Please grant me the liberty of writing about beer this week. There is a new breed of beer drinker who seeks well-made craft beers, full of flavour and character over the big brands or 'blands'. Some enterprising independents like Drinkstore, Stoneybatter and Deveney's of Dundrum have quickly adapted to meet this demand. Rather than try to compete with the supermarkets, these independents seek to differentiate themselves with a well-chosen and wide range of world beers. And this strategy seems to be working, evidenced by a packed out PoD on Dublin's Harcourt Street last Friday week. The occasion was the inaugural Lughnasa craft beer festival, organised by Ruth Deveney of Deveney's, Dundrum. The following are three highlights from the night.

This was a favourite of Scottish writers Sir Walter Scott and Robbie Burns. It has been made in Scotland since the 16th century from malt, wheat, bog myrtle and meadowsweet and gooseberries. The gooseberries add a gorgeous acidity, and just a hint of fruit, to the overall taste. Clean, precise and crisp. Scotland's answer to Weissbier.

With food? Salads, goats' cheese.

Smoked beer can be an esoteric experience and at first I was a little put off by the idea of it. Smoked gouda on the nose follows through to a gorgeously balanced and smooth beer. Made in the Bavarian town of Bamberg where the malt is exposed to aromatic smoke of burning beechwood.

With food? Smoked cheese, bacon or salmon would make for a perfect match.

At 14% abv, the Austrian Samiclaus bier proclaims itself as the strongest lager in the world but it has so much more going for it than high alcohol content. It is only brewed once a year on 6 December followed by 10 months' ageing before release. Very dark, with delicious flavours of sweet caramel and a rich, velvety texture, all belying the 14% alcohol.

With food? I could see myself sipping this with Christmas pudding.

Beers available from: Drinkstore, Stoneybatter (drinkstore.ie), Deveney's of Dundrum, Redmond's of Ranelagh.

The Dublin Wine Academy is kicking off its new season with the WSET intermediate certificate on 13 September and the advanced course on 9 November. Visit dublinwineacademy.com or call (01) 214 5002 for more details.

Lar Veale runs Irish wine blog, sourgrapes.ie