A Quart of Ale± #25. Moving on over to craft . Another round of IPA

A Quart of Ale± #25

Moving on over to craft 

Did you hear? Fidelity, with Whiplash, is back in 2021. Dates, ticket details here.

Another round of IPA

12 Acres “Make Hay” Session IPA 3.8%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store

When I was making hay, it was usually a bottle of the black stuff that was produced, more than just a bottle if we were threshing. But either way that was for the older fellows - we pale pioneer-pinned youths had to make do with tea and scones (pretty good too!). This County Laois farm do it differently.

This “Make Hay” session IPA from the 12 Acres Brewery has a lemon colour, a herd of bubbles galloping up through the haze. Aromas are citrus with a touch of clean pine. On the palate, it is assertively hoppy with a mix of peach, mango and the citrus enveloping that malt body and the finish is also hoppy.

This flavoursome easy-drinking IPA has more bite than you’d expect from a 3.8 abv, due to late hops additions (Citra and Amarillo). Other ingredients include their own pale ale malt, some oats and Munich malt. Put it on your session list!

Another well-made beer from the Co. Laois brewery where Our Land to Your Glass is the logo, based on the fact that all of the water used and some of the barley comes from the family farm. “The 12 Acres field on our farm is where we have been growing malting barley for the brewing industry for generations. Now we are craft brewing our own beer and we’ve named it after one of the fields where the barley is grown”.

Kinnegar Bucket & Spade Session Rye IPA 4.2%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store 

Colour is a foggy gold, white head fades away to a the barest of covers in no time, leaving the merest lacing on the glass. This easy drinking Rye IPA is unfiltered and naturally carbonated. You notice the rye influence in the aromas (touch of spice too) and also as you sip this fresh fruity (citrus) session beer from the Donegal brewery who have more than one rye on their portfolio. Fruit and bitterness are well balanced here and the malt too keeps its end up making it one of my favourites from the list, though not one of their core beers. 

Nice little extra time bonus as the Ireland v Slovakia continues past the 90th minute and, after extra time, into the shootout. And then, suddenly, there was a little more bitterness than previously! C’est du sport.

Wicklow Wolf Eden Session IPA 3.8%, 330ml can via Ardkeen Store

This easy-drinking session IPA is pale and hazy. Pine and tropical fruit in the aromas. Those fruits along with bitterness in the palate and here the malts play a part in making this a well balanced beer. Under 4 per cent but a session beer with a flavour packed punch. Pretty much a perfect session drink.

This  is unfiltered and unpasteurised. Hops are El Dorado and Chinook while malts are Pale, Cara Ruby, Flaked Oats. IBU is 35 

They say:Wicklow, because that is where we opened our brewhouse. Wolf, because the last one ranged freely across the Wicklow countryside, and because the hops we plant on our farm takes its name ‘humulus lupulus’ from that wild and proud creature.

Firestone “Easy Jack” IPA 4.0% , 12 fl ozs Bradley’s

“Hoppy goodness with even more drinkability.”  Easy Jack’s got a light amber colour and a white head that reigns briefly.  It’s clear, so you see a myriad of bubbles rising. The bubbles don’t get get up your nose but the hop aromas do. Excellent balance in this can, terrific harmony between hops and malt, and a full body to enjoy as well. A good one but plenty of Irish IPAs are as good and quite a few better.

A few figures: 4% abv, 40 IBU, 5.5 colour, 120 calories.

They say: Easy Jack is a different breed of IPA, brewed and dry hopped with a globetrotting selection of newer hop varieties from Germany, New Zealand and North America. 

Hops

 Kettle: CTZ, Amarillo, Simcoe

 Dry Hops: Mosaic, Mandarina, Melon, Citra, Amarillo

Malts: Two Row, Wheat, Cara Pils, Oats, Munich, Crystal Light

The story: Firestone Walker Brewing Company began innocently enough: two brothers-in-law—Adam Firestone and David Walker—debating the subject of good and bad beer. Their search for a decent local ale finally led them to brew their own starting in 1996. The original Firestone Walker brewery was located in a converted shed on the family vineyard.

