Last updated 4 Jan 2012 14:30
Out with the old and in with the new!
Happy New Year everyone! It is now 2012 (although it will probably take me about a month before I stop writing 2011) and time for some resolutions, changes, and general moving-forward-into-the-future-ness 
We have two big things going on at the moment – one of them is our ongoing brewery build, and for an update see our latest blog post – we’re hoping to have brewing underway in Waterford shortly.
Our other big thing is somewhat less planned – it would appear that the popularity of the Amarillo hop, combined with its limited production (it’s a proprietary hop, and as such is only grown by a single farmer in Washington state), has hit us when we had hoped it wouldn’t. We had pre-ordered an amount from the 2011 harvest, but were recently informed that we were now not going to get this allocation. (We are not big or important enough! Can you believe it?!) This leaves us in something of a sticky situation in terms of our pale ale, since Amarillo is one of our flavouring/aroma hops for this beer. It also serves as a very real reminder to us that our ingredients are agricultural products, availability will sometimes be an issue due to harvest yields, and we need to be able to work around it. (And that depending on proprietary hops is a risky business!)
Therefore, dear drinker, you are going to see some slight variations in our pale ale over the next couple of months while we experiment a little. We will be working towards introducing other hop combinations to give us that same Amarillo punchiness for when we finally run out completely. Amarillo is a great hop, but it’s not irreplaceable – the key is to find the right mix of other west coast hops and Bob’s your uncle. (We’ve done a bit of piloting already so we reckon we’re not far off.)
As always, we are very keen for your feedback, so if you get a pint that you really like – or really don’t! – then please email us and tell us, we’re all ears
Looking for a Stocking filler this Christmas?
We’ve restocked our hoodies and t-shirts for Christmas, so if you’re looking for a treat for someone, or thinking about what to put on your Santa list, then think no more! We even have a new design as Gaeilge for the season – get your limited edition Fear Miotail t-shirt by sending an email to swag@metalmanbrewing.com today!
Prices
Regular t-shirt (Black or charcoal grey) : €13.50 including shipping within Ireland, or €15.50 including international shipping.
Limited edition “Fear Miotail” T-shirt (Black or charcoal grey) : €15 including shipping with Ireland, or €17 including international shipping
Hoody (Black or light grey) : €28 including shipping within Ireland, or €30 including international shipping. (Also available for collection to save on postage – just ask us!)
Bank Holiday Weekend Fun
Well there certainly seems to be plenty planned around the country for this bank holiday weekend – so much so that we have had to turn down requests to make appearances at different things because we’ve already got so much going on! This Saturday you’ll find us in Cloughjordan for Cloughtoberfest – a festival of craft beer, cheese and gypsy jazz. We’ll be around from 1pm on Saturday afternoon handing out samples of Alternator until we run out, at which point we’ll switch to being on the other side of the bar. (There is mention of compulsory swing-dancing afterwards. Time will tell.)
On Sunday you’ll find us at Left Bank in Kilkenny as part of the Savour Kilkenny festival – once more, free beer is the order of the day, come along from 5pm for a free sample of our pale ale.
If you’re in the Kilkenny area but can’t make it on Sunday, then never fear – our beer is now on sale at Carroll’s Bar in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny.
New stockists and other exciting things!
Three new stockists to tell you about folks – Waterford Boat Club, Blue Bar in Skerries and Farringtons in Templebar are all now serving our pale ale. Hurray!
Also, you may not know already since we haven’t been very good at telling people, but our brewery installation is now (finally) underway! You can read about it here, along with a bit of whining from Gráinne about how busy she is, no time to blog, too much work etc etc etc. Don’t take any notice of her.
And last, but not least, Alternator is making its way to the Abbott Alehouse in Cork for a limited run – it should be on for this weekend, get down there fast!
What on earth have we been doing?
Apologies for the lack of updates in the last couple of weeks – things have been quite hectic, what with the All Ireland Craft Beerfest, and the scheduled delivery of our brewery on September 28th. Since Gráinne hasn’t managed to clone herself successfully yet (really wish she’d get on with that) there have been no updates or pictures or tweets or facebook updates for ages. Seriously, she needs to start prioritising! We do apologise, and normal service will be resumed shortly, honest.
George Lee talks craft beer!
We managed to bag a slot on George Lee’s Radio One program on Saturday September 10th – you can hear the show here (from minute 34 onwards), where Gráinne and Kay from the Carlow Brewing Company do a tasting comparison of our pale ales on air.
Win tickets to the All Ireland Craft Beerfest
We have some tickets to give away for the upcoming All Ireland Craft Beerfest in the RDS at the end of September – click here for details and to enter to win a pair of weekend tickets for this wicked event!
