Showing posts with label Cotton Ball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cotton Ball. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

A Quart of Ale± #38. Continuing on the craft trail with a variety of IPAs.

A Quart of Ale± #38

Moving on over to craft with a variety of IPAs. 




Cotton Ball “Another Bloody IPA” IPA 6.00% Cotton Ball off licence.


The Cotton Ball’s “Another Bloody IPA” boasts an attractive dark amber colour and a myriad of bubbles, furiously making their way towards a white head that soon loses much of its early “bulk”. The aromas are strongly citrus, no surprise considering that they use blood orange zest and peel as an adjunct.


Quite a rich and flavourful mouthful with that Blood orange a light and pleasant (rather than forceful) presence. Biscuit malt gives it, yes, a biscuity flavour, and is quite a factor here.


This is what the brewery has to say:  “This isn’t just another IPA, this is our bloody IPA . Our blood orange infused IPA with a mixture of biscuit and Munich malt to give this beer a pleasant malty undertone.A full bodied IPA with a medley of USA citrus based hops, which is infused with blood orange zest and peel to create a fantastic citrus aroma.”


The Cotton Ball brewery is less than 200 metres from my house but my pleas for a direct pipeline have fallen on deaf ears! At least, their off-licence is open and the beers are otherwise widely available.


Growing up in the bar trade, it was always Eoin Lynch’s dream to put his own stamp on the well renowned Cotton Ball Bar (which was founded by his great grandfather Humphrey in 1874) and in 2013 he established the brewery in the basement of the historic pub. The brewery has taken on a life of its own and their beers are stocked far and wide on the island of Ireland and even in some other European countries.


Wicklow Wolf with Dot Brew “Guardian of the Galaxy” Double Black IPA 8.00%, 440ml can Bradley’s



The collaborating brewers, Wolf and Dot, have an out of this world sense of pun. Astronomical. Intergalactic. Space age. Well yeah, this is (still) the age for all three. And then there’s Cosmic Hops. Really? Galaxy, Strata and Milky Way. Oh sorry, Comet, not Milky Way. Just got my chocolate bars in a melt.


I suppose you could say, you wouldn’t be the first, that the hops are the stars of the show. The chocolate and coffee come through and there’s a pretty decent balance and a genuine bitter finish. 


If you’d like to explore the style, why not start at normal strength. Perhaps check out the excellent 5% Kinsale Black IPA (by Blacks, of course). 




Dot Brew So Far So Good session IPA, 3.5%, 440ml via beercloud.ie 



Colour’s a lot like unclear lemon juice, a murky one, and the head is slim and won’t be around for long. Hops dominate the nose.  And on the palate as well, those exotic fruits are to the fore, with mango leading the posse. Smooth and fruity all the way to the satisfying dry and bitter finish. Much more muscle to this one than the 3.5% abv suggests. Chalk it down for those sessions.


No point in looking in on their own website. No beer info at all. Their site just wants three hundred of your euro to continue their work. The label’s more helpful: easy drinking, bright and light. A fruity hop forward New England session IPA. Tropical fruit aromas. A healthy bang of Amarillo and Galaxy hops. Super smooth.


A general web search finds agreement that it is brewed with New England yeast without the murky but retaining all of the big bright stone fruit characteristics offset by a healthy dose of malted and flaked oats for a medium body / velvet mouthfeel. A double charged dry hop of Amarillo / Galaxy for a super tropical fruit bowl aroma. Hints of peach & pineapple. Finishes with a light dry bitterness.


Contradictions abound. It is not bright. It looks 

muddy. It is not without “the murky”, it is as murky as a welly disturbed woodland pond. It is however smooth and satisfying, no shortage of hops and no doubt a contender for your, and my, session nights. More than happy to have one in my fist and at least one or two more in the fridge.


Larkin’s & Catalyst Coffee Rwandan Coffee Rye IPA 7%, 440ml can via Bradley’s



This limited edition from Larkin’s, with the coffee roasted by neighbours Catalyst, was a lovely surprise. It has a murky orange colour. There seems to be a fair bit of carbonation present. And, yes, the aromas are of coffee. This is a complex mouthful, a smooth one too, where the harmonious combination of the hops and the coffee characteristics is rather impressive, something special. Exotic citrus stuff from the hops give bitterness enough with fruity notes from the coffee, notes (plum, apricot) I’d be hard pushed to find in the cup. A good deal better than I expected.


