Local Connections Are Key At Templemore’s Whitefield Brewery

 Local Connections Are Key At Templemore’s Whitefield Brewery

"For too many years farmers were treated like dirt in this business and if you’re going to make great beer then you need to start with great barley."

“One thing we’ve always tried to do is work with local farmers to grow barley for us. While that in itself is easy enough, getting the barley malted was the trickier part. Minch Norton in Athy malt the barley but the smallest batch size they can malt is 75 Ton. So over the years it took a bit of too-ing and fro-ing to get a system in place that we could achieve this,” said Cuilan Loughnane of Whitefield Brewery in Tipperary as he spoke about their connections locally. The subject is something extremely important to him and his wife Sally, the brewery co-owners.

“Now all our base malt comes from Minch Norton and is grown by local farmer Tim Connolly. What underlines this process is the price we pay the farmer. For too many years farmers were treated like dirt in this business and if you’re going to make great beer then you need to start with great barley. So, we agree a sustainable price with Tim before he even gets out his plough. That way he has an incentive to grow a great crop knowing he’s going to get paid well for it.”

”That’s how a small brewery like us connects with the community, by being willing to pay above the odds to ensure we all make a decent living and keep trade in the area. It’s up to the consumer then to do their part by purchasing the beers made by the local brewery, that way we have a sustainable cycle and a community that can thrive.” 

“Our main focus has always been the local pub. It hasn’t always been easy in these places! Getting the right beer and trying to get the publican behind it is not a task for the faint hearted, but we’re getting there! Us selling a 4.3% bottle of pale ale to a supermarket is just not financially viable, our brew length is too small, our costs are too high. So, pubs and restaurants are always going to be our bread and butter and hopefully as the years go by as local as possible.”

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In the beginning….

Cuilan started work in Dwan Brewery in Thurles in 1998 and got an opportunity to take over the brewery in 2001. “So my wife and I set up the Shelta Beer Co. on the 29^th of August 2001. We operated under the Dwan brand for a number of years before we had to leave Dwan’s premises and we relocated to Messer’s Maguire’s (now J.W. Sweetman) in Dublin city centre. We spent the next 6 years operating out of there during extremely difficult times for the Irish Craft Beer industry.”

“An opportunity to purchase the defunct Kinsale Brewery equipment came about in 2008 and we decided to bite the bullet. We found a premises in Templemore and finally opened the doors in August 2009 where we’ve been since.”

"I have always been the brewer, maybe not such a good idea from a business perspective, but we pride ourselves on the fact that we’re a beer led business." 

Tipp Barley

 

What stands out about the brewery, your beers? Is there something unique? ...

“We make no bones about the fact that we brew traditional style beers and are not into all the latest fads! Our brewhouse was originally commissioned by Pauliner, so it is designed as a wheat beer brewery. The fermentation tanks are low, wide and flat bottomed to help maintain consistent flavour profile while using a volatile yeast. So it comes as no surprise that our best sellers in both draught and bottle are Weiss beers. This makes it tricky to brew drier hoppy beers, so we focus on the malty styles of beer with plenty of sweetness.”

 

What are your core beers? Which is the favourite of the brewery team?

 

Our core beers tend to be traditional, southern style German Wheat and lager beers. We like to put a small twist in them like adding a portion of Rye malt to our Weiss beer to help bring about a slightly drier flavour or using Saké rice to increase the alcohol content. But our favourite here has always been our Traditional Irish Stout in the 750ml bottle. It represents everything we think here about traditional brewing from an Irish perspective.

 

Any new beers in the pipeline?

We want to take Irish Stout up a notch in alcohol but I’m a sucker for balance. Too many beers have wonderful first, second and third sip-ability but completely lose their balance after that and become hard to finish. I think we still have a lot to learn from the wine industry in terms of balance, so we’ll tread carefully while developing this recipe. 

 

 

What’s your typical day like? 

“No such thing when you own a small business, although I tend to stick to everything involving the brewery itself. My wife Sally focuses on everything outside the brewery and Micheál works between the two of us. So overall it works pretty well, the biggest discussions (arguments!) are always about future decisions and how they will be funded. Money is always tight in a small business so every decision will have an impact good or bad.”

Tell me about one time when things went wrong. How did you learn from that failure? Can you look back and laugh about it now?

"Luckily a lot of what I saw going wrong was when I joined Dwan’s. The concept of the Brewpub was fantastic but the people had no idea what it was or how to react to it. So it was an idea way before it’s time and as a result just failed. So much money was spent on all the wrong things but for all the right reasons and I got to see all of that without it costing us a penny. 