Black’s Totally Tropical IPA 5.0%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store

This 2020 release from Blacks of Kinsale is billed as a “beer with a totally tropical taste”. It “brings mango and pineapple to the party” and it does, for sure, certainly with the tropical aromas. 

Perhaps, late in year, this IPA “perfect for a chill summer session”, is out of season. 

IBU is listed as 55. While I was writing that last sentence the white head had vanished, leaving a slightly hazy golden liquid with bubbles crowding up towards the top.

Food pairings recommended are BBQ Chicken skewers, Moroccan Tagine, Tipsy Cake with rum.

A Quart of Ale± #23 Moving on over to craft with Red Ale

A Quart of Ale± #23

Moving on over to craft

Red Ale (Part 1)

Is Red Ale an Irish style? In the 1970s, beer writer Michael Jackson is credited with giving the tag to Smithwicks. According to World Atlas of Beer, American beer competitions started awarding prizes for the category and smaller Irish breweries started to “launch highly-hopped higher strength or even barrel aged versions”. As you can see below, Eight Degrees gave as good as they got in recent competition with their dry Sunburnt.

The recent Brew Dog books mention only the American Red, in fact they barely mention the Irish scene at all. Sláinte (2014) acknowledges that there is some “dissent” about Red being an Irish style but say some local breweries have “evolved the style”. More recent examples include Porterhouse who have “banished the sweet”.

Looks like the style is still evolving. We  have four good ones below for you and another handsome trio (Eight Degrees, Cotton Ball and White Hag) to come in Part 2.

Porterhouse “Red” 4.2%, 500ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

Porterhouse, a pioneering Irish craft brewery, are the producers of this red ale. Darkish red/brown is the colour here, and the off white head has a brief span. Both Malt and Hop figure in the aromas and also on the engaging palate, engaging because of exuberant fruit and a small streak of malty caramel. Fresh and fruity, with  superb caramel finish (almost stout like), I suspect (even at this early stage in the group) one of the better ones.

They say: Irish red ales? Yes, we know. Sweet, a bit cloying and, well, no thanks. So, it was brave of us (we say bravely) to put the words “red ale” after our own moniker. Why the hell would we do that? Because this is a real red ale, ….But sweet? No way. Balanced, yes. Fresh, yes. Aromatic, yes. In fact, we say yes, please.

Details

Malts: Pale Ale Malt, Crystal Malt, Wheat Malt, Chocolate Malt

Hops: Galena, Nugget, East Kent Goldings

ABV: 4.2% IBUs: 33 

9 White Deer “Stag Rua” 4.2%, 500ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

Made with a mix of ale, crystal and chocolate malts, Stag Rua pours a very dark red indeed, with a soft off-white head. Chocolate, coffee and caramel in the aromas and also on the smooth palate. A really balanced beer with no single ingredient dominating. Quite a satisfying mouthful indeed. Easy-going as they indicate and also Gluten Free (since 2018).

They say: Stag Rua has an aroma that is rich and malty with little hops, although we use a considerable amount of hops their presence is behind the malt but there none the less. It will pour with a off white rocky head and should last all the way down the glass leaving a lacing behind. Stag Rua, an Irish Red Ale is a favourite style of our head brewer and we hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we love it. Be big, be bold, Bí Dána.

Wicklow Wolf Wildfire Hoppy Red Ale 4.6%, 440ml can Ardkeen Superstore

Colour is a dark red mix with an off-white head that doesn’t last too long. Malt plus a sniff of coffee in the aromatics and the same combo, with a stronger showing from the coffee, shows in the palate. Here too, the Sorachi and Sabro hops also figure, rather mildly though.

Indeed, “mild” is perhaps the most apt descriptor, though not in a pejorative manner. Touted as a modern red ale, I’m well pleased with it (nothing to do with its modernity or otherwise) and would love to try it in a direct joust with other reds like Roaring Ruby (from West Cork Brewing), Kinnegar’s Devil’s Backbone, Copper Coast (from Dungarvan Brewing), White Gypsy’s Ruby Red, the award winning Sunburnt Irish (8 Degrees), Costello’s Red Ale and more (including the newish Velvet Red by the Cotton Ball). Could be a long session. And I’d need food as well!

