A Quart of Ale± #59. On the craft journey with a mixed session: Blacks, Boundary, Larkins, West Kerry.

A Quart of Ale± #59

On the craft journey with a mixed session: Blacks, Boundary, Larkins, West Kerry. 

Blacks Ace of Haze Battle of the Tropics DDH Hazy IPA 5.5%, 440 can Bradleys

Yellow-gold is the colour of this latest Ace of Haze from Blacks of Kinsale as they put Azzaca and Mosaic hops through their paces in the Battle of the Tropics. A soft fluffy head sits on top of the haze.

They say: Meet the newest member of the Ace of Haze family, fresh off the canning line. Azzaca and Mosaic do battle to bring you a double dry hopped (DDH) hazy IPA, bursting with mango, pineapple and floral citrus flavours and aromas.

Fruity and floral notes, pine too, in the aromas and that continues on the palate of an interesting mid-bodied and heftily-hopped IPA. It is instantly friendly in the mouth, full of flavour and refreshing, very easy to get along with and there’s quite a finalé as well. 

Quite a combination and one for the short list!

Boundary Very Serious Situation Pils 4.8%, 440 can Bradleys

Light gold is the colour here, slightly hazy with no shortage of rising bubbles. Aromas are mildly fruity (citrus perhaps). Fruity too on the palate, a touch of spice also, refreshing with a dry lip-smacking finish. Very Serious Situation is a pretty serious contender in this style!

I haven’t heard too much of Tettnang, yet this German hop has a long history and is used in the production of a huge variety of beers, including everything from German Pilsners to American Pale Ales.

Not too much info on the beer on their website other than to mention it’s a “crisp, refreshing Pils, generously hopped with Tettnang”. Credit for the can artwork goes to  John Robinson. Boundary is a cooperative brewery owned by its members.

They say: In December 2014, we offered our first members the chance to start a brewery that we could all be proud of! In eight days, we raised £100k and welcomed 447 members to our Cooperative.We got to work immediately. Loads of people missed out on our initial Community Share offer, but we had what we needed to get off to an amazing start.In January 2015, we took the keys to our brewery in Portview Trade Centre. In May, we brewed our first beers.They sold out immediately.

Since then, we've released four core beers, and a mildly ridiculous amount of specials. Reviews have been amazing. In fact, we’ve been voted the best beer and best Brewery in NI every year since we opened!! In December 2015, we opened membership again, and raised over £160,000 to help us scale. 

Read more here https://boundarybrewing.coop/pages/membership 

Curious Society Citra Pale Ale 4.5%, 440ml can Bradleys

Curious Society is the name of a series of better value beers from Larkins. They say: A classic pale using one of our house yeasts and one of the all-time best hop varieties Citra.

Yellow is the colour and the head is short-lived. Mango, guava, and lychee fruit is what you expect from the Citra hop and that exotic melange is more or less what you get here. No real bitterness about this well-made pale ale but it is a very pleasant drink and easily quaffable.

Enjoyed this one very much. I also have their Atlantic 353 West Coast IPA in the queue; looking forward to trying that quite soon!

West Kerry “Carraig Dubh” Porter 6.0%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

This hand-crafted traditional porter comes in a black robe with a creamy brown head. It is more or less chocolate and coffee all the way from here but there is an acidity also at play. 

They say: “Carraig Dubh is a rich luxurious porter brewed with bags of chocolate malt. This bold heavy porter is laden with coffee and chocolate Tones.” It is bottle conditioned and made from malted barley, hops, yeast and spring water “from our own spring”.

Traditional, yes. A bottle (or two) would go down well at the threshings I remember - but not too many threshings on farms anymore. 

Cheers on Beer, Spirits and Wine. With Ballykilcavan, BeerCloud, BeoirFest, Irish Distillers, Wines of the World, Clonakilty Distillery, Larkin's Brewery, Bierhaus

 Cheers on Beer, Spirits and Wine. 

With Ballykilcavan, BeerCloud, BeoirFest, Irish Distillers, Wines of the World, Clonakilty Distillery, Larkin's Brewery, Bierhaus

Ballykilcavan Farm and Brewery: Tour Online!