So when we took over Dwan’s, we immediately made the decision to stop selling beer in Ireland and focus on the cask market in the UK. (we were the first ever Irish Micro-Brewery to sell cask beer to the UK). And that decision was an immediate success! It laid the foundations for our future at poor Bill Dwan’s cost.”

Early lessons well learned as anyone who drinks Whitefield’s terrific beers will readily acknowledge. Off to try a couple now!

Whitefield finds a welcome in Cork

Other Brewery Posts:

Ballykilcavan The Taste of Laois in your glass.

9 White Deer At Home In Ballyvourney. And On The World Wide Web

Any craft drinks or food producer out there interested in a post like this, feel free to get in touch!

CorkBillyBeers #10. Craft journey with Brown Ales from Ireland and Belgium: Ballykilcavan, Whiplash, Bacchus, and Chimay

CorkBillyBeers #10

Craft journey with Brown Ales from Ireland and Belgium: Ballykilcavan, Whiplash, Bacchus, and Chimay

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Bacchus Flemish Old Brown, 4.5% ABV, 375 ml bottle The Cru

Bacchus introduce Old Brown (Oud Bruin) as “A typical Flemish beer with a pleasant taste of wine...and a rich past. Partially matured in oak barrels, this dark brown beer has moderately fruity aromas and a slightly acidic aftertaste.” This type of beer has been brewed in West Flanders since the 17th century.

Colour is brown as you’d expect with a slight tan head that barely says hello before its fades, leaving just a trace on top. It is indeed a mild one and the first taste indicates a tart wine-like acidity (somewhat similar to what you’ll find in the Basque wine Txakoli) but that moderates soon enough. That fresh sweet-sour taste is, the producers say, typical for this type of beer. The sweetness, nothing mega, comes from the touch of caramel from the roasted malt while the sourness is “is less pronounced than the sourness of other Flemish red-brown beers”.

And another odd thing is that there is no label,  no info at all on the bare bottle, but it comes on the unusual paper wrap! It informs us it is a mixed fermentation beer with sugar and sweetener and that the ingredients are water, barley malt, sugar, wheat, hop, spices, aromas, sweetener. That sweetener is steviol glycosides, aneis around 150-300 times sweeter than sugar! Check it out here,  if you are inclined!

Bacchus Oud Bruin was launched in 1955, making it their oldest beer. The Bacchus Kriek (in my queue) and Bacchus Raspberry are brewed on base of Bacchus Oud Bruin. Once I settled in to it, I found it quite a lively and refreshing beer with a pleasant finish, perhaps more suited to the garden in summer.

This beer was not designed to be a culinary or gastronomic beer, unlike some other beers within the extensive Van Honsebrouck range. When Oud Bruin was developed in the 50s as a beer style, no thought was given to gastronomy when brewing beer.

More about the brewery here.

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Chimay Red “Brown Ale”, 7.0 % ABV, 330 ml bottle Bradleys

The Chimay Red is the oldest of the Chimays. It gets its name from the the colour of the label. The colour of the beer is a multi-hued copper tinted brown (from copper to deep ruby) with a tan head that sinks down to a thin disc without too much delay.

Malty aromas, fruity and toasted, invite you on to the palette where you meet them again in the flavours. Fruits such as orange, peach and apricot now meld with sweet honey, nougat and baguette from the malt. And yet, there’s a delightful balance from first to last, minerality, aromas and flavours all combining in bringing a super conclusion as the aftertaste lingers

The Authentic Trappist Product label certifies that this ale is brewed in a Trappist abbey and that the majority of sales income is intended for social aid. Chimay Red was brewed for the first time in 1862.  

The perfect pairing for the Chimay Red is with Chimay cheeses but particularly with the Grand Chimay.

Trappist beers are among those that age gracefully. Brew Dog's Great Beer for the People list three requirements: high ABV, low hops, and bottle conditioned. Trappist beers tick those boxes and “they get softer, sweeter and fruitier.  …… They age beautifully.”

Ingredients: water, barley malt, sugar, wheat starch, hop, spices, yeast, 

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Ballykilcavan Bambrick’s Brown Ale, 5.8%, 440 ml can, The Cru

"Possibly the beer we're best known for! A beer to savour all year round, but it does really suit these shorter, cooler Autumn evenings. Enjoyed all the way from Laois to Lombardy," says David Walsh-Kemmis of Ballykilcavan.

