Belfast's Best Kept Secret.

And its never been a secret really.

On Wednesday 28th May 2014 I made a return to an old friend. A small nondescript off licence on one of Belfast's busiest thoroughfares. Locals will already know were I am talking. The Vineyard was established in 1957 and from that date till this, it has built its reputation on having a wide range of product and knowledgeable staff. 

I mentioned in my introduction blog that in a previous life I ran a small boutique wine merchant, it was less than 2 miles away from the Vineyard, in what I would describe as a more "Exclusive" (read expensive) part of town. It should have thrived. While I was there I prided myself on my wine knowledge, and I imparted this knowledge onto the 3 or 4 members of staff who worked for me at any time. These staff were mainly University Students working 2 or 3 shifts a week, and truth be told their enthusiasm was often left wanting. The main problem I had, was although from the outside and to the untrained eye my place looked like an independent, it certainly wasn't. It was the dirty little secret of a chain of off licences and as a result of this I was restricted in terms of suppliers and products I could stock. I honestly believe had I, and the manager who came after me been allowed to freely select product, then the business would have prospered. As it was the business crashed and burned. 

The Vineyard has no such problem it is fully independent and as a sole trader business is small enough to move quickly with the trends. I went back there as I previously said on Wednesday, my mission was to buy a couple of bottles of beers to sample, however as I walked through the door I was met with their massive selection of Wine. It all came rushing back to me. I felt like Charlie as he walked through the gates of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The selection of wines is astonishing and then I moved to the Whiskys, a very good friend of mine who is as passionate about whisky as I am about wine and beer, (check out Whisky Belfast) told me its the best selection of Whisky in Belfast. Eventually i made to the rear of the premises and started browsing the craft beers selection. 

As I was browsing I couldn't help overhear a conversation another customer was having with a member of staff in relation to some wines he had selected,  the staff answered each question with confidence and knowledge. The same customer then enquired bout a particular beer, again the staff was able to advise him accordingly. Finally I arrived at the till to pay for my beers, my partner asked the staff about certain vodkas, and again the knowledge was forthcoming, a bottle of rum caught my eye and again this member of staff explained all about it. If this guy is a part time member of staff, then I am flabbergasted 

Perhaps this has turned into a bit of an advertisement for the Vineyard but i assure you that these are my words, and the point of this blog post is to advise anyone who wants to get into the craft beer scene but doesn't know where to start, or perhaps they want a special bottle of wine, or a spirit. The Vineyard is a great place to start and you can rely on the information that they give you. Its Belfast's best kept secret for me because as much as I knew about the Vineyard i seldom take the time to journey up to Belfast to browse. 

For those that are interested I bought the following beers;

O'Haras Irish Pale Ale, Dry Hopped IPA. 5.2% this got sunk on Wednesday night, and while I dont have full tasting notes for it what i can remember is as soon as i popped the cap i was hit in the face with strong aromas. The head was practically non existent, and the beer was a golden color. On Twitter i described the taste as "dark" at this stage i cant really elaborate on this explanation. I will buy this again and review it properly. 

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Website

Farmageddon Brewing Co-Op Gold Pale Ale 4.2% Not opened but I've had this before and this is a fantastic beer. I drank a bars full stock of this beer at a gig one night.

Twitter

Website

Trouble Brewing Deception Golden Ale 4.3% Not opened yet.

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Website

Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale 4.3% Not opened yet.

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Website

Next up for me is a tour and dinner at the Hilden Brewery, outside Lisburn. No doubt Ill have plenty to say about that experience, Im also going to write a little about my experiences home brewing in the next week or so, from complete novice to hopefully having perfected my home brew lager, and moving on into IPA. 

In the meantime Cheers!

Introductions, Who am I and what am I doing here?

Hello out there! This is an introductory post to let you know what this is going to be about. There are 3 main aims, to journal my ventures and adventures as I take a trip away from the mass produced lagers that dominate most mainstream bars in the UK and Ireland. Secondly, I've made my first tentative steps into the mysterious world of Home Brewing. And finally, to seek out the newest Bars, and Off Licences which are stocking the hard to find Craft Beers. I don't pretend to know a great deal about this, but I do have a developed palate and a thirst (pun intended) for knowledge.

I started drinking at an early age, but probably not by today's standards, a cheeky 1/4 bottle of whatever spirit was on offer at the local "offie," downed as quickly as possible in order to avoid detection. As I grew older, it was inevitable that I would move to beer. Those early days I would drink mostly Budweiser or Miler Genuine Draft, which ever the bar had on draught. The mere thought of either of those beers makes me gag these days, its funny how your palate changes with time. I moved to Spain, just before my 21st Birthday, and I could buy any of the 3 or 4 local beers for €2 or spend nearly €5 for a bottle of the aforementioned American Lager, so I drank the local. When I returned to Ireland, I tried to go back to Bud and MGD but it just tasted like water. In fact it was watered down water. It was around that time Stella Artois became massive here and that ended up being my beer. Reassuringly expensive it may well be, but eventually the price and the minging hangovers, I moved on. Carlsberg, or Harp became my staple. It was around this time I began working in a Boutique Off Licence, working closely with Wine suppliers I became a keen wine enthusiast. I have Wine Connoisseur as a tag on my personal Twitter account details, but realistically I'm an enthusiast. I attended numerous tasting events, and developed my palate, in 5 short years I went from thinking there were 3 wines, Red, White, and when you mixed them you got Rosé to being able to differentiate between grape types, countries of origin, and in certain high quality wines even the region they were from. 

Skip forward to today, its impossible to ignore the growing Craft Beer market on the Island. Someone told me I should tell you what my first craft beer I drank was, and to that end I had written all about Hilden Brewery's Headless Dog and how that led me to sample the rest of their range, moving on to the famous Brew Dog and beyond, but then I remembered it was a trip to Canada a few years back and more specifically Vancouver's Granville Island, and their Micro Brewery. They didn't have a full liquor licence only a brewing licence so you could sample a small amount of each but you couldn't sit in there all day. It was this day I discovered that there was more to beer than excessive bubbles. Unfortunately I couldnt foresee this blog existing back then, and I have very little recollection of what these beers actually tasted like, other than good.

Just before Christmas 2013 I decided to brew my own. I bought a Coopers beginners kit with Canadian Blonde lager. The first batch was a complete write off, I cant even describe how bad it was, low low alcohol zero taste and just terrible in every way. Not one to give up easily I cracked on again with another Coopers lager kit. This one was much better, although the bottle priming was a bit hit and miss, it was a lottery if you were getting a decent lager or a flat stale lager. I am currently in the early stages of my third lager brew. I'm sticking with lager until I perfect it and then I will move on. Speaking of which i guess this is a good place stop, Ill hopefully have my first "proper" blog post alive next week. Until then, you can follow me on Twitter, my beer exploits will be posted under @PuzzlesNI check me out or just check out who I am following on this account, its mostly other bloggers in the Craft Beer scene.