It has all the hallmarks of subversive activity. Small groups, highly organised, highly trained, scattered throughout the country, trading information and resources. There is the familiar invocation of symbols, language and significant dates - 1798, Biddy Early, the wolfhounds of Meath, revolution, harps and shamrocks. There is zealotry, and passion, cheap newsletters printed in gaudy colours spreading the new message, the questioning of the status quo. All this is in the name of brewing, and for six months I have been the beer detective, tracking down the subversives of the Irish microbrewing revolution.
It has been a familiar, forensic investigation. There have been the meetings with the major suspects - Sunday morning in Inagh, Co Clare. A whistle-stop into Thurles. Early-evening conversations just beside O'Connell Bridge in Dublin. A trip north, to Hilden, Co Down. Warehouses near the increasingly fashionable Smithfield in Dublin. Out to the country to Enfield. An industrial estate in Co Kildare. Late evenings in Temple Bar.
Occasionally, I got lucky: a card found in a B&B in Carlow led me to the old goods-store close to the railway station, and more evidence. Occasionally, I missed out - a lead to the promisingly named Whitewater Brewery, in Kilkeel, Co Down, couldn't be tracked any further. And, just when I think the book of evidence is almost complete, the telephone rings: something is happening in Roscommon. More names. More telephone numbers into the crammed diary. Another line of investigation, another trip for old gumshoes.
Nothing like this has happened for 15 years. Back then, a bunch of conspirators got together and began the farmhouse-cheese revolt, an insurrection against Calvita. Just look where that led. The Irish brewing revolution is the most exciting thing happening in Irish food right now. I say "food", because the craft-brewers work in exactly the same way as our artisan and organic growers and food producers. High quality, small-scale production which is distinctive, original and inspired. They share the passion and the commitment you find in the best cheesemakers and bakers and butchers and farmers: they have the same contempt for the status quo, for the brewing climate which offers us only increasingly bland beers and stouts. Interestingly, the Dublin Brewing Company's head brewer, Liam McKenna, says that when creating a beer "my inspiration always comes from food. Of course there are various styles, but the recipe will always be influenced by food".
And, like the other artisans, they are on to a winner: the microbrew revolution has caught fire, with new brewing houses opening up everywhere. "We are resurrecting something that had disappeared," says one, and you remember it isn't long since there were 65 breweries on the banks of the Liffey. "The way craft brewers work is not unlike the early Christian seats of learning in Ireland," says another - the invocation of the past is commonplace: Curim; Moling's; Finian's Gold; Maeve's Crystal Wheat.
At the core of the revolution is the revolt against monotony, and the drive to produce memorable, distinctive, high-quality beers, drinks which express the skill of the brewer and the potential of the genre, drinks that truly demonstrate the brewer's art. Our better-known Irish beers and stouts are, to my mind, largely facsimiles of their former glories - and surely I am not alone in thinking that Guinness, for example, would do well to concentrate more on brewing better stouts and spend less time, effort and money on marketing and advertising, the twin energies that most seem to direct the company these days.
The creative energy in Irish brewing now is these craft brewers. Once you taste some of their stunning creations - The Porterhouse's Oyster stout; the Dublin Brewing Company's Maeve's Crystal Wheat; Dwan's Rich Ruby Country Ale; the clean hit of the Irish Brewing Company's No 1 Brew - you can't go back to the bland stuff found on tap in every pub in the country. An elderly neighbour with whom I recently shared some Beckett's Gold ale from the Dublin Brewing Company, said: "Ah, there's a cut in that!", and promptly had a second bottle. There is indeed a "cut" in these beers, ales and stouts, an invigorating crispness, freshness and purity.
And so to a tour of the craft breweries of Ireland:
The Biddy Early Brewery
PEADAR Garvey was an industrial chemist, as well as a publican and brewer, and he established the Biddy Early Brewery in his Inagh, Co Clare pub, in 1995.
He had an eye to the main chance - "A million tourists a year go to the Cliffs of Moher on that road," he told me of the main road to Lahinch which runs through Inagh, where the bar and brewery is located, and they couldn't help but notice the pub. Garvey also had a fondness for, shall we say, fable, as the following proves.
Dr Garvey Garvey took the name Biddy Early after the famous Co Clare witch of the 19th century, who had a magic bottle which could cure all ills. Garvey, fortunate man, found Biddy's bottle in 1995, in the river into which a cleric had cast it after her death, analysed the contents and discovered "the main ingredients to be the strong aphrodisiac of oysters with strong Irish stout. We developed a similar drink which we call Black Biddy in memory of the great woman".