This Bambrick’s Brown Ale is brewed with barley and water sourced from the family farm in County Laois. It is named after Joe Bambrick who worked on the farm for sixty years. And, believe it or not, the Walsh family have been farming here through 13 generations, since 1639!

Not a Belgian style beer this time but a Brown Ale based on the rich and malty American style. The ingredients are simple: malted barley and wheat, water, hops and yeast.

It is a dark brown colour with a tan head that slinks away rather quickly. Aromas are modest with a little fruit (including slight cherry notes) coming through the chocolate and toffee. Superb on the rich and malty palate, just a soft touch of hops, roasted coffee and burnt toffee all the way through to the dry lip-smacking finish.

IBU of this one is 26. It seems to be quite a successful style for Ballykilcavan and, in a recent post, brewery co-founder David Walsh-Kemmis indicated that they may well have another example or two during 2023. They already make an Export Bambrick’s with an 8% ABV so I must watch out for that!

Very Highly Recommended

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Whiplash Quiet Crowd Robust Brown Ale 5.0%, 330 ml can Whiplash Online

Colour’s more black than brown and there’s a silky and tight knit tan foam that hangs about a bit.  The aromas, of modest intensity, are on the malty side, caramelised and toasty, with prominent coffee notes. And so too are the roasty flavours (not too modest now though!) and there’s quite a depth here with chocolate, caramel and bread. Really impressive. 

Malt certainly has the upper hand, yet there is a very satisfactory lip smacking finish with enough bitterness to allow the malt shine without having it too sweet, that balance coming despite the heavy use of caramel and aromatic malts.

Not sure the 5% would qualify it as robust though! According to the Beer Bible, you are more likely to find these nowadays in Chicago rather than on this side of the Atlantic.

Very Highly Recommended

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CorkBillyBeers #9. Craft journey with Belgian Abbey Beers and similar strong ales, Mescan, Orval, St Bernardus and Duvel

CorkBillyBeers #9

Craft journey with Belgian Abbey Beers and similar, Mescan, Orval, St Bernardus and Duvel

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Not all strong Blonde and Tripel Belgian ales are Trappist, mostly because that label can only be attached only to beers produced in Trappist abbeys (not all of which are in Belgium!). But most of the beers will have high carbonation and powerful aromas from the yeast. 

Trappist ales may share a common style of home but the beers can differ. Our Orval for instance is an “oddball” according to the Beer Bible, “with wild yeast and fragrant dry-hopping, which seems to bear no resemblance to the other abbey ales”. Hard to be sure but picking beers with the designation “Recognised Belgium Abbey Beers” should help you on the abbey road!

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Beer vobiscum. Killian O'Morain Mescan co-founder.

Mescan Westport Extra 8.5% ABV, 330 ml bottle, No. 21

Mescan may not have had an abbey but he was St Patrick’s right hand man and personal brewer so may well have brewed up a potion that forced the snakes to hightail it out of Ireland. This one from the brewery on the slopes of Croagh Patrick is more likely to keep people here!

It is golden, of course, a slightly hazy gold, with a soft white head that is long on retention. Just stuck my finger into that head and found those fruity esters and spicy yeast notes that the brewers speak about. The hop bitterness promised is also confirmed and becomes even more pronounced as the first sip flows fully and gently across the mouth on the way to a long lingering finish. A superbly balanced beer, the highly alcohol smoothly controlled.

Carbonation is high too and you notice that immediately on the palate along with concentrated fruit and yeast, the merest hint of caramel also. Wave after wave of flavour all the way to the finish. Belgian style and Irish finesse earn a Formidable! 

It is more or less a head to head between the Mescan and Duval (neither a Trappist) in this quartet. The Belgian beer has many admirers including Mark Dredge who, in his Beer: A Tasting Course, declares that this Duvel, is “the world’s finest Strong Blonde Ale”. Just wonder if he has ever tasted the Westport Extra!

A lot of work and time goes into the production of this beauty. It takes almost a year from when it brewed before this strong, well-carbonated golden ale will be ready for punters to sip and savour. 

“Enjoy with white meats or seafood,  and fruity,  nutty desserts.” This robust beer is a real treat, and its warming alcohol is the perfect antidote to a bad weather day!

This Belgian style beer is extra in many respects, the label tells us: extra malt, hops and time to condition. So extra had to come into the name of this Strong Golden Ale and do give it the extra care it deserves. All Mescan beers are bottle conditioned and note too that the recommended serving temperature is a cold 3 - 6 C.

