Cheers 212201
Beer, Wine, Spirits with Porterhouse-Kinnegar-Lineman-Rascals-BeerCloud-O'Briens-Teeling
"Beer of the Year"
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Restaurant Reviews. Food. Markets. Wine. Beer. Cider. Whiskey. Gin. Producers. . Always on the look-out for tasty food and drink from quality producers! Buy local, fresh and fair. The more we pull together, the further we will go. Contact: cork.billy@gmail.com Follow on Twitter: @corkbilly Facebook: Billy Lyons
Cheers 212201
Beer, Wine, Spirits with Porterhouse-Kinnegar-Lineman-Rascals-BeerCloud-O'Briens-Teeling
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BeerCloud
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BLACKS - FULL OF CHRISTMAS CHEER & AWARD-WINNING BEER!
Blacks Brewery & Distillery Celebrate Prestigious International Beer & Spirit Award Wins
Blacks Sour Sailor Cocktail |
While this year has been challenging, Blacks, Ireland’s first co-located brewery & distillery, proved unstoppable, receiving international awards as a mark of their passion and dedication to their craft.
Maudeline and Sam |
Located on the Wild Atlantic Way in Kinsale, Blacks have one simple mission, to escape the mundane of the mass market by producing beers with passion, personality and lots of hops, while also pushing the boundaries of flavour when crafting their range of spirits. Having just been announced as winners for two prestigious competitions - USA Spirit Ratings & the European Beer Challenge, Blacks are proving their mission complete.
A USA Spirit Ratings medal is the ultimate seal of approval in the global spirits industry. Blacks took home the coveted Gold medal for their Blacks Irish Gin, one of only two Irish gins to receive this accolade, and Silver for their Blacks Golden Rum at this renowned competition. The USA Spirits Ratings looks to recognise, reward and help promote spirit brands that have successfully been created to identify with and target a specific spirit drinker. These awards shine a spotlight on the spirit brands that consumers really want to buy and have a clear market value for trade buyers.
Spirits were judged in three categories; Quality, Value and Packaging. Only those spirits who scored consistently high across each of the three criteria were awarded medals. To receive Gold Blacks Irish Gin was awarded an impressive score of 90 - 100 points, with Blacks Golden Rum coming away with its Silver medal and 80 - 89 points.
Continuing this winning streak, Blacks, founded by husband and wife duo, Sam & Maudeline Black, were honoured to accept Double Gold at the European Beer Challenge for their innovative Maui Wowie High P.A. and also their World's End Imperial Stout. This unstoppable pair also proudly accepted silver for their flagship beer, Kinsale Pale Ale (KPA).
The annual European Beer Challenge brings together Europe’s leading beer buyers and top beers from across the globe against the backdrop of the dynamic and strategically important EU & UK beer market. This year thousands of samples from 39 countries fought head-to-head, with Blacks coming out on top not once, but three times. During the European Beer Challenge judging session each product is subjected to a rigorous blind tasting process which allows newcomers to compete fairly against the world’s leading brands. This is the highest level of recognition in the industry - the Oscars of the Beer World.
The award winning Blacks |
Speaking with pride in relation to their award wins Blacks Brewery & Distillery Co-Founder, Sam Black commented, “This has been an amazing year for us at our Brewery & Distillery in Kinsale. While the global Covid19 pandemic threw a lot of challenges our way, the entire team rose to the test and we continued to produce exciting craft beers and spirits. To receive Double Gold, Gold and Silver medals for both our craft beers and spirits is recognition for the passion we have for our craft. It is a testament to the time and talent invested by all of our team in Kinsale, and to receive this acknowledgment on a global scale, especially when up against such long standing and established brands it was just phenomenal.’
Fancy sampling Blacks Gold winning Irish Gin over this festive season? It is delicious served neat over ice, or as a tall drink with a premium mixer, but if you like your spirits shaken not stirred why not try this Blacks’ signature Gin cocktail:
Blacks Sour Sailor
Ingredients:
· 60ml Blacks Irish Gin
· 30 ml Fresh Grapefruit Juice
· 15ml Fresh Lemon Juice
· 10ml Simple Sugar Syrup (This can be easily made at home by mixing sugar with water - 1:1 ratio Sugar : Water)
· 1/2 Egg White
· Dash of Angostura Bitters
Method:
1. Add all your ingredients, except the bitters, into a cocktail shaker
2. Dry shake all ingredients for 10 seconds
3. Add ice and shake again for a further 10 seconds
4. Fine strain into a chilled martini glass
5. Add a dash of Angostura Bitters
6. Sip & enjoy
To find out more about Blacks award-winning Blacks Irish Gin, Blacks Golden Rum and craft beers visit www.blacksbrewery.com, or stay connected online at Instagram/blacksbrewery, Twitter @BlacksBrewery or Facebook/BlacksOfKinsale
press release
A Quart of Ale± #26
Moving on over to craft with Ballykilcavan Farm
Barley to Beer a Path to the Future for Ancient Ballykilcavan Farm
"Ballykilcavan Farm has been the home of our family for 13 generations. We have lived and worked here since 1639, and diversification has always been important to keep our farm viable for future generations. When I took over Ballykilcavan from my father in 2004, my sole motivation was to try to sustain it so that someone else would be able to take it over from me. After farming here for 10 years, it became obvious that just growing barley wasn't going to give the security that I was looking for, and so we started to look at alternatives. The new brewery (founded 2017) and visitor experience are our attempt to keep the farm in the family."
