Beer of the Year 2021. The Reveal!

Beer of the Year 2021

Very difficult to separate the contenders but the nod for my Beer of the Year goes to the Brehon Brewhouse Oak & Mirrors Cask Aged Imperial Porter. Brehon: "Whiskey-aged porter from a collaboration with our good friends at TWO STACKS using their freshly emptied single malt cask to mature our brew. Of course, getting it right took a few tastings with the lads. This is a superior whiskey cask-aged imperial porter that will please the most discerning of whiskey-loving palettes. Limited edition.."

1 - Cask-Aged Brehon Brewhouse Oak & Mirrors Two Stacks Whiskey Cask Aged Imperial Porter

 2 (joint) - Yellow Belly “Red Noir” Dark Red Ale

                  Whiplash “Melodie Noir” Baltic Porter

4 -       Mescan Brewery Old Brown 

5  (joint) -   Western Herd Flora and Fauna 10 Hop DIPA 

                 - Hope “Limited Edition No 25“ Classic Gose

                 -  Dungarvan “Mahon Falls” Rye Pale

8 - Galway Bay NZ Pils Motueka Dry Hopped Pilsner

Mescan's Old Brown

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Below are more of my favourites from the past 12 months. I'm lucky to have a great supplier here in Cork City and virtually every brewer in the country will know of Bradley's in North Main Street. There's a wall of beer there but I'm conscious that quite a few others don't make it this far south and so I've used various online shops to broaden my scope. If you feel, your beer is missing out, do please let me have a DM with info as to where I can buy it.

Category favourites 2021

Pale Ale:  White Hag “Magic Mist” Juicy Pale Ale (from a very competitive section)

IPA (also very competitive!): Blacks St Tropez IPA Summer IPA 4.8%

Session: Eight Degrees Seisíun IPA 4.5%. No shortage of competition here.

Lager: Galway Bay NZ Pils Motueka Dry Hopped Pilsner 4.9%, from a crowded field

Less competitive categories, even sub-categories

Coffee and Oatmeal Stout: Dungarvan Brewing.

Cask-Aged: Brehon Brewhouse Oak & Mirrors Two Stacks Whiskey Cask Aged Imperial Porter 7.5%; 

Porter: Whiplash The Sup

Rauchbier: Kinnegar 20÷2 Anniversary Rauchbier 5%

Barleywine: Eight Degrees Irish Oak-aged Barleywine 12.2%

Old Brown: Mescan

Spon: Land & Labour Crimson Kriek Framboise

Baltic Porter: Whiplash Melodie Noir Baltic Porter

Wheatbeer/Witbier/Wheat: Curious Society Wheat Beer

DIPA: Western Herd Flora and Fauna 10 Hop DIPA, 9.45%

Black IPA: 9 White Deer Black Lightning; 

Rye Pale Ale: Dungarvan “Mahon Falls” Rye Pale Ale

Bitter: Lough Gill Five Candles Extra Special Bitter

Stout: Ballykilcavan Blackwell Stout.

Kolsch: Rye River Grafters Clocking Off Kölsch Style

Red Ale: Yellow Belly “Red Noir” Dark Red Ale 4.5%

Gose: Hope “Limited Edition No 25“ Classic Gose

Non Alcoholic: Stonewell 0% Cider

Amber Ale: Kinnegar Devil’s Backbone 

Sour: Wide Street “Peach Berliner”Sour or Wheat? 

Brown Ale: Whiplash “The Ocean Wide” 

NEIPA: Heaney New England.

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Favourite beer in brew pubs:

Crew “Polly” IPA.

Also enjoyed:

Cotton Ball "Lynch’s" Stout (Cork City); Elbow Lane's "Angel" Stout (Cork City); and Tom Crean's "Six Magpies" Stout in Kenmare.

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Favourite Cider 2021: 

Stonewell Cask

Also enjoyed:

Johnny Fall Down Rare Apple Cider 2019. Longueville “Mór” Cider 8%.

Others to note:

Mac Ivors Traditional Dry Cider; Viking Orchard Cuvée; Con’s Irish Cider; Viking Hop It Craft Cider; Highbank “Proper Irish Cider” 2016. 

Irish Perry

Cockagee Cider Piorraí Irish Sparkling Perry

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A Quart of Ale± #79. A craft session of Brehon & Hopfully with cider from Stonewell & Mac Ivors.

