CorkBillyBeers #20. Craft Lager with Cotton Ball, Whitefield, Tom Crean and Obolon

CorkBillyBeers #20

Craft Lager with Cotton Ball, Whitefield, Tom Crean and Obolon

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Cotton Ball Mayfield 5 Lager, 5% ABV, 500 ml bottle O’Donovan’s

This lager, from my local, has a mid-amber colour, fountains of little bubbles, white head slims down rapidly but then hangs around for a good spell. A modest touch of hops in the aromas, more of the malt though. The refreshment factor immediately appears on the smooth palate, spot on balance between the German hops and malts. Has more character going for it than many lagers, good mouthfeel too. A thirst cutting clean bitterness rounds off an excellent lager experience with the gorgeous malt still clinging to the lips. 

A beer for all seasons, they indicate, saying: This Pilsner Lager, like the Noble Northsider’s adventures, spans the Atlantic, brewed using 100% Irish malted barley, clean bittered with three U.S. grown hops followed by a late kettle addition of Noble Hops (Hallertau Perle and Hersbrucker). Pour is clean and refreshing with a subtle aromatic hop flavour arising from a bed of light caramel malt. The Classic brew to compliment party food. This inviting pilsner goes down smoothly with gourmet burgers, pizzas or wings. A perfect hit at BBQs a great choice for alfresco dining.

And the Northsider they refer to on the label is Humphrey Lynch, who left Ballyvourney (now the home of 9 White Deer) at 15 years of age and settled in an American town known as Byefield which he later used in naming his Cork estate house. After working for two years with Joseph Longfellow, cousin to the famous poet, he worked for a year in the ship yard at Newburyport until the American civil war in which he fought in a string of “engagements”. He returned to his native Cork in 1874 and set up in Mayfield, calling his newly-purchased public house The Cotton Ball. And the Lynch family are still here today, the brewery one of the latest additions to the family’s businesses.

Very Highly Recommended.

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Whitefield Ivy Hall, Dark Lager, 5.2% ABV, 500 ml bottle No. 21

DUNKEL! A lager style almost single-handedly saved by the descendants of the last king of Bavaria König Ludwig III it belies the senses, but don’t be afraid of the dark!

That’s the message from Whitefield Brewery of Templemore as they offer their dark lager. It is called Ivy Hall but was once Dark Lady. A rebrand in recent years has seen the Tipperary brewery change the names of its various beers and even the brewery name itself from White Gypsy. “As part of the rebrand we wanted to link everything to our locality and Ivy Hall is a townland in Templemore.”

The beer is indeed dark and if you didn’t know you’d be inclined to think you had a stout ahead of you, right down to the tan head and the roasted aromas. The brew is put together with Bohemian and Munich malts, roasted barley, Saaz hops, and Czech yeast.

A dark brown colour conceals the soul of this European dark beer that turns out to be a lager; as the bottle label says “don't be afraid of the dark”. The dark beer also turns out to be well-made, well mannered. Nothing sinister here, just a very interesting beer from Templemore, not for the first time. The notes from the roasted barley are a prominent feature though, in fairness, it has an excellent rounded flavour all the way through to a very satisfying finish.

A (slightly) sweet malty dark lager, as you might expect to get in Munich, a really top notch beer. Another Irish beer that proves you can do without Nitro.

Very Highly Recommended.

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Tom Crean St Brigid’s Irish Lager, 4.5% ABV, 440ml can, Carry Out Killarney

A lovely golden colour on this one, bubbles galore and the bubbly head is not retained for very long. Good balance of hops (Slovenia) and malt (German) on the palate with the malt getting an edge on the finale as it has in the aromas. 

More refreshment from this one than I remembered from a previous tasting a few years back. Brewer Bill Sheppard has his own methods - go to Kenmare and take that tour! - and this is a very satisfying lager indeed that reminds me of the traditional Central European style.

This is one of the Crean beers that was awarded in last year’s Blas awards. It got bronze while their 6 Magpies Stout did even better with a gold.

