Quare Swally - N. Irish Beer Blog

01/01/2026

Happy New Year! 🎉 Started 2026 with my favourite new NI Beer of 2024, cos why not? Always loving a bit of the lemony, funky, wild lager Humble from Our Brewery. What were you drinking New Year's Eve?

28/12/2025

"Hey Roy! If only we could know your favourite beers of the year in one easy to read article."

Ahem. Well...

2025 has certainly been an interesting year. One in which I had a memorable big birthday, Andrew became The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, Chancellor Rachel Reeves didn’t lie, and we were a…

24/12/2025

Walked down Bedford St in Belfast this morning and past the former Deane's Vin Cafe and thought, "that could be such a great venue for a micro pub, if only our licensing laws would allow it"

22/12/2025

**NEW BLOG POST** Let's get into the festive spirit by reading about Bullhouse sliding into some supermarkets.

Belfast’s Bullhouse Brewery sure is making big strides into the supermarket scene, as you can now purchase Hoppy Days IPA in 310 selected Asda stores across the UK and three pale ales –…

06/12/2025

A great night in Derry starts with Rough Brothers Ebrington Ale in The Ebrington Hotel and a Foyster stout at Walled City Brewery 😃

29/11/2025

This Black Friday weekend get a WHOPPING 80% OFF Quare Swally merchandise. T-shirt was £200, now only £40 👀😄

19/11/2025

Northern Ireland's Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons, has bafflingly rejected an independent report which gave recommendations of why and how to reform the outdated licensing laws in NI.

With his rejection, he effectively attempted to put a red pen through the possibility of consumers in NI having an increased choice of more of our favourite local microbrewers.

Radio Ulster's Talkback programme got reaction from the report's author, the CAMRA NI chairperson and the head of Hospitality Ulster...

The discussion starts at 47 minutes - try not to shout at the final 2 minutes of chat.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002m9nv

10/11/2025

Following on from my recent post about awful low alcohol beers at M&S, I just wanna say hello again to everyone I met at Belfast Beer & Cider Festival where I was enjoying much tastier low ABV beers. If you want a low beer, try these - exclusively NOT for sale in M&S 😆

07/11/2025

Some beer gurus rejoiced at the supposed demise of the Milkshake IPA. Thankfully those clever Beer Hut boys had other ideas 🥰

07/11/2025

I didn’t want to peak too soon so having my first pumpkin beer of the year. Belter.

06/11/2025

Last year I wrote a piece on why the Belfast Beer & Cider Festival matters and why you should attend. It's back. It's on right now. I'm pouring beers. Come say hello.
https://quareswally.com/2024/11/21/why-the-belfast-beer-cider-festival-matters/

03/11/2025

I recently sampled five low alcohol beers from M&S. My detailed notes say you should avoid these five low alcohol beers from M&S. You're welcome.