Showing posts with label Dungarvan Brewing Company. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungarvan Brewing Company. Show all posts

Monday, May 19, 2014

Sipping Beer and Cider in a Tractor Shed. At the Ballymaloe LitFest

Sipping Beer and Cider in a Tractor Shed
At the Ballymaloe LitFest
Dungarvan's Claire takes the mike at the Beer and Cider event.
“Three years on and it feels like a lifetime,” said Scott of Eight Degrees Brewing at last Sunday’s Irish Craft Beer and Artisan Irish Cider event at the Kerrygold Ballymaloe LitFest. The rapid pace of the craft brewing industry in Ireland has astonished many of us, not least those pioneers (excuse the dry pun) directly involved. “Consciousness has been raised now,” said Claire of Dungarvan Brewing Company. “It is an easier sell.”

Moderator John Wilson (of the Irish Times), who prefers his on draught, is delighted with the progress and is as surprised as anyone else. “Beer and cider are now appearing in restaurants. No excuse though for pubs and off licences not having them, even if it is just the local brews.” And so say all of us.

“The industry is one of experimentation,” continued Scott. “We take a risk in producing, the customers in trying a product. We tend to help one another in the industry as one new tasting leads to the tasting of other craft beers, one of the encouraging aspects of the business. We are trying to create a community of consumers who are highly experimental, making one off batches, full of flavour, being innovative. The consumer's interest has to be held.”

Simon Tyrrell, who produces Craigie's Cider with his partner Angus Craigie, says the cider world has a different approach. “The reason is that we have just one crop, one shot a year. Ours is very seasonal. The demands are different to beer, indeed more like wine. Cider looks to express the best qualities of the fruit, show where the nuances lie.”

Eloquent as Simon was, and always is, the best speech from Craigies came in our first tasting of their fabulous Dalliance, made from 100 per cent dessert apples (three different types). “It has been left on its fine lees for 15 months and then a little re-fermentation to give it sparkle.” This just has to be tried. It is so different with great apple flavours and a long dry finish. Superb!
Four to Taste
Then we were on to the beers and a taste of Dungarvan Copper Coast Red Ale. The red comes from the Crystal malt and the beer has “more of a malt profile”. It is sold in restaurants. I regularly come across it there and it certainly goes well with food.

Ballymaloe's Colm McCan
worked tirelessly over
two long days in
the Drinks Theatre
(a converted tractor shed).
The experimental nature of the craft beer industry was certainly underlined by our next beer, call Gosé, made by the Brown Paper Bag Project, Irish brewers without a brewery but who travel home and abroad and hire out or collaborate with existing brewers.

This beer was made in partnership with the local brewery on the Danish island of Fanoe in an ancient German style called Gosé. It uses 53% wheat and 47% barley along with the addition of sea salts and coriander. It has cider like characteristics and the acidity and salinity are prominent. Very good with oysters!

We finished off with one of the first of the second wave of Irish beers, Howling Gale Ale by Eight Degrees. It was important that the Mitchelstown brewery, then operating out of a cottage, got this right. They sure did set the standard and yesterday’s tasting shows it has stood the test of time and is still up there with many new ale rivals, both local and national.

Great to have the choice but Scott could do with a great choice of hops. The hops he uses are imported. “Hops are not grown commercially in Ireland,” he said. Now, with the industry mushrooming, hop growing must surely come next. Indeed, I think there are green shoots in Tipperary, White Gypsy the folks responsible.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Franciscan Well Easter Beer Festival

Franciscan Well Easter Beer Festival

Made an early visit to the Franciscan Well Beer Festival this Saturday afternoon and took my chance to sample some of the newer brews before the crowds started to roll in on this sunny day.

Last year, the Lynch brothers from Mayfield’s Cotton Ball were on the outside of the ring; this time, Eoin and Humphrey were serving their own beers including their latest. This is called Indian Summer and is quite a lovely drink for the days ahead, a mix of lager ingredients and an ale yeast.