It looks like it could be a while until we're welcoming visitors back inside the brewery, so we're moving our tours online.

If you're organising a group event over the next few months, we can now run a private, virtual tour of Ballykilcavan for you. It's the same tour as if you were here, so I'll share the stories of the family and workers over the 13 generations that we've been here, show you around the 18th century farmyard and 21st century brewery, and we can even send out some beers in advance and do a guided tasting.

If you're interested, please just message me here or send an email to david@ballykilcavan.com and I'll go through the details with you.

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Tempting Mixed Case Offer from BeerCloud!

To celebrate St Patrick's Day (don't worry, it's definitely not too late to celebrate the feast day of our patron saint), we've taken one of our newest boxes and lashed on a HUGE 17% discount!

An Bosca Beorach is a collection of beers that celebrate the Irish language and all carry Gaelige on the label. It includes wonderful beers from White Hag, Four Provinces, Reel Deel and Eight Degrees.

This offer is strictly while stocks last and expires on March 31st, 2021 @ 11:59pm

To celebrate St Patrick's Day (don't worry, it's definitely not too late to celebrate the feast day of our patron saint), we've taken one of our newest boxes and lashed on a HUGE 17% discount!

An Bosca Beorach is a collection of beers that celebrate the Irish language and all carry Gaelige on the label. It includes wonderful beers from White Hag, Four Provinces, Reel Deel and Eight Degrees.  

An Bosca Beorach €28.60 View

This offer is strictly while stocks last and expires on March 31st, 2021 @ 11:59pm *********

BeoirFest Roundtables Back on April 3rd

We're taking break from the roundtables for a week. But we'll be back on April 3 with a fantastic schedule....

Apr 03:

Tempted Irish Craft Cider

,

Stonewell Cider

,

Legacy Irish Cider

Apr 10:

Lineman

,

Bullhouse Brewing Company

,

Killarney Brewing Company

Apr 17:

Trouble Brewing

,

Peak Beer

,

Dundalk Bay Brewery

Apr 24 & May 1: A very special event with Lars Marius Garshol and Simonis Gutautas from

Dundulis

in Lithiuania.

Join us April 3rd...

#irishbeer #irishcraftbeer #homebrewing #craftbeer #lithuanianbeer #irishcider #irishcraftcider

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Irish Distillers Tasting Club

Welcome to the Irish Distillers Tasting Club. This six part series examines everything from the impact of different casks to the exploration of flavour and aroma. Each week you'll join an Irish whiskey masterclass with the people who know it best. Check in here on You Tube.

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Wines of the World - Virtual Private Tasting

Fancy booking a private virtual wine tasting for yourself and your colleagues?

Drop us a DM or email sales@WinesOfTheWorld.ie for more information .

We can cater for small and large groups all across Ireland.

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Larkin's Brewing Company Seek Lead Innovation Brewer

Job Description

This is a great opportunity for the right brewer The pandemic has pushed Larkins to evolve fast and with that has come new opportunities for growth We have two ranges - core range of approx. 9 beers and the innovation range which will comprise 4 - 6 new small batch beers per month The headlines of the role: Based just outside Dublin close to the sea in Wicklow In charge of wort production for core and innovation ranges. Recipe creation for innovation range. Typical beer styles for us would be ipa, dipa, stouts including impy, barrel aged beers etc etc CIP of brewhouse and wort-forward line Co-ordination with packaging and cellar team for cellar management and overall beer quality International travel for festivals as soon as possible! More details here

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Cork's Bierhaus announces another Haus Flies Live
FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021 AT 7 PM UTC+01

Haus Flies Live Episode 5 - Larkins Brewing Company

Free  · Online Event Details: here

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.

Elbow Lane Brewers Have the Wisdom

Elbow Lane Brewers Have the Wisdom

Didn’t quite expect it when I started this Irish session, didn’t expect that I’d end up proclaiming the Cork City ale as my favourite of the bunch.

I’ve been drinking it from time to time in the Market Lane restaurants, most recently in Goldie, their fish and ale spot across from the mothership and indeed just across from the micro brewery as well. And it always goes well with food. Enjoyed it without the food this time just as much and probably took a bit more notice of its quality without the grub.

