A Quart of Ale± #90. On the craft journey with Franciscan Well, Killarney Brewing, Trouble, Whiplash,Hope, and Wicklow Wolf.

A Quart of Ale± #90

On the craft journey with Franciscan Well, Killarney Brewing, Trouble and Wicklow Wolf. 

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Killarney Scarlet Pimpernel IPA 6%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

There is a statue of a priest, dressed in an older fashion, at an entrance to Killarney National Park. He is striding out, a man in a hurry. They seek him here, they seek him there - he is O’Flaherty, the Scarlet Pimpernel. And this IPA is named in his honour.

Pimpernel

It has a deep red colour. “Best served with a thick frothy head so pour with vigour.” I missed that bit of advice so my head, a bit like the Pimpernel, didn’t hang about. Got “rough” with the second one and a better longer-lasting head was the result.

Built “on a smooth malty base”, it is not a million miles away from our Franciscan Well. Aromas are moderate, citrus and pine. There’s a light caramel sweetness on the palate. Overall, a good balance is found, hop bitterness is moderate, and they boldly recommend it as “a perfect partner for full flavoured dishes”.

During WW2, Rome based Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty  saved over 6,500 people by hiding them in monasteries, farms, and other locations. After the war, he was awarded the US Medal of Freedom and Commander of the British Empire.

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Franciscan Well Chieftain Irish Pale Ale 5.5%, 330can O’Donovan’s

Franciscan Well Chieftain IPA, then described as “a great stepping stone into the land of big and bitter”has proved quite a popular beer since launched by the Cork brewery. Colour is amber, not a million miles away from their Rebel Red. Indeed, when I posted an early photo of the IPA, a reader challenged me saying I got it wrong, that is the red in the pic.

Certainly hoppy in the aromas, a burst of tropical.There’s a malty theme there too and both continue onto the palate. Citra, Tettnanger and Magnum are the hops and they make their presence felt here, with Pine and Citrus, but the malts (Ale Malt, Crystal Malt) ensure a flavoursome balance, meeting the brewer’s aim of “casual enjoyment” for the drinker rather than the “intense hoppiness” that some IPAs deliver, sometimes to the consternation of the casual craft drinker.

Serve at 6 degrees and pair with fried chicken. Mature Irish cheeses and cured meats are also recommended.

By the way, Franciscan Well is looking forward to the coming year. ‘ It’s been a long road for everyone over the last couple of years. Our focus has been on surviving but now we want to bring memorable moments and experiences back to the centre of what we do, ’  says Kate Clancy (right), marketing manager of the Franciscan Well bar. More details here, even the promise of a beer festival.

Trouble Brewing Nocturne Milk Stout 5.5%, 440ml can Bradleys

This limited release looks well in the glass. Black with a creamy tan head that is unhurried. A big whiff of coffee in the aromas. And the coffee again, with sweet chocolate notes now, on the smooth palate. Sip away all that delicious creaminess to a very satisfactory ending. Smooth and easy all the way. No Trouble at all!

Ingredients – Water, Malt, Oats, Wheat, Lactose, Cacao Nibs, Hops and Yeast

Founded over 10 years ago Trouble Brewing is a 100% Irish-owned and independent brewery, located in Kill, Co Kildare. “Everything we do is driven by the desire to produce the highest quality, best tasting beer for our fellow beer lovers. …We mainly brew hop forward, session beers to be enjoyed by all, but we’re always happy to experiment — only a few ideas are too dumb.”

Wicklow Wolf Moonlight Non Alcoholic Hoppy Ale 0.5%, 330can Bradleys

The search for a really good Irish non alcoholic beer continues.

Geek Bits

Hops: Cascade, Hallertau Blanc, Citra

Malts: Melano, Cara Gold 

Brewery News

Fidelity's Back

Holy moly it's actually happening! Fidelity, our beer festival, is returning to Dublin's Round Room at the Mansion House this July and tickets are flying out with the Saturday session just about sold out.  The first brewery announcement is landing next week and we don't expect tickets to last once that killer lineup drops so now if you want to join us in July, grab those tickets! The festival takes places on July 15th & 16th and each session will have a completely different lineup of beers. Tickets are €69.61 and includes all your beer and your festival tasting glass.

Tickets

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Hope Tours Return!

