Beer Review: Dúlachán IPA (Lavery Brewing Company)
Firstly, a big shout out to Steve Orbanek who gifted me this beer for free (all he asked was I do a review of it for the blog). He traded me the two Second Sins beers I reviewed, and gifted this one along with them free. To read the Second Sins reviews I did – check them out here: “I Voted for Kang” and “I Voted for Kodos“.
St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day 2021… the second “under COVID-19” or “coronavirus” and how much it has changed the world, least of all the bar scene. Whereas St. Patrick’s Day 2020 was the start to everything, with bars closing, even Guinness closing, this year, things were open, but very subdued, and reserved, but optimistic with the vaccines rolling out. With the stimulus in hand for most people the morning of St. Patrick’s Day, and with the vaccines getting into more and more hands (and arms) the future is looking promising for many people.
I figured this was as much a St. Paddy’s Day beer as I could conceivably think to try, other than the obvious stouts and Irish Red’s. So it made for the perfect ‘night cap’ beer to my day, which started with a ten hour work shift (8AM to 6PM), an abysmal Irish Car Bomb at a local dive bar by my work, and dinner and a few beers at Rubber Soul’s Brewery in Hummelstown.
The Worst Irish Car Bomb in History
So, just to provide physical evidence of this, this is probably the worst Irish Car Bomb I’ve ever had in my entire existence and possibly in the entire existence if Irish Car Bombs and in shots and liquor history. I’m not sure. But outside of me spilling it, it probably couldn’t be much worse.
Normally I wouldn’t call a place out for something like this, but I almost feel I am compelled to do so. Because, firstly, let us know if you can’t do the shot glass for whatever reason – COVID, or don’t want the risk of glasses breaking, etc, but at least let us know ahead of time. Secondly…. thats the shot? And thirdly…. thats the Guinness amount to drop it in? W…T…F….
Also, weirdest thing too, was the pricing. Me and my co-worker stopped in and I offered to get the shots. The bartender charged us 13.25$ for the two…. so not quite sure how they came to that pricing decision. Makes me wonder whose car bomb was more expensive, mine or his?
(And if you are wondering what the bar was – it was Thoroughbreads in Grantville. There, I didn’t really want to name drop them, but I feel like I have to here.)
Dinner
Alright, moving right on past that horrific car bomb, I got home, and walked down to Rubber Soul for dinner. I debated where I was having dinner on St. Paddy’s Day, and it didn’t seem like any breweries that were too too close to my home were doing anything too special. I was tempted to drive out to Liquid Noise to try their green beer, but opted instead for the walk to the local brewery and have their new 317 stout. You can check out information on both Liquid Noise’s green beer, and Rubber Soul’s 317 stout at my write-up for St. Patrick’s Day local beers here.
Dúlachán
Photo courtesy of Cryptid Wiki.
I knew this had to mean something in Irish or in Gallic or something, so I Google’d it up, and found the Cryptid Wiki which details different mythologies and things. And here is what it had to say about the Dúlachán.
The Dullahan, Durahan or Dullaghan (Irish: dúlachán, /ˈduːləˌhɑːn/), also called Gan Ceann (meaning “without a head” in Irish), is a type of mythological creature in Irish folklore.
The Dullahan is depicted as a headless rider, usually on a black horse, who carries his own head on his arm. Usually, the Dullahan is male, but there are some female versions. It is said to be the embodiment of the Celtic God Crom Dubh. The myth of the Dullahan comes from Ireland.
The mouth is usually in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. Its eyes are constantly moving about and can see across the countryside even during the darkest nights. The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese. The Dullahan is believed to use the spine of a human corpse for a whip, and its wagon is adorned with funeral objects: it has candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels are made from thigh bones, and the wagon’s covering is made from a worm-chewed pall or dried human skin. The ancient Irish believed that where the Dullahan stops riding, a person is due to die. The Dullahan calls out the person’s name, drawing away the soul of his victim, at which point the person immediately drops dead.
There are rumors that golden objects can force the Dullahan to disappear.
Dullahan (Cryptid Wiki)
There you go, now you know, and knowing is half the battle!
Lavery Brewing Company
As I have done with the recent beer reviews, I am going to devote a segment to each beer review to the brewery behind the beer itself. I think this is a good way to help people learn about the breweries and not just the beers we review here on The Beer Thrillers. (And once again, like GI Joe has taught me, knowledge is power!)