Not to be outdone, the now well established Eight Degrees also had new one on offer, the Full Irish, a strong 100 per cent Irish Malt ale. I've had a sneak preview of the publicity shots for this one. X is the letter that springs to mind! Think Full Monty!

Blacks of Kinsale were promising a surprise for later in the afternoon when a special set-up will allow them to add fresh hops (a new one called Equinox) at the very last moment to Kinsale Pale Ale. Can't get fresher than that. Try that and don’t forget to sample their Beoir #1

Beers from new Connemara brewery available at Bradley's, North Main Street, Cork.
Great to meet up with Jamie from White Gypsy and his innovative beers. Tried his lovely refreshing Wheat beer, the beer you need after walking round, Bavarian in style but Irish “engineered”. The 5.2% Pilsner isn't half bad either. White Gypsy are growing their own hops this year and are also hoping that more and more restaurants will offer a craft beer as an alternative to wine.

The gregarious Mountain Man was another brewer I had not met before and he explained that his Hairy Goat was an English Style IPA with a lowish ABV. Nothing low though about the ABV of its American cousin, the 7.5% Crazy Horse. Well worth a try.

Micro-breweries just keep popping up around the country and next up was JJ's from County Limerick. This was their first outing and the 4.8% Pils lager promised much, especially as this is their very first beer.

aAnd another newcomer, the 9 White Deer Brewery from Ballyvourney, was also making its debut. Gordon Lucey tells me their hops, including Amarillo, Cascade and Fast Gold, comes from all over the world but the "mystical" water is local as is the yeast. This will soon be on sale in 500ml bottles and watch out for other beers, including a stout.

Nice to chat with Caroline of Eight Degrees and also with Claire from Dungarvan Brewing Company. I always enjoy the Dungarvan beers and tried a couple this time: their wheat beer and their Comeragh Challenge Irish Bitter. Had a preference for the former but isn't that what craft beer is all about. Great to have the choice. Long may the craft revolution continue!


The Franciscan Well Festival continues until late this Saturday evening and is on again tomorrow Sunday with soakage provided by the on site pizza maker! Enjoy.



Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Hooked in Bantry! O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant.

Hooked in Bantry! O'Connor's Seafood Restaurant

Swordfish
We came to O’Connor’s Seafood Restaurant in Bantry for the fish. And we were soon hooked..

We were off to a winning start with a shared plate of oysters (from their tank).  These were a mix of baked oysters, some with Dungarvan Stout and walnuts, more with garlic and herb oysters with lemon, all delicious and all quickly dispatched. Almost an argument over the last one (we got an odd number!).
Amuse Bouche
It was a quiet night in the restaurant. Indeed a very quiet Friday (07.03.14) in the town, very few cars parked around the square, and most of the other restaurants that we passed on the way back to the hotel were not busy. It was, of course, just after the recent storms. Hopefully the numbers will pick up now that Spring has arrived. Bantry is a lovely place to visit and there are many attractions in the general area.
The O’Connor’s menu changes regularly, and each day the specials are decided by what comes in from the local fishermen. We were in luck. Swordfish and monkfish were on the menu and they were cooked and presented superbly while the service throughout was friendly and efficient.

I picked the Swordfish. The steak was chargrilled with pan-fried smoked sun dried tomato and served with a roast pepper polenta cake and, not mentioned on the menu, a basket of house-made fries.

Swordfish can be a dodgy choice as some restaurants cook it for too long and it comes out dry and hard. But this was moist and tasty and the polenta and tomato cake was a gorgeous and appropriate accompaniment. The fries too vanished quickly as indeed did the shared sides of vegetables and potato.
Monkfish
The other mains was also a delicious delight: Pan-fried fillet of monkfish wrapped in smoked bacon with a divine wild mushroom and baby-leaf spinach leaf risotto. O’Connor’s had two very happy customers on their hands at this stage, the happiness helped by a smashing organic Chardonnay by Langa (DO Calatayud), a surprisingly beautiful bottle for 24.75, intense and complex aromas, fresh and fruity with a long and pleasant finish and,by the way, an ABV of 14.25%!