They say: “This is our salute to an accomplished medieval brewer.  Rich golden colour, German malts with hops from Slovenia. We allow six weeks to bring this classic to perfection. St. Bridget known in Ireland for her saintly status, her feast day (1st Feb) and her cross made from reeds, less known for being a fine Irish brewer.”

Bill Sheppard also had a story about the saint: “…quite a lot of the early brewers were women and the church wasn’t very happy with that situation. The brewers wore a special hat for the trade and kept a cat (to protect the grain from mice) and that eventually led to some of them being called witches with dire consequences.”

Lager of course ties up your brewing kit for longer than ale and maybe that was why there was a shortage of lager from the current wave of craft breweries in the early stages. No shortage now though. Still takes extra time though and Tom Crean allow six weeks to bring their lager “to perfection”.

Very Highly Recommended.

For a recent post on the brewery please click here.  

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Obolon Premium Lager, 5.0% ABV, 500ml can Bradleys

Clear gold is the colour, head short-lived. Sweet malty plus boiled rice aromas. Much the same in the mouth too but well balanced, sharply refreshing and easy drinking. Just the job for the brighter days ahead. Very affordable also at two euro for the large can.

Budmo, the Ukrainian toast, means 'let us be' and is the shortest and the most popular Ukrainian toast. Appropriate too in more ways than one these days.

This is what the Ukrainian brewery says about it: Obolon Premium is a lager beer which presents an extremely soft and rich taste. Aromatic hops in combination with a special ingredient-rice, provides this beer with a distinct flavor and a pleasant bitterness. Especially refreshing and effervescent beer with pronounced taste and palatable bitterness. This is one of the most popular beer due to its mild taste.

CorkBillyBeers #15. Craft Stout with 9 White Deer, Brewmaster, and Whitefield

CorkBillyBeers #15

Craft Stout with 9 White Deer, Brewmaster,  and Whitefield

 

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Whitefield Traditional Series Irish Stout 7.5% ABV, 750ml bottle Bradleys

No nitro here, no need for it, just a beautiful smooth and creamy stout with the traditional black colour and tan head (one that hangs about). Aromas are toasty and smokey. And that smooth liquid flows creamily in and across the palate with marvellous toasted and roasted flavours (coffee included), mostly from the “special charring” of the oak barrel.

The alcohol, about 50% higher than usual, is  just about noticeable, pleasurably so, nothing extreme in the overall experience.The stout is, as promised, a wonderfully complex, balanced, smokey and surprisingly light stout, superbly balanced. And you are immediately thinking steak. The Templemore brewery also suggests strong cheese.

This stout is part of their Traditional Series that also includes their Red Ale, and geared for food pairings. Both of these beers come in a 750ml bottle and are aimed at the restaurant business. A very good aim indeed but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy one at home with your favourite steak! Easy to see why this is the winner of the 2016 Food Writers Guild of Ireland Drink Award.

And it is also a favourite at the brewery itself as Cuilan told me during our recent exchanges in advance of the blog post of Feb 21st last. “It represents everything we think here about traditional brewing from an Irish perspective.”

 And there could well be more superb stout in the Templemore pipeline: “We want to take Irish Stout up a notch in alcohol but I’m a sucker for balance. Too many beers have wonderful first, second and third sip-ability but completely lose their balance after that and become hard to finish. I think we still have a lot to learn from the wine industry in terms of balance, so we’ll tread carefully while developing this recipe.“  Watch this space!

Very Highly Recommended.

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9 White Deer Stag Stout 4.2% ABV, 500ml bottle

This gluten free Stag Stout, from Ballyvourney’s 9 White Deer, weights in at 4.2% ABV. It is a glossy black colour with a soft tan head. Aromas are rich and full of chocolate promise and that promise is fully delivered in the mouth. Here the chocolate and Madagascan vanilla play quite the most pleasing duet as the rich and smooth beer finds its way around. This is a must try chocolate “block” from the West Cork Gaeltacht; it is distinctive and delicious. Smooth and creamy, all without any nitro!

