Blas na hÉireann 2026 winners announced in Dingle.Thirty eight producers from Co. Cork awarded.

 Blas na hÉireann 2026 winners announced in Dingle

Thirty eight producers from Co. Cork awarded. 

Second Street Bakeshop win Best in County and Best Artisan Producer, (proudly supported by Cork Local Enterprise Office)

Pictured is Caroline Hennessy (centre) from Eight Degrees Brewing, Cork
who won Gold at the Blas na hÉireann Awards 2026 in Dingle. 

Dingle was the place to be on Friday 2nd October for the eagerly anticipated finals of Blas na hÉireann, The Irish Food Awards, now in their 19th year and firmly established as the largest and most influential food awards on the island of Ireland.

 

This year, 51 producers from Co. Cork were shortlisted across a wide range of categories, with 38 of them taking home coveted Blas awards. The bronze, silver and gold winners from the county include:

Alternative Christmas Pudding Co., Bandon Vale Cheese, Bantry Bay Mussels, Barry & Fitzwilliam, Cake Wheelers, Clóna Dairy Products Ltd., Coastal Trading, Cully & Sully, Durrus Cheese, Eight Degrees Brewing, Five Farms, Folláin, Hassetts Bakers & Confectioners ltd., Hyde Irish Whiskey, Hyde ltd, Irish Yogurts Clonakilty, K O'Connell Fishmongers, Keohane Seafoods, Kepak Ltd, Macroom Buffalo Cheese, McCarthy's of Kanturk, Niks Tea, OGAM Foods Limited, On The Pigs Back, Rebel City Distillery, SAGE 2 GO, SAGE by, Kev Aherne, Salt of Kinsale ltd, Saturday Pizzas, Second Street Bakeshop, Sibly Food Co., Skeaghanore West Cork Farm, Spice O' Life, St Patrick’s Distillery Ltd, Stonewell Cider, The Good Fish Company, Toons Bridge Dairy and West Cork Distillers. 

Second Street Bakeshop was awarded Best in County, proudly sponsored by Cork Local Enterprise Office and the prestigious Best Artisan Producer award, supported by the LEO Network.

"I’m absolutely thrilled to receive the Best Artisan Producer award for Second Street Bakeshop,” said founder Claire Keane. “After starting my first food business in San Francisco almost 20 years ago, coming back to Cork and building something new from the ground up has been a really exciting chapter. Our Toffee Popcorn Brittle is all about using simple, natural ingredients to make something that people genuinely love to eat, so to have it recognised by Blas na hÉireann is incredibly rewarding. It’s also a wonderful celebration of the producers, suppliers, the team and the Local Enterprise Office who have supported me along the way, and I’m so excited for what’s ahead.”

"Cork City Local Enterprise Office are delighted for Second Street," said Niall O'Keefe, Head of Enterprise, Cork City LEO. "Claire and her team have been a pleasure to work with. Their journey is a great example of a company constantly seeking best practice to provide the best products for their customers. This latest award is further evidence of Second Street going from strength to strength."

 

2026 marks another record year for Blas na hÉireann, with over 3,000 entries across more than 200 categories, reflecting the strength and diversity of Irish food and drink. 

This year’s finalists and winners had the opportunity to bring their products to life at the Blas Village and the ever-popular Eat Ireland in a Day market, both returning to Dingle alongside the annual Backyard at Blas panel discussions, supported by Bank of Ireland. Across the weekend, producers connected with buyers, industry experts, media, fellow producers and passionate food lovers, while celebrating the people, creativity and craft at the heart of Ireland’s thriving food and drink scene.

Speaking after the announcement, Artie Clifford, Chairperson of Blas na hÉireann, said: “2026 has once again shown us just how exciting and dynamic Ireland’s food and drink industry is. The standard of entries continues to climb, with producers demonstrating incredible creativity and a real commitment to quality. Reaching the finalist stage is a remarkable achievement in itself, and to take home a Blas award is brilliant recognition of the hard work and passion that goes into every product. It’s particularly special to see producers from across the country come together in Dingle to share their stories, celebrate their successes and champion the very best of Irish food and drink. Blas is about much more than awards – it’s about celebrating the people and community behind one of Ireland’s most exciting industries. Next year we will celebrate 20 years of the awards and it's incredible to see just how far we've come in those two decades.”