Took a break from the wine then while enjoying a couple of excellent desserts, a Blackberry Fool and a Mixed Berry and Champagne Sorbet. Soon, we were back on the street and strolling to the nearby hotel.
Desserts and wine.
O'Connors Seafood Restaurant, Wolfe Tone Square Bantry, Co. Cork. Tel: +353 (0)27 55664 Email: eat@oconnorsbantry.com
Once an employee, Pat Kiely is now Head Chef and Owner. You’ll also find him at Willie Pa’s Restaurant, Colomane Cross, Bantry. www.williepas.com  

O'Connor's are a Good Food Ireland member and other members among their listed suppliers are: Jack McCarthy, Shannonvale Chicken, Toons Bridge, Dungarvan Brewing Co., Ballycotton Seafood, Ardsallagh Goat Cheese and Cashel Blue.

Blue Sky Friday in Bantry Market





Monday, December 30, 2013

Flavours of Christmas (but may be tried at any time of the year!)

Flavours of Christmas

(but may be tried at any time of the year!)
Bubbles from the Loire
Ummera Smoked Chicken (served with a Cajun Potato Salad). Lovely contrast after days of turkey!

Rwandan Coffee, the Cup of Excellence award winning Maraba Sovu 2012 lot #14,  via Robert Roberts Connoisseur Club.

Organic Pink Bubbles (made from Cabernet Franc) from Chateau Miniere and Domaine du Clos d’Epinay Vouvray Brut. Souvenirs of the summer holidays in the Loire Valley.

Mella’s Rum & Raisin Handmade West Cork Fudge.

Ummera smoked chicken.
Cashel Blue mature and Warre’s LBV Port (2002).

The Cornstore’s Plum infused Whiskey.

Dungarvan Coffee and Oatmeal Stout, by now a Christmas standard.

Eight Degrees Zeus Black IPA, 7%. Looks like a rich dark porter but tastes like a pungent IPA.

Fleming's fantastic Orchard Chutney.
Fleming’s Orchard Chutney (Apples, Pears and Green Tomatoes from their own orchard).

Barrie Tyner’s Pates (from the local Farmers Markets, inc. Mahon).

Pandora Bell’s Honey Nougat with Almonds and Pistachios.

Cashel Blue


Friday, December 6, 2013

Fenn’s Quay. Keeping it simple. Simply Superb.

Fenn’s Quay. Keeping it simple. Simply Superb.
Our philosophy is simple, we use only the best produce from the best local suppliers and treat them with care and attention to detail.” That’s the motto used by Kate Lawlor, the Head Chef at Fenn’s Quay. And, after a very enjoyable mid week meal at the city centre restaurant, I can verify that the place lives up to the motto and indeed extends its care and attention to its customers as well.



The overall menu has been trimmed back in recent times. The quantity of dishes available may be down but the quality is as high as ever, maybe even more so. In any event the regular menu is augmented by a tempting selection of specials: a  Mezze Platter, a Fish Platter, Beef Stroganoff with Ballyhoura Mushrooms and Pan-Fried Monkfish with Spinach all featured on the night. And, I’m told that O’Mahony’s Collar of Bacon with Savoy Cabbage, Parsnip Puree and Spiced Walnuts is one of the most popular regular dishes.

As it turned out, we never got past the Early Bird Menu, Three Courses for €23.00. This is terrific value and is available Monday to Saturday 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm. You may also have a glass of wine or beer instead of the starter or dessert.