And Very Highly Recommended.

I first came across this black beauty in Blairs Inn (near Blarney) in the winter of 2017. Richard Blair, one of two brothers now running the pub, told me of a satisfied customer of a few days earlier. A coeliac, the man hadn’t drunk stout, his favourite tipple, for twenty years but, having sampled the Stag, left Blair's Inn with tears of gratitude.

Then Richard’s mother Anne guides us to our fireside table. We begin with some stout infused brown bread! Delicious stuff and, of course, the Stag is one of the ingredients. Then I get to enjoy a pint with my Venison Casserole and it proved a great match for the rich dish of Wicklow venison. That ritual would be repeated in some form or other almost every winter up and including the current one.

They say: Stag Stout is a medium bodied traditional dry Irish stout at 4.2 % ABV. It is designed to appeal primarily to traditional stout drinks, who remember how creamy the pints used to be. The complex recipe we developed brings back to life characteristics that are long forgotten. However this stout is like no other, Stag Stout also happens to be gluten free, the first of its kind anywhere in the world.

This is a double chocolate and Madagascan vanilla stout, with cocoa and vanilla in the ingredients list, also green barley and oats. 

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Recent features on micro-breweries Ballykilcavan, 9 White Deer, Whitefield

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Brewmaster Nitro Stout, 4.2%, 440 ml can, 

Dundalk Bay Brewery are confident, to say the least, about this one: Do you dream of Nitro Stout that is as good, if not better than what’s out on the market? Then look no further and join us in a toast to our very own Brewmaster Nitro Stout. … Our unique widget technology in-can gives the most superb cascade effect on pour and a creamy head with richness and body synonymous to draught.

It settles down well, after the recommended vigorous pour, with a smooth black body and a slightly tanned tight head that does hang about for a long while.

After that smooth pour, aromas  speak of coffee and fresh bread. And those toasted warming malt flavours come through as you sip, full-bodied and smooth, full of flavour enhanced by notes of chocolate, honey and hops. 

An excellent stout indeed, very elegant and smooth but lacks that little bit of depth, of devilment, that would propel it to the very top of the list.

As was the case with the Left Hand nitro, I like the theatre at the start and like the finish but the overall experience is all a bit moderate. Nitro is certainly an interesting angle, a comfortable drink,  and well worth a try and I fully understand why quite a few drinkers rave about it.

Highly Recommended.

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CorkBillyBeers #14. Craft with super lagers by Whitefield, 9 White Deer, Galway Hooker, and Schlenkerla

CorkBillyBeers #14

Craft journey with super lagers by Whitefield, 9 White Deer, Galway Hooker, and Schlenkerla

Lager is the most popular beer in the world and there are quite a few variations. See bottom for brief details of German styles. There are more, especially in Czechia and Austria. We have a few styles here including Vienna, a German Rauchbier and also an organic Pilsner from Galway Hooker. All in all, these four make for a very enjoyable session!

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Galway Hooker Organic Pilsner 4.1% ABV, 440ml can CraftCentral

“One of Ireland’s first organic beers, this is a light and refreshing lager with a crisp dry finish.”

Lets see! It comes in a clear gold colour, quite a head, white and foamy.  A slight hint of sweetness in the aromas and yes light and very refreshing indeed in the mouth followed by a snappy and satisfying finalé. You can taste why this smooth Pilsner, crafted from organic ingredients, inspired by their “ commitment to sustainability and artisan methods” is now one of their core beers. 

“Malt depth is often quite slight but can add complexity and a sweetness that enhances hop flavour,” declares author Mark Dredge, speaking of modern pilsner. Looks like Galway Hooker got it spot on here, even if the ABV and IBU are at the lower end of the respective scales. 

Lager is by far the most popular beer in the world; Pilsner is part of the family. Good to see more and more Irish brewers coming up with excellent examples though organic efforts are very rare. I know Denmark’s ToOl do one but can’t think of another Irish one.