The Blas na hÉireann awards weekend ran from Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th October in Dingle, with a packed programme of events shining a spotlight on the very best of Irish food and drink. Sustainability once again remained a key focus, with the event continuing to build on its waste-free commitments and support a more conscious future for Irish food.

CHRISTMAS BEERS FROM EIGHT DEGREES BREWING

CHRISTMAS BEERS FROM EIGHT DEGREES BREWING

 

Christmas is a special time at the brewery. A time to look forward to a new year and new beers, a time to look back at what we’ve achieved. For 2025, we decided to release a pair of beers that sum up both parts of this equation.

 

First up is the new: Hōne's Red IPA takes an Irish red ale and adds deliciously dank hops from New Zealand for a richly aromatic take on traditional. It’s NZ meets Ireland - we’re celebrating nineteenth-century solidarity between Māori and Irish vs English colonisers - and bringing these very NZ hops to the party.

 

Building on our strengths (forgetfulness and barrel ageing), V3 of our Black Ball Metric Stout features the strong stout that was a hit when first released in 2019, then again in 2020. When we rediscovered a small batch of this beauty and brought it to the 2025 Dublin Beer Festival, it got such a welcome that we decided to put what was left into cans.

  

Hōne's Red IPA
5.2% ABV

Hōne Mohi Tāwhai was a Māori member of the New Zealand parliament in the nineteenth century. He felt a deep bond of solidarity between Māori and Irish people who, at the time, were all fighting to reclaim land rights from English colonisers. Expressing his solidarity in 1879, Hōne declared: “I am an Irishman” in the NZ Parliament. To celebrate these links, we have enhanced a traditional Irish red ale with the aromatic splendour of some New Zealand's finest dank and resinous hops, Rakau and Wakatu. The flavour reminds us of Christmas pudding, a deep toffee and caramel body overlaid with mild tropical and orchard fruit aromas. Kia ora!

 

Black Ball Metric Stout
11.4% ABV

V3: You know that feeling when you find something you thought was gone forever? In our case, it was a small batch of barrel-aged Black Ball from five years ago with a flavour that was even more intense and smooth.

Still the same modern stout that shuns imperialistic, old school vernacular, the mash for our Black Ball was rammed full of dark, complex malts before being poured into those Irish whiskey barrels. It's always been a big, bold stout, but, after five years, it has completely rounded out. This rediscovered stout is deep, dark, rich and rewarding. 

 

More information: www.eightdegrees.ie

Get social: Facebook: eightdegreesbrewing  ¦ Instagram: eightdegreesbrewing

#pressrelease

 

FULL IRISH BACK IN BOTTLES WITH EIGHT DEGREES. Better, bigger and bottled

media release

BACK IN BOTTLES WITH EIGHT DEGREES

Full Irish IPA is better, bigger, and bottled

Eight Degrees Brewing has just released its newest beer – Double Irish Double IPA – in bottle format. The independent Irish microbrewery based in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, has taken customer-favourite Full Irish IPA, packed it with even more hops and amped it up to 7% ABV. It’s big, bold and naturally adventurous. It’s also only available in 500ml bottles.

“This is something that people have asked us for many times over the years,” says founder / owner Cam Wallace. “We started off in 330ml bottles, moved into 440ml cans - with a few limited edition detours to 750ml bottles en route! - and now, with a new bottling line recently installed, our 500ml bottles are out there in the world.”

“The Double Irish DIPA was a natural choice for the 500ml bottle,” adds co-founder / owner Scott Baigent. “We also wanted to showcase a bright and fresh new label design and we’re delighted with the feedback that we’ve been getting from retailers and customers.”

The brewery has also released three other beers from its core range in bottle format with the new label design: Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale, Citra Single Hop IPA and Full Irish IPA. These will also be available in 440ml can format.

It’s been a busy time at Eight Degrees with the release of Déjà vu Hopfenweisse, The Crux Double IPA and Cumulus Lupulus Cloudy IPA over the last eight months, getting back into the beer festival swing of things, opening the brewery for popular Friday afternoon tours and installing a new bottling machine.

“It’s a challenging time across the board for those of us in the independent microbrewery world,” says Baigent. “But we’re happy to be back at Eight Degrees with our fantastic team, focusing on producing a great core range and having fun brewing new beers.”

“The eighteen months where we weren’t working in the brewery just feels like a very strange dream now,” adds Wallace. “It’s good to be back in beer!”

