Festival at Franciscan Well

The Franciscan Well Festival

Enjoyed my afternoon at the Franciscan Well Festival. Loads of choice with beers and cider from all over. The Festival continues tomorrow Sunday from 2.00pm. Get on down!

Top right: Yours truly and Caroline of 8 Degrees; bottom left: Ronan
Brennan of Galway Hooker and Daniel Emerson of Stonewell Cider.

ALE AND HEARTY AT THE WELL

HAPPENINGS AT THE FRANCISAN WELL

Craft Brewing has taken off in a big way this last 12 months but the pioneering Franciscan Well  on Cork’s North Mall still has a trick or two up its sleeve.

And indeed, the brewers there have produced two of the best beers of the year in my opinion: The Shandon Century Extra Stout and the formidable Bellringer, both limited editions.

The Shandon made its debut at the end of October. This was a fabulous stout and I was lucky enough to get a bottle or two from the 1,000 made, also enjoyed a couple of tastings, each with cheese.

And perhaps the best match-up came during the Jazz Weekend when Willie Healy of URRU matched it with a mature Hegarty’s Cheddar at the pub itself. Memorable stout – like to see it back again sometime soon!

The Bellringer, also a 1000 bottle run, came about a month later and only last Monday came the news from the brewery: “Bellringer is sold out. Next batch will be a bottle conditioned I.P.A. “ You might be lucky as, of yesterday, Bradley’s in North Main Street still had a few bottles left. I finished mine off last night and was delighted with it, perhaps the best Irish ale I’ve tasted. Like to see that come back as well but in the meantime I’m looking forward to the IPA.

And another Franciscan event to look forward to has just been announced: “Our annual Cask Ale Festival will take place on the 10th, 11th and 12th Feb. It’s going to be one of the best ones yet!” They usually keep to their word so mark this in your diary.

All goes to show there is life in the Old North Mall dog yet and those newbies, promising and all as they are, will have their work cut out to top the Cork star. We can only benefit from the brewing battles ahead!

FRANCISCAN WELL OCTOBER FEST

Click on image to enlarge

FRANCISCAN WELL
OCTOBER BEER FEST

No shortage of choice when I called in to the well established OctoberFest at the Franciscan Well Brewery and Pub at the weekend. There were dozens of beers on tap, and many more in bottle at the bar itself. 

Renewed acquaintance with John Radley of Cremin and Radley who had a stand there. Tempted also to renew acquaintance with their Fruli Strawberry beer or the Schneider Aventinus but then spotted the new Irish lager from Kerry named after the arctic explorer Tom Crean. 

This 4.6% ABV from the Dingle Brewing Company is not half bad and I enjoyed my pint. The blurb says it is light and delicately hopped..perfectly balanced and elegant... I’d agree with that. 

Hadn’t seen the Svyturys range before so I had a try at their stand. Got a glass of their Ekstra, a pale easy drinking lager at 5.2%. They are especially proud of the Nefiltruotas Raw, a Zwickelbier Lager described as the lager world’s answer to real ale. Liked my sample and will explore this Lithuanian beer further. Some humourous ads on their site, by the way! 

The Franciscan Well joined in the Bord Bia national Beer/Cheese Tasting Events this weekend and on Saturday afternoon, they had the very knowledgeable Willie Healy of the well known Bandon food store URRU  in charge of that particular stand. 

Here I got the chance to sample their newest stout, the Shandon Century Extra Stout (7.5%), available on tap and in a limited issue of numbered bottles (which, I’m told, are flying out the door at Bradley’s Off Licence). It is something special, full bodied and smooth and with a great dry flavour. 

Willie had examples from four local cheese producers for sampling with the stout and the other Franciscan products and they were Hegarty’s, Gubbeen, Ardsallagh and the Fermoy Natural Cheese Company. My favourite match was the stout and the cheddar from Hegarty’s. 

Well done to the Franciscan Well who had the whole thing well organised and had plenty of friendly staff on duty to help out. 

Shandon Century Extra Stout

Franciscan Well

Just reminding everyone about next Thursday's launch of Shandon Century Extra Stout at 6pm in the brewery. We are also announcing details of the upcoming Octoberfest. All are welcome, so bring a friend and have a free glasses of Shandon Century Extra Stout on us as well as some nibbles and live music!

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BEER HEAVEN

BEER HEAVEN

For two days this weekend, Cork’s Franciscan Well, will be Beer Heaven for micro-brewery aficionados as no less than 20 Irish microbreweries will represented in one place. No wonder they say the Franciscan Well Easter Beerfest is the single best way to taste the best beers that Ireland has to offer. 

A new North Cork Brewery, Eight Degrees, will make its debut here with an ale called Howling Gale. Let’s hope that will be the only gale around the North Mall. The beer fest starts at 2.00pm on Saturday and concludes at 11.30pm on Sunday.

For all the details click here.

Franciscan Well Brew Pub in Cork

THE FRANCISCAN WELL
Called into the Franciscan Well Brew Pub over the weekend. You know this is a different sort of pub when you see the three big vats behind the counter and a group of fifteen fellows coming in to start the tour.

But, micro-brewery or no, it is still a pub, a fine spacious one at that, with a very friendly and helpful service. If you are wondering which of the many beers you should taste on draught then you’ll get a little sample to help you make up your mind.

Leaving the Friar Weisse, the Rebel Red and the Shandon Stout aside, at least for this visit, I went for the Blarney Blond. This lager is an excellent drink and a pint and half cost about €6.45 which is more or less the normal lager price. Well worth a try if you are a lager drinker.

As the bar is a magnet for tourists, there is also a large selection of international beers available (though no Heineken or Carlsberg or Guinness or Murphy’s, nothing form the big name brewers). But you won't miss them.

I’m beginning to liking for Czech lagers. They didn’t have Staropramen and, from the selection offered by the very helpful Polish bar-person, I choose the 1795 Budejovicky Pivo. A 50cl bottle cost me €4.80. This is a terrific drink, even better then the Staro, and I’ll certainly be looking out for it in the future, especially if I’m passing Bradleys in North Main Street.

The Franciscan Well is nicely laid out and has a covered Beer Garden. They also do various Beer fests, seasonal barbeques, live music, tours and tastings and also supply Party Kegs. See their website www.franciscanwellbrewery.com or ring 021 4210130.

Check out my review of Franciscan Well Brew Pub - I am cork - on Qype