Amazing colour on my starter: Beetroot & Cork Dry Gin Cured Salmon with Goatsbridge Trout Caviar & Mixed Leaves. Fantastic flavours and textures also. CL also got off to a terrific start with Crozier Blue Cheese Mousse, Roast Butternut Squash & Red Onion with Melba Toast. I reckon Kate has raised the bar here and thrown down a challenge to other local restaurants (and chefs!).
And that challenge, all very friendly, of course, was evident in my mains: O’Mahony’s Feather Blade of Beef with Roast Root Vegetables & Dungarvan Stout Gravy. What a gem of a dish. A few simple ingredients on an uncluttered plate but put together in a simply scrumptious way, a delightful practical illustration of the philosophy of the Fenn’s Quay motto.

And that simplicity of produce (not to mention its provenance and freshness) and presentation was also very much in evidence in CL’s main plate: Grilled plaice, with braised leeks, olive oil crushed potatoes and onion puree.
Simply written. What bit don't you understand? What bit would you not enjoy? It was, of course, aided by the Fenn’s Quay kitchen alchemy, the final result delightfully adding up to more than the sum of its parts. And, this special, even if it were not part of the Early Bird, is really good value at €15.00.

Still had room for dessert and here we went with the spirit of the season and tucked into the Fenn’s Quay Mince Pies with Cream (gorgeous buttery pastry), just one each  mind you as we shared. Drinks (a white Rioja for her, a refreshing Mountain Man Green Bullet ale for me) bought the total bill to €50.00.
Fenn’s Quay is highly recommended for breakfast, lunch and dinner and do watch out for their Christmas meals as well. You won't be disappointed.





Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Cornstore's Craft Beer and Food Month. A series of successful pairings

Craft Beer and Food Month at The Cornstore
A series of successful pairings.
Goat cheese starter
 For those who love good food and a good beer to go with it, Cork’s Cornstore is the place to be this month. The popular restaurant is running a Craft Beer and Food Menu every Wednesday and Thursday. I sampled it last week and can highly recommend it. The Menu is proving very popular so the advice is to book ahead.


They have put a lot of effort into the pairings and a beer (or cider) is suggested with each course. You can, of course, swap around to suit yourself. But we went with the suggested beers and found a series of successful pairings.
Ravioli
You have  a choice of five starters. I kicked off with the Porcini Mushroom Ravioli in a game broth with shredded duck leg and celeriac remoulade. This was a lovely dish on its own but, matched with O’Hara’s Curim, perhaps Ireland’s only wheat beer, it was even better, the object of the November exercise accomplished!

The Warm Goat's Cheese was recommended to us and, with poached fig and red pepper and tomato compote, it sure was a gem, But, matched with the flavoursome red ale, the Dungarvan Copper Coast, the balance was spot-on, the result perfectly delectable. 
Venison
Other starters included Crisp Pork Belly with Stonewell Medium Dry Cider, Chicken Wings with Trouble Brewing Sabotage IPA and Pan Seared Scallops with Eight Degrees Barefoot Bohemian. Check the full menu here.

Brown Bread was the unusual but excellent addition to the Wild Venison Stew, also with braised red cabbage and a wild mushroom dumpling. This earthy game dish, a wintery dark in the bowl, had a great complement in the black stout from Trouble Brewing called Dark Arts, an appropriate name indeed. A highly recommended dish!  
Steak
Trouble Brewing’s Sabotage IPA was one of the suggestions to go with the Aged Rib Eye Steak. Recommending it, the Cornstore said that it has a lovely bitter finish. “And really works well with our award winning steak rub and cuts through the little extra fat of the rib eye steak.” Very true indeed, a perfect alchemy of beer and boeuf, the steak served with mushroom and onion fricassee, a half roast plum tomato and pepper sauce.

