Buds and Blossom
Blarney Castle Gardens
28.03.2024
Wild Garlic Blossom at the entrance On the way to the castle Walking to and from castle under a cover of spring blossom Budding
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Cashel Blue named Best Irish Cheese and
Reserve Champion at British & Irish Cheese Awards
Sarah Furno, Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers, Ian Thomas, Greenfields and Julius Longman, chairman of the British Cheese Awards. Photo: Mike Duberry
Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers in Co. Tipperary has landed the Best Irish Cheese and Reserve Champion trophies at the British & Irish Cheese Awards 2024, taking two of this year’s top honours with Cashel Blue, a characterful semi-soft blue cow’s milk cheese with a full flavour and signature tang. Held at the Bath & West Showground on Friday 22 March, the 28th British & Irish Cheese Awards assessed over 600 entries from across the UK and Ireland, before welcoming cheese lovers into the judging arena throughout the new Bath & West Food & Drink Festival.
All trophies were presented during the British & Irish Cheese Awards Dinner, with Snowdrop by Cote Hill in Lincolnshire taking the Supreme Champion trophy. Best English Cheese was awarded to Tor from White Lake Cheese, Best Scottish Cheese went to Minger from Highland Fine Cheeses and Best Welsh Cheese was awarded to Gafr Las from Bryngaer Goats.
Organised by The Royal Bath & West Society, the British & Irish Cheese Awards saw a 63-strong judging panel made up of cheesemakers, cheesemongers, cheese experts, buyers and commentators assessing entries in their individual classes during the morning session, awarding Bronze, Silver and Gold accolades. During the second round, all Gold award winners from each category were judged alongside one another to identify the category winners, before all category winners were judged in the final round to find this year’s Supreme Champion and Reserve Champion.
Hosted for the first time by the new Bath & West Food & Drink Festival, the British & Irish Cheese Awards invited festival visitors to sample some of this year’s entries over the course of the weekend and to cast their votes in the People’s Choice Award.
press release
Stonewell Cider Gains Global Recognition
at Cidermaking Industry ‘Oscars’
Big congrats to all at Stonewell Ciders who have been awarded two Golds and a Silver in the Cider with Other Fruits & Flowers, the Open Class and the Modern Cider categories respectively at the International Brewing & Cider Awards 2024, specifically Rós (Rhubarb & Apple Cider), Tawny 10 and Stonewell Cider Medium Dry.
Following three days of deliberation from an international panel of 38 judges from around the world, 115 medals were awarded to beers and ciders including winners from Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Ireland, Finland, Norway, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and the UK.
For the first time in its 138-year history, Manchester hosted the brewing industry ‘Oscars’ which date back to 1886 and have a rich history championing the world’s best brewers and cider-makers.
The International Brewing & Cider Awards relocated to Depot Mayfield in Manchester this year and – in another first – was accompanied by a public festival. The two-day International Brewing & Cider Festival will provide a rare opportunity for the public to sample the range of beers and ciders entered into the competition, including the award-winners.
Stonewell's Daniel Emerson tasting. |
Ruth Evans MBE, Director of the International Brewing & Cider Awards, said: “It’s been an honour to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary beers and ciders across the world at our new home here in Manchester.
“We support the brewing and cidermaking industry on a not-for-profit basis, and the Awards has a long and rich history championing the best beers and ciders going into the market.
“This week, we’ve had some of the best brewers and cidermakers in the world judge our prestigious competition and I’d like to personally thank all of them, as well as all the brewers and cidermakers who entered their products to make this year’s Awards one to remember.
“We’re thrilled to be able to continue to provide a platform to reward the best beers and ciders with the recognition they so truly deserve. And for the first time ever expand to launch our Festival, providing the public a chance to sample these award-winning drinks from the most extensive collection of international beers and cider in Europe.”
Rob McCaig, Chair of Beer Judging, said: “We’ve had such an outstanding lineup of judges from all corners of the world, and they’ve all done a remarkable job tasting and evaluating some of the finest beers from around the globe.
“This year proved to be one of the toughest yet to determine which of the beers were deserving of a medal. We had an exceptional amount of great quality beers enter this year, making the job of our judging panel extremely difficult. It’s a shame we couldn’t award more medals, as there were so many beers that were deserving of the accolade – some of which narrowly missed out.
“We saw a significant increase in entries in the Non & Low Alcohol category, which reflects the growing demand in the industry, and also saw an influx of international brewers enter the Smallpack Ale category, which is very promising. Historically, this category has often been dominated by the UK, but this year saw the inclusion of breweries from Japan, North America and South America.”
Gabe Cook, Chair of Cider Judging, said: “It has been a great pleasure once again to chair the world’s premier cider competition. This year has been the best calibre of judges we’ve ever had, coming from all over the world including Japan, Latvia, Norway, USA, Spain and the UK. A winner!
“The incredible global range has also been reflected in the cider entries, with entries arriving from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America.
“This has undoubtedly been the most difficult competition to judge – the quality of ciders has been truly, so high. It’s great to see that cidermakers have been upping their game on the quality, and those that were awarded a medal in their category is a recognition truly deserved.
“We have seen a lot of fun and playful ciders being entered into the Open Class, which provides cidermakers with a bit of freedom to do something a little different, which is always nice to see.”
The competition’s unique approach to the judging process sets it apart from other awards, which ensures each beer and cider is judged fairly and rigorously on its quality and commercial value. The 38-strong judging panel was chosen to reflect the current expertise in the tasting and commercial evaluation of beers and ciders going into the market and blind tasted hundreds of beers and ciders submitted by brewers and cidermakers from around the world. It is these values that has earnt it the reputation as the ‘Oscars of the brewing and cider world’.
All the gold, silver and bronze medal winners announced at Depot Mayfield, Manchester will collect their medals at an official Awards Ceremony on 1st May 2024 at The Guildhall in London, when 12 trophy winners will also be announced.
A full list of all 2024 medal winners can be found on The International Brewing & Cider Awards’ website: www.brewingawards.org
The International Brewing & Cider Awards 2024 are supported by headline sponsors; Barth-Haas Group, Krones and Fermentis. Trophy sponsors include; drinktech + Marketing, The Morning Advertiser, Brauwelt, BFBI, All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, British Guild of Beer Writers, and Institute of Brewing & Distilling.
In Praise of East Cork.
Fota Tiger |
Christy Ring |
Planet Dessert at O'Mahony's Watergrasshill |
Fish tacos at Hunted Hog |
Fota Arboretum. Also here: Fota House, walled gardens, plus a café. |
Mitchel Hall on Spike Island |
Walking on Knockadoon |
Whiskey Sour in Jameson |
Cafés, including Arch Wine Bar, in Casement Square, Cobh. |
From the famous dessert trolley at Ballymaloe House |
Smoke freely finds its way in and around these hanging sides of salmon in Hederman's,Belvelly, Cobh. |
Featherblade of Beef, signature dish at Ferrit & Lee |
Halibut at Cush |
The famous Midleton Brick at Sage, Midleton |
They grow much of their own food in Ballymaloe! |
Samphire at Garryvoe Hotel |
Dinner at Brook Inn |