The brewery is situated on the slopes of Croagh Patrick and is owned and operated by Bart Adons and Cillian Ó Móráin, two Westport vets (veterinarians, not veterans!), who have been friends and colleagues for nearly 20 years. The pair spent four years perfecting their original recipes inspired by the beers of Belgium, Bart's homeland, before starting to brew commercially in 2013.

Very Highly Recommended.

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Orval Trappist Ale, 6.2% ABV, 330 ml bottle, The Cru

Dark amber/orange is the colour, hazy in the chalice with quite a foamy and long-lasting head. Aromas are complex, yeast and hops plus orange notes and herb-y hints also. 

Complex too on the palate but all’s in harmony as the fruity and hoppy elements smoothly amalgamate, a creamy feel in the mouth, sip it slowly and savour the complexity before the long and dry finish reaches a slightly bitter finalé. 

This amazing beer has been quite a while in the making, so take your time and contemplate its many pleasant qualities. Not too many like this around! By the way, the recommended serving temperature is unusually high: between 12 and 14 degrees.

The Brasserie d'Orval, located inside the Abbey, was created in 1931 to finance the huge construction site for the reconstruction of Orval. From the start, it hired labor, including the first master brewer, Pappenheimer and his assistant John Valheule.

Between the time the monks first arrived in 1070 and today, there are many tales. Jeff Alworth devotes a chapter to the abbey and the beer in The Beer Bible. Even more detail on both the abbey and beer here. 

The Guardian Angel (À l’Ange Gardien) restaurant/bar, with its  superb view of the still functioning abbey, is a quiet and welcoming place where time seems to have stood still. This tranquility is shared by visitors who come with family or friends to taste the two flagship products of Orval: cheese and Trappist beer. The cheese story started long before the beer. 

The website by the way is well worth looking up and includes recipes made with the beer or designed to be eaten with it, like this Fish Soup. A fascinating story and a fascinating beer.  According to the Brew Dog book, Craft Beer for the Geeks, it should be "in the top five on any beer list".

Orval is an “oddball” according to the Beer Bible, “with wild yeast and fragrant dry-hopping, which seems to bear no resemblance to the other abbey ales”. But it does have the coveted “Authentic Trappist Product” badge. You’ll have to look hard to spot it on the narrow band neck label. Unlike many other abbeys, the monks at Orval never brewed but the 1930s brewery (Orval was first brew in 1931) was always under their control.

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St Bernardus Pater 6 Abbey Ale, 6.7 % ABV, 330 ml bottle Bradleys

St. Bernardus Pater 6, a Trappist ale, is brewed according to the classic dubbel style with a recipe that dates back to 1946. It is, like all dubbels, a dark beer (dark red to brown), while tripels are golden. The #6 at 6.7% ABV is within the style’s range of 6 to 8 per cent. 

Other similar Belgian examples that you may be able to get your hands on are Westmalle Dubbel Trappist Ale and Chimay Red and do also keep an eye out for the stronger St. Bernardus Pater 8 (the most characterful and interesting, according to the Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth).

The #6 has a dark brown colour, not quite the chestnut they say on the website, and the rich colour is an indication of quality. The foamy head is tan and it soon contracts to a very thin disc. A touch of hazelnut and coffee in the apple and pear aromas. And coffee hints too amidst the fruit on the palate, all wrapped up nicely in a duvet of malt. 

Time and again in these high abv Belgian beers - and this is far from the highest - you find a delicious harmony between flavours of specialty malt and the lively fruitiness, and that harmony here extends to the satisfactory slightly bitter dry finish.

They say: St. Bernardus Pater 6 is brewed according to the classic dubbel style with a recipe that dates back to 1946. The name of this beer has become a reference for its style, and it is commonly referred to as ‘een Paterke’.

As ever the Belgians recommend a food pairing: St.Bernardus Pater 6 is a great choice to complement pork recipes or contrast against zesty cheeses. It is bottle fermented and best to serve it at 8-12 degrees. More recipes. 

If you come across the Pater 6, and if you see The Bernardus Abt 12 on the same shelf, then don’t hesitate. The Abt 12 (10%) is a quadrupel, full of complex flavours, great fruit and with a superb finish. It is regarded as one of the best beers in the world. In this context, quadrupel means it is stronger than a tripel which is stronger than a duppel like Pater 6!