Ireland’s oldest independent brewery
Team Metalman took a trip up north on Saturday to visit the Hilden brewery and their annual beer festival for the first time. (Ours, not theirs.) Lovely day was had by all, thanks to Owen, Nathan et al for their hospitality! Managed to find some time to scribble down a few words about it here and posted some pics of varying quality here
Autumn Seasonal – Alternator
It’s on its way – our latest beer, Alternator, will be ready in the next week, and will be making its debut at the Waterford Harvest Festival bar on Saturday September 3rd at the festival concert in Bolton Street! Alternator is a spicy Belgian-style wheat beer, and we’re hoping it will prove as much of a hit as our last seasonal beer, Windjammer. We think that Dave our designer has pulled a blinder once again with the artwork – looking forward to getting some t-shirts made with this one
The beer will be available on limited release from next week through some of our stockists – details will be released once they are confirmed. Try it and let us know what you think!
Lughnasa Beer Festival
And it’s back to reality with a bang – but we had a terrific night at Lughnasa Beer fest on Friday night! Organised by the uber-capable Ruth from Deveney’s in Dundrum, this was the second Lughnasa festival, and what an array of beers were on offer. Some of our rambling thoughts on the experience (including how our newly-constructed makeshift bar held up) can be read here, and no doubt there will be plenty of beer blogs describing some of the amazing beers of the night – we’ll link to them as we find them. Kudos to Ruth on a well-run event, and thanks to the team of Metalman Brewing helpers that manned our bar with us on the night – amazing what people will put themselves through for a t-shirt and some free beer! Didn’t have much time for taking pictures, but what we do have can be seen here.
Metalman Goes West
Two new stockists as of this week, both in Galway – the wicked cool Salthouse on Raven Terrace, and the fantastic Oslo in Salthill.
We met both bar managers at Brewers on the Bay back in May, and they were keen to stock our beer from that point, but we weren’t in a position to commit due to production scheduling – well we’ve now fixed this, so expect to see our pale ale, and our seasonals, appearing in Galway from now on. G-G-G-Galway!
New Waterford stockist – T&H Doolans
Our pale ale is now pouring at one of Waterford’s most iconic pubs, T & H Doolans on Georges Street. (Or just “T & H’s” if your from the locale!) They’re open from 8:30am every day for breakfast, although we’re not suggesting you should enjoy our beer at that hour of the morning. Unless you want to, of course. Food served by the super iVee crew, who are also responsible for those wonderful burgers in The Cove Bar – a perfect accompaniment to a tall frosty one! What other reasons do you need?
The Mac behind the brand
Our graphic designer Dave, from Vitamin Studio in Waterford, has written a tell-all guest piece for BiaBeag.com, a great blog about artisan food producers in Ireland. From the original brainstorming around the logo through to the add-ons like posters etc, he’s been through a lot with us already. And we think he’s been very kind in his description of how easy it is to work with us – we know we’re picky Dave, and we’re sorry! Read the post here
New permanent stockist in the rebel county
Our pale ale is now available on draft in the tardis-like Nook Bar (a.k.a. Treacy’s) on North Main Street in Youghal. Fronted by an off-license selling craft Irish beers and ciders, great wines and delicious coffee, the bar itself winds its way back through the building and into the courtyard – perfect for an al fresco beer if this summer we keep hearing about ever arrives! The Nook will be hosting a beer festival over the weekend of August 21st, so keep an eye on their facebook page for details.
Craft beer by train? Don’t mind if I do!
The latest edition of the Irish Rail magazine, Go Rail, contains a big feature on the Irish microbrewing scene – including interviews with brewers, and details of some of the great beers available at the moment. We decided to take the plunge and road-test an ad-sized version of our forthcoming poster, which we think our graphic designer has done a tidy job on – thanks Dave! The Go Rail magazine is available (we’re told) in most train stations on inter-city lines, and on the inter-city trains themselves. Happy reading and beer-touring!
The All Ireland Craft Beerfest!
We are very excited to be attending the All Ireland Craft Beerfest in the Industries Hall at the RDS over the weekend of September 23rd-25th. Full details are on the website, but in a nutshell, this is an event for Irish brewers, cidermakers and whiskey distillers to showcase their wares at a weekend-long festival in a cracking venue. Tickets are €10 and include your souvenir glass, along with a free half-pint. We will have a new beer prepped and ready to go for this event – so keep an eye on our site for details!
Roscommon here we come!
OK, after some disgraceful inactivity on this page (sorry about that!) we are back in action – refreshed after a quick holiday, and delighted to gush about a new stockist over in Roscommon town – JJ Harlowes have taken their first keg of Windjammer and stuck it on the bar tonight – yessss! This is a rotating tap, and we’re delighted to be included amongst their guest beers – get down to try it out!
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