Helvick Gold - Dungarvan Brewing Company

kojevergas

California

2.23/5  rDev -36.5%
look: 1.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

A: Served from a cask (room-temperature) in the Porterhouse pub in Dublin, Ireland. Pours a terrible head that is thin and lacks any cream at all. Served at room temperature. Colour is cloudy, dark gould. I'm already questioning the brewer, though I'm not used to cask beers (this is my first), so I'll withhold judgement.

SM: A scent of moderate strength that suggests heavy pine and a little orange. Maybe a little honey in there too. Appealing and bold - I like it.

T: Complex. Very weak, flat open gives way to notes of pine and citrus - but not quite orange; was I wrong about the scent? Light, refreshing finish - but something's off. There isn't quite a note of water but something is missing.

MF: Far too watery. Finish is too wet.

Dr: I wouldn't have it again especially at that price, but while this beer is bad, I will say it's bold. I look forward to trying Dungarvan's other brews and watching this brewery develop. You can't blame a brewery for a failed experiment; at least they're trying something new.

Serving type: cask

11-08-2010 16:47:02 | More by kojevergas

innominat

Ireland

3.75/5  rDev +6.8%

09-28-2012 19:22:23 | More by innominat

fionn13

Ireland

3.75/5  rDev +6.8%

06-03-2012 23:43:33 | More by fionn13

Richie71

Ireland

3.75/5  rDev +6.8%

03-07-2012 21:50:33 | More by Richie71

mnixon86

Ireland

3.5/5  rDev -0.3%

01-13-2012 22:40:42 | More by mnixon86

StJamesGate

New York

3.68/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

On cask at Against the Grain, Dublin.

Pours cloudy tangerine gold with a steady white carpet. Honey, blossom and citrus on the nose. Honey on flour biscuit malts with a bit of pear and floral, slightly resiny hops. Bittersweet honeycomb finish and dry linger. Soft, medium, sticky.

Balanced and summery, but the hops don't pop on cask they way they do with, say, O'Hara's IPA. Bittering comes out over aroma, and I could see where it might cloy, leading me to wonder if the cask has sat a bit. Either way, I'd prefer the bottle, which shouldn't be the case with cask.

Serving type: cask

06-02-2011 15:09:03 | More by StJamesGate

BeerAdvocate

Massachusetts

4/5  rDev +14%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Review from BeerAdvocate Magazine Issue #48 (Jan 2011):

Sudsy white lace sticks around for the party; slight haze in the straw-colored liquid. Mid-fall orchard nose of ripe fallen fruit, twang of fermented grain, faint butteriness with a dough yeast cake smell. Smooth, bitty, moderate- sized body. Relatively dry throughout. Just a quick kiss of malt sweetness to start but then all goes very dry, as dried grassy grain flavors feign a fullness on the palate. Hint of cider twang from the nutty yeast and the butteri- ness is small as the hops drop a light licorice root and fruity wildflower character. Fruity and bitter dry finish. Wow, excessively complex for its size, and we are not complaining. Two thumbs up!

Serving type: bottle

03-23-2011 14:33:44 | More by BeerAdvocate

JohnIreland

Ireland

2.58/5  rDev -26.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Bought several bottles of this from the off-licence as well as over the counter.

Tastes like nothing I've had before, which is not a good thing. The label mentions something about pine flavours, which in my opinion do not go well in beer!

Suffered serious chill haze due to being stored in the fridge in the off-licence, although while it may not look great this way it tastes better chilled.

I wanted to like this beer but my advice to DBC would be to drop this one.

Serving type: bottle

08-24-2010 22:29:15 | More by JohnIreland

Georgesmiley

Ireland

3.9/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured from bottle into a tulip pint glass.
Nice cloudy amber/golden colour; decent white head with little lacing once the beer is consumed.
Aroma was not that distinctive, some hops coming through. However the taste makes up for it, nice and hoppy with a rich, bitter aftertaste and a good lingering note of hop on the palette for a half minute or so. Quite dry at first, though once you get into it you realise this is a nice, smooth easy drinker.
Notable for the veritable crumbs of vitamin rich sediment in the bottom of the glass!

Well worth a try.

Serving type: bottle

05-30-2010 14:53:06 | More by Georgesmiley

JohnfromDublin

Ireland

3.95/5  rDev +12.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

I tasted this 500ml bottle on 16.05.2010 (best by 28.04.2011). One of the three new brews from Dungarvan.

Poured a hazy blonde ale with a decent white head. Plenty of bubbles rising.
Aroma was a delicate hoppy IPA type aroma.
The taste was an instant hoppiness that made me think of English IPA. Very smooth and nicely balanced finishing with some nice bitterness. As I topped up the glass, a lot more sediment entered the glass and quite a bit of yeast deposit remained when the glass was empty.
Overall: a nice refreshing tasty blonde ale.

Serving type: bottle

05-17-2010 09:04:39 | More by JohnfromDublin