A few details:

Serve at 8 degrees.

IBU: 28

Hops: Sorachi Ace, Sabro

Malt: Pale, Cara Ruby, Melano, Oats, Roasted Barley

West Cork “Roaring Ruby” Dark Red Ale 4.4%, 500ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

This Dark Red Ale from Baltimore is indeed a dark red with a head that soon diminishes to a thin lacy disc. Aromas are caramel and toasty. And you get much the same on the palate, toffee, caramel and coffee. All a bit stout like, yet this has its own distinctive flavour and texture with its malt bill prominent. Perhaps a bit more traditional than some of the other Irish ones but none the worse for that.

They suggest pairing with Roast meats, BBQ, strong cheese, roast veg.

It is Unfiltered and Vegan friendly as only whirlfloc (carrageen moss) is used to aid in clarification. Free from fluoride, chemicals, preservatives.

Malts: – pale ale malt, flaked oats,  amber malt, caramel malt, wheat malt, roasted barley.

Hops – Bramling Cross and Liberty.

Brewed using their own spring water.

Their story. Bacchus and Dionysus get some credit on the West Cork Brewery website but it is the yarns built around founders Kevin, Henry and Dominic that catch the attention. Read about the three founders here.  

A Quart of Ale± #19 Moving on over to craft. Wheat Beers (Part 2)

 A Quart of Ale± #19

Moving on over to craft. 

Wheat Beers (Part 2). Check out Part 1 here

The most famous wheat beers come from Germany and Belgium where the refreshing drinks are known as Weissbier and Witbier both of which translate as white beer, hence the Westport and Kinnegar whites in this and the previous post. The style normally contains a large proportion of malted wheat. Like all beer styles, Wheat Beers are on the move. Just when you think you know something about it, your brewer thinks of a variation and, according to Craft Beer for the Geeks, “fruited wheat beers are the new normal”.  San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery has the ultimate: Hell or High Watermelon! I was wondering if there were any Irish contenders and then along comes Hope’s Grunt below. 

St Bernardus Wit 5.5%, 33cl bottle Bradley’s of Cork

This famed Belgian, a classic, has a hazy golden/yellow colour, not too easy to see the bubbles but they are there; nice head at the start but won’t be around for long, a lacy veil is all that remains. 

Audaciously aromatic with clove notes standing out, touch of orange and coriander too. Very refreshing, your perfect thirst quencher as herbs and fruit mingle merrily in this traditional unfiltered Belgian white beer. 

It was developed in collaboration with Pierre Celis, the legendary master brewer who founded the Hoegaarden brewery, brewing their signature beer that was the driver of the resurgence of white beer in the 1950s.

They say: This incredibly versatile beer can be paired with almost any recipe from anywhere in the world. Its most outstanding role is perhaps that of a refreshing contrast when served with creamy dishes - a risotto for example - or in combination with shell fish and white fish. Do you serve a slice of lemon with your fish? You can echo that or a lemon sauce or dressing with this beer with its strong hints of citrus.

Note:

The unusual lower serving temperature of 2 - 6 °C.

Bitterness: 15 EBU.

Elbow Lane “Arrow Weisse” 5.0%, 500ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

Brewed according to the German Purity Law, this Cork wheat beer has an amber robe with a fairly ample white head that stays full for a minute or two, then shrinks to a narrow disc. Typical aromas of clove and banana and those flavours also on the palate which has a refreshing citrus-y streak. Apparently the clove and banana come from the special yeast used to brew this satisfying beer. No artificial preservatives or additives are used and they indicate it is best served at 7-8 degrees.

Somewhat heavier on the palate than both the Japanese and the German (in Part 1) but do remember that Elbow brew their range of beers to match the dishes in the group’s five restaurants in Cork City. The Arrow Weisse was the critics’ choice  recently to pair with ox tongue and kimchi salad. By the way, you’ll note that the staff in the various restaurants are well versed in the merits of each of the beers. 