Wallace's dream team

For more information:
Scott Baigent: scott@eightdegrees.ie
Cam Wallace: cam@eightdegrees.ie

About Eight Degrees Brewing
An award-winning Irish microbrewery renowned for its innovation and experimentation, Eight Degrees was founded in 2010 by Scott Baigent and Cam Wallace. The brewery, which has always been based in Mitchelstown, North Cork, was acquired by Irish Distillers in 2018. It was bought back by Baigent and Wallace in late 2023. They continue to work with the same core brewery team to release a selection of consistently Naturally Adventurous beers.
www.eightdegrees.ie

 

On the craft trail with Eight Degrees, Connemara and Trouble Brewing

On the craft trail with Eight Degrees, Connemara and Trouble Brewing

Eight Degrees Déjà Vu Hopfenweisse, 7.5% ABV, 440 ml can No 21 Coburg St

Buy-Back Brewers Bounce Back

This Hopfenweisse is the welcome-back shot from the Antipodean founders of Eight Degrees, who had just bought back the brewery. It may be

Beer of the Week. Eight Degrees Cumulus Lupulus Cloudy IPA. A good day ahead!

Beer of the Week

Eight Degrees Cumulus Lupulus Cloudy IPA, 5.2% ABV

440 ml can No 21 Coburg St

Clouds via pixabay

A cloudy IPA. And a good day ahead! 

A cloudy IPA? It's not very cloudy at all, just see-through hazy. However, when weather forecasters say it will be cloudy, they usually mean it will be both cloudy and sunny. But if they were glass-half-full people, they could just as easily say it will be sunny.

Cloudy or not, this well-hopped IPA is an intense brew. It has an excellent

On the Craft Trail with Hopfully, Eight Degrees, Kildare Brewing and Chouffe

On the Craft Trail with Hopfully, Eight Degrees, Kildare Brewing and Chouffe.

Hopfully Eyecatcher Session Pale Ale, 4.8% ABV, 440 ml can 

Bradleys

Hopfully welcome a new brewer and a new beer.

Pale orange, close to lemon, is the colour of this session ale by Hopfully. It is also hazy as might expect from a New England style. Juicy stuff on the palate where exotic fruits lead the way before a dry and slightly tart

An old favourite is Beer of the Week. Eight Degrees Howling Gale Ale.

Beer of the Week

Eight Degrees Howling Gale Ale 4.5% ABV, 440 ml can, No 21 Cork

An "old" favourite!

Didn’t realise until today that I’ve been enjoying Eight Degrees Howling Gale on and off since

Boys are back in Mitchelstown! Eight Degrees founders buy back brewery

Boys are back in Mitchelstown!

Eight Degrees founders buy back brewery

Can we do this? Scott (left) and Cam drink to an adventurous future for Eight Degrees

Eight Degrees founders Scott Baigent and Cam Wallace have bought back the brewery they sold to Irish Distillers five years ago.

“We have enjoyed the journey over these past five years,” says Baigent, “with Irish Distillers playing a massive role in completing the build of our brewery in Mitchelstown at the foot of the Galtee Mountains in North Cork.”

“We also have enjoyed creating some really exciting beers together with Irish Distillers,” adds Wallace, “especially the experience of aging beers in whiskey barrels, along with developing a range of exciting whiskeys that were finished in craft beer-seasoned barrels.”

Over the last 18 months, Baigent and Wallace had left the brewery and drinks world behind. This break allowed them to reflect on where their passions lie and what they want to achieve.

For the founders, Eight Degrees has always been about enjoying great tasting beers while living a life of adventure. This is still central to their vision of producing innovative, full-flavoured beers from natural ingredients while exploring the outdoors and pursuing new experiences. Since its establishment in 2010, Eight Degrees has given Baigent and Wallace the platform for this message and the creative outlet to follow their passion.

“Having re-charged our batteries,” says Wallace, “we are keen to get back into the driver’s seat and continue the journey we started more than 14 years ago. Over the past year or so we have had some time out from the brewing world, time to go into the wilderness and take the opportunity for a bit of self-reflection. It's brought us right back to where we started!”

Baigent agrees. “With a heap of reckless optimism and a lot of newfound energy, we seek to deliver the Naturally Adventurous message once more.”