A Quart of Ale± #79

On the craft journey with a session of Brehon and Hopfully and cider from Stonewell and Mac Ivors.

Stonewell Cask Irish Craft Cider 9.5% abv, 75cl bottle Bradleys

“It’s not often that one gets to indulge in two of one’s passions, for me that’s cider and whiskey,” says Daniel Emerson as he introduced his latest cider.

“I have added cider for 6 months in fresh whiskey barrels, kindly lent to us from a distillery in East Cork, then blended it with a select bittersweet ferment to create this woody tannic cider with whiskey overtones. It is effervescent, opulent, viscous and rich in character, but not for the faint-hearted.”

The amber colour is that bit darker than normal. Aromas are of moderate intensity but very much of the orchard. The whiskey cask makes its presence felt on the palate, adding a slight toasty flavour. It is smooth and delightful, with a bitter-sweet finalé, an amazing amalgam of the orchards, the cidery and the distillery. Very Highly Recommended (unanimous here - not always the case!). Go get it!

The Stonewall and Nohoval listing already contains quite a few innovative ciders from Daniel and wife Geraldine. As they say themselves, it takes courage to only use apple juice to make cider and more courage to take it a step further as they have done here. Their apples come from orchards in Waterford, Tipperary and Laois.

Starting this year, when you buy a bottle of Stonewell Cider, Stonewell will make a donation to the Irish Bee Conservation Project (IBCP).

These funds will go towards the general activities of the organisation, including the creation of pollinator trails, the construction of bee lodges and raising awareness of the plight of the Irish Bee species. 

Mac Ivors Traditional Dry Cider 5.6%, 50cl bottle Bradleys

Mac Ivors, inspired by the aromatic ciders of Northern France, made this Traditional Dry Cider, an elegant blend of over ten different apple varieties. “Our crisp Armagh Bramley apples balance the fragrant flavours of traditional dessert apples and bittersweet cider apples, giving a deep and dry cider style.”

It is a much lighter colour, as you’d expect, than the Stonewell. Aromas are yeasty, a little sourness there. And on the palate it has deep apple flavours (thanks to the slow, cool fermentation), and is dry with a lip-smacking finish. One tarty tipple for sure, the tannins drying those lips.

They also do a Medium Cider, a Plum & Ginger, a White Reserve Cider, a Non Alcoholic version, and a Juicy Session Cider.

Armagh is well known as “The Orchard County”. It is here that Mac Ivors Cider has its roots.

“Our farm was established in 1855 in the townland of Ardress. Our cider takes its name from our Cider Maker, Greg Mac Neice’s grandmother Annie Mac Ivor.

Annie, her husband Matt Mac Neice and their nine children had a passion for apple growing. Her son Sam and her grandson Greg continue that tradition, farming over 100 acres of prime Armagh orchard, packing and processing the apples grown and now making great craft cider too!”

The 2013 Cider Celebration was held at the Apple Farm in Cahir and a great day it was too with cider makers from all over the country displaying their produce! Good day for Mac Ivors as their sweet won the Best in Show in that category. Would love to see that Celebration revived!.

Brehon Brewhouse Ulster Black Oatmeal Stout 5.0%, 440 can Bradleys

“Beware The McMahons”
“It wasn’t the Vikings you had to fear, it was the McMahons. Or at least that’s how they tell it in this part of Ulster. We were the notorious ruling clan for centuries, raiding the Pale for whiskey and beer. These days, we brew our own….. once we’ve finished milking the cows. Always ready for a quiet pint.”

And this Ulster Black Oatmeal Stout is a winner. At least, it was my favourite beer in 2020 and this current version smells and tastes just as good. It is not be hid under a bushel; it is a star in this particular firmament. 

Black as a wet sod after a rainy week in the bog. The fleeting head has some of the colour of a well-dried sod. Aromas also from the dark side: coffee and dark chocolate. And that theme continues on the palate. 

But it is not exactly like other oatmeal stouts, not over-rich. There is a balance, a harmony, that lifts this toasty stout well above the normal. All before a lip-smacking finish. Try it out for yourself! Best served around 8 to 10 degrees. That’s more or less what I wrote last year. No need to change much, I’m delighted to say.

