La Montessa Rioja Crizanza 2004, 13.5%, Glass

Just Taking a Break

Hi readers,
The Beer Revolution hasn't given up the fight against lack of choice for the particular beer consumer - I've just been very busy and am today going to Finland for a few days.

Guess what my next post will be on?

In the meantime, here's a link to a guy whose written a novel based around beer!
That's a new one on me. Anyone want to review it?

Until next week,
Hound your local bar and offie for the beer you want!

For Lovers of Football and Beer

This is not a a post but rather a recommendation that you read this.
Very funny.

You gotta love it!

I still feel that The Beer Revolution should not be all about bar and beer reviews but when people are taking the beer ball and running with it, they deserve a mention and any little encouragement I can provide. Today's worthy runner is; The Bierhaus on Popes Quay in Cork (not to be confused with The Bierhaus in Galway or any of the other Bierhaus named bars worldwide).

After laying idle for a few years the site formerly known as The Head of The River was given new life in the summer of 2006 when The Bierhaus very quietly opened for business. So quietly that it was open for maybe a month before I found it.

From day one, The Bierhaus offered the biggest and best selection of beer in Cork. Despite being the best selection in town, its menu was hardly a beer lovers dream - very lager heavy. A little less than two years later and the menu and guest beer boards have something for every beer enthusiast, freak, nerd, geek, nut, bore and even snob! Check the menu here, although new beers come and go faster than their website gets updated.

In less than two years some fine and strange beers have flowed through the taps - it's the only bar in Ireland to have had Schneiderweiss on tap - and not being afraid to experiment, Dave the owner, has had banana beer, apple beer, cherry beer, La Chouffe, Belgian blonds and bruins, DTs, Messers Maquire, O Haras Red, The Franciscan Well beers and more - and that's just on tap, before you consider that he also sells Guinness, Heineken, Murphy's, Carlsberg and Bulmers along with O Hara's Stout, Krombacher, Hoegaarden, Rebel Red, Erdinger and Svyturys on a full time basis all on tap too.

And then we get to the good part! The bottles. It would be no secret that I love Belgian beer. Where else in Cork can I get Orval Trappist Beer? Where else Gulden Draak? Where else Westmalle Dubble? (sadly not in Calanan's anymore). He's had in the past, Oud Geuze Boon, still has Kriek Boon and for Christmas got in Samichlaus Bruin! There's always a few English Ales, some good cider, and plenty of good lager including my favourite - Augistiner Edelstoff and a few good American beers.

Enough listing, check the menu yourself.

What I think is interesting is that if Dave, like so many other young guys do, just painted up the walls, installed his favourite songs on the laptop, stuck up a few posters and told all his mates, then his venture would have failed. What marked out his pub from all the other pubs that come and fail was its emphasis on beer. Two years on, The Bierhaus does very steady trade. It hasn't always been so but now there's a seven day trade - the key to the longevity in a bar.

There was no huge cost involved in making The Bierhaus a beer Mecca in Cork - just a little outlay in stock and a bit of research in sourcing suppliers; work, in other words. But this effort has paid off with the success of a bar which is small, restricted by its original design, under invested in and a little off the beaten path. The thing is, just sticking a few good beers on the shelves doesn't a beer bar make. Dave can talk beer, he can recommend beer to suit taste, he has beer festivals, a weekly quizz, poker, DJs and thankfully the neighbours stopped him having mediocre bands playing! What I'm getting at here is that it takes a lot of work to keep a small bar alive and while stocking great beer alone probably won't do it, it does give your pub an edge over most other bars.

I believe Cork can absorb another dedicated beer bar without taking business from The Bierhaus, in fact another would probably create more interest and trade. So come on Southside pub owners, give it a shot, one of you. It's not an expensive experiment - you gotta find the right manager or find a consultant (who could that be?).

Today the Beer Revolution takes it hat off and throws it in the air for Dave O Leary and his Bierhaus (an unwitting and unaffiliated member of The Revolution)!

