Irish Pale Ale Challenge - SF4 - I can't think of a snappy title with a pun in it based on the locations of the brewers, sorry.

Semi Final 4
Galway Bay Full Sail IPA 5.8% abv 50cl €3.29
Black's Kinsale Pale Ale 5.0% abv 33cl €2.69

I really liked both of these so I suspect this will be a close one. The Full Sail is one I have had regularly at the various pubs that Galway Bay own, whereas the Black's Ive only had twice, to my knowledge. By the way, the picture at left of the Kinsale Pale Ale is the old label. The new label looks like this.

Black's Kinsale Pale Ale
Yep, still got it. A good dollop of citrus fruit, a hint of malt and some delicious bitterness at the finish. A suggestion of tropical fruit around the edges completes the picture.


Galway Bay Full Sail IPA
Much darker in the glass this, almost a red ale colour. The hue is a clue to the flavour, which has much more earthy malts than the Blacks and a lot less citrus to the bitterness. But it is very well balanced and has a dynamite finish.

Winner - Again, there is nothing in it between these two and I'd be well happy with either but I'm gonna give it to the Kinsale Pale Ale.

The Line up for the final is as follows:
Porterhouse Hop Head
Mountain Man Hairy Goat
O'Hara's Double IPA 
Black's Kinsale Pale Ale 

Yummy!