I was in touch with David Walsh-Kemmis, brewery owner and 13th generation farmer, ahead of this post: "We're starting work on our new visitor centre, and that will be ready by April of next year (when hopefully we'll be allowed to have visitors to come and see it)."
In the meantime, we can enjoy some of their specials. "We have a few limited edition specials out at the minute (which are or will be available in Ardkeen Superstore as well, and should make it to Bradley's in Cork). Our limited edition series is called Clancy's Cans - named after the Clancy family who have worked on the farm for five generations. Can #2 is a double dry hopped IPA, Can #3 is a tiramisu dessert stout and Can #4 (out in early December) is a walnut whip stout. We also have our annual fresh hopped beer out at the minute - 100% our own barley, water and hops from our small hop garden near the brewery."
David uses his own barley in the brewery. It is brewed up the road by Minch Ltd, another Laois firm. As you may have heard him indicate during an Ear to the Ground interview (19th Nov 2020). "Using our own barley and water (and hops in some cases) is a great selling point for us, both at home and abroad. Check out the programme (Episode 5) here.
For all recent craft beer/cider posts, please check out the series of A Quart of Ale± posts.
I enjoyed my introduction to the brewery via three cans I bought from the Ardkeen Superstore in Waterford.
Ballykilcavan Bamrick’s Brown Ale 5.8%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store
A brown ale though the colour is close to black, an off white head is not inclined to linger. Aromas are coffee and caramel. And you get much the same flavourwise on the smooth and silky palate that stays rich all the way to finish. Superb. IBU 26
The label declares, not inaccurately, that this is a “Rich and malty American Brown Ale with notes of chocolate and burnt toffee”. IBU 26
So what’s an American brown ale? The New York Times says:
Brown ales and like-minded styles — including straightforward lagers, pilsners and porters — to name a few, are very different sorts of beers (to IPAs). They occupy subtler realms, quenching thirst with pure flavors and perhaps a snappy zestiness in the case of pilsner and a rich depth in the case of porter. They are not flamboyant styles that wow with complexity or make themselves the centers of attention. They simply satisfy. It’s the kind of beer that gets left behind in our I.P.A. culture.
One of the best known Brown ales around here is the Newcastle version that has a yarn about going to see a man about a dog on the label. I always thought that going to see a man about a dog or "taking the dog for a walk" (especially if you had no dog) meant having a piddle in the bushes but in Newcastle it means going to the pub for a couple of these beauties.
Another Brown Ale I enjoyed, this about 3 years ago, was Lough Gill’s Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut Brown Ale.The guys at Lough Gill admitted to having hand-toasted “trays upon trays of macadamia nuts” for this. No doubt about the colour here, a rich dark brown. Rather handsome overall from the introduction that deposits bags of flavours. It has an excellent body and a nice balance of hops and malt. Must look out for that again.
Ballykilcavan Secret Passion Pale Ale 6.5%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store
With the fruit prominently highlighted on the label, I was a little apprehensive when I opened this beer from County Laois. Would it be too sweet? But I needn’t have worried. It turned out to be a very pleasant drink indeed.
A murky amber is the colour here, with a fairly short-lived white foamy head. The aromatics are faintly floral. That fruit, and there is real fruit used here (peach and passion fruit, and also a little lactose), comes through on the palate. But in quite a pleasant way. The brewer has found a happy balance and come up with a smooth and refreshing beer. Easy drinking. Hard to believe, even if it finishes dry, that the IBU is 55 or that the ABV is 6.5. Vic Secret and Huell Melon are the hops used.
Even though I enjoyed this on a cool November’s night, I could see that it would be even better in summer and, in fairness, that’s what Ballykilcavan were aiming for.
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Ballykilcavan Line Blocker Pale Ale 4.9%, 440ml Ardkeen Store
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This County Laois pale ale has a light (and hazy) amber colour. The head is not inclined to hang around at all. Aromas are hoppy, but with a hint of sweetness. and that hoppy heart continues to beat strongly, without ever threatening to overpower, so the palate is balanced, and pleasant all the way to the finish. One Pale Ale that is is hard to ignore but easy to enjoy.
It has been double dry hopped with Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo and the IBU is 54. Oats is one of the possibly unexpected ingredients here. Beer brewed with barley and water sourced from “out family farm”.
For all recent craft beer/cider posts, please check out the series of A Quart of Ale± posts.
More on Ballykilcavan
Ballykilcavan is a 440 hectare block of beautifully landscaped farmland and forestry in the heart of Ireland. We are very fortunate that our ancestors loved the look of the farm and left in almost all the landscape features, particularly the hedgerows and trees in the fields. We also still have our original 18th century stone farmyard and 19th century stable yard our walled garden and the gardener's tunnel as well as the champion black walnut tree of Ireland.
We also grow the barley we use to make our beers and a crop of barley for Waterford Distillery. Ballykilcavan is situated in prime malting barley growing area, just outside Stradbally, Co. Laois. We have been growing it here for at least three and probably five generations and our barley is malted by Minch Malt, just 11km down the road in Athy.
We have won a Boortmalt barley grower award, and won the first ever Best Barley Cup for Waterford Distillery growers. With the opening of a brewery at Ballykilcavan, we are now able to use our award-winning barley to produce our own beers.
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