Imagine buying a piece of someone’s dream.
It’s not difficult. In fact, these days, as the number of Irish craft brewers increases steadily, it is getting easier and easier to get a taste of someone’s dream.
All you have to do is to buy an Irish craft beer and, what you will get, along with the delicious taste of that ruby ale or that coal-black stout, is a piece of the brewer’s desire to make the ideal drink, to create the wine of Ireland, to fashion a craft beer that comes from a place because it belongs in that place, and because it is made in that place.
And just imagine, then, as you get hold of that piece of a person’s dream, that you get much more along with it: to your surprise, you also get their passion; their determination; their yearning; their hopefulness, their rootedness.
If that sounds a little like a religion, then rest assured that is exactly what you have just bought. Irish craft brewing isn’t a job: it’s a faith, practised by people who profess a creed of excellence and dedication, a creed that is shared by them all.
And, as the man behind the bar places that pint of Irish artisan ale or Irish craft stout onto the counter in front of you, you are just about to enter a brewer’s dreamworld, you are just about to sample their faith.
The strange thing about this faith, though, is that it isn’t didactic. In fact, it works best when you, the adherent to the creed of craft brewing, are positively permissive.
So last night you drank an Irish Pale Ale? There is no need to sign up to faithfulness to that delicious I.P.A. So you can be quite relaxed about having a creamy glass of stout brewed in County Carlow with some bacon and parsley sauce for tonight’s dinner. Or if you are having some smoked salmon, then what about a lean, clean red ale from County Galway?
And, just as there are several Irish farmhouse cheeses for each day in the week, so there are Irish craft beers to match and mingle with them at any time, whether you choose geography – Howling Gale Ale from Ballyhoura in North Cork with Ardrahan washed-rind farmhouse cheese from Kanturk, or Dungarvan red ale with Knockalara sheep’s milk cheese from the foothills of the Comeragh Mountains in West Waterford – or you choose serendipity – a glass of Galway Hooker with Durrus farmhouse cheese from West Cork, or Kildare’s Dark Arts Porter with County Tipperary’s Cooleeney camembert. Permissiveness never was so delicious, or so intriguing.
So, Irish craft beers can take you on a culinary journey of the country, and they can introduce you to new friendships, new culinary favourites. But, best of all, they can take you into the brewer’s highest aspiration, that potent wish to make a drink that evokes their work, in a particular place, at a particular times, as they practise their passionate craft to do their best.
The Irish Craft Beer Festival takes place this weekend in Dublin http://www.irishcraftbeerfestival.com
