You could say that the White Hag Irish Brewing Company hit the ground fighting in 2014. They had hoped to debut at the Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo in August 2014 with their appropriately named Fleadh Ale, but a small group of local publicans blocked the granting of a licence for a special Craft Beer Emporium at the festival. Craft beer fans nationwide were up in arms at the small-minded move, but the brewery was able to get some local pubs on board to host their ale instead.
The brewery also created a buzz at the Irish Craft Beer Festival in the RDS in September 2014, with punters raving about the quality of the beers and the impressive range. Incredibly, the founder James Ward and brewer Joe Kearns launched the brewery with six beers. Most microbreweries launch with one flagship beer or a safe stable of a pale ale, a red ale and a stout or porter, but right off the bat the White Hag came out with a wit beer, heather ale, imperial oatmeal stout, Irish bog ale, a white IPA and an Irish IPA as well as that infamous Fleadh Ale, a one-off festival special.
The brewery takes its inspiration from ancient Irish mythology, starting with the name of the brewery itself: ‘The White Hag was a witch, a chameleon creature and even Mother Nature herself. We know she was all that, and more.’ Or take their Meabh Rua Irish Bog Ale, which uses peat-smoked barley and was inspired by Queen Meabh, whose name in old Irish translates as ‘ale’.
White Hag Brewing Company is the first brewery to open in Sligo for over 50 years, but they also have their eye on the US market and are exporting to New York. Already a highly regarded microbrewery in Ireland, the White Hag is expected to be a big hit in the States.