Dessert and Beer? No problem to the taste team at the Cornstore. The Flourless Chocolate Cake, with fresh cream and raspberry coulis, is a luxury treat, some very expensive chocolate used here, and it was well matched with a small glass of the Franciscan Well Limited Edition Stout, aged in Jameson Whiskey Casks. The stout, a special treat, also doubled up well with the magnificent Cheese Board Selection (with fruit and crackers). 
And then what do you match with their Apple Dessert plate (mini apple crumble, apple sorbet and apple panna cotta)? Why, Stonewell Dry Cider, of course, the dry style of the Nohoval produced cider perfectly complementing the seasonal apple selection. 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Summer in Blairs County

Summer in Blairs County
Summer time finds us in Blairs County, dipping into some gorgeous salads and sipping ( maybe even gulping!) some terrific craft beer in the gardens of Blair’s Inn.

Don't know of any other restaurant where you get a Beer List as a separate offering from the Wine List. And they have some fantastic beers to choose from. A couple from Dungarvan Brew Company on cask, the hugely popular Howling Gale Pale Ale from Eight Degrees along with Friar Weisse (a favourite of mine) from Franciscan Well on draught and loads more in bottle.

Cashel Blue and Roasted Pears
Top beers in bottle include the tasty West Kerry Brewery Blonde Ale (known as Beal Ban) and don’t forgot you can also have the ace Stonewell cider (dry or medium dry) in bottle from the Nohoval Brewing Company.

And then there is a star studded line-up of imports, including a  couple by Brew Dog and Sierra Nevada from the US. There is a “jokey” presentation employed by the Belgians that make Brugse Zot Blonde Ale but the brewers aren’t clowning around and this 6 per-center is a serious gem and highly recommended. Really enjoyed that one.

Oh, I almost forgot. We did go there for the lunch. And we weren't disappointed on that score either. Those Oysterhaven mussels, neat and tasty, are delicious, especially with  that White Wine and Garlic Cream Sauce.
Copper Coast Ale
from the cask!

It was super hot in the Blair’s Inn kitchen and still the team came up with the goods. Absolutely thrilled with my mains: Warm Salad of Cashel Blue Cheese and Roasted Pears. CL took the cool route and she was impressed with the Cold Meat Platter of the Day (mainly chicken and O’Crualaoi’s corned beef) served with salad, pickle and their own gorgeous Chutney.

What better way to finish off this delightful summer lunch, eaten as the little river bubbled along at the end of the garden, than with a bowl of luscious strawberries!

Now stop clowning around with my Brugse Zot. Wonder if Mr Bradley has some of those in North Main Street!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

PHEASANT WELCOME AT BLAIR'S INN

BLAIR’S INN


The game season is well underway and Blair’s Inn  is the place to be. Very enjoyable lunch there yesterday. 


After a warm welcome from Duncan – he sat us by the fire – we had a big choice to make between their famous venison casserole and the pheasant. In the end, I plumped for the bird. Oh, by the way, there are many other choices on the menu. 


This was the menu description for my mains: Half braised wild Wicklow pheasant on a chestnut stuffing, served with a wild mushroom and red wine sauce (€17.75). Must say this was a top drawer dish and I was delighted with it. 

The pheasant was perfectly cooked and the stuffing was delicious and all set up by a luxurious sauce with the mushroom pleasantly evident with excellent vegetables, including potatoes, also served separately. Five out of five for this one. And top marks too for the gluten free dessert, an Apple and Pear Cobbler with almonds and ice-cream. 

And the wine? No wine today. Just a smashing pint (€4.15) of the Dungarvan Brewing Company’s Coffee and Oatmeal Stout. Duncan told me: “Delighted you enjoyed the Coffee & Oatmeal. We are honoured to be one of the two pubs in the country (indeed, the only one outside of Dublin) to get hold of this very limited special brew. We are very lucky to have it. It is seriously good.” 

Just as well I had it as Tom Dalton, Sales and Distribution Manager with the Waterford company, was in the house. Duncan brought him to the table and we enjoyed our brief chat. Great to get the chance to say well done and keep up the good work! 


And well done too to Duncan and all the team at Blair’s Inn.