They say:  We teamed up with the coffee masters in @catalystcoffee_ in our home town of Bray for this collaboration. We chose a coffee from Rwanda this time round which gives hints of chocolate on the nose and a really velvety smooth flavour on the palate. Cold brewed so don't expect this to be a dark bitter coffee experience. It’s subtle and gentle and balances with the hops and malt rather than trying to over power them. Limited edition.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

A Quart of Ale± #34. Moving on over to craft with a session of lagers. Variety is the spice of life. Our craft brewers keep it coming!

A Quart of Ale± #34

Moving on over to craft with a session of lagers.  

Variety is the spice of life. And our craft brewers keep it coming!



Cotton Ball “Mayfield 5” Pilsner Lager 5.0%, 500ml bottle via Cotton Ball off licence

This lager, from my local, has a mid-amber colour, fountains of little bubbles, white head slims down rapidly but then hangs around for a good spell. A modest touch of hops in the aromas. The refreshment factor immediately appears on the smooth palate, spot on balance between the German hops and malts. Has more character going for it than many lagers, good mouthfeel too. A thirst cutting clean bitterness rounds off an excellent lager experience.


They say: This Pilsner Lager, like the Noble Northsider’s adventures, spans the Atlantic, brewed using 100% Irish malted barley, clean bittered with three U.S. grown hops followed by a late kettle addition of Noble Hops (Hallertau Perle and Hersbrucker). Pour is clean and refreshing with a subtle aromatic hop flavour arising from a bed of light caramel malt. The Classic brew to compliment party food. This inviting pilsner goes down smoothly with gourmet burgers, pizzas or wings. A perfect hit at BBQs a great choice for alfresco dining.


And the northsider they refer to on the label is Humphrey Lynch, who left Ballyvourney at 15 years of age and settled in an American town known as Byefield which he later used in naming his Cork estate house. After working for two years with Joseph Longfellow, cousin to the famous poet, he worked for a year in the ship yard at Newburyport until the American civil war in which he fought in a string of “engagements”. He returned to his native Cork in 1874 and set up in Mayfield, calling his newly-purchased public house The Cotton Ball. And the Lynch family are still here today, the brewery one of the latest additions to the family’s businesses.


Eight Degrees “The Pilgrim’s Path” Italian Pils 4.9%, 400 can, via brewery


Pilgrims, with some of its companions from the  #IRISHMUNROSeries

A light straw colour and a white head are the immediate attractions here. There is much more of course. This has been “dry hopped it to the heavens with Loral, the Super Noble hop with distinctive floral, herbal and peppery notes, making this beer a delightful sipper to savour” and when I think of it that was the very first thing I noticed, the instant I pulled the opening tab!  And Loral makes its presence felt on the palate as well, citrus, floral and herbal streams and that distinctive bitterness a factor both in the mouth and in the dry finish. A refreshing lager, Italian style, full of hops and character


This is their 3rd beer in the Irish Munro Series. The peak is Mount Brandon (3122 feet) on the Dingle peninsula. Brandon is named after Saint Brendan the Navigator and the Pilgrim’s Path takes you to the summit. Don’t forget to bring a can to quench your thirst when you reach the top.


Style is Italian Pils. ABV is 4.9% and IBU is 32. Loral is the hops and malt used is Irish Lager Malt.


St Mel’s “Ah Sure Look It” Spring Bock Lager 5.6%, 400 can, via St Mel’s Online



Bubbles galore rise through the light amber lager from Longford - St Mel’s produce a lot of lager here. They say: Do you want to treat your taste buds? If so I suggest you try "Ah Sure Look it" a Spring Bock Lager with a rich malty flavor complimented by a subtle noble hop bitterness. An explosion of flavor.


This “Ah Sure…” is part of a mini-series with other titles such as Go on so (a light lager) and I will, yeah, a juicy pale ale. 