Elbow Lane is one of the smallest breweries in Ireland and you’ll find it in the restaurant of the same name. All the beers are called after lanes (some of them no longer exist) in the city. Market Lane is the “mothership” restaurant and the others are ORSO, Castle Café, Goldie and Elbow Lane itself.

Kinnegar White Rabbit Session White IPA 4.5%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store, Bradley’s of Cork

Citrus leads here and there is little enough evidence of the clove and banana that is prominent in some wheat beers in this cloudy lemon coloured IPA, a very well made one, from the innovative Donegal brewery. There’s a generous fluffy white head that lasts a fair bit. 

No let-down in the mouth where the malt and hops get together in an impressive juicy fruity amalgam. A lovely balance indeed and an excellent dry lip-smacking finish with a slight bitterness in evidence. Second can appeal for sure.

They say: This is a classic American wheat beer that blends fruity malt with fruity hop flavours and opens them up with a voluminous, puffy white head.We don’t filter or pasteurise, and we let our industrious little friends, the yeast, carbonate the beer naturally during fermentation.” 

There may be a bit of sediment, so pour this cloudy beer carefully but if some ends up in the glass, don’t worry about it. “It’ll put hair on your chest,” as my mother used to say when she spotted someone’s reluctance to try something new.

Hope Grunt Citrus-y Wheat Beer 4.8%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store

Craft Beer for the Geeks say “fruited wheat beers are the new normal”. Well, here’s an Irish one, so let us see what’s going on in the tin. On the tin itself, there’s  rather fanciful yarn as to how the beer got its name.

The beer  though is not fanciful though the short-lasting head is a bit of a tease. The liquid  is a slightly hazy light gold. It is quite assertive on the palate, bone-dry, citrusy and a little spicy, the citrus coming from the hops plus the adjuncts lemongrass and bergamot. Good refreshing finish too though you have to concentrate hard to find the notes of juniper, the other addition. An excellent beer but I’m not sure I’d be guessing its style correctly in a blind tasting.

EBU, by the way, is 21 and they say Grunt is an excellent accompaniment to most food, in particular fish, to replace a traditional dry white wine, but also spicy food, where the strong flavours and refreshing quality of the beer can hold its own where a wine could not. It is also good with both strong cheese, and creamy cheese.

Had I not known about wheat as an ingredient (listed on their website, but not on the can), I’d have been inclined to class this as an IPA rather than  wheat beer. In any case, it’s a very decent drink indeed.

Ingredients: Water.

Malts: Pale Ale, Wheat, Acidulated

Hops: Citra, Cascade

Yeast: European Ale Yeast, American Ale Yeast

Spices: Juniper, Lemongrass & Bergamot

Check out Part 1 here

A Quart of Ale± #16. Moving on over to craft. Stout & Porter.

A Quart of Ale± #16

Moving on over to craft. 

Stout/Porter 

Starting off with a couple of excellent Irish porters and finishing with a pair of equally excellent stouts. In between, I take a look at the Founders Porter though not as impressed with this as I was with their Breakfast Stout .

By the way, the terms Porter and Stout are interchangeable according to the latest World Atlas of Beer. Craft Beer for the Geeks say stout is a stronger version of porter.

Trouble Brewing “Dark Arts Porter” 4.4%, 440ml can Bradley’s of Cork

Pours black as you’d expect and you can get quite a head (coffee coloured) if the pour is more rapid than usual. Chocolate, caramel and coffee among the aromas. And they also feature in the flavours. Indeed this lighter bodied black reminds me of those well made light dry red wines that have become very popular in recent years. A very decent porter indeed (though I still retain a preference for stouts).

Trouble Brewing are very happy with the early success of this one, and why not. Their Facebook: Dark Arts is the second beer we ever brewed here in Trouble and has stood the test of time to become one of Ireland's outstanding porters. 

I’m regularly amazed as to how often brewers get things right from the get-go. Howling Gale by Eight Degrees and Black’s KPA are early examples and Trouble say they’ve never touched the Dark Arts recipe since the initial production.