They say: “A sweet, toasty Oatmeal Stout with a dark chocolate and coffee finish. Bottle conditioned with strong notes of dark chocolate, roasted malt and liquorice. Hopped with magnum.  Full bodied and full of flavour, this cozy stout always hits the spot. Ideal with game or strong red meat, smoked meats and hearty stews. Also great with desserts such as chocolate, caramel or dark fruits.”

Hopfully Tangerina  DIPA 8.5%, 440 can Bradleys

“Here’s our new and ‘very limited’ edition small-batch brew, Tangerina Double IPA 8.5%,” said Hopfully back in September.

It has a slight murky orange colour and the white head doesn’t last too long at all (despite the fact that Dextrin is one of the malts used). It is packed with “a gorgeous amount of whole tangerine purée” and you do get it in the aromas. And very much so on the palate, thanks to the addition of the purée. And then it seems to fade out at that - just wondering if that addition was over-generous. Tangerine for sure so it does what it says on the tin. Dry at the end.

The label names the malts; Pale, Oats, wheat, Vienna and Dextrin. “Drink fresh - do not age.” Hops are Simcoe, Cascade and Centennial hops into the whirlpool and “dry-hopped this beauty with Citra, Galaxy, Simcoe, and Centennial”. 

This artwork is a master piece by @staselejakunskaite and is part of her SWAP project in which parts of common images or situations are swapped with each other creating new somehow unusual and surprising senses and ideas. Staselė is a Lithuanian visual artist and illustrator working in fields of conceptual illustration, advertising, publishing, indie print projects, and murals. 

Taste of the Week. Stonewell Tawny.

Taste of the Week

Stonewell's Tawny Cider.

At a discussion, featuring three cidermakers, on Beoirfest earlier this year, Stonewell’s Daniel Emerson was asked how his stunning Tawny came about. Through a collaboration with local brewer/distiller Sam Black was the answer. “El Dorado hops added complexity and helped balance the extra sugar. “ 

Tawny is truly special. It is a rich, opulent and viscous apple wine, dark in colour and possessing complex bittersweet flavour. Tawny can be consumed as a slightly chilled aperitif or it also performs excellently as an accompaniment to cheese or desserts.

It has been compared to sweet wine and sherry. Stonewell advise using it as “a slightly chilled aperitif but equally as cheese or dessert accompaniment”. 

At the Ballymaloe LitFest 2016, expert Pete Brown (author of World’s Best Cider) was impressed after tasting it and said it reminded him of a Canadian Ice Cider, “beautiful’.

“A well-produced cider can stand shoulder to shoulder with good wine,” says Daniel . “The reaction has been extremely positive, I haven’t heard one negative comment so far. It won a prestigious Pomme d’Or award at the Frankfurt Apfelwein Welweit."

It keeps well and has an abv of 15%. It is described as “an opulent complex cider with chewy tannins and hints of fruit. Delightful as a slightly chilled aperitif but equally as a cheese or dessert accompaniment”.

A Quart of Ale± #57 On the craft journey with a session of ales and a zero% cider.

 A Quart of Ale± #57

On the craft journey with a session of ales and a 0% cider.

Hard to beat variety from Sullivans, 9 White Deer, West Kerry and Stonewell.

Sullivan’s “Irish Gold” Golden Ale 5.2%, 440ml can O’Briens Wine

Colour of this Kilkenny contender is a mix of copper and gold; if you say there’s amber there, I won’t disagree.  I’ve seen it described as a tastier ale with a gentle bite and wouldn’t disagree with that either.

The label reveals it, modestly, as “traditionally brewed With Lightly Roasted Cara Malt And Finished With First Gold Aroma Hops.” And I must say, the result is pretty good, a rather unique beer, rich with roasted flavour from the malt and with a dry finish thanks to the hops. Goes to show, a modern beer doesn’t have to be an IPA of either coast to hit the spot.

They say: The beer we craft today is inspired by traditional Kilkenny recipes and brewed the way the family has always brewed – the way real Irish beer should be brewed – by local experts, by hand, in small batches, with enormous heart and the finest locally sourced ingredients. Brewed by a true master, the beauty of this ale lies in its balance, sessionability and subtle apricot & tangerine tasting finish. 