A mild touch of light smoky toast in the aromas and soon the Mel’s typical crispness shines through on the palate, accompanied by a malty bodyguard. Excellent mouthfeel too and very satisfying finish indeed. 


Nice bit of Springbok muscle on this one. Joking! Nothing to do with South Africa of course. This is a bottle-fermented Maibock — the strong bock lager brewed in Bavaria to coincide with the start of Spring. I’ve read that Bock was brewed by Bavarian monks to sustain them during their (Lenten?) fasting. Joking aside, this is a very enjoyable lager indeed, well worth investigating.


The St Mel’s label reckons it pairs well with pork sausages, nutty cheeses like Gruyere (should be fine so with Hegarty’s Templegall, Irish beer with Irish cheese) and with cheese and ham toasties.


Wild Beer “Sleeping Limes” Lager? Gose? Sour? 4.6%, 330ml can via Bradley’s



Light straw is the colour of this beer without a nominated style, another with a head that makes a rapid exit. So what is it? A lager, a gose or a sour. If I had to shoehorn it into a style, then it would be lager, a limey one! Lime is prominent in the aromas and flavours and listed in the ingredients. 


Don’t know what kind of yeast has been used - the beer is not yet on their website - but I believe it’s a lager yeast. But you can see from the acidity why Gose (salt is listed as an ingredient) and Sour are mentioned. Quite a refreshing drink too by the way and should go well with Mexican (and similar) cuisine, particularly during an Irish summer.


They say: The label encourages us to “Drink wildly different”. What is it? A lager, a Gose, a sour.. All or none of the above.. put simply it is the most refreshing beer we’ve ever brewed. Ingredients: water, barley malt, wheat malt, hops, yeast, lime, salt.


Brewery is based on a farm in Somerset. Barrel-ageing and blending beer is at the heart of what they do at Wild Beer. Barrel ageing is a big thing here and they have over 600 barrels to take on the nuances of the previous inhabitants of the wood, where time can reveal complex layers and flavours that deserve to be savoured with friends or food - preferably both!


Previously in A Quart of Ale±. 


A Quart of Ale± #33. Moving on over to craft with St Mel’s Brewery.

A Quart of Ale± #32. Moving on over to craft with Lambic and Geuze




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Monday, January 11, 2021

A Quart of Ale± #29 Moving on over to craft. Lager Variations

A Quart of Ale± #29

Moving on over to craft.

Lager Variations

Kinnegar's Rachel knows her Rye! - Brewery pic.



Cotton Ball “Mayfield 5” Pilsner Lager 5.0%, 500ml bottle via Cotton Ball off licence

Mid amber colours, fountains of little bubbles, white head hangs around for a good spell. A modest touch of hops in the aromas. The refreshment factor immediately appears on the smooth palate, spot on balance between hops and malts. A thirst cutting clean bitterness rounds off an excellent lager experience.


They say: This beer sure does have character! The classic brew to compliment party food.This inviting pilsner goes down smoothly with gourmet burgers, pizzas or wings. A perfect hit at BBQs and a great choice for alfresco dining. Now available in cans.

My local brewery





















In their Brewery Room, the family pay tribute to the bar founder, one Humphrey Lynch, who left Ballyvourney at 15 years of age and settled in an American town known as Byefield which he later used in naming his Cork estate house. 


After working for two years with Joseph Longfellow, cousin to the famous poet, he worked for a year in the shipyard at Newburyport until the American civil war broke out. 


He was one of the first to enlist in the 4th U.S regiment light artillery battery and served through 27 general engagements principally in the army of the southwest and along the Mississippi valley. Then he worked for 14 years as a foreman of the picker room in Newburyport cotton mill. 


This would later give him the name for the public house (where you’ll now find the small brewery) he purchased in now Mayfield after returning to Ireland in the 1870’s. Nowadays, each bottle bears an image of American Civil War veteran Humphrey paying tribute to the man who showed the way. 