All the beers here, with the exception of the Elbow Lane, came from Bradley’s. I bought the Wisdom via Neighbourfood but Bradley’s have the Elbow beers available as well. As you may know, they are all named after lanes in Cork City.

By the way the White Hag Lager is excellent as is the Black’s Mosaic. The other two, if you’re open to experiment, as I was, are worth a try. You just might just find a favourite there!

The White Hag Helles Style Lager, 4.5%, 440ml can

Light gold is the colour, a host of bubbles rising. Very pleasant in the mouth, easy drinking and well balanced to the finish. Light and refreshing they say. Light and refreshing it is.

The Helles style originated in Bavaria (Germany) apparently and this is one of the best Irish efforts that I’ve tasted.

Sligo based White Hag are a modern independent craft brewery from Sligo, on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. “We brew innovative and ground breaking beers, inspired by ancient and classic styles.” They produce quite a range of beers, most of them in can.

Blacks Brewery Mosaic IPA, 6.5%, 330ml bottle

This little bottle from Blacks showcases the Mosaic hops, giving the beer an American style (I suppose any beer with blueberry muffin aromas has to have US influences!). The hops, with its tropical aromas and juicy palate, is the main man here. This, in its small bottle, is well balanced though and another excellent and loveable brew from Kinsale.

They say: A West Coast Style IPA, packed full of tropical aromas, juicy big flavours and absolutely no nonsense. The malt character also shines through with freshly baked pastry and a whiff of blueberry muffin lingering in the background. On the palate, medium in body with a soft texture, mouthwatering acidity and a balance of bitter and sweet flavours.

Stone Barrel (brewed by their Third Barrel Brewing) Cabin Fever Enigma IPA, 7%, 44cl on can (but it’s a 33!).

“Long time friends and brewers, Stone Barrel Brewing and Third Circle Brewing, decided to combine their experience, resources, love for brewing and absolute passion for beer and create one of Ireland's most cutting edge breweries.” 

Tropical fruits and white grapes (they say) in the aromas; I’m thinking there’s something  "ferment-y" in the background too, like a sourdough starter. Maybe there is too much Enigma hops here as the brewers say. Not bad at all on the palate and a good hoppy finish as well. It is well balanced and the higher alcohol is hardly noticeable.

They say: Brewed with a lovely blend of Irish base malt, oats and wheat with a strong focus on the dry-hop hops. Big tropical and white grape aromas balanced with a slightly sweet finish.

Larkin’s Quadditch 10.5%, 440ml can

Quadditch is the Larkins’ take on a classic Belgian quad. “With whole plums added to the mix, a deep, rich beer, with complex dark fruit notes, awaits you. A warming beer”. Hop varieties used are Hersbrucker and EKG.

A cloudy muddy brown. Aromas more or less anonymous. This hulk of a beer comes into its own on the palate, deep and rich with fruit flavours, pretty complex for sure. A touch of sweetness is present and the high alcohol is just about noticeable. Probably best with food and recommendations for the Belgian equivalent are Roasted Duck, Aged Gouda and Bread Pudding. Tried it with creamy Gubbeen cheese - needs must. The pairing's not too bad but not a must-do either (though I never refuse a chance to eat the iconic Gubbeen). Serve in a Tulip glass at about 12 degrees.

Elbow Lane Wisdom Ale 5.2%, 500ml bottle (and draught in their restaurants).

Dark, between amber and brown, nice frothy head. Caramel is perhaps the most prominent of the aromas. Good balance of hops and toasty malt on the smooth palate. The Elbow Lane team produce beers to match the food in the various Market Lane restaurants and they certainly succeed.

Goldie, the latest of five restaurants in the group, shows the words Fish and Ale under the main title. And the beers come from the Elbow Lane Micro Brewery, also across the street. Brewers Russell and Davide have specially formulated the ales to suit food and, as customers of the restaurants will tell you, they have been very successful in that regard. And excellent without the food too!

They say: This medium bodied amber ale is brewed with a selection of specialty malts that impact rich, toasty and caramel malt character, balanced by a firm yet pleasant hop flavor and aroma. This ale is excellent with many foods and uniquely satisfying as a stand alone pint.