The barley used to produce Sullivan’s Golden Ale is sourced from four local Kilkenny farms ensuring the utmost quality and flavour. Pizza is the suggested match but I’m sure this ale, with an almost plush mouthfeel, can do better for itself.

Malts: Irish Ale, Vienna, Cara.

Hops: First Gold, Admiral.

9 White Deer “Stag Ban” Pale Ale 4.5%, 500ml bottle O’Briens Wine

Mid amber is the colour of this dry refreshing Pale Ale from the West Cork Gaeltacht. This is the first ever beer from 9 White Deer in Ballyvourney and one they more or less got spot-on from the beginning (2014). It has been gluten free since 2018.

Soft white head here and a finger taste of this will tell you that the spicy citrusy hops are key. But it’s not a “hop bomb”. This is about balance. They say they designed this beer with summer in mind and the hops used (First Gold, Admiral and Cascade) emphasise that. It is a harmonious drink with citrus, floral and spice notes all combining well in the golden glass. The result is a top end Pale Ale.

Basically, it’s an easy drinking beer, brewed at lower temperatures to create a cleaner profile; the malt profile is uncomplicated, neither heavy nor cloying. It is a dry and refreshing beer with a light malt body mixing well with the contribution from the hops.

They say: Throughout the world a white deer is seen as sacred and something very special and 9 White Deer Craft Brewery holds the same view. In Baile Bhuirne the people of the community greatly respect the holy and historical value of the well and the stories of St Gobnait. Determined to honour the local landscape and folklore, we craft beers from native barley and the purest of water sourced from the Cork and Kerry mountains.

Long may the 9 White Deer continue brewing beers like this!

West Kerry “Blue Rose” Pale Ale 5.1%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

A light bright amber is the colour of this “Blue Rose” Pale Ale from the West Kerry Brewery, the original and first microbrewery in the county. It’s got a soft white head and fountains of little bubbles rising through that bright amber. It has a soft mouthfeel and that gentle feeling goes right through to the long finish, a very satisfactory refreshing one. 

A beautiful easy-drinking ale with muted citrus in both aroma and palate - it has been dry-hopped with Cascade. Don’t let the summer go by without trying one or two of these.

And if you get really serious about these beers, why not go to the source. Paul and brewer Adrienne have rooms to let in Tig Bhric, located in the beautiful in the Dingle Peninsula.

The brewery, established in 2008, is still at its original base at Tig Bhric where the portfolio continues to expand with “traditional yet progressive beers”. “These include the Renegade Series, Limited Collectors Edition and the Riasc Range, named after the town-land of our location. These are seasonal beers where we add both local and garden botanicals.”

Stonewell 0% Non-Alcoholic Cider, 330ml bottle O’Donovan’s, Bradleys

Light gold colour, no shortage of bubbles rising up. And there’s a fresh fruit aroma. The first thing you notice in the mouth is that this is refreshing, it is dry-ish, crisp, and very much a real cider, a terrific drink after a long walk or a drive. And, of course, you can have a few of these and still drive. They have used typical bittersweet apples here so it’s not lacking in flavour, on the contrary. Very drinkable and very acceptable. Fit for purpose, for sure.

So how do they do it? “Traditionally we’ve been an alcoholic beverage maker, namely cider. So in order for to us to produce a non-alcoholic beverage we’ve had to go back to the drawing board and return to our studies to find out what was the best way to square this circle. Instead of simply trying to make a concoction with fresh apple juice, we opted for the more complex route of removing alcohol from a normal cider.

We fermented a cider using typical bittersweet apples. Once fermented, we then used a process of osmosis, or to be precise reverse osmosis to extract the alcohol from the cider. This leaves a lot of the characteristics created by the fermentation process but with the added bonus that there’s no alcohol. At this stage of the process the cider is still “dry” in other words contains no sweetness, so to finish off this blend we add a small amount of apple juice which broadens the mouthfeel…. Made and blended by us in Cork, Stonewell 0% is a refreshing alternative for all those looking to avoid the sickly sweet mocktails or fizzy rock shandys at a social occasion.”

I have tasted quite a few non-alcoholic Irish beers and fewer Irish ciders at this stage and it seems to me that the cider-makers, with Stonewell and Highbank (with their Drivers Cider) showing the way, have made a better fist of the genre than the beer makers!

