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

Cheers on Beer, Spirits and Wine. With Galway Hooker, Wicklow Wolf, Greenes, Shelbourne Bar, Wines of the World, BeoirFest.

Cheers on Beer, Spirits and Wine. With Galway Hooker, Wicklow Wolf, Greenes, Shelbourne Bar, Wines of the World, BeoirFest. #210319

15 Year Anniversary Double IPA is here

As promised, we would be making this Double IPA available to our online customers, and newsletter sign ups as soon as we could. This beer will be canned next week (25th of March) and will be sent out the very same day. There are only 30, 12x440ml cases available. Of course we've got a discount code for you loyal few!    Use code DOUBLE15 , for 15% off.    Buy it here: https://shop.galwayhooker.ie/collections/home/products/pre-sale-15-year-anniversary-double-ipa-12x440ml   Bar that, we just wanted to say a heart felt thank you, to all of you that have supported our little brewery over the last 15 years. We appreciate it more than you know.

The Wicklow Wolf Locavore Project...

Before they became Wicklow Wolf, two friends, Quincey and Simon, Influenced by their time spent in California, a passion for home-brewing and a thirst for craft beer, they began the journey in setting up a brewery in Wicklow. Simon’s background is in horticulture and he wanted to plant hops on his farm in the Wicklow hills. A seed was planted and Wicklow Wolf was born thanks to the coming together of two friends wanting to start a brewery and the desire to plant a hop farm (the first commercial hop farm in Ireland in over 25 years). 

Time moved on and now to  To celebrate Wicklow, our terroir, the provenance of this great landscape and to push our commitment to brewing beer in a sustainable way. With this in mind, The Locavore Project was born. The Locavore Project epitomises the core philosophy that Wicklow Wolf was founded upon, provenance and pride. The Locavore Project allows us to celebrate the terroir of Wicklow, our home and champion it with small batch, local, experimental beers.  

Read more about the Wicklow Wolf project here and check out their beers while you are there!

Frank, the somm in Greene's has been in touch:

"Really looking forward to our 'Meet the Winemaker' online zoom tasting on Friday 19th March at 8pm

@Greenescork

We are teaming up with

@derrickneleman

&

@WinesDirect

This event will sell out very fast so get your orders in now! http://greenesrestaurant.com/menus #winetasting #supportlocal"

Shelbourne Bar Will Serve You...

Missing the genuine Irish Whiskey Bar experience?

You can now gather your friends for a personalised Online Whiskey Tasting. We supply the whiskey, the whiskey expert and we can even supply the glass!

Visit

https://www.theshelbournecork.ie/online-whiskey-tasting

Wines of the World - Join the Club!

Did you know that we can deliver specially selected wines to your door each month?

€70.00 every month for 1 year

The perfect subscription for you - The Wine Lover!

Our wine experts select 6 delicious wines from around the world and send to your door each month.

Includes:

• A mix of 6 different wines

• Free Delivery Nationwide

• Tasting Notes for each wine

  * Please note subscription plans will dispatch between the 19th-22nd of each month *

Subscribe

BeoirFest Continues this Saturday

This Saturday we have another great Brewers Roundtable organised. We're going to look at lagers and reds, which should make for a nice comparison. And a great chat as usual of course!

We'll have Dublin's Liberator, Four Provinces Poddle, and Craft Bears Imperial Red so feel free to pick one up in advance if you want. Of course you can also just turn up, enjoy the chat and get involved.

We'll have spot prizes as well. See you on Saturday at 3pm at Beoirfest.com!

Very Enjoyable Wines of the World Online Tasting With Kate Barry

Wines of the World Online Tasting

With Kate Barry

Very much enjoyed my virtual visit to the weekend’s Wines of the World Tasting with our host Kate Barry. She had three wines to go through but each was anonymous, wrapped in a brown bag, for the time being. Kate made us work (fun!) to determine what we were tasting.

But she did it so well, step by step, in simple English. No online technical hiccups here, every word from Kate was loud and clear. And there were smiles, slurps, and a few laughs, easygoing all the way, a very pleasant way indeed to learn about wine - see below for next Virtual Tasting. 

Bag No. 1, a white, was first. “We will use our senses: eyes, nose, palate.” Normally, one of the first checks is to see if the wine is corked. If there’s a “damp cardboard” sensation, you’re in trouble. But no need to worry in this case as the closure is a DIAM cork that comes with a guarantee against cork taint.