“We hope you come along with us to continue the adventure.” Sláinte

* An award-winning Irish microbrewery renowned for its innovation and experimentation, Eight Degrees was founded in 2010 by Scott Baigent and Cam Wallace. The brewery, which has always been based in Mitchelstown, North Cork, was acquired by Irish Distillers in 2018. It has now been bought back by Baigent and Cameron, who continue to work with the same core brewery team. They plan to release their newest beer in late February. Watch this space!

press release

A Quart of Ale± #121. On the craft journey with Bullhouse, 12 Acres, Wicklow Wolf, Eight Degrees

 A Quart of Ale± #121

On the craft journey with Bullhouse, 12 Acres, Wicklow Wolf, Eight Degrees

12 Acres Pale Ale 4.6%, 440ml can O’Brien’s Douglas

Not my first time coming across this 12 Acres Pale Ale, from County Laois, with its soft white head that sinks fairly quickly. The colour has more amber than pale. And the aromas speak more of malt than hops and so it continues onto the palate. In addition to their own malt, they also use a small quantity of three European speciality malts, giving even more malt body, texture and additional caramel flavours to the beer. 

But the three Americans hops,Cascade, Willamette and Citra, help give bitterness plus citrus and tropical flavours to balance the malt sweetness. So what you get is a delicious refreshing dry hopped golden pale ale.

They say: Our award winning flagship beer, our pale ale is a take on the American Pale Ale (APA) style, with more emphasis on the malt flavour than a traditional APA. Our own spring water is the main ingredient and we add our own pale ale base malt which forms the majority of the grist, to give the fermentable sugars and flavour to our beer…By brewing with our own malted barley and Killeshin spring water from deep beneath the same land, we are producing unique Irish craft beers with traceability from our ground to your glass.”

A lot of attention to detail here and it pays off. Best served 6-8 degrees and it goes great with spicy foods.

****

8 Degrees Citra Single Hop IPA, 5.7%, 440ml can O’Brien’s Douglas

They, 8 Degrees, say: Citra, with its fruity, juicy aroma and flavour, is one of our favourite hops. To showcase it, we’ve used a simple, yet elegant, malt body …. This is a beer that is both sweet and tart, with a gloriously juicy mouthfeel.

Orange/gold is the colour of this Citra Single Hop from Eight Degrees, the adventurous brewery. It’s got a white bubbly head. Aromas are, surprise, surprise, citrus with a floral touch as well. The combined fruit flavours come out to play on the juicy palate and you’ll note peach, melon, lime, gooseberry, passion fruit and lychee in the mix with the malt on display. It’s a refreshing really well-balanced beer, with a nicely judged bitter finish. 

Geek Bits
2020 World Beer Awards – Gold
2019 World Beer Awards – Gold

Style: Single hop IPA
Malt: Irish pale ale malt
Hops: Citra, Citra and…Citra!
Strength: 5.7% ABV
Bitterness: 62 IBUs

Food pairings from the Mitchelstown brewery are among the best around:
The bitterness in this Citra Single Hop IPA will cut beautifully through sweet low-and-slow pulled pork served with a chilli-spiked peach relish. The beer also will counterbalance the bold flavours of barbecued chicken wings and play nicely with some grilled spicy fresh Gubbeen chorizo sausages. Try it with a not-too-sweet Key Lime pie for a full-on citrus ending to your meal.

*********

Bullhouse Suds DDH Pale Ale 4.5%, 440ml can Yards & Crafts

Slurp down some Suds! More hops.

That’s the can label encouragement from Belfast Brewery Bullhouse. And this Double Dry Hopped murky orange coloured Pale Ale is certainly well endowed with hops  (Eldorado, Talus and Azacca) especially in the aromas, and also on the palate.  By now the soft pillowy head has slumped to mere disc but you won’t be worried as the tropical fruits and an input of citrus take over on the smooth and satisfactory ride to the finish. Well made, well balanced.

Last May, Bullhouse took delivery of a brand new (to them) 25HL brewhouse and 6 additional 25HL FVs. 

“We’ve always invested more heavily in our cold-side equipment than in any hot-side stuff, because you can make really good wort on pretty basic kit, but you can’t make really good hoppy beer with poor quality cold-side equipment.”

“We ended up going for a system from a cask brewery in England that had closed down. We now have a 50HL direct fire HLT, 40HL German made mash tun (with side manway) and a 30HL direct fire kettle.” 

The new kit means Bullhouse have the capability to “double our weekly production to 60HL with the same amount of effort”. Well if this Suds is anything to go by, the investment is well worthwhile. Best of luck.