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Duvel Strong Blond, 8.5% ABV, 330 ml bottle Bradleys

Duvel is a natural beer with a subtle bitterness, a refined flavour and a distinctive hop character. Mark Dredge, in his Beer: A Tasting Course, declares that this Duvel,  is “the world’s finest Strong Blonde Ale”. 

The colour of the Duvel in your glass is a misty gold, a central spout of bubbles flying upwards towards the tight white head that stays around. Aromas are on the modest side. On the palate, it is silky smooth,  is immediately refreshing, fine-flavoured balance of fruity and hoppy, and the refreshment continues through a moderately bitter finalé.

They say and I’m not arguing: The refermentation in the bottle and a long maturation, guarantees a pure character, delicate effervescence and a pleasant sweet taste of alcohol….Each Duvel ripens for no less than 2 months in our fermentation and refermentation cellars and is perfectly balanced as a result…

The original yeast strain, which Albert Moortgat himself selected in the 1920’s, originates from Scotland. After maturing in storage tanks in which the beer is cooled down to -2°C, the drink is ready for bottling. Thanks to the addition of extra sugars and yeast, the beer ferments again in the bottle. This occurs in warm cellars (24°C) and takes two weeks. Then the beer is moved to cold cellars, where it continues to mature and stabilise for a further six weeks.

The hops used are Saaz and Styrian Golding. They recommended serving it at 5 degrees in the Duvel glass. I like the beer for sure but not a big lover of the “devil” glass!

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CorkBillyBeers #8. Craft porter with West Kerry, Bradleys, Clonakilty, O'Donovan's, Whiplash, Einstock, The Cru

CorkBillyBeers #8

Craft porter with West Kerry, Bradleys, Clonakilty, O'Donovan's, Whiplash, Einstock, The Cru

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West Kerry Carraig Dubh Porter, 6.00% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys

“The original beer was red which became Cúl Dorcha, then came Carraig Dhubh a porter because we like the sound of the word as opposed to stout!” Hard for us amateurs to describe the difference between stout and porter if the professionals chose to call this one porter on the basis of how it sounds!

But agree we can (as Yoda might put it) that this is quite a beer. Smooth, seductive, chocolate-ly and there is no letting go as the lingering finish is along the same lines. One to sip and savour, arís is arís.

How does it look? Well, black as you’d expect and it comes with a quickly vanishing head. Aromas coming from the malt are coffee and caramel. The roasted flavours are on the bold side, and really wake up those taste buds. Lots of chocolate malt here but there is also a balance and it never gets too sweet, just spot on. The aromas and flavours continue to make this a superb experience right through to the finalé. They also do a barrel aged version - must sometime try that!

West Kerry are somewhat unusual in that all their beers are brewed with the same yeast. “Breweries normally match the style of beers to different yeast types, but we like to do it the other way around, and we design the recipe for each of our beers ourselves. But what we like to think makes our beers even more special is our water, which is full of lime and as luck would have it, ale yeast loves limey water, ensuring our beers are flavoursome, and feel round and soft in the mouth.”

It is bottle conditioned and made from malted barley, hops, yeast and spring water “from our own spring”. Traditional, yes. A bottle (or two) would go down well at the threshings I remember - but not too many threshings on farms anymore. 

Not only was Beoir Chorcha Dhuibhne the first brewery in Kerry when set up in 2008, but it was the first micro-brewery in Ireland to be founded and managed by a woman, and Adrienne continues to run the brewery ever since. 

Remembering those early days, Adrienne recalls “I realised the wonderful potential around developing beers with an intense connection to the ground they were made on … using water from 150 feet below the brewery connects me back to the family members who have gone before us, and in turn they are connected out to the world through the beers we produce here”.

You may enjoy a tour the brewhouse and then a tasting in the pub afterwards or take a technical tour where you get to pick the brains of one of the brewers. More details here.  I’m well overdue a visit to Tig Bhric myself.

Very Highly Recommended

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Clonakilty Smuggler Porter, 6.0% ABV, 500 ml bottle O’Donovan’s

What is the difference between Stout and Porter? 

Author Mark Dredge says Porter typically has less roasted barley flavour than a Stout.

Traditionally, Stout became regarded as stronger than Porter (or was that just the marketing!). Then again, you have Baltic porter, stronger than most stouts (except perhaps those barrel-aged).  No easy answer to the question anymore as there are so many sub styles, so many different brewers and so many variations from brewery to brewery.