12 Acres Pallet Jack India Pale Lager 5.0%, 440 can via Ardkeen QFS



While the hops shine in the aromatics, it looks very much like a lager, golden, bright and bubbles galore.  Soft head has a fair bit of staying power. Hard to beat their own summation on the label: a hoppy Pilsner style lager, light, crisp and fruity, with an excellent mouthfeel. It is indeed and quite refreshing too.


They say, on the website: “Pallet Jack” is a 5% India Pale Lager. A clean crisp fruity Pilsner style Lager beer with the hoppy bitterness and flavour of an IPA. Not too sure I’d agree with that bit: flavour of an IPA. Strong hints of it for sure but this is still more lager than IPA and a pretty decent lager, a very decent drink, at that. 


They say: 12 Acres Brewing company is the first craft brewery in Ireland that can provide traceability for its malting barley. This is possible due to our long-standing relationship with their local malting company. We are also brewing with our own spring water, which originates from a source deep beneath the same land.

Stone Barrel “Get Some” India Pale Lager 4.6%, 440 can via Bradley’s



Another hybrid with elements of ale and lager in your mid amber coloured glass. It is an American hopped lager, double dry hopped with Loral, which has been noted as good for sessional and lager-type beers.


The base is lager, clean and crisp. Aromas and flavours have a punch of pepper, citrus notes too along with some floral wafts as well, all followed by a dry finish. Quite a decent beer, approachable and balanced, though I think my local brewery’s Indian Summer is perhaps the best of this hybrid type. You could say I’m biased!



Niall Fitzgerald and Kevin McKinney are the founders, brewers and driving force behind Stone Barrel Brewing. “We both have a huge passion and appetite for all things in craft beer, from making to drinking and everything in between.We launched Stone Barrel in November 2013 with one simple aim, to brew the kind of craft beers we love drinking. The good thing is that we love them all! Like most homebrewers, we dreamed of one day opening a brewery. So, after a lot of planning, stress, blood, sweat, tears and hugs, we’re here. We’re living the dream and dreaming of beer!”


Kinnegar “Brewers at Play “10” Rye Lager 4.4%, 440 can via Bradley’s

Rye. Brewery pic.


Colour of this excellent lager from Letterkenny is a light gold and if you look closely you’ll see lots of little bubbles (not bunnies) rising through the cloudiness. In the mouth, it is immediately refreshing, crisp and clean as most classic lagers with a little spicy zest coming through from the rye along with a distinctive flavour. Good sharp-edged finish on this well-balanced one. It is a once-off by the way!


They say: The Brewers at Play series presents new beers designed to keep our brewers on their toes and our customers on tenterhooks. Kinnegar’s love affair with rye began with our iconic Rustbucket. With No.10 in the Brewers at Play series we find out what happens when we continue the adventure with a rye lager.


I often mention the head when talking about beers here. It is not of course a really crucial part but it does make the beer look better especially if it stays for a while. Sticking your finger into the head and sucking can sometimes give you a clue as to what you can expect when you start drinking (it may also get you some curious stares), as I was once shown by the Belgian beer sommelier Marc Stroobant.



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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

A Quart of Ale± #26A. Moving on over to craft. A Variety of Lagers.



A Quart of Ale± #26A

Moving on over to craft

A Variety of Lagers


Hope Underdog Hoppy Lager 4.8%, 440ml can via Ardkeen QFS


This modern hybrid style lager has a hazy gold colour, lots of bubbles on show, with a delicate quickly fading white head. Hops make their presence known in the nose. Very impressive introduction on the palate, with a terrific mouthfeel, malt sweetness and hop bitterness get along very well indeed. It is deeply refreshing, full of flavour and persistent. A big and pleasant surprise for me and one to note for sure.


They say: The malts and the yeast we use are traditional, but the hops are not. We use lager malt and other European malt such as Munich malt for flavour, and we use a classic German lager yeast: a strain originally isolated from the oldest brewery in the world. We also use modern American hops for flavour, such as Citra, El Dorado, and Mosaic, furthermore we use the dry hopping technique which is associated with IPAs rather than lager. Underdog hoppy lager is the result.


When it comes to food pairing it’s a brilliant all-rounder, great with BBQs, pizza, spicy foods like curries and for anybody who doesn’t like wine with their food.