Lavery Brewing Company is a micro brewery located in Erie Pennsylvania. According to Untappd they have 197 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.71 (as of 3.18.21). They have 76K check-ins. Their Untappd description reads: “Brewing Innovative Ales in Small Batches!”. I have not yet been to their brewery, but Erie is a place I want to check out sometime in the near future (lots of cool places to visit, hike, and check out, as well as some great breweries to try out). So hopefully soon I’ll get the chance to check them out.
Beer Review
Beer: Dúlachán IPA
Brewery: Lavery Brewing Company
Style: IPA – American
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 70
Untappd Description: Dulachan is an in-your-face/upfront-and-center/West-Coast-style American IPA.
Nice to get back to doing a beer review of a traditional IPA (an American IPA or a West Coast IPA), rather than the continuous flow of of New England IPAs or Milkshake IPAs or Heavy Lactose Kill Your Stomach IPAs. So, I actually get to discuss a mostly clear and non-turbid and non-hazy IPA. Which this is! Its a darker colored but clear and see throughable beer, non-hazy, non-turbid, non-floaties. Its got an amber-ish hue, but barely on the spectrum for it. It looks like good old fashion IPAs from your childhood look like.
Aroma is a swift kick of pine and hop. There is some malt note, but it is predominantly pure pine and pure hop notes, particularly piney hops (go figure right?). Not a whole lot to discuss with the aroma, other than think back to your childhood days of IPAs like Sierra Nevada’s, and Troeg’s Perpetual IPA, and Boneshire’s Green Machine, and others like it, and just take a second to relive that, and inhale it, and here you go. A nice well crafted, well smelling West Coast IPA.
It is so nice to get to drink and review these old school West Coast style IPAs. I feel its a rarity to find them on a menu or find them in stores, let alone, actually get them and review them. I was given this by Steve Orbanek, when we did a beer trade. He got me two beers from Second Sins brewery (like I said earlier in the post – I Voted for Kang and I Voted for Kodos) and threw this in out of his own good will, for me to review and post up here on the blog. So here I am, finally getting to it. Sorry for the delay Steve! But I figured St. Patrick’s Day would be the perfect opportunity to review it! From the pour, I can tell immediately this is a well crafted beer. I have not had much experience with Lavery Brewing, (sadly), as this is only the second beer I’ve had from them (the first being Ultster Breakfast Stout, nearly six years ago, wow, thats a throwback!), but can tell this was created and crafted well. Nice appearance, nice body, and nice head to this. Good hoppy IPA aroma to this as well. Taste holds up incredibly well as well, with a fantastic crisp, hoppy, bitter, piney, IPA flavor. There isn’t a whole lot going on with this, but you don’t need that in IPAs (the old school IPAs). You don’t need five thousand different adjuncts and flavors thrown at you from all kinds of directions, like a single lady in a bar with six hundred men in their late 40s getting pick up lines thrown at her. Nope, give me a nice, clean, crisp, hoppy, bitter West Coast IPA any day. Now adays thats a change of pace! This is also only 5.6% ABV so it won’t be getting you falling out of your stool or chair stumbling drunk either, and at 70 IBU its not on the extreme levels of bitterness either. All around just what you should be expecting from a well crafted IPA.
My Untappd Rating: ***.75
Global Untappd Average Rating: 3.76 (as of 3.18.21)
Thanks for Reading
As always, thanks for reading everyone. If you enjoyed the beer review, or anything on the blog, make sure to comment, like, share, and follow us. We always appreciate getting the word out, and we also always appreciate hearing back from our readers. Its so great getting to hear from everyone.
We are in the final stages of our Battle of the Breweries (2021), so you can pop over there for the current round (Round Four) to vote: Round Four Voting.
Also, you can check out some of our recent beer reviews below:
- Beer Review: Terpenes in Time (BAREBottle Brewing Co)
- Beer Review: B-52 (Cox Brewing Company)
- Beer Review: Dunkel Shaun (Great Barn Brewing)
- Beer Review: The Death of Civilization in Slow Motion I (Adroit Theory)
- Beer Review: Chocolate Covered Pretzel (Braxton Brewing Company)
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Its starting to become spring, which means the hops are popping up. This year, I will get around to those hops articles, (fingers crossed), so be on the lookout for that. I know I Said that I would do that last year, but this year, I am 100% planning on it.
Prost!
-B. Kline
