Don’t be bitter: Buy yourself a Brexit beer

One Dublin pub was quick off the mark when the Brexit vote came through last summer. Not long after the results, 57 The Headline on Clanbrassil Street was tapping up its Big Mistake Brexit IPA and drawing plenty of international media attention.

Fast-forward a few months to this week, when article 50 was finally triggered by Britain's prime minister, Theresa May. It's unclear what effect all this will have on beer (though I'm sure it's top of May's concerns), but it's not likely to be good.

According to a recent report by Alltech and the Brewers Journal, the UK has the most craft breweries per capita in the world, with 25 breweries per million people. It also comes in second, after the US, in the top-10 craft-beer-producing countries worldwide.

Some of the mainstream breweries in the UK have started to increase prices, in the wake of Brexit, while smaller breweries are likely to follow – all the more reason to throw a few English beers into your shopping basket this weekend.

London Pride, by Fuller's brewery, has been around since the 1950s and is what's known as a Best Bitter. It pours a bright and tawny red, with plenty of biscuit and toasted malt flavour and a good, smooth bitterness. It's very sessionable at 4.1 per cent. ESB is an Extra Special Bitter by Fuller's and is stronger than traditional bitter, at 5.9 per cent, but very drinkable.

Cloudwater from Manchester is one of the newer microbreweries to emerge in the UK. Its session-strength IPA Wai-iti has lovely tropical fruit characteristics and is light and tasty but rather pricey at €6 for a 330ml bottle.

Fourpure’s Shape Shifter West Coast IPA has a big, wake-up hit of hops on the aroma, but finishes well and balanced with a pleasantly lingering bitterness.

@ITbeerista

beerista@irishtimes.com