Memoirs of Bar Rua.

Hello stranger, how are you today?

Yeah…the weather is really bad. So-called ‘snow storm Emma’ (such a cute and innocent name, isn’t it?) has ruined all our plans… The whole country is closed! The red warning, a bit of snow, no Brennans bread, no milk…no Ireland. But we are legends. And our only curse in Bar Rua is the fact that most of us can walk to work – no matter what’s going on. Here we are now, all the lads… It doesn’t even look like rain, Ted!

What can I get for you, dear stranger? Beer, of course. I have a very generous range here, but what I would suggest for a nice and a light start – CARRIG LAGER is the choice you can’t go wrong with. Especially if you are really thirsty (and I can see that in your eyes, my friend). Or do you want to start with a lager that has a bit more hoppy and bitter flavour? There you go, I have a CARRIG PILSNER for you, a beer that fulfills all of your expectations, especially by using Czech hops. You will feel more like at home. Has your flight been cancelled? Are you stuck with us? Or was that just unlucky choice of the date of your trip? I promise, dear stranger, you will feel like at home here in Bar Rua with us.

Please sit down, very comfortably, because I am about to tell you the story about this place…

It was a year, 2016. Monday evening, like any other one. A very few cosmetics details and our Bar Rua is ready to go. Ready to open its gate to the public. I remember that day like it was yesterday. Manager Peter was trying to teach me how to pull a perfect pint (not a successful mission back in days, I always appreciated a proper big head on my beer!). All people are always too excited about the smell of a new car. For me, a smell of a brand-new bar is an unforgettable experience as well. All shiny and new, everything is perfect.

Back in times, Bar Rua team consisted of red-haired lads mostly. (Rua means red in Irish). But there have always been so called ‘black sheep’ (literally), as there were no gingers in our management team. Honestly, this funny job offer (Calling all red heads!) advertisement was probably the only one reason why I applied for this job. With zero experience and poor English…good luck to ya! But the guys made me laughing, and that is more important.

Oh, dear stranger, I see that pint of Pilsner has slipped down your throat too quickly (or am I talking too much?) Go on, have another one! Something different…

Absolutely. I have 13 taps in this bar, 4 more upstairs, 12 more in the next building bar. I’m pretty sure we can make your belly happy. Let’s go a bit higher taste-wise, but still in a light alcohol line. How do you feel about having a pint of POACHERS PALE ALE? I’ll just compliment myself because I helped this beer to see the world! I went for a little trip to the brewery one day, and I assisted the brewers to brew this treasure. And this batch is made with a double amount of love. (It was so cold in there, so I had to hug all the brewing boilers to heat myself.) Poachers is a very refreshing one, with a lower ABV (4.5%), so you still can have loads of pints after this one! Medium bitter, thanks to caramel malts there is a slightly sweet flavour dancing in the background, but with a dominant hoppy position with combination of Cascade and Chinook hops. Taste it. Do you like it? Good. There you are. A perfect pint for you, exactly how I was taught to pull it by my colleagues. So…where have I finished my story?

From zero experience to new and new experience every single day. A couple of weeks later, Bar Rua started to serve food. A mixture of traditional Irish cuisine (such a word!). Like the food from your mammy, just on a fancy plate. Every day was like a cold (freezing) shower for me, because the number of things I don’t know is HUGE, and there is more and more every day… Just like a snowball rolling down the hill. (Not to mention that at the very beginning I had a big problem to understand local people. Today I just know that they actually do not speak English.) Happy days, I have a lot of patient (too patient) people around myself who are helping me all the time. My precious Irish family. Bar Rua got a lot of regular customers back in days, and today I say CHELLOOOO (they know what’s the story) to all of them. It wouldn’t be a Bar Rua without you!

Another Poachers, dear stranger? Wow, you must have liked it so much. However, I’ve already mentioned red-haired people, so how about we’ll stay in this line and you’ll try a very traditional style of beer – Irish Red Ale? I have a beautiful ROWERS RED ALE here for you, again – very light with alcohol so you are grand! The flavour is a combination of the malts they used in the brewery, and they also used a neutral kind of yeast to highlight the malty flavour of this beauty. But let’s not be too sweet, let’s add some mad English hops to balance the flavour…Cheers!

Bar Rua is the second baby of Carrig Brewing Company. The older sibling (The Barrelstore) is located in Carrick on Shannon (you can throw the stone and you are still not gonna hit the brewery from there) BUT the brewery itself is in the middle of nowhere. Fairy-tale. (of New York, Happy Christmas!) Actually, just right next door from the brewery there is a very popular Irish gin being distilled, as well as the other alcoholic beverages. (Does it mean that all the lads in the area are alcoholics?) The younger babies were born just last year in Tullamore (Tanyard Lane) and Athlone (The Junction), so this Carrig Imperium is growing pretty fast. Where is the next stop going to be? Slovakia, please!