P.S. If The Bierhaus has Budvar Dark, why don't some of the countless bars that stock Budvar have its far superior dark brother.

My last drink was; Apostoles, Palo Cortado Muy Viego, Sherry. 20%abv

Toss it in a warm glass & chuck it at em!

I'm giving out again.
No surprise there.
What is it this time?
No, it's not rocket science, it is the art of bar serving - or rather the lack of art commonly applied.

Now, before people start on about poor pay, unsocial hours or any other hardships that bar staff have to endure, I'm not having a go at bar staff. I'm having a go at bar owners and managers. That is, the people who should train their staff.

While I've experienced poor staff knowledge and practice across all sectors of the licensed trade, what interests me, primarily, is the staff in bars that have chosen to stock a range of premium beers.What is the point of putting quality beers in your fridges and not telling your staff about them. Bar staff don't magically know all about beer, they have to be taught.

No one gets to work behind a bar without knowing how to pull a pint of stout (even though it's arguable that the much loved two stage pour is irrelevant) . Do other beers not deserve the same respect? No body would serve wine in a highball, or stout in a wine glass (although that sounds nice!) so why do we so often get thrown up a weissbier with a warm pint glass?

Most bar staff know that Guinness is a stout, that vodka is clear, Coors lite is a lager, Shiraz is red wine and Kalibur has no alcohol in it but try asking what Leffe is or if they have a weissbier. I have on many an occasion pointed out beer in the fridge after been told by staff members that they don't stock it!

All I want is for staff to have a reasonable knowledge of the beer that the bar stocks. A waiter or waitress is expected to have basic knowledge of the food menu in a restaurant but it seems that, in Ireland, the same is not expected of bar staff. I want them to know what style a beer is,what its approximate alcohol volume is, what temperature it should be served at and what sort of glass it should come in ( I do like a proper branded glass but am happy with any glass that's vaguely the right shape and cold - maybe getting it rinsed out is asking far too much!). That's all. Another few basics like: gin and tonic comes with ice and lemon, whiskey doesn't have ice unless asked for, ditto brandy and beer doesn't go in warm glasses wouldn't go astray either.

I don't expect college trained mixologists, just someone who has been taught the basics of bar serving and has an interest in alcoholic beverages (many great bar persons don't drink). Again I say to owners and managers, TRAIN YOUR STAFF!

On a recent night out in Cork, I asked for a Weihenstephan Hefeweizen. I received a non alcoholic Weihenstephaner (this was not a misunderstanding - the person had no idea it was non alcoholic!). Next effort was the Weihenstephan Vitus - a 7%abv weizenbock (again, no clue that a 7%abv beer was on offer). Finally after much searching, the hefewiezen appeared - not before a Schneiderweiss Non Alcoholic was offered but I will put that one down to a misunderstanding. This experience is typical in many bars that do stock a range of beers and is not the fault of the untrained staff member. When, occasionally, a bar person with a knowledge and interest in beer comes along it is not a result of training but of personal interest.

Look, I'm not gonna 'name and shame' bars with good beer selections but poor staff cause it's a start to have the beer. What I find frustrating is that, in the past, I offered to train the staff for free in the bar I spoke about above. I was told that they were far too busy for training! Mmmm. Interesting, don't you think? My offer of training still stands but is no longer for free!

Bars which have owner/managers working behind the bar tend to do better. The Bierhaus, in Cork, being a good example where the owner has a passion for beer and passes on the basics to his staff.

So, come on managers. Learn a little (ask your suppliers), train you staff and keep proper glassware (again ask your suppliers). And to the good consumer, demand more. Premium beer comes at a premium price. We deserve it to be served with a little respect . Is that too much to ask?

My last drink was; Oud Geuze Boon, Mariage Parfait, 8%abv, 37.5cl (with a best before date of Dec 2024!)