Radka’s Broof Club: Chapter Conor.

‘Meet me on the roof at 5. I have a big bag of cans.’

No further questions. No answers needed.

It was a hot summer in Ireland. Like once-in-40-years hot. I think it was almost a month ago! I was broofing with my bestie. Meet Conor.

We both enjoy a good pint of… anything! That’s why I knew that Conor Ryan, born and raised in Kilkenny, is the right person for me to start my little real beer club with.

Conor is my foreign brother from another mother. When I met him for the first time in my life, I thought he was 30 years old (yep, my age-guessing is getting…better, haha). Today I know already that he is my baby brother!

We call ourselves with different names all the time. According to the mood and occasion. Corona, Crono, Cronsie, Cronsieslav, Cronsiebald, Conorslav, Rabbit Cakes, Rabbit Legs, all parts of Rabbit, Koppersnackersbitch… We have our secret language and jokes that are super silly, but they are the funniest and the best jokes ever for us.

Meet me on the roof at 5.

Very clear message. He understood. I had a big bag of cans and he had an hour and a half to drink it with me before his family birthday dinner (Happy Birthday mammy and daddy Ryan’s, I am so sorry for a delay!) I have to say that we failed and didn’t drink the whole big bag of cans, but we did our best.

6 out of 10 is pretty decent, if we look at our time pressure.

We started our broof session very lightly – percentage-wise, with a Sundae Raspberry IPA made by Rascals Brewing Company.

I’ve had this one before and I truly enjoyed it. Most people don’t like beers that are sweet, and this one definitely belongs into this category. There is a hint of vanilla sweetness but very well balanced with refreshing flavour of raspberries, finished with a creaminess by adding lactose in. Do you know that feeling when you are wrecked after a long shift at work and then you are coming home and finally get to lie down in your bed… the moment when you put your head on your soft fluffy pillow, it feels absolutely amazing, doesn’t it? That’s exactly the feeling that you have after sipping this beer. It’s so soft and smooth, creamy and fluffy, with a berry kick of mainly raspberries, but there is more citrusy flavour to add with Citra and Enigma hops. Maybe it is not hoppy and bitter kind of a ‘real beer’, but it is very exciting to see and taste what you can do with a beer. A lot of experiments and for me personally, this one is fantastic!

It definitely is some kind of a milkshake beer revolution these days. We couldn’t resist opening another Milkshake creation, this time by Fourpure Brewing, called Spice Route Chai Milkshake Pale Ale. Oh…my…god… Such a flavour! It felt like a time machine that brought me almost two years back…

It all started in Bar Rua. We both experienced how it feels like to be a homeless for the first time in our lives. Fortunately, not literally homeless, but pretty desperate to find a roof we could put our heads under. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere and with all Irish luck, myself and Conor became housemates! I remember it as it was yesterday that we got the keys from the gaff and were celebrating with Bloody Notorius, a double IPA by Beavertown. It was 11am and sipping this orange mind-fu**ing 9.1% beauty felt soooo good. Bloody delicious! Do you remember, Crono?

All those memories are unforgettable, and this Spice Route Chai Milkshake Pale Ale became one of them now! Bloody delicious…

It’s a summer beer that you want to drink on Christmas with its hint of cinnamon. Its chai tea flavour makes it a beer you want to drink in summer with all the fruity notes you get from it. You get all of it in one package. Fourpure made it so brewlicious, and both of us agreed that this one was ‘the one’ we fell in love after the first sip.

We lost our virginity with the Fourpure Brewing Company and we were too excited about it so we jumped on the second ride straight away with their Nightfall Coconut & Chocolate Imperial Stout.

In collaboration with Sunset Brew from exotic Brazil, this one brings you to the beach! It is a stout, but you will feel like drinking this beer out of a fresh coconut! I was talking about my relationship with stouts in my previous stout night episode (fair play, it was in my mother language), and this one fits to all descriptions of the stout I can not only drink, but actually enjoy a lot. 9%? So what? Chocolate and caramel flavour hides it pretty well, and who doesn’t love chocolate? Very easy drinking even for a stout. Fourpure gets a big thumbs up, it was a pleasure to taste you!

We were getting pretty emotional here, so we had to open a can of emotions. Literally. A Tin Can of Emotions.

This was my opening beer at Brewdog Cinematic Circus, and I was very excited to introduce this diamond to Conor, as we both enjoy the art and beers from Yellowbelly lads. It did not disappoint, and after all those fantastic brews from their kitchen, we got lucky to get something mad! 10.1% is an ABV you are going to get emotional about even before you taste it. 440ml can is another thing you are going to cry about again. But it’s all the tears of happiness. Amazing double IPA that shouldn’t be missed by any DIPA lover.

When you have fun, the time goes very fast (am I Sherlock Holmes now, with this new observation?) and we knew our wee session is coming to its end when Conor spotted his family crew from the roof.

After our emotional beer by Yellowbelly we had to move to something super mad, super quickly. Both of us went through (and still are going through, right?) addiction to a very famous not named (haha) energy drink, so this one I honestly picked only because its name. Made by Brooklyn brewery, Monster Ale! This very traditional barley wine is not being brewed anymore so we probably drank one of a very few left. Sitting in wine barrels for four months, but it was ageing a whole lot more afterwards and it added even more winey and aromatic flavour to it! One of those things in life that becomes better with time. Like wine itself, traditional Slovakian potato salad (the best on the second day, definitely!), or they say men…

Beer itself was very enjoyable, we wouldn’t even notice it was a 10.1% monster! And I firmly believe the strength went a bit up with keeping it ageing for a bit more. Such a monster, it was!

If I could sing at this point, I would. And Conor absolutely can! (…) He is singing for us every day. So we said goodbye to our broof club session with this Roxy Music’s song:

‘In every dream home a heartache
And every step I take
Takes me further from heaven
Is there a heaven?
I’d like to think so…’

Hoppy days, we got a phone call of Conor’s mammy, that their table was not ready yet. So it meant one more beer for us! This one was a blind pick. At the end of our session we drank In Every Dream Home A Heartache, a double dry hopped sour mash IPA by Wylam, Dry & Bitter and North Brewing. Juicy, fruity, not really sour (everything containing a word ‘sour’ makes me scared), with a nice and lightly bitter finish. Tasty end after the beers we had, I have to say. And after that one we for sure did not stay dry and bitter.

P.S.: We actually do look like sisters, Cronsie.

P.S.2: I would normally be Conor’s wing(wo)man and promote his phone number, but he is taken, boys and girls!

The next Broof Club Session Chapter is coming soon, and if you are interested in drinking a big bag of cans with me, let me know!