You are still holding your drink pretty well, dear stranger! I see your empty glass, that’s a good sign. Shall we move to a higher level now? Are you ready for a proper IPA bombing that is going to put you out of your bar chair by its wonderful taste? Great! So, get ready for a long marathon, because our head brewer Francesco is an IPA expert and I have loads of them here to offer you. As a starter I chose a ‘session IPA’ called GRAND SOFT DAY, because honestly, I don’t want to kick you out of here yet. It’s Baltic outside! Grand Soft Day (not today) is the oldest, most traditional and probably the most popular IPA made by Carrig Brewing Company. A combination of Australian and American hopes creates this wonderful synchronization of herbal and fruity flavours and trust me – you can drink this golden magic all night and still stand on your feet. What do you think? Are you happy/hoppy enough? Sláinte!

With the popularity there also comes a growing need to satisfy a larger number of customers, so Carrig Brewing Company managed to get Bar Rua’s neighbours in 2017. It was really challenging and demanding, but they eventually managed to turn the building into a beautiful space with a tremendous potential. So today, we have a wonderful cosy restaurant upstairs and a great bar area downstairs

in a similar tuning, where we were able to upgrade and expand our beer tap repertoire! Are you in a mood for fish? You are in the right place, our fish is off the hook! Are you looking for a juicy burger? Come here, now. It’s okay if you are vegetarian – we still have a song for you to play. Bangers, or chicken wings anyone? Welcome to Bar Rua. Whether you want to be super fancy, or just sit on the bar and relax, there is always a room for you.

Hey, stranger! This session IPA disappeared in your glass quicker than I expected! Is it a showtime now? There is a beauty winking at you just in front of you. The newest one by Carrig. Starwolf IPA. Are you gonna resist, or flirt a bit? Very exotic combination of Tasmania hops and new generation of Slovenian (not Slovakian!) hops. On one hand it creates a fruity-piney flavour, on the other hand herbal and pineapple. I can put my hand on my heart and honestly say that this is my absolute Carrig winner (maybe I miss traditional Slovakian ‘borovička’, who knows?). Beautiful and brewtiful beer. More hops, more bitterness, more alcohol! Pint? Of course, my pleasure!

Bar Rua became (for a while) a home for our Bar Rua Beer Clubs. We hosted several successful Irish craft beer breweries. It has become my heart thing and that’s probably one of the reasons why I created this blog (haha, just looking for some reasons to cover the fact that I’m drinking too much!) Bar Rua Beer Club became my baby, and I didn’t want my baby to die (that would be awful). We created a nice little beer crew and every month we had these sessions with nice beers and cheerful atmosphere, chatting with the brewers and learning new stuff. Hopefully we’ll bring them back on the stage.

Guinness? Already? Wait, dear stranger, wait just a little bit. Before you’ll have a pint of plain (that is your only man – but is it, really?), have a taste of this black IPA. This is a very natural transition from the beers that you have already tasted to the beers that are a bit heavier. It looks like a stout, but the flavour makes it definitely lighter. You don’t like coffee? Don’t worry, me neither! Close your eyes and think about a chocolate. Everybody likes chocolate. And Francesco picked the combination of the malts that will be in a perfect harmony with your taste buds. There is still no reason to be too scared – even though the flavour is very rich, COALFACE is still in a normal ABV level of 5.2%. It’s not going to dart you off to Mars! Go on, have a wee pinteen, go on, go on, go on, go on…

Carrig Brewing Company has a lot of beer experiments in its sleeve. Over the last two years, we’ve been treated with some special brews that will (or perhaps not) come back on the scene. Carrig produces new and new beers to please our audience with such an enthusiasm and there are going to be some nice beers presented at the biggest upcoming craft brew festival in Dublin – Alltech Craft Brew and Food Festival is coming this weekend – so if you are around, stick your head in, there is loads of liquid candies waiting for you! You’ll have the opportunity to taste around 400 brews from beer, through cider, to other special alcoholic beverages. And on top of that, you can enjoy a true Irish atmosphere during the rugby matches on Saturday. We can all celebrate together the things we like – victory and nice beer!

Ok, dear stranger. This is my last stop. Now it’s the time for the stout. Try this IRON MOUNTAIN STOUT with a proper creamy long-lasting foam. Yes, you’ll wait for it a little bit longer, but the result of its charming two-part pouring process is well worth to wait for! Welcome to Ireland with this lovely s(h)tout, dear stranger!

Everyone sets some kind of rules and priorities in their lives. I gave up at this point, so I don’t even try to create the new ones, because:

I swore to myself, that I will never have a piercing in my body. I already have a fear of needles and blood, and even today at my age, whenever I have to go to see the doctor, I am freaking out like a 4 year-old and running around the room like a blue-arsed fly (and after that I expect a lollipop for all this cruelty and torture, of course).
I swore to myself, that I’ll never get a tattoo (only the ones from the old-school chewing gums, we had them in Czechoslovakia, how cool!). The reason is simple – go back to the first point.
I was always saying that I could never date a guy older than me.
I thought I could never work in a bar.