The can had warped a little, which seems to be a common issue with the canned beers in the stash, what with global warming and all. I've lost a few through explosions, but nothing of particular value. I would have been sorry if I lost this, since the brewery no longer makes it, and it being a superb beer, as I recall.This looks to be a second generation can, with a best before date of May 2021. It still smelled fresh and chocolatey as soon as the tab was pulled. There's a tiny autolytic quality to the flavour; a smidge of Bovril beefyness that wasn't there before, but it's not very pronounced. Mostly it's still the rich coffee and cocoa that has always been Láidir's central character, very well preserved and tasty. Although fermentation seems to have been happening in the can, it hasn't thinned out much, and retains the silky smooth high-class chocolate creaminess.
While I don't think the beer has improved or disimproved during its ageing, this does make me miss Láidir as an once-accessible locally-brewed beer of very high quality. I'm pleased that Four Provinces has recently been revitalised, and that Piper and Féile are showing up on draught taps around my area of Dublin. I would love to see Láidir back, however. Big dark beers are in too short supply. On the can they called this one "robust" and, five years in, I can say it absolutely is.
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