Malts: Lager, Munich, Melanoidin, Carapils, Acidulated.

Hops: Magnum, El Dorado, Mosaic 

Yeast: German Lager

IBU 25


The Brewery: Hope Beer started out in 2015 when the brewery was founded by four friends with a passion for beer and business. What began as a series of late-night kitchen table discussions is now a state-of-the-art brewery, producing an extensive range of award-winning premium craft beers. All Hope beers are brewed, bottled, canned and kegged at Howth Junction on Dublin’s Northside and are crafted to be the perfect accompaniment to food.



The Story: During the American invasion of Mexico in 1846, Irishman John Riley came to the aid of the Mexicans in their hour of need. He formed the famous San Patricios Battalion and willingly joined the underdog by fighting against the odds. Ok, they lost, but they became Mexican heroes, remembered especially on St. Patrick’s Day, and on every other day of the year by their nickname: Greengo’s.


Duvel-Moortgat “Vedett Extra Blond” 5.2%, 330ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork



Thought I was buying a golden or blond ale here but turns out this one is more of a lager, a bottom fermented beer, a speciality of the Belgian brewery.


It is straw coloured, lots of bubbles rising, and a fluffy white head that diminishes slowly.  The “extra” here is because of the higher than usual abv. There is a moderate hoppy element in the aromas and on the palate, you immediately realise you have a thirst-quencher in your hand, dry and smooth with a finely balanced hoppiness and a subtle bitterness towards the finalé, always with a mild malt character in the background.


They say: An excellent companion for mushrooms, asparagus, mussels, sushi (with a hint of spiciness), fried chicken breast, calves’ liver, noodle and rice dishes, lemon grass, coconut milk, creamy cottage cheese or a goat’s cheese made with unpasteurised milk. Best served at 3 – 6 °C. 


This Vedett has been in production since the 1940s and was “refreshed” and re-launched in 2003. Brewed with 100 % natural ingredients: water, yeast, pale barley malt, rice. Saaz-Saaz and Styrian Golding hops.


Cotton Ball Indian Summer 4.7%, 500ml bottle and on draught, Cotton Ball Off-licence


Fancy the freshness of a lager, the flavours of an ale? Then check out the Cotton Ball’s Indian Summer.



I was reminded of the qualities of the Cotton Ball’s Indian Summer, produced first as a seasonal but now very much a core beer, during a visit to one of Cork’s newest restaurants in MacCurtain Street. 


A delicious pint (left). The brewery indicate Indian Summer is “a hybrid beer made with lager and crystal malts but with an ale yeast and is an excellent thirst quencher….  great with an Indian Friday night take away.” 


I had my pint in the new Thompsons restaurant (where the Cotton have a micro brewery) and it paired very well indeed with a Nduja pizza. The recipe for this hybrid may be somewhat unusual but it has impressive character, giving the drinker the best of both worlds.


They say: Our Pale Ale made with Irish lager malt, crystal malt and ale yeast while being delicately bittered using three new world hops. 

This beer gives a citrusy aroma with a light clean palate and a lingering hoppy bitterness. This beer is for sure a thirst quencher! 


Metalman Equinox Wheat Lager 4.6%, 330ml can Ardkeen QFS



A beer for a sunny day! Even if that sunny day was just above freezing as winter sneaked in.


It’s a hazy mid-gold colour with a myriad of little bubbles rising towards a white head that doesn’t hang about. Orange and lemon peel have been added for a burst of citrus, along with some ground coriander to give a hint of spice at the end. It seems to have worked well as the wheat lager is very refreshing, full of flavour and totally quaffable with a clove-y hint there too. Nice finish also.


Very satisfactory overall and good too that you are able to get it in keg, cask and can.


Pearse Lyons Brown Bear India Pale Lager 5.2%, Aldi


Something of a hybrid like the Cotton Ball’s Indian Summer. A more serious beer than I first thought and quite a satisfactory one as well. Not a big fan of the discounts but credit where credit is due, so a big thumbs up for this particular Brown Bear. Colour is more amber than gold, the aromas are hoppy and the fruity finalé is more ale than lager.

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