Showing posts with label Casey's Hotel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Casey's Hotel. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Irish Food & Drink Month Launches with 140 Venues Around The Country

 Irish Food & Drink Month Launches

 with 140 Venues Around The Country



Great Irish Beverages is very proud to share details of their first Irish Food & Drink Month festival - a nationwide celebration of pairing Irish foods with Irish drinks running in October.


Pride in Irish food has never been stronger in Ireland’s hospitality sector. All across Ireland, you’ll find Irish produce taking front and centre of most menus. Few would argue that local food tastes best when enjoyed with local drinks and Ireland is no exception. Our native drinks pair wonderfully well with Irish meats, fish, farmed produce and cheeses. We want to see those drinks as well loved as the foods they share the same land with. That’s why we’re rolling out a brand new nationwide festival for all of October 2022 –  Irish Food & Drink Month.


We are working with 18 different Irish drinks brands across many sectors for this project. Throughout September, any licensed bar, restaurant or hotel was able to register for free and in order to get involved, they had to create and sell a signature Irish food & drink pairing for the month of October. They are all now live and can be seen here. Each registered venue is divided by the county and then alphabetically. The public vote for which participating venue has the best Irish food & drink pairing is now live too. People can vote by tagging the venue in a post on Instagram and using the hashtag #EatDrinkIrish. Or they can vote by posting on the Great Irish Beverages Facebook page, tagging the venue and using the #EatDrinkIrish hashtag there. Voting closes on October 31st and it’s one vote per person. The winning venue will be able to nominate a registered charity of their choice and we will give them €1,000.

Apple Tart by Dede

140 venues in 16 different counties are on board. Each venue has their own page on the Great Irish Beverages site where you can see each of their Irish food & drink pairings. They range dramatically both in venue style, choice of food, choice of drink and include:
 - Irish lobster paired with Irish Pilsner from The Seafood CafĂ© in Temple Bar to Irish lobster cooked and served with Irish whiskey from King Sitric in Howth.
- Pizzas made with Irish cured meats & cheeses and served with Dublin beers in Rascal's HQ and The Circular in Rialto
- Irish scallops paired with local lager from Mimosa Bar de Tapas in Carlow and Irish scallops paired with an Irish Whiskey Sour cocktail from Sole in Dublin.
- Cork ciders paired with Cork mussels in Casey's of Baltimore.
- Irish Apple Ice Wine served alongside Irish cheese in the 2 Michelin Star Aimsir in Kildare.
- Wild Irish venison paired with Irish Mead from Rare 1784 in Kinsale
- Irish Espresso Martinis paired with desserts from venues such as Camden Bites & Brews
- Burgers and steaks paired with pale ales and porters from Dash Burger and Bull & Castle 


Lots and lots of delicious Irish food & drink combos to be had! So why not treat yourself to something Irish in the month of October. Check out your nearest participating venue and enjoy what's best in Irish cuisine and beverages! By doing so you're bringing some much needed help to Irish businesses and producers.




Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Taste of the Week. Roaring Ruby Red Ale


Taste of the Week
Roaring Ruby Red Ale

I was eating out recently in Timoleague's Monk’s Lane where Gavin and Michelle have, since they started out a few years back, been strong supporters of local craft brewers. They have a very long list of beers, both in draught and in bottle.

I spotted the Roaring Ruby Red Ale by the West Cork Brewery from Baltimore in draught and noted the “dangerously drinkable” in the blurb.

I can vouch for that having sipped my way through a smooth pint of its delicious caramel and toffee flavours, a superb red ale almost crossing into stout territory. And our Taste of the Week is great with food.

The West Cork Brewery is based at Casey’s of Baltimore, Ireland’s first Brew-Hotel, and was launched in December 2014 by Dominic Casey, Henry Thornhill and brewer Kevin Waugh. They also produce the Sherkin Lass Ale and Stout x Southwest. Wouldn’t mind being down there now in that sun trap beer garden, sipping a pint of Roaring Ruby and the boats coming and going on the blue waters.

Check out three other top Irish beers all on the darker side here

Monday, July 27, 2015

36 Hours in West Cork. Not that I was counting!

36 Hours in West Cork
Not that I was counting!


Baltimore sunset
I was thinking of Garrett Oliver, master brewer at New York’s Brooklyn Brewery, while I was eating lunch at Union Hall’s Coffee Shop last Thursday. Garrett related at the Ballymaloe LitFest how people, on first drinking one of his beers, tell him that it is so good it doesn't taste like beer. Garrett tells them, with some satisfaction, that what they have been drinking before is not real beer.