Well, maybe after eight or 10 Black Biddys you would believe that, but what is undeniable is that Garvey created good beers. Black Biddy is an excellent stout, fresh and lively and interestingly it uses carrageen moss both to add body to the stout and for fining, (clarifying the beer), the only brewery to do this today. "Guinness used to have 400 people collecting alganates off the coast," Garvey observed. Black Biddy has been joined by some colourful sisters - Blonde Biddy, a light, US-style beer, and Red Biddy, a hydrogenated beer. There is also a Real Biddy which is interesting because it uses bog myrtle instead of hops to flavour the beer, this giving it a scent of heather which I found very refreshing. Garvey claimed this is an ancient Celtic tradition, and that the Celts also used sage for flavouring. Peader Garvey died some months back, and his son, Neil Garvey, will be continuing and developing the business, and there are plans to introduce a lager later on in the year.
Biddy Early Brewery, Inagh, Co Clare, tel 065-36742
The Carlow Brewing Company
Brendan Flanagan is the head brewer in the Carlow Brewing Company, assisted by Paul Harding. He studied his biotechnology locally, in Carlow RTC, and worked with Liam McKenna in the Dublin Brewing Company. Seamus and Eamon O'Hara are the originators of the venture, which produces two beers.
Curim takes its name from a wheat-based beer brewed by the Celts, and uses local barley with a blend of wheat. I thought it an excellent beer, very crisp and refreshing, a nice wheaty undernote always present in the flavour.
The second brew is a red ale, Molings, named after the founder of a Celtic settlement in south Carlow. This uses barley malt, and is a full-flavoured, mouth-filling ale.
The first beers at the Carlow Brewing Company were brewed in June 1998, with kegging in July and the first pints were pulled in August. Soon they were in 21 local pubs, an indication of just how fast the craft brewing revolution is rolling out throughout the country. The brewery is open to the public, who can see the beer being made and then taste it in the bar.
The Carlow Brewing Company, The Goods Store, Station Road, Carlow, Co Carlow, tel 0503 34356
The Celtic Brewing Company
THE only female brewer I found in Ireland, Anne McGowan, is responsible for the lively beers of the Celtic Brewing Company. A Sligo woman, she worked previously with Ambrew, a US company, before coming to the Celtic plant, on the Trim-Rathmolyon road just past Enfield, where Celtic began production in 1997. There are three beers produced: Finian's Irish Red Ale, Finian's Original Gold and Independence lager, a crisp, American-style lager, for Dunnes Stores. As a great deal of the beer is exported, it is pasteurised to ensure a longer shelf-life, and Celtic also has to grapple with the fact that the water in Enfield is rather hard - brewing prefers soft water. Within these restrictions, McGowan produces good brews, not as singular as the other craft beers, perhaps, but nevertheless still distinctive and fresh. The Independence lager is a knockout drink on a hot day.
They also produce Baadoc - a beer sold in the Mongolian barbecue restaurants in Temple Bar and the Cork Covered Market - under licence.
The Celtic Brewing Company, Enfield, Co Meath, tel 0405 41558
The Dublin Brewing Company
LIAM McKenna is the great polemicist of the craft-brewing movement. "The Brewers and Maltsters Guild of Ireland is aiming for mandatory labelling of the ingredients used in beer," says McKenna, who has already expressed his concern on this subject in the letters page of this paper. "Some people aren't happy with this, because they use isinglass to settle and clarify beer, which is not necessary, and their beers are heavily impregnated with sulfites" (preservatives). The four brews of the Dublin Brewing Company are produced as purely and simply as McKenna can manage: "All our beers are all natural, with no artificial additives or preservatives", it says on the label, and while McKenna acknowledges that "the Dublin Brewing Company are the only people fighting for change, both as regards labelling and equable excise treatment," he feels both issues are likely to become increasingly important for brewers.
An intense character who came to the brewery from Canada, McKenna rails against modern commercial brewing: "Modern brewing creates the least offensive brew," he says. "Our philosophy is that beer must be balanced, stylistically accurate, refreshing, pure, and that the beer should be of itself".
The company's D'Arcy's Dublin Stout is a dry stout with lots of maltiness, a beautifully crisp and precisely composed drink. At last year's Stockholm Beer Festival it took the prize in the stout competition, beating off the Cork stouts, Beamish and Murphy's. Like all of McKenna's brews, its signature is complexity - you could spend an hour unravelling the suggested flavour components of this fabulous stout, and best of all, wondering what to eat with it: McKenna's beers all go well with food because they are so light and well-defined.
Their first brew was Beckett's Gold, a malty brew with excellent mouth-feel, while the newer 1798 Revolution Ale is a classic Irish red ale, with a buttery character and the aromatic note of roasted barley: here is something for smoked meats and cheeses, and also the barbecue.
If I have a favourite of the BDC beers, it is Maeve's Crystal Wheat, a fabulous brew with hints of green apple and sour plum and the suggestion of sea saltiness. In fact, Maeve's makes McKenna think of soft shell crab from Delaware Bay, and it is a dream brew for food.
The Dublin Brewing Company, 141-146 North King Street, Smithfield, Dublin 7, tel 01 8728622