Kinnegar Yannaroddy Porter 4.8%, 440ml can Ardkeen Store

Where did they get the name? Sounds Australian to me. But no, they found it in their own little corner of Donegal where they get all the names for their beers. A stone’s throw from the brewery is a field with the intriguing name Yannaroddy.

Ever wondered about those mad illustrations on the Kinnegar cans under the theme “Follow the hops”. “Kinnegarland” is illustrated by the inimitable Dermot Flynn www.dermotflynn.com 

They say: Yannaroddy Porter is rich in traditional dark roasted malt flavours laced with an exotic streak of coconut.

Hadn’t known about the coconut when I tried it but certainly the coffee and caramel are there in the aromas and on the flavour-packed palate. Black, of course, is the colour and the coffee coloured head is slow enough to vanish. It is velvety smooth, good acidity too on the way to a lip-smacking finish.

Not surprisingly, Yannaroddy is one of their core beers. The others are Scraggy Bay India Pale Ale, Limeburner Pale Ale, Devil’s Backbone (Amber Ale), Rustbucket Rye Ale, and Crossroads American Style IPA. By the way, they don’t filter or pasteurise, and let their industrious little friends, the yeast, carbonate the beer naturally during fermentation.

Founders “Porter” 6.5%, 355ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

Co-Founders Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers opened the doors to the 9800 square foot Founders brewery in downtown Grand Rapids in 1997. But the years that followed were tough before the Michigan brewery’s rise to be one of the top rated in the world began in the opening years of this century.

Black is the expected colour of this “robust” porter and the head is coffee coloured. Sweet nose of malty chocolate and caramel. Silky on the palate, richly flavoured, sweetish, yet dry in the finish. Dark, Rich and Sexy, the label proclaims. Dark, Silky and Sweet, methinks. Perhaps a little too sweet for me. ABV is 6.5 while the IBU is 45.

By the way, you might like to try their Dark n’ Stormy cocktail, based on this porter. “This cocktail may look complicated, but rest-assured, even the least kitchen-savvy among us could recreate this with ease. Impress your friends and family this holiday season with this beauty.” All the details here 

Heaney “Irish Stout” 4.3%, 500ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

This stout is from the Heaney Farmhouse Brewery in Co. Derry. It is black, with a coffee coloured head that loses volume pretty quickly. 

Stick your finger in the head and taste the coffee and chocolate which are more or less what you’ll get from the aromas. No oatmeal here but the palate is rich and smooth, caramel and chocolate and that roasted malt finish, a dry one also. Competition in the stout arena is quite stiff and this one is well up to the average.

Heaney’s always come up with food pairings and here they suggest slow-cooked meat dishes or a rich chocolate dessert.

White Gypsy “Old Smoke” 5.4%, 500ml bottle Bradley’s of Cork

Old Smoke was the nickname of John Morrissey, a boxer from Templemore (Co. Tipperary) - the home of White Gypsy - who gained fame and infamy for his exploits both in and out of the ring in the US during the 19th century. 

Is there much smoke here? Not really, but you certainly notice it in the malty aromas which mostly feature coffee and chocolate. Colour is a shade or two short of a solid black; nice head (cream/coffee in colour) but doesn’t hang around. Lovely beer though with mellow roasted flavours, with malt more to the fore. Not like your usual stout but I could easily go through a session with this very distinctive one!

They say:  Traditionally, beers made in the midlands would have had a slight smokiness due to the malt being dried from peat fires, this stout brings out that combination of smoke & roast while remaining light on the palate. Beer is a fantastic ingredient to use in cooking (and baking). A family favourite is an Old Smoke Stout Stew. 

Wikipedia: Smoked beer (German: Rauchbier) is a type of beer with a distinctive smoke flavour imparted by using malted barley dried over an open flame. The Rauchbiers of Bamberg in Germany, Schlenkerla in particular, are the best-known of the smoked beers.

Plum Wine. Sparkling Apple Juice. The Butler and The Queen. Fruit Cakes and Steeplechasers. All in a Tipp Day-trip

Plum Wine. Sparkling Apple Juice. The Butler and His Queen. Fruit Cake.  Steeplechasers. 

All in a Tipp Day-trip.