Thinking Outside The Bottle With Stonewell Cider. This cidermaker successfully uses hops in his product. Even rhubarb!

Thinking Outside The Bottle With Stonewell Cider

This cidermaker successfully uses hops in his product. Even rhubarb!

Daniel Emerson - more than a cidermaker😉😋

Let us start with the hops. At a recent discussion featuring three cidermakers on BeoirFest, Stonewell’s Daniel Emerson was asked how his stunning Tawny came about. Through a collaboration with local brewer/distiller Sam Black was the answer. “El Dorado hops added complexity and helped balance the extra sugar. “ The initial cider, made with Dabinett and Michelin apples, was bitter and the extra sugar came via capitalisation where sugar was added after fermentation, bringing the ABV to 15%.

The final product is an opulent, complex cider, and has been compared to sweet wine and sherry. Stonewell advise using it as “a slightly chilled aperitif but equally cheese or dessert accompaniment”. At the Ballymaloe LitFest 2016, expert Pete Brown (author of World’s Best Cider) was impressed after tasting it and said it reminded him of a Canadian Ice Cider, “beautiful’.

Daniel explained: "At the end of the process, the cider is very sweet, like an apple ice-cider. We decided to counteract this by passing it through Eldorado dry hops. The result was very good and the Tawny has proved remarkably successful.” And we could all see why. And you can still see why as it is still going strong. I’ve got the 2018 vintage on my desk here!

Cidermakers are regularly experimenting but Davy of Tempted, also on that Beoirfest talk, cautioned about doing it too soon as a producer. “You’ve got to put decent roots behind you and then move on to more refined products like Tawny.” 

I first came across Davy’s excellent ciders in Cahir in 2013 where his dry won out in its class (very competitive, as many cider makers were showing that day). Davy is now getting a name for his barrel-aged ciders and praise too. “Fantastic, incredible character,” enthused Daniel as he tasted the latest bitter-sweet from the Lisburn man.

So back to the story of apple and rhubarb. Back to 2016 where Stonewell’s Rós Cider beat off stiff competition from food and drink producers all over the island of Ireland to be awarded the coveted Supreme Champion title of the 2016 Blas na hEireann, the Irish Food Awards.

Geraldine Emerson from Stonewell Cider at the time: “We use all natural ingredients. The Rós cider has a very pure, clean taste. This award is great because it is recognition for all the work that goes into making it. We’re delighted.” By the way, Davy’s Tempted were also winners on the day!

Rhubarb was and is used in Rós. A local producer offered a lot of it to Daniel. He began to wonder what to do with it and decided to incorporate it in cider. But “extracting juice from rhubarb is a nightmare”. Still, he persevered and it too is still going strong. “You got it right,” declared Liam of Legacy, another cider-maker on the BeoirFest discussion. By the way, Davy is having success using Elderflower in his cider. No wonder himself and Daniel have a great respect for each other!

Recently I got a delivery of tins and jars of tuna from Donegal’s John Shine. I had read somewhere about tuna being used with Mozzarella and that became our focus. Yellowfin Tuna belly in olive oil was the chosen can. A quick trip to the local Dunnes Stores saw us get the Macroom Mozzarella. And then I thought that I had, thanks to my support of the Beoirfest show, a couple of bottles of Rós. One was quickly produced. Well, the Rós got on so well with the tuna and the cheese you’d have sworn they were made for each other. 

It isn’t all about the booze at Stonewell where Daniel and his team produce a really excellent non-alcoholic cider called Stonewell 0%.

I was delighted with the 330ml bottle that I recently bought in the local O’Donovan’s Off Licence. Light gold colour, no shortage of bubbles rising up. And there’s a fresh fruit aroma. The first thing you notice in the mouth is that this is refreshing, it is dry, crisp, and very much a real cider, a terrific drink after a long walk or a drive. And, of course, you can have a few of these and still drive. They have used typical bittersweet apples here so it’s not lacking in flavour, on the contrary. Very drinkable and very acceptable. Fit for purpose, for sure.

So how do they do it? “Traditionally we’ve been an alcoholic beverage maker, namely cider. So in order for to us to produce a non-alcoholic beverage we’ve had to go back to the drawing board and return to our studies to find out what was the best way to square this circle. Instead of simply trying to make a concoction with fresh apple juice, we opted for the more complex route of removing alcohol from a normal cider.

