Nitro Irish Red Ale

Brewery Name: Dundalk Bay Brewing
Beer Style: Nitro Irish Red Ale
ABV: 4.2%
Brewed In: Dundalk, Co. Louth, Ireland

Tasting Notes

Today’s beer is a classic Irish favourite with a modern nitro twist — creamy, smooth and wonderfully easy to drink.

• Appearance: Deep ruby red with garnet flashes when held to the light. The nitro pour gives a gorgeous cascading effect and settles into a creamy off-white head.
• Aroma: Toasted malt, caramel, light toffee and a soft brown-bread note, with gentle earthy hops in the background. Very classic Irish red ale aromatics.
• Flavour: Smooth caramel and biscuit sweetness upfront, followed by toasted malt, gentle toffee and a clean earthy hop bitterness. The nitro texture softens everything, giving a rounded, velvety sip without heaviness.
• Mouthfeel: Silky and creamy with that unmistakable nitro smoothness. Soft carbonation, medium-light body and a clean, easy finish.

If you love comforting, malt-forward beers without too much sweetness, this is a lovely December pick.

About the Brewery: Dundalk Bay Brewery & Distillery

Dundalk Bay Brewery & Distillery is a 100% Irish owned, independent brewery and distillery, founded in 2015 by Spectac International — a company with over 30 years of experience designing and building bespoke breweries and distilleries across Ireland, the UK and beyond.

After decades of installing world-class brewhouses for other people, the owners at Spectac decided to take a leap of faith and create something for themselves: a modern brewery and distillery that could showcase their engineering know-how and brewing heritage. Their roots in brewing and distilling go back to the 1700s, and Dundalk Bay Brewery brings that history into a polished, contemporary facility on the edge of Dundalk.

Their beer range is broad and approachable, designed around consistency, quality and drinkability. From crisp lagers to hop-forward ales and nitro pours, everything is brewed on a state-of-the-art system designed for precision. This Nitro Irish Red Ale sits right in the heart of what they do best: a familiar Irish style, smoothed out with a velvety nitro finish.

Explore more independently brewed Irish beer in our
Irish Craft Beer collection.

Style Spotlight: Irish Red Ale (Nitro)

Irish Red Ale is one of Ireland’s most beloved traditional beer styles — smooth, malty and incredibly easy to drink.

Origins: Built on toasted barley, soft caramel notes and gentle earthy hops, the style developed as a lighter alternative to stout, with a focus on balance and drinkability.

Key Characteristics:

• Toasted malt
• Caramel and toffee
• Soft biscuit sweetness
• Low bitterness
• Clean, sessionable finish

The Nitro Twist:
Adding nitrogen transforms the texture completely — giving a creamy body, softer flavour edges and a cascading pour similar to stout, but with a lighter, toasty profile.

Dundalk Bay’s version keeps everything smooth, balanced and very drinkable.

If You Like This Beer, You Might Also Enjoy…

If this smooth Nitro Irish Red Ale is your style, here are three great Irish red and malt-forward options to explore next on TheCru.ie:

• Wicklow Wolf Wildfire Hoppy Red Ale – a modern, hop-forward red with citrus, pine and caramel warmth.
• Brehon Killanny Red 5L Keg – a smooth, toasty Irish red from Monaghan in a perfect mini-keg format.
• DOT Brew Batch XX 9th Birthday Release BA Imperial Rum Red Dark – a deep, complex, barrel-aged red ale with rich sweetness and rum-soaked depth.

These three offer different sides of the red ale world — classic, hoppy, and barrel-aged — and all sit beautifully alongside today’s malt-forward, nitro-smooth pick.

Share Your Experience

Enjoying Day 8?

Snap a photo of your Nitro Irish Red Ale and share it with us — tag @TheCru.ie and use #TheCruIE on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube.
We love seeing where everyone is enjoying their Advent beers throughout December!