Well, here in Union Hall, our first call on our most recent trip to West Cork, I was eating real panini. I’m sure there are other good paninis out there but it is superb here, like nothing I've ever tasted before. It was packed with chicken, brie and pesto, all adding up to great flavours and terrific textures.
Panini
 The menu is short here as you'd expect but quality is high. And that is underlined with CL’s Quiche of Roast peppers, feta, Ballymaloe Relish. After that and a good cup of coffee we were on our way.


Having been in West Cork regularly, particularly this year, I were looking for one or two different things to see and do. West Cork obliged. Big time.


Graveyard on Myross Island
 After the Coffee Shop, we headed for Myross Island and found it. Drove up the narrow road to the graveyard which has terrific views over the Atlantic, including the nearby Rabbit Island. Next call was to Reen Pier where we ran into Jim Kennedy. He runs Atlantic Sea-kayaking and has his base here in this beautiful place.


We got some great views of it as we took the narrow road, rising up above the water, heading for a bridge that would take us to the other side and down to the peace and calm of Castletownsend with its distinguishing tree in the middle of the street, acting as a roundabout.

On the road above Reen Pier
 Baltimore was our destination for the night but there would be another stop or two on the way. First was the amazing Lough Hyne (the unusual seawater lough) and it was quite busy with many enjoying the sunshine, sitting around, swimming in the clear waters and others walking on the wooded hill above and getting fantastic views over the coast.


After all that activity, I felt we deserved a drink and knew just where to get it. On the way into Baltimore, we stopped at Casey’s Hotel. They have recently opened a microbrewery here and some of their Sherkin Lass Pale Ale went down a treat in the beautiful beer garden that overlooks the waters of Baltimore. They also do a red ale.


Rolling hills of West Cork
 Time then to check in at our accommodation. This was in Rolf’s. The Haffner family have been here for over twenty five years and their restaurant, where we enjoyed a terrific dinner at night, is well known. It is a great place to stay too, a fine and friendly base for the area.


In the morning, we were down on the pier, hoping to get a place on one of the boats going out to see the dolphins and, hopefully, a whale or two. But we had no luck. The lesson here is to book in advance.


Castletownsend
 So off we went to the Sheep's Head peninsula and stopped at the car park high in Seefin. We were almost sun-burned here a few months earlier but this day turned cloudy for a while and a strong wind greeted us as we climbed along the marked trail on top of the ridge. We got as far as the megalithic tomb before deciding to turn back. Not the best of days up there but still well worth the effort.


Down then to Old Creamery Cafe in Kilcrohane. This is a spanking clean spot with a menu of sandwiches, paninis, and salads and some home baking. We went for tea and some of that baking. I picked a Raspberry and Lemon Curd Sponge and those raspberries, fresh from the garden, were spectacularly juicy.


Courtyard garden at Rolf's
Refreshed now, we drove up the other side of this spectacular peninsula, heading for Durrus. Our stop though was at Ahakista to pay our respects to the three hundred plus victims of the Air India bombing disaster twenty years ago. Quite a few mementos, mainly wreaths, scattered here since the commemoration last June. Such a waste of life, such sadness.
Megalithic tomb on Sheep's Head
The sun was out as we headed over to Schull to see Walter Ryan-Purcell of Loughbeg Farm (now an open farm that you may visit). Walter, his wife and son, were up in Schull and we met them outside the Bunratty Inn, a gorgeous sun trap! Walter is well known in food circles and great to see the success Loughbeg is enjoying with their Oat Loaf. Look out for it in your local SuperValu.

Sweet! Old Creamery Cafe
 Down then to the pier and we were tempted by the fish dishes on offer at L’Escale but had a date in Rosscarbery and, after a walk on the path alongside the harbour in Schull, we headed for Pilgrim’s in Ross. Hadn't been there before, but is is easy to find as it is right smack bang in the centre of the village.

Ahakista's Air India memorial
 We were pleasantly surprised by the very high standard of the food here, a standard that many high class restaurants would find hard to match. We thoroughly enjoyed our few hours in Pilgrim’s before motoring back to the city.

Schull