We fermented a cider using typical bittersweet apples. Once fermented we then used a process of osmosis, or to be precise reverse osmosis to extract the alcohol from the cider. This leaves a lot of the characteristics created by the fermentation process but with the added bonus that there’s no alcohol. At this stage of the process the cider is still “dry” in other words contains no sweetness, so to finish off this blend we add a small amount of apple juice which broadens the mouthfeel…. Made and blended by us in Cork, Stonewell 0% is a refreshing alternative for all those looking to avoid the sickly sweet mocktails or fizzy rock shandys at a social occasion.”

I have tasted quite a few non-alcoholic Irish beers and Irish ciders at this stage and it seems to me that the cider-makers, with Stonewell and Highbank (with their Drivers Cider) showing the way, have made a better fist of the "style" than the beer makers!

* It's not just "exotic" ciders at Stonewell, by the way. They also make classic dry (dry was reported by all three on the Beoirfest as the best seller) and a medium dry along with various specials. More info on their website here.

The versatility of Shines Tuna. And do watch out for that Yellow Fin Belly

The versatility of Shines Tuna

And do watch out for that Yellow Fin Tuna Belly

Shines Yellow Fin Tuna with Macroom Buffalo Mozzarella.

I never really thought of the can of tuna in the cupboard as anything other than a handy standby. But all that changed over the past month or so. Beginning when a box of cans that I had ordered from Shines of Killybegs arrived at the house, six cans and two jars!

How could that all be used without us getting fed up of the fish? We did a little bit of research and found recipes in unexpected places. Firstly, Shines themselves have quite a few on their website and it was there that we started.

Shines Wild Irish Tuna

We picked one by Ciara Shine. Her “Speedy Salad” was described as “a nice fresh dish, easy to prepare. Looks and tastes amazing!” And it lived up to its billing. You can see the recipe here.There are a quite a few items on the list of ingredients but you can pick and choose. Basically you need Shines Wild Irish Tuna (we used the jar) and salad leaves. We added olives and semi-sundried tomatoes and also some of the ORSO Pickled Red Onion (which didn’t make the photo). We were off to a great start.

Another look at the Shine page led to us following, approximately, John Shine’s own contribution: Tuna Mediterranean Wrap. Again, some substitutions were made and our “mix” consisted mainly of Shines Chilli Tuna, lettuce leaves, tomatoes, peppers. Easy to do and worked out well and met John’s description: “Healthy and tasty. Perfect lunchtime treat.”

So what next? Well, the answer was in the post. I had recently ordered The Anti-Cancer Cookbook (an excellent cookbook with all the royalties going to cancer research). A quick flick through on arrival and, without specifically looking for tuna recipes, two turned up. We picked the Tuna and Sweetcorn Fritters, something different, something quite tasty. We added a nice salad to the tuna (Shines Irish Tuna from a can this time) and sweetcorn with a Spicy Ketch-up (by Tipp’s 3 Men in a Trailer). And this surprise recipe turned out very well indeed!

I had read somewhere about tuna being used with Mozzarella and that became our focus for our next dish, another easy one. Yellowfin Tuna belly in olive oil was the chosen can this time - John Shine is very enthusiastic about this particular Tuna, with very good reason as this particular fish is so exquisite you could eat it straight out of the can. A quick trip to the local Dunnes Stores saw us get the Macroom Mozzarella from Johnny Lynch’s farm.

Tuna Fritters

We didn’t need much more, some large tomatoes and basil for the cheese, and a bunch of cherry tomatoes for the salad. It looked nice and tasted even better. Thanks to an internet event, I had just received received the marvellous prize winning Rós Cider (Apple and Rhubarb) from local producer Stonewell. And Rós got on so well with the tuna and the cheese you’d have sworn they were made for each other. 

We still have a few cans of Shines fish left (sardines certainly) but I doubt that we’ll top the Tuna belly, the Mozzarella and the Rós cider combination! Might well do it again soon as there’s still another bottle of that delicious Rós hanging around here.. I think!

* On a separate note, did you know the Irish fishermen catch plenty of top quality sardines each November /December ? Very soon you will be able to buy Irish sardines from Shines. Interested businesses are invited to call John Shine anytime on 0868164106 for further info on this new product.