Hooker talk the talk and walk the walk. “For every pint of Galway Hooker Organic Pilsner we pour we will make a donation to Hometree to offset the ecological impact of its production."

They use locally sourced water from the west of Ireland which contains an ideal balance of minerals for brewing. “All of our water passes through an activated carbon filter to ensure the purest quality and flavours in our beers.”

"The whole purpose of the brewing process is to make a food source for yeast to grow on. One of the by-products of this growth is alcohol. Because yeast is a living microorganism, it keeps regenerating itself every time we make a batch of beer. This means that we can harvest the yeast from one batch of beer and reuse it for the next batch. We have a special tank to store the yeast between batches.”

Check out their story here.  

Very Highly Recommended.

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Whitefield Jockey Hall Vienna Lager, 5.4% ABV, 500 ml bottle No. 21

Whitefield are well known for their European style beers, including lagers, and this Jockey Hall, with its smooth body and crisp finish, is one of them.

It also has the usual Vienna Lager amber colour, with a white head that sits around for a spell. The Vienna Malt, which accounts for the colour,  brings out a complex toastiness in the flavour and gentle hop character with a low fermentation temperature ensure a good crisp finish. Be ready to lick your lips after each sip. And there is no need to gulp, sips are fine thanks to the delicious flavours of this expertly crafted lager.

Very Highly Recommended.

In the summer of 1993, Cuilan Loughnane had a “road to Damascus" moment while sitting in one of Heathrow’s pubs one glorious summer's evening on a 4-hour stopover en-route to Vancouver: “I witnessed a bar maid performing a very unusual looking ritual, while trying to pour a beer into a glass. I witnessed it again 10 minutes later and again and again.

She was pulling a white ceramic lever with her left hand with what looked like a considerable amount of effort. As the lever arced downwards her entire upper body arched inwards towards the counter. In her right hand was a pint glass, which she was holding under a swan necked spout that was below the white lever. Into the glass was flowing some form of beer, strange looking stuff.”

His own curiosity led the young man to start asking questions, his first steps to becoming a craft brewer. More of the story of Whitefield (and Dwans and White Gypsy before that) here in a recent post.

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9 White Deer Stag Kolsch 4.2% ABV, 500ml bottle

Ballyvourney brewery 9 White Deer presents this, their Kolsch style lager beer, with a bright and clear yellow/amber colour and white head. With its high carbonation level and gentle hop character, it is palate friendly with an almost creamy feel. Easy to quaff and easy to see how this refreshing beer has become one of their biggest selling beers.

Its reputation quickly grew from the brewery’s early days, thanks to the local water and guidance from a famous German brewmaster.  Soft is the operative word here as the water, from the Cork and Kerry mountains, is really soft, just perfect for lager style beers. 

And the guidance they got from Roland, then brewmaster of the well known Munich brewery Augustiner and still a friend of the Ballyvourney brewery, could not have been bettered. Kolsch and 9 White Deer were on their way, on their way to stay.

They are very happy with it: It has a gentle hop and malt character, a classic German style of beer brewed with German Noble Hops, Premium Irish and German Malt and German Yeast. Stag Kolsch gets an extended lagering time where it can develop and mature into this classic premium European style beer.

As a bonus, like all their beers, this is gluten free.

Very Highly Recommended.

Recent feature on 9 White Deer here

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Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock, 6.5% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys

“Liquid bacon fries.”

Bamburg is the home of smoked beer (Rauchbiers) and a pilgrimage for the style’s aficionados. Some of our Irish craft brewers have been to the German town and Kinnegar, Whiplash and Crew have made examples of the style. Limerick’s Crew described the “weird and wonderful” Bamburg drinks as liquid bacon fries.

And liquid bacon fries is quite close to summing up the aromas, even the palate, from this unusual lager. Colour is dark, not quite solid black (more like Coco Cola) and the head is tan. Aside from the bacon, there is smoke on the palate too but the malt, plus an acidity that cuts through, prevent the smoke element from dominating. Flavours of coffee and toffee on the smokey finish. Definitely on the maltier side, but it isn't sweet at all.