****

Wicklow Wolf Jeff Bezos Hopfenweisse 6.3%, 440 ml can Bradleys

Introducing No. 30 in our Endangered Species series; Heff Bezos. This release is another example of our brewer’s passion and creativity running wild. A modern twist on the classic hefeweizen beer style, Heff Bezos is a hop forward wheat beer. 

That’s the Wicklow Wolf intro to Heff Bezos. Colour is a murky, opaque, orange with a. Soft slowly sinking bubbly white head. Aromas are a puzzle. I’m expecting banana and clove but initially getting a smoky bacon whiff but go again and it is somewhat closer to the expected combo.

On the palate, the Hopfenweisse continues to carry the banana clove combo yet is is somewhat tartier than the usual. Perhaps the yeast ( a hefeweizen yeast strain from our friends at WHC) is the disrupting factor? No shortage of flavours though with notes of citrus, tropical (including mango) and pine. And, as this first meeting comes to an end, I’m feeling very much at home with Jeff, sorry Heff!

I’m presuming the name Heff Bezos is a play on Jeff Bezos. Jeff, the multi-billionaire (ex Amazon), may be rare but hardly endangered.

Wicklow say this is a style of beer “that we have planned to brew for quite some time now, this Hopfenweisse is brewed with modern hops (Citra, Idaho 7 & Talus)  and fermented using a hefeweizen yeast strain from our friends at WHC*. You can expect a burst of citrus & tropical fruit flavours complimented by aromatic, fruity esters coming through from the hefeweizen yeast.” 

* WHC Lab is a Fermentation and Quality control company in Wicklow

Jameson Crested and Eight Degrees Collaboration

Jameson Crested and

 Eight Degrees Collaboration

Irish Distillers, maker of some of the world’s most enjoyed whiskeys, is building on its long-standing collaboration with Eight Degrees Brewing to create a stunning third edition in this Jameson Crested series.

Jameson Crested Finished in Barleywine Irish Oak Barrels is a limited-edition whiskey born from the latest instalment of the exciting partnership between Irish Distillers and the award-winning, Cork-based brewery, which is renowned for its innovation and experimentation.

For this third iteration, Irish Distillers and Eight Degrees once again joined forces to showcase the very best of Irish talent and local produce, and started by selecting rare Irish oak barrels from Midleton Distillery’s carefully curated inventory. The brewery team at Eight Degrees then selected barleywine, a traditional malt-forward beer, to rest in the barrels for twelve weeks to produce a rich and complex sipping beer infused with whiskey flavours for their Original Gravity series (ABV 12.2%).

Once emptied, the beer-seasoned barrels were then returned to Midleton, filled with Jameson Crested and left to mature for a further three months. The result is an elevated Jameson Crested with a rich roasted malted barley flavour profile with notes of toasted almonds and sweet candy floss. Bottled at 45% ABV, the whiskey perfectly balances generous oak tannins and dried fruits with cereal notes and nutty undertones from the barleywine for a full-bodied and luxurious flavour.

“Our relationship with Eight Degrees Brewing continues to provide a springboard for innovation, adding a new dimension to both our whiskeys and beers,” explains Irish Distillers’ Blender Deirdre O’Carroll.

“As a wood, Irish oak is much more porous than its American counterpart, meaning the barrels have been quick to mature and impart flavours of caramel and dairy fudge, which have worked elegantly in tandem with the nutty, malted flavour of the barleywine for a luscious whiskey which is truly Irish in every sip.”

Derek Neville, Head Cellarman at Eight Degrees Brewing, adds: “It is a rare privilege to work with Irish oak in beer brewing and the buttery creaminess the casks added to our Original Gravity Irish Oak-Aged Barleywine was immediately distinctive. We are thrilled to see the seasoned casks return to their rightful resting place, with our beer imparting a sweet, malted character to this special bottling of the iconic Jameson Crested.”

The celebration of Ireland continues on pack with designs from local artist Coireall Carroll Kent adorning both the Jameson Crested bottle and the Eight Degrees beer cans. Featuring historical patterns and ancient tree roots, the artwork is a vivid celebration of the Irish countryside.

Commenting on the work, Kent says: “I wanted to create a standout design which was distinctly Irish, I spent a lot of the pandemic trekking across the Irish countryside, and many of the roads that I took to are shrouded in trees just like these. The knots are naturally rooted in Celtic culture, with the concentric circles representing both the curves of our landscape and the bubbles in a good drink!”