With restrictions lifted we're excited to announce our brewery tours are back. Come visit our state-of-the-art German brewhouse where one of our team will cover all aspects of the brewing process and at the end you'll enjoy a tasting of our beers in the tap room. A tour is €18 per person and requires a minimum of 6 people and a maximum of 15. Tours are available on Thursdays and Fridays at 5pm and Saturdays at 4pm.

Book a Tour ********* Wicklow Wolf Joining the Pack as number 24 and 25 in the Endangered Species Series are Apex Cherry, a Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout and Canis Rufus, a Red Rye IPA. Available nationwide this week in all good independent off licences and at the Wicklow Wolf Taproom!

Beer of the Year 2022. Early Contenders! Wicklow Wolf Tours are back!

Beer of the Year 2022

Early Contenders!

January: Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel

December: Lough Gill Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut

Beer of the Year 2021: Brehon Brewhouse Oak & Mirrors Two Stacks Whiskey Cask Aged Imperial Porter.

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Best of January 2022 Short List

Lager +: Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel; Whiplash Immolator Triple Decoction Smoked Dopplebock; Whiplash The Mash & The Fury Double Decoction Märzen.

Oats IPA: Hope Overnight Oats IPA.

Session IPA: Porterhouse Sundown Session IPA

American Pale Ale: O Brother The Chancer APA

Barleywine: Brehon Brewhouse Red Right Hand Barley Wine Beer

NEIPA: Porterhouse Renegade New England IPA

Stout: West Cork Stout X Stout West

Blonde: Killarney Golden Spear Blonde

Best of December (2021, for 2022) Short List

Brown Ale: Lough Gill Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut.

Single Hop IPA: Eight Degrees Citra Single Hop IPA 5.7%

Cask-Aged Porter: Brehon Brewhouse Shanco Dubh Porter 8.8%

Coffee & Oatmeal Stout: Third Circle Shot In The Dark

Pale Ale: Lineman Fluid Dynamic Extra Pale Ale.

Single Malt IPA: Eight Degrees Full Irish 6.0%

Session: Whitefield Brewery “Woodville” Session Pale Ale 4.3%

Pilsner/Lager/Helles: Whiplash Das Model.

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Wicklow Wolf Tours are back!

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A Quart of Ale± #89. On the craft with West Cork, Journeyman, Whiplash and Killarney. News from Rascals, Kinnegar, BeoirFest

A Quart of Ale± #89

On the craft journey with a session of West Cork, Journeyman, Whiplash and Killarney

West Cork Stout X Stout West 5.5%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

From Ireland’s most southerly brewery comes this Stout x StoutWest Milk Stout. Black as the Baltimore night with a slowly sinking tan head on top. Mild aromas of chocolate and coffee and a hint of cinnamon. And these continue to the palate, the milk chocolate still moderate, pleasantly so, with a sweet touch of honey and lemon. 

Not one of those beers that blows you away. None the worse for that. This is more on the traditional side, sails rather than horse power, steady as she goes, she’ll get you home, relax and chat as your boat comes in. A decent finish.

They say: Located in picturesque Baltimore on the shores of the Atlantic, West Cork Brewing Company, hand-brews each brew “using our own well-water and the most traditional methods. We hope it does for you what it has done for us - bring friends together.”

Geek Bits

Grain – Pale ale malt, flaked barley, flaked oats, roasted barley, chocolate and carafa III.

Hops – East Kent Goldings.

Water: Brewed using our own spring water.

More: All beers are unfiltered, unpasteurised and vegan friendly as only whirlfloc (carrageenan moss) is used to aid in clarification.

Killarney Golden Spear Blonde 4.8%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

This blonde is a honey blonde from Killarney, with a foamy white top that slides down slowly enough. Lots of bubbles spouting up through the clear beer.

Refreshing from first contact, with its malt character “from several specialty malts and a touch of wheat” showing well. There’s a modest floral aroma and enough hops on the palate to balance this easy-drinking beer. Easy-drinking from me means no rush, take it easy and enjoy. As you’d expect with an IBU of 30, the finish is quite dry, lipsmackingly so!

The brewery relates the legend that gave rise to the name:  Fionn Mac Cumhaill, Ireland’s heroic warrior and hunter, often hunted on the shores of the lakes of Killarney and throughout the McGillycuddy Reeks. One day while climbing Torc mountain, he was attacked by a magical, ferocious boar. With a single blow, Fionn killed the lunging boar in mid-air with his fabled golden spear. Savour a pint of our delicious Golden Spear while toasting our legendary warrior!

No food pairings on the Killarney website but, last summer, I enjoyed this with Free Range Rosscarbery Pork Belly (Thai spices, roasted turnips, peanut rayu, and fresh apple salsa), at the Garden Restaurant in Liss Ard (West Cork).

Killarney update

"Construction is well under way at our new brewery, distillery and visitor centre on the picturesque Ring of Kerry, with views of the MacGillycuddy Reeks and lakes of Killarney. This state-of-the-art facility will meet growing demand for our beers and with a custom built malt and grain distillery, it will be home to our luxury spirits portfolio. The €24 million investment, a stunning one-of-a-kind 62,000 sqft complex, will be Ireland’s largest independently owned facility. It will provide a cultural home to the thriving business, local employment and meet the growing demand for premium Irish products and experiences."

Journeyman Juicy IPA 5.9%, 500ml bottle, X-Mas present

Journeyman’s Juicy IPA has a murky orange colour with a white head that hangs about a while. It is hoppy for sure, no shortage of fruit flavours, thanks in large measure to generous dry hopping. This is another well made beer in the Cooper’s Special Batch series brewed for SuperValu and Centra.

It is produced by the Pearse Lyons Brewery at the Stationworks Brewery in Dundalk, a new brewery opened in late 2018 on the site of the former MacArdle Brewery (closed 2001, after 140 years). Stationworks was the name of a Newry brewery that Lyons (via parent company Alltech Beverage) bought a few years earlier and that name was reused in the Dundalk brewery where the award-winning own-brand Foxes Rock range (also available in SuperValu) is also produced.

There’s an interesting MacArdle’s “tribute” site here http://www.macardles.ie 

Whiplash The Mash & The Fury Double Decoction Märzen 5.8%, 440ml can Whiplash Online

This is a lager, though you would not say so if you were going solely by the colour which is a darkish red topped by a tan head already fading to a thin disc. This lager is “at the dark end of the spectrum”. Aromas are complex, rum and raisin, caramel too.

And that caramel and raisin are prominent on the palate in this amazing beer with its unreal depth of flavour. No doubt it is hard to classify this one, but is fermented with their influential lager yeast and “lagered until it’s ready.” It is ready, according to Whiplash (who should know!), so give it a lash and enjoy it from first whiff to that slightly sweet finish.

Geek Bits:

Dark Munich Malt

Aromatic Malt

Vienna Malt

Magnum Hops

WLP833 yeast.

They say: Our lager series continues with The Mash & The Fury, a hyper traditional Double Decoction Märzen…..For the uninitiated, decoction is the age old process of boiling a portion of the mash to better utilise undermodified grain. As malting technology has improved, this has become an anachronism and most modern brewhouses are now built without the means to decoct mashes. Only the few who still believe that the distinct caramelisations that decoction produces cannot be imitated still employ this sorcery. We are one of those breweries.

Brewery News

On the lookout for Rascals Big Smoke?

You should be..

The Big Smoke returns! This exceptional imperial stout has been brewed in collaboration with The Dubliner Liberties Distillery, in whose bourbon barrels we aged a smoked porter for over half a year. The results are sublime and intense: a rich, smoky 12% stout with subtle hints of chocolate and vanilla, underlined by a gently warming bourbon taste. The complex malt bill includes beech-smoked and oak-smoked barley for a rounded fragrant smoky flavour as well as chocolate malt and chocolate wheat for hints of dark, bitter cocoa. Magnum hops provide a clean bitterness and hint of spice.

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Beoirfest

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CAREERS at KINNEGAR We’re looking for 2 new full-time players to strengthen the squad: -- Junior in Marketing, Communications, Visitor Experience & Sales -- Brewery Assistant in Packaging -- You'll find full details on our website here: https://kinnegarbrewing.ie/down-to-business#section-careers…. #jobfairy #jobs

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A Quart of Ale± #88 Craft journey with Whiplash, Brehon, Porterhouse and Journeyman. + Brewery News

 A Quart of Ale± #88

On the craft journey with a session of Whiplash, Brehon, Porterhouse and Journeyman

Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel 5.2%, 440ml can Whiplash Online

“Dry The Rain sees us lightly decoct a more complex grain bill to produce our first Dunkel Lager.” Maybe not my favourite Whiplash lager but a good one.

Highlight here is the beautifully balanced bitterness towards the end.

At first glance, it is black but look longer and closer and there is an amber in there (from the Munich Malt) with a short-lived tan head. The aromas are modest, a sweet caramel and bread. And there’s more caramel on the palate, right through to the finish.

They say: We .. incorporate a traditional double stage decoction to produce a natural melanoiden that lends a rich dry and mellow caramel flavour throughout and binds this beautiful wort together. Hopped in kettle exclusively with German Magnum for a soft and unobtrusive bitter balance; this wort is cast off to meet our house German Lager yeast WLP833 in tank and is lovingly cold matured for over a month before packing - and your enjoyment.

Geek Bits

ABV 5.7%

440ml Cans

Artwork by @izzyrosegrange

Malts: MUNICH MALT; CARA BOHEMIAN

Hops: MAGNUm

Yeast: WLP833

Brehon Brewhouse Red Right Hand Barley Wine Beer 11%, 500ml bottle Bradleys

The Red Right Hand, a bourbon-aged barley wine, has a dark red, close to black, colour and is crowned with a coffee coloured soft head. Despite the high abv, it is rather gentle and easy to drink, clean, mellow and smooth. 

Really good but this bourbon-aged beer, earthy and sweet, good and all as it is, isn’t quite at the same level that their Oak & Mirrors Cask Aged Imperial Porter reaches, perhaps because the bourbon influence is very very subtle here.

Brehon have made a name for themselves with barrel-aged beers, beginning with their Crann Beatha barrel-aged stout. This one is well up to standard and, by the way, is a terrific match with Christmas pudding, with the Dunnes Stores Simply Better 12 month matured in particular. Yum on the double.

They say: The red right hand is symbolic of the historic clans of Ulster. It embodies strength, unity and character just like our Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine. 

Porterhouse Renegade New England IPA 5.3%, 440ml can O’Briens Wine

Lots of hops here in the Porterhouse’s take of a New England IPA. So no shortage of flavours such as passionfruit, mango and peach, plus hints of resin. Still, in the end it is not very hoppy at all, underlined by an IBU count of 10.

It is a light orange colour, a fairly dense hazy one, with a soft white head that sinks slowly enough. Aromas are modest, citrus notes showing. It feels quite soft on the palate. The straightforward fruit flavours are pleasant enough as is the finish. Very drinkable, even more so if you’re not too pushed about the lack of hop bitterness towards the end (and that could apply to quite a lot of us).

They say: Renegade is our take on a NEIPA. With an extended whirlpool at lower temperature for a smooth soft finish. Unfiltered and heavily dry hopped with Amarillo, Galaxy & Mosaic…  This NEIPA is fermented on traditional East Coast yeast.

Journeyman India Pale Lager 5.2%, 500ml bottle, X-Mas present

I like the amber colour of this hybrid and the bubbly head that hangs around for a bit. Aromas break out with citrus, a hint of pine too. Citrus also plus tropical flavours feature on the palate where the hybrid features show themselves, the refreshing lager crispness and the punch of the new world hops. The lip-smacking lager style refreshment is the welcome quality here.

Journeyman is one of the beers made by the Pearse Lyons Brewery in Dundalk. The brewery is known as the Station Works and is one of the largest in the country. It produces beers under different brand names - Foxes Rock is another one - for various supermarkets.

Geek Bits

Malts: Ale, Oats, Cara, Wheat

Hops: Magnum, Galaxy (passionfruit, peach, citrus), Mosaic (tropical, berry, stone), Amarillo (grapefruit, peach, resinous)

IBU 10

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Brewery News

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Franciscan Well Bar

John and Phill....delighted to be back at the bar counter!

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The Cotton Ball

We are delighted with tonight's announcement. We are all looking forward to getting back to normal .

Keep an eye on our social media for our entertainment schedule .Don't miss out , book your party early

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12 Acres Brewing Company

A fresh batch of Pale Ale kegged and ready to pour! After a very tough time for the hospitality trade the kegs are moving again, great to see normal bar service resume.