October to December is bockbeer time in Bamberg and at the Schlenkerla brewery. According to old tradition, as early as May the Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer - Urbock is being brewed. After the brew in classic copper kettles, it matures for months in the historic cellars underneath Stephansberg. Those are part of the tunnel system of Bamberg, which is more than 700 years old. As the temperature there is constantly at around 8°C they have been used by Bamberg brewers for centuries to mature and lager their beers. The Ur in Urbock, means fresh (as us Irish speakers well know!). Bock means various things: a goat, lust, or in our case a dark beer (lager).

Schlenkerla smoked malt is kilned directly over an open wood fire. The smoke from this fire penetrates the malt and gives it its unique smoky flavour. Until the invention of modern malting systems in the 17th and 18th century with heat exchangers running on coal, oil or gas, smoke kilns were THE standard. As the new industrial form of malting was much more cost efficient, the smoke kilns everywhere were closed down. Not so at Schlenkerla! Indeed,  Slow Food® has made Schlenkerla Rauchbier a passenger in its “Ark of Taste”.

Geeks Bits

Original gravity: 17.5 °p

Alcohol: 6.5%

Bitterness: 40

Ingredients: Water, barley malt, hops

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German lager types

“Pils” may be Germany’s most well-known lager. Aromatic, crisp and moderately bitter it is refreshing and a terrific session beer.

Maibock is the spring beer (Mai = May). Hops and malts get a turn here. Quite versatile at the table with pasta dishes, salmon, or shellfish recommended.

Märzen has traditionally been brewed in March to be enjoyed at festivals starting in September. Again, there’s usually a good balance between malts and hops and you can enjoy it at Oktoberfest with the schnitzel, brockwurst and game.

Kolsch comes from the German city of Cologne (Köln). It is a light and refreshing ale-lager hybrid, hybrid because its producers employ elements and techniques of both lager and ale.  It is made with an ale yeast and cold finished like a lager.

 

Helles can be easily found in Munich, its crisp finish similar to Pils. Cool and refreshing, this everyday beer goes well with salads, shrimp, or fish, an excellent session beer.

There are quite a few other types including Rauchbier (see the Schlenkerla above). And our own Whiplash and Kinnegar have have each made excellent Black lagers.

How To Pour A German Lager From A Bottle*

1. Tilt the glass or stein at a 45 degree angle.

2. Place the tip of the bottle in the glass, and pour the beer quickly down the side.

3. Start to straighten the glass as the beer reaches the top to create a nice head of foam.

* from kegworks.com 

Local Connections Are Key At Templemore’s Whitefield Brewery

 Local Connections Are Key At Templemore’s Whitefield Brewery

"For too many years farmers were treated like dirt in this business and if you’re going to make great beer then you need to start with great barley."

“One thing we’ve always tried to do is work with local farmers to grow barley for us. While that in itself is easy enough, getting the barley malted was the trickier part. Minch Norton in Athy malt the barley but the smallest batch size they can malt is 75 Ton. So over the years it took a bit of too-ing and fro-ing to get a system in place that we could achieve this,” said Cuilan Loughnane of Whitefield Brewery in Tipperary as he spoke about their connections locally. The subject is something extremely important to him and his wife Sally, the brewery co-owners.

“Now all our base malt comes from Minch Norton and is grown by local farmer Tim Connolly. What underlines this process is the price we pay the farmer. For too many years farmers were treated like dirt in this business and if you’re going to make great beer then you need to start with great barley. So, we agree a sustainable price with Tim before he even gets out his plough. That way he has an incentive to grow a great crop knowing he’s going to get paid well for it.”

”That’s how a small brewery like us connects with the community, by being willing to pay above the odds to ensure we all make a decent living and keep trade in the area. It’s up to the consumer then to do their part by purchasing the beers made by the local brewery, that way we have a sustainable cycle and a community that can thrive.” 

