CorkBillyBeers #5 . Craft journey with Barrel Aged beers by 9 White Deer, Brehon and Wicklow Wolf.

CorkBillyBeers #5

Craft journey with Barrel Aged beers by 9 White Deer, Brehon and Wicklow Wolf.

+++ To Øl at Abbots Ale House Fri 13th+++

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9 White Deer Stag BA Export Stout, 7.4% ABV, 500 ml bottle Blairs Inn

Bought this at Blairs Inn and got advised to keep it for a year, that it would be better then. Well that was 2022, this is 2023, so here goes! 

It comes with quite a build-up.  Producers 9 White Deer proclaim: An export version of Stag Stout, aged in Blackwater Distillery whisky barrels. Provides everything you’d imagine the combination of two classics should.

Michael Creedon of Bradley’s knowns a thing two about beer and, on December 1st, he is enthusiastic to say the least: Lads, I can confirm this @BlackDistillery whisky barrel aged export stout from @9whitedeer is only savage.

I’m having a laugh here and then I take a sip and the laughing stops. Something serious is going on. Something exceptionally smooth and luxurious has crossed my lips and taste buds are on full alert. This is about as good as a collaboration between a distillery and brewery can get. Properties of both stout and whiskey in perfect combination and I’m thinking it is pushing Brehon’s Oak and Mirrors off the number one spot it has held on this blog for quite a while.

More from the makers: For that demanding Stout lover, who insists they’ve seen and tasted it all…Take your time and enjoy, as we did making it…We call it Export Stout, but really it’s much too good to send away.”

Much too good now to keep for another year!

On the other hand, I will need at least one for next Christmas. Just found the last of the Barnabrow House Christmas pudding in the kitchen, gave it a quick turn in the microwave and, just as I suspected, it and this superb stout are the perfect match!

9 White Deer is an independent brewery, set in the heart of the Irish Gaeltacht: Determined to honour the local landscape and folklore, we craft beers from native, malted barley, and the purist of water, sourced from the Cork and Kerry Mountains. We create superior brews by being respectful to our ingredients and maturing process, which results in exceptional beers that are also gluten-free. Since our founding in 2014 we have pioneered the gluten-free beer market, making the first gluten-free beer in Ireland and the first full range of gluten-free beers in Europe. 

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Brehon Oak & Mirrors BA Imperial Porter , 7.5% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys

Brehon are well known for their stouts and porters and this was our Beer of the Year here in 2021. The brewers tell us: ”It is a whiskey-aged porter from a collaboration with our good friends at Two Stacks Distillery using their freshly emptied single malt cask to mature our brew. Of course, getting it right took a few tastings with the lads. This is a superior whiskey cask-aged imperial porter that will please the most discerning of whiskey-loving palettes.”

On its own, it is indeed a rather beautiful barrel aged porter, full of aromas and flavours of Roasted Malt, Dark Chocolate, Liquorice, Dried Fruits, Tobacco, and Vanilla. And there seems to have been a decent bit of Two Stacks in the cask, not too much mind you, just enough to give a smooth and warming tasty little lift! It has been hopped with Williamette and Magnum.

My primary interest this time was to see how well it matched with our Barnabrow House pudding. This is one of the lighter coloured puddings and full of fruit and booze (whiskey, stout). A good candidate for a match and so it proved, right to the end where the whiskeys got on very well together.

The Brehon Brewery, founded by farmer Seamus McMahon, welcomes visitors to the brewery and farm and they’ll feel immediately immersed in Irish culture and history. The name of this brewery is inspired by the old Brehon Laws that governed medieval Ireland, which stated that every clan was allowed to brew beer for their own family. “All of this wonderful heritage is incorporated into the Brehon Brewhouse brand.”

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Wicklow Wolf Locavore Autumn 2022 Barrel Aged Irish Barley Wine, 10.5% ABV, 440 ml can Bradleys

According to Mark Dredge in Beer: A Tasting Course, the name Barley Wine was used from the late 1800s. The American style is normally highly hopped while the British style is richer with malt flavour. Examples are Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot and Coniston’s No 9 Barley Wine.

Colour of our 10.5% ABV Wicklow Wolf is a red/orange. There are citrus, grapefruit and pine notes in the aromas and flavours too and no real alcoholic heft despite the high count. The Locavore series (using mostly local ingredients) really hit the high spots this year and this well balanced Barley Wine fits right in.

Dessert or cheese seems to be the usual tip for food pairing. I tried it with a generous slice of our regular Christmas pudding by Barnabrow House and the dry finish of the Wicklow Wolf sits nicely with the sweetness of the pudding..

Wolf, who a busy and successful year, introduce this as a Barrel Aged Irish Barleywine “aged in ex Wicklow Whiskey Sherry barrels for 12 months and brewed using our very own barley. A complex, full bodied, uncompromising barleywine that pours a viscous, burnt orange in appearance.”

Geek Bits

IBU: 50
Hops: Chinook; Centennial; Cascade
Malt: Wicklow Wolf Pale, Wicklow Wolf Vienna

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2023 My Very Highly Recommended Irish Beers

January 2023

IPA: Cotton Ball Fury

Session: Whiplash Rollover.

BA Beers: 9 White Deer Stag BA Export Stout; Brehon Oak & Mirrors BA Imperial Porter.

 

December 2022

IPA: Third Barrel Electric Eyes Idaho & El Dorado IPA

Witbier: Whiplash Alma Witbier 

Stout: Cotton Ball Lynch’s Stout; Dungarvan Coffee & Oatmeal Stout; Lineman (with Craic Beer Community) Pulse Irish Extra Stout; Whiplash The Wake Export Stout; 

Ales with Wild Yeast: Black Donkey Underworld Rua Amber Ale; Black Donkey Underworld Allta Farmhouse Ale; Black Donkey Underworld Savage Farmhouse /Saison Ale.

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