A limited-edition release of fewer than 10,000 bottles, Jameson Crested Finished in Barleywine Irish Oak Barrels will be available in Jameson’s brand home outlets at Jameson Distillery, Bow Street, Dublin, Midleton Distillery, Cork, as well as in global travel retail and through Jameson’s online shop, priced at €50 (70cl). In Ireland, it will also be available in O’Brien’s Off Licences and other specialist off licences.

press release

Festival Food & Drink Favourites 2021. Eight Degrees and Bakestone in Happy Holiday Pairing

Festival Food & Drink Favourites 2021

Eight Degrees and Bakestone in Happy Holiday Pairing

What were your food and drink favourites over the Christmas and New Year?

I’d say one of mine came at the end of the Christmas Day Dinner when we matched the Bakestone Pudding with a shared can of Eight Degrees Irish Oak-aged Barleywine. At 12.2% abv, this is a heavy hitter and needs respect. Pour a little into a wine glass and sip and enjoy. It went perfectly with the pudding from East Cork (you’ll find Bakestone at Cobh Cross - they’ve been there for years and, as well as a popular café, have a magnificent pantry of top notch Irish produce).

And so it was appropriate that it was two locally made products that topped our Christmas bill!

The Eight Degrees’ aromatic and multi-flavoured seasonal special was aged in especially rare Irish whiskey barrels that have been made from native Irish oak. Not alone did it pair with the rich and dark pudding but it also went well with the light and delicious Christmas cake from Barnabrow House (bought at Roughty Foodie) and also with the cheese course, notably with the Crozier Blue (via On The Pig’s Back).

Bubbles are usually associated with the festivities at this time of year and I was lucky to have a couple of delicious bottles of Prosecco on hand, each by Bottega. The Gold Prosecco Brut impressed for sure but it was the Bottega Rose Gold that really caught my attention. It is a terrific Spumante Brut rose, made from Pinot Noir grapes grown throughout the Veneto.

The hand painted bottles are not only eye-catching but "reflect the quality and care put into producing this wine”. Bottega do not use chemical-based products for their metallised bottles; this means the solvent for the varnish is water-based, instead of being oil or alcohol-based like more traditional varnishes.

It wasn’t just Prosecco of course. There was wine. We won’t go into too much detail just to say that we had an impressive pair via Liberty Wine for dinner on the big day. From South Africa came the Western Cape Momento, the country’s only Grenache Gris. And we made it a lovely Grenache double with the red, a Willunga 100 from the McLaren Vale in Australia.

You always need something extra to bring the best out of all the good stuff on the table at Christmas and two jars in particular were in regular use here. One was the Big Red Kitchen’s Spiced Plum and Port Jam and the other was the seasonal Ballymaloe Foods Cranberry and Mór Wild Berry Gin Sauce.

The Spiced Plum and Port Jam is very versatile, a match with paté, cheese and duck and we find it  outstanding with Skeaghanore smoked duck breast and gives the Skeaghanore Confit Leg sweet hint of Asia. This year it also impressed with the Bakestone pudding. Nicola of the Red Kitchen combines ripe plums with a hint of warming cinnamon and port in this excellent seasonal preserve which is also wonderful with scones and bread. It won’t go to waste around here.

And neither did the Ballymaloe Foods Cranberry and Mór Wild Berry Gin Sauce. It certainly did what it says on the jar and enhanced the turkey (and the other meats) no end and also impressed when used with the cheese board. This blend of cranberries and the Irish gin proved indispensable over the week.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Cork Christmas without a helping of spiced beef on the table. No shortage here thankfully and, supplied (like the turkey and ham) by local craft butcher Chris Davidson, it was once again a highlight. Turkey and ham was pretty good too!

Another highlight was our order from Ummera Smokehouse in Timoleague, a box packed with chicken, duck, salmon (two ways), even rashers, all smoked and all delicious as always. Good use was made of this package over the holidays. Nothing like a bit of variety over the hols.

We did indeed use the Ummera smoked chicken on New Year’s Eve and later there were more holiday bubbles. It was now the turn of a super Beaumont des Crayères Vintage 2013 Fleur Blanche Blanc de Blancs Brut (via O’Briens Wines) to shine. Intense and exciting from the engaging first sip, with fountains of micro-bubbles powering upwards, with biscuity aromas and flavours and floral notes too, this is one of the better ones for sure. It is made from 100% Chardonnay and obviously 2013 was a very good year.

Let us hope that 2022 will also be a good one. Happy New Year to you all and fingers crossed that it will be better for all of us.