Raglan Road offers free craft beer tastings during Great Irish Hooley this weekend

kristin-ford%27s-masthead.jpg

As if The Great Irish Hooley isn’t reason enough to visit Raglan Road at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) during the holiday weekend, this year the restaurant and pub is offering complimentary samplings of limited edition craft beers.

Ireland’s Rye River Brewing Company created four beers especially for the festival and transported them to Orlando:

** Raglan Road Saison
** Raglan Road Fruit Salad Weiss Beer
** Francis’ Big Bangin’ IPA
** McGargles Jims C02 Stout

Through Monday, Sept. 7, guests can participate in beer talks and tastings at 1 and 5 p.m. each day. Each class is led by a brewmaster from Rye River and expected to last about 45 minutes. Those who are interested in attending are encouraged to show up early because space is limited and seats will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

My husband and I were among the first to taste the beers on Friday, the first day of the Hooley, which is an Irish party. In this case, it’s a four-day Irish celebration that marks the halfway point to St. Patrick’s Day. Although I am not a big beer drinker, I was game to try the specialty beverages. My husband enjoys various styles of beers — and some more than others. For example, he routinely drinks IPAs and occasionally stouts, so he especially enjoyed several of the offerings at the tasting at this year’s Hooley. But he also was pleasantly surprised by another variety of beer being offered as part of the tasting, too.

First, he said the Francis’ Big Bangin’ IPA was one of the smoothest Indian Pale Ales he’s ever had. It was described by Rye River Brewing Company founder Niall Phelan as an “American-style” IPA single malt with a 7.1 percent ABV. He discussed the IPA’s citrus tones before the tasting, and my husband said they came through clearly and refreshingly. It was one of his favorites, even though he typically likes a more hoppy taste that comes from a traditional IPA.

The so-called Fruit Weiss beer, or wheat beer selection, was one that my husband said he’d never typically order in a bar — until he tried it at our tasting. The beer had a refreshing taste of watermelon that was light-tasting and flavorful without being too sweet or syrupy, he said. It definitely answered the challenge put out by Raglan Road of creating drinkable beers for the Florida heat and humidity. My husband even persuaded me to try it and I found it to be enjoyable, as well.

The one beer variety my husband panned was the Saison. It was good, he said, but it was just much too sweet for his taste. Though the brewers described the complexities of flavors in the beer, my husband remarked that it might be something he would drink with a dessert and not with a main course.

The Uncle Jim’s Stout, though, was a pleasure for him. Infused with a rich aftertaste of tones of chocolate and coffee, it finished smooth. Though you could compare it to the well-known Guinness, it seemed to a standout that might even surpass that iconic Irish brand of stout, my husband said. Clearly, he was impressed.

Phelan had a surprise for those who love to try new beers. “Being Irish, we changed our minds at the last minute. Because [the IPA] is so good we decided to release it,” he said. It will be available in mid-October across Florida, in Chicago and in New York in bottles and draft.

The Rye River beer sampling is just one part of The Great Irish Hooley, which is in its fourth year at Raglan Road. My daughter and I attended the first year, and she loved all the family friendly activities. Kids are again invited to learn how to dance with the amazing professionals who perform in between sets of the nine different bands that are playing this weekend. Plus, there is complimentary face-painting for the young and the young-at-heart. And, of course, you won’t want to miss the authentic dishes by Irish celebrity chef Kevin Dundon.

“Ten years since opening, and four years since our first Hooley — we’re still going strong, and we’re excited to share our traditions, as well as the best of Irish bands and entertainers,” says John Cooke, a Raglan Road founding partner and Dublin native.