#What's up beer lovers!?
This week, I am trying, you guessed it, another IPA, as part of the Irish Beer Review series by me @ablaze. I basically try one Irish beer every week, and then rate and review it for all of you wonderful Steemians

So let's get straight down to business - I had this beer for the first time last Saturday, while out for dinner with my wife and kids. We went to a really funky pub in Dublin called the Church. Cool name for a bar, right.. Well it's pretty accurate as well, as this pub used to be a church, and you'll never guess who got married in this same church? None other than Mr Arthur Guinness, the founder of the world famous Guinness Irish stout - more on that later. So, it had to be a Guinness then , right?! Nope... I can have a Guinness any time, instead I opted for this Irish IPA which I had never tried before..

This weeks beer of the week is.....

Whitewater Maggies Leap IPA

Check out the cool church organ in the background..

Intro

The beer this week really hit the spot and I will go into some detail below, but the location this week was equally good, so I will talk a little about that here.

Built at the beginning of the 18th century, The Church boasts many interesting features, such as the Renatus Harris built organ and spectacular stained glass window. The Church closed in 1964 and lay derelict for a number of years until it was purchased by John Keating in 1997. Following extensive restoration over a seven year period, this List 1 building finally re-opened its doors in December 2005 as John M. Keating’s Bar and was later renamed Church, and that is the name it goes by today. There are quite a few notable people associated with the Church throughout recent history, most notably Arthur Guinness who was married here in 1761, 2 years after founding Guinness Irish Stout. Here is a list of those people:

• Arthur Guinness – Founder of Guinness Brewery – married here in 1761.

• Sean O’Casey – Playwright & Author of ‘The Plough & The Stars, “Juno & The Paycock’ & ‘The Shadow of a Gunman’ – baptised here in 1880.

• Theobald Wolf Tone – United Irishmen Founder – baptised here in 1763.

• John Wesley – Founder of the Methodist Church delivered his first Irish sermon here in 1747.

• Jonathan Swift – Author of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ and Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral attended services here.

• The Earl of Charlemont and Irish Volunteer attended services here.

• George Frederic Handel’s Messiah was first publicly performed in Dublin in April 1742 on Fishamble Street and it is known that he regularly used the organ here to practice.

What would Arthur have to say about all these new Craft beers!?

Do you know something, I think he'd love it, and these little microbreweries are probably very similar to how Arthur started off himself.. although, I don't think any of them will be as popular as the mighty Guinness!!

Review

This one was a really good pint of draught. It came in nice Maggies Leap pint glass, with an excellent head, which laced well right to the end. I wonder what it would be like from a bottle? I've had draught beers before which I loved, but then the bottle was distinctly average.. I'll keep an eye out for a bottle of Maggies Leap to see if the bottle is as good.

This was a very moreish beer, with a pleasant aroma of grapefruit and burnt orange peel. It is formidable and unique in flavour, and does a great job of balancing the hop bitterness and residual sweetness. The colour here was a nice golden orange, with that hint of rusty colour going through it. The smell was deliciously hoppy, and if I was out with my mates i'd have had 5 or 6 of these, it just went down lovely, and was perfect with my chicken burger.

Stats

• Brewer: Lakeside Brae, Clarkhill Road, Castlewellan, Co. Down, N.Ireland
• Alcohol Content: 4.7%
• Size: Pint (draught)
• What they say: A formidable India Pale Ale style beer brewed with Australian, New Zealand & American hops. Packed with citrus flavours, the ideal partner for spiced food…..or enjoyed just on its own.

Here is the old bell tower from the church, which has been maintained in its original state.

Rating

3.25/5

This is a post for #BeerSaturday hosted by @detlev

I hope you enjoyed my review, why not drop by https://steemit.com/@ablaze and say hello :)

The other reviews of Irish beers can be found here if you are interested:

Irish Beer Review 1 Mcgargles Cousin Rosies
Irish Beer Review 2 The Foxes Rock IPA
Irish Beer Review 3 Kinnegar Scraggy Bay Indian Pale Ale
Irish Beer Review 4 Tom Crean's Irish Lager
Irish Beer Review 5 Rascals Wunderbar IPA
Irish Beer Review 6 Costellos White Rhino IPA
Irish Beer Review 7 Boyne Brewhouse Irish Craft IPA

All of the photos are mine and were taken with my Samsung Galaxy A5