Kate holds up the first of the wine: “It is lovely and bright with a medium pale colour. Hold your glass at an angle against a sheet of white paper and you can see it’s of medium intensity, lemon with a hint of gold.” Would the nose be medium or pronounced? “Just about medium,” said Kate. Now cover your glass with a hand, swirl, smell. “Woohoo..Absolutely beautiful.” Smell now for fruit, citrus perhaps. “Lemon, lime, here.” Try now for apple and pear. Stone fruit, melon perhaps. Move on to tropical. “A hint of pineapple”. “And I think there’s a tiny bit of white pepper.”

Now we move to the palate. “Get the wine into your mouth and slurp. You’ll notice the difference!” She smiled. “The tip of the tongue will tell us whether it’s dry or not..” Are we salivating? “I think there’s a medium salivation going on, so a medium plus acidity.” Alcohol? Check the glass for legs or tears, the more tears, the more alcohol. Is there a burn at the back of the throat? “I think this is medium.”  The body? Take a sip of water (light bodied) and compare. “This is a bit more than water, so light to medium bodied.”

Now to check the flavour intensity. Medium was Kate’s verdict. Flavours include lime, lemon, green apple, a little spice, minerality (more on palate than nose) plus some stone fruit. Measure the length of the finish, how long does the flavour last? Up to five seconds is short, 5-10 medium, above 10 long.  “Eight seconds, really refreshing”. Nothing jarring here. “I think it has a loverly balance, a lovely wine. Not complex, simple and easy drinking”

So now for the reveal. Old or new world? Alcohol content? Vintage? Variety or blend? What have we been drinking? It was a Michel Lynch “Nature” Bordeaux (AOC) 2017, 12%, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, a typical blend of the region. 

Michel Lynch “Nature” Bordeaux (AOC) 2017, 12%, €16.50 Wines of the World

A lovely pale colour and silver tints, this vintage has an intense bouquet with notes of white flowers and citrus fruit. The palate fresh and harmonious, underpinned by fine intensity and noteworthy mineral tones. Grown from 100% organically grown grapes  in the Bordeaux region of France.

The wine pays tribute to Michel Lynch, one of the great names of Bordeaux wine (Irish, of course). Made from a careful selection of organically grown grapes, it contains as little sulphur as possible and has environmentally friendly packaging.

Fat Bastard Malbec Vin de France 2019, 13%, €11.50 Wines of the World

One difference between red and white wines is that red has tannins. “No tannins in white wine. Full stop!”, says Kate. “Tannins is a dry gritty sensation. Some love it, some hate it. The paler the colour, the lighter the tannin. This one is medium grippy, all integrated.”

The label says a lot here: remarkably full bodied (fat bastard), round and generous. The Fat Bastard Malbec is sourced from southern vineyards, between the Languedoc and the Gers regions. Kate took us through each of the reds in the same way as she tasted the white.

This Malbec has an intense colour with a vibrant purple hue. Elegant with aromas of black cherry and hints of vanilla and chocolate. Generous and unctuous with a delicate spicy finish. Kate: “ It’s a simple easy-drinking food wine. Lovely with a meal. Love it with a steak or Spaghetti Bolognese. Cheese too.”

A French wine created by Thierry Boudinaud, a renowned winemaker who has crafted wines from California to Chile to South Africa. It is named after a British expression describing a particularly rich and full wine.

Graham Norton’s Own Shiraz, South Australia 2017, 14.5%, €14.00 Wines of the World

The Graham Norton Shiraz is from South Australia and is a mix of fruit from different regions offering a reasonably complex, concentrated wine with a deep ruby colour. It’s a bold in aroma and on the palate, juicy wine full of character, just like the man himself! Perhaps that’s why they called it Shiraz rather than Syrah (the French name for the grape denotes, mostly, a gentler wine). 

Quite a good wine for a tasting actually. The flavours alone, mostly primary, could fill half a page of your notebook! As is often the case in Australia, the fruit comes from different areas, three in this case: “The Barossa, McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek; each brings something different.”

Kate enjoyed tasting this one. “A dry wine with medium plus acidity.” She expected a high alcohol count, judging mainly by the burn at the back of throat, and she was spot on. Lots of primary fruit flavours plus some spice. Excellent finish too and well balanced. “I’m a lover of this wine and I hope you enjoyed it too.” We did, enjoyed the whole session.

Casa Silva - Live Zoom Virtual Tasting March 26th

The next live interactive virtual tasting will feature wine expert Kate Barry and Stephen Ludlam from Casa Silva. Casa Silva is Chile’s most awarded winery of the 21st Century – outstanding wines of great quality and fantastic value. It has the oldest wine cellar in the Colchagua Valley. Beneath its traditional and historic facade, however, is one of Chile’s most modern wine facilities. Should be a superb evening.  More details, including booking, here.

Kate will hold another recorded (non Zoom) tasting in mid-April. Keep an eye on the website for details. By the way, Wines of the World also do private tastings for firms and other groups.