Dark stuff this Clonakilty bottle with the startlingly blue-eyed boy on the label. Previously the bubbly frothy tan head sank slowly, but this time it made a rather quick exit (even though I poured slowly, as instructed). I must say, without ever counting them up, that I think the porter heads generally slip away much quicker than their stout equivalent.

Moderate aromas of roast and chocolate as the head sinks another notch, just a thin disc now. And, now on the palate, it is sweet chocolate, coffee too and a medium touch of bitterness all through to keep it all in balance and there is a good dry finish.

They say: We are passionate about making beer with no compromise, brewing small batches with big personality. Using locally sourced grains, the best hops and water from our own well, our beers are handcrafted with care…. 

Pour slowly for a smooth creamy head. Enjoy at 10-12 degrees. It goes well with dark meats, rich desserts and chocolate, and is delicious and satisfying on its own.

The Deasy family brewed beer in Clonakilty (known as the brewery town) for almost 200 years, including the famous Clonakilty Wrastler. The Deasys also had a legendary reputation as successful smugglers along the dramatic and rugged coast of West Cork.

They, the current brewers, say: We are passionate about making beer with no compromise, brewing small batches with big personality. Using locally sourced grains, the best hops and water from our own well, our beers are handcrafted with care in our Brewhouse in Clonakilty by head brewer ‘Thirsty’ Frank Fredriksen and his team.

Clonakilty is at the centre of such a positive mix of beautiful scenery, amazing food, interesting characters, quirky local stories and strong town spirit. …It also pushes us to brew beer that stands with the best and make the town proud of what we do.

Highly Recommended.

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Whiplash The Sup Porter 5.0%, 330 ml can Bradleys

Thought I’d throw this in here (we’ve had it previously) to fill a small gap in the session…..lighter than the stout and with an almost cherry like flavour..a little beauty that sure can speak for itself…

The Sup is a glass of the black stuff with a classic tan head. And there’s more! The aromas, chocolate and caramel, are a gentle and pleasant introduction. The firm shakehands comes in the mouth, again chocolate and caramel, but now more assertive, again in the most pleasant of ways, plus that cherry bonus.

As with many porters, it is more about the malts. They say: This porter has been on our “to brew” list for years now and we decided it was finally time. …... The main star in this is CaraBohemian – a kind of rich and decadent Czech Brown Malt but it oozes fruity Bournville dark chocolate with a hint of coffee in there too.

Not too sure about the Bournville bit; that bar was a favourite of mine (back in the day, before the day!) and I can’t say I recognise it here. Nice soft finish though with a hint of sweetness. Been years since I had a bar of Bournville! Must try one soon.

Bournville or not, this is delicious, quite a sophisticated porter. Should be versatile at the table, morning with pancakes and Nutella, lunch with Smoked Scamorza by Toonsbridge, evening with a few squares of a certain chocolate.  Or perhaps any time, with just a few of the Apple Farm cherries when they ripen next summer!

Highly Recommended

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Einstock Icelandic Toasted Porter 6.0% ABV, 330 ml can The Cru

The traditional colours of porter are here: black body, tan head (that sinks away). Aromas are very much in the tradition as well, especially the slightly roasted chocolate. Chocolate, coffee and caramel feature also in the flavours. 

This is quite a combo actually, really well executed by the Icelandic brewery. Toasty and rich, with a smooth punch on the palate plus a very satisfying finish indeed, it is quite a porter. Had been a little sceptical about this small can but now it is a big thumbs up.

The headings on the can don’t mention it but this is the brewery’s take on a Baltic Porter, though it is mentioned in the text. So this take is out of a direct comparison with the other porters in this quartet.

They say: Aromatic Icelandic roasted coffee subtly bands together with toasted malt undertones to create our take on Baltic Porter..What is a Baltic Porter? The rise in popularity of the English-style Porter took over shipping ports around the world in the 18th century. It primarily gained recognition when it was introduced to London's working class, the porters, who loaded ships and traded with the Baltic states. As this popular style reached the Baltic region, local brewers tried their hand at this famous recipe, but this time with a local twist. Since the native climate of the Baltics was measurably cooler than England, brewers began using lager yeast to ferment their porters instead of ale yeast (which typically ferments at higher temperatures)……Lager malt, Munich malt, chocolate malt, Bavarian Northern Brewer hops, and authentic Icelandic roasted coffee.

Food pairings suggested are: Rich and roasty notes bring out the best of steak, lamb chops, game and roasts.

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