“Our main focus has always been the local pub. It hasn’t always been easy in these places! Getting the right beer and trying to get the publican behind it is not a task for the faint hearted, but we’re getting there! Us selling a 4.3% bottle of pale ale to a supermarket is just not financially viable, our brew length is too small, our costs are too high. So, pubs and restaurants are always going to be our bread and butter and hopefully as the years go by as local as possible.”

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If you are a craft drinks or food producer and interested in a post like this, please get in touch via DM or email!

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In the beginning….

Cuilan started work in Dwan Brewery in Thurles in 1998 and got an opportunity to take over the brewery in 2001. “So my wife and I set up the Shelta Beer Co. on the 29^th of August 2001. We operated under the Dwan brand for a number of years before we had to leave Dwan’s premises and we relocated to Messer’s Maguire’s (now J.W. Sweetman) in Dublin city centre. We spent the next 6 years operating out of there during extremely difficult times for the Irish Craft Beer industry.”

“An opportunity to purchase the defunct Kinsale Brewery equipment came about in 2008 and we decided to bite the bullet. We found a premises in Templemore and finally opened the doors in August 2009 where we’ve been since.”

"I have always been the brewer, maybe not such a good idea from a business perspective, but we pride ourselves on the fact that we’re a beer led business." 

Tipp Barley

 

What stands out about the brewery, your beers? Is there something unique? ...

“We make no bones about the fact that we brew traditional style beers and are not into all the latest fads! Our brewhouse was originally commissioned by Pauliner, so it is designed as a wheat beer brewery. The fermentation tanks are low, wide and flat bottomed to help maintain consistent flavour profile while using a volatile yeast. So it comes as no surprise that our best sellers in both draught and bottle are Weiss beers. This makes it tricky to brew drier hoppy beers, so we focus on the malty styles of beer with plenty of sweetness.”

 

What are your core beers? Which is the favourite of the brewery team?

 

Our core beers tend to be traditional, southern style German Wheat and lager beers. We like to put a small twist in them like adding a portion of Rye malt to our Weiss beer to help bring about a slightly drier flavour or using Saké rice to increase the alcohol content. But our favourite here has always been our Traditional Irish Stout in the 750ml bottle. It represents everything we think here about traditional brewing from an Irish perspective.

 

Any new beers in the pipeline?

We want to take Irish Stout up a notch in alcohol but I’m a sucker for balance. Too many beers have wonderful first, second and third sip-ability but completely lose their balance after that and become hard to finish. I think we still have a lot to learn from the wine industry in terms of balance, so we’ll tread carefully while developing this recipe. 

 

 

What’s your typical day like? 

“No such thing when you own a small business, although I tend to stick to everything involving the brewery itself. My wife Sally focuses on everything outside the brewery and Micheál works between the two of us. So overall it works pretty well, the biggest discussions (arguments!) are always about future decisions and how they will be funded. Money is always tight in a small business so every decision will have an impact good or bad.”

Tell me about one time when things went wrong. How did you learn from that failure? Can you look back and laugh about it now?

"Luckily a lot of what I saw going wrong was when I joined Dwan’s. The concept of the Brewpub was fantastic but the people had no idea what it was or how to react to it. So it was an idea way before it’s time and as a result just failed. So much money was spent on all the wrong things but for all the right reasons and I got to see all of that without it costing us a penny. 

So when we took over Dwan’s, we immediately made the decision to stop selling beer in Ireland and focus on the cask market in the UK. (we were the first ever Irish Micro-Brewery to sell cask beer to the UK). And that decision was an immediate success! It laid the foundations for our future at poor Bill Dwan’s cost.”

Early lessons well learned as anyone who drinks Whitefield’s terrific beers will readily acknowledge. Off to try a couple now!

Whitefield finds a welcome in Cork

Other Brewery Posts:

Ballykilcavan The Taste of Laois in your glass.

9 White Deer At Home In Ballyvourney. And On The World Wide Web

Any craft drinks or food producer out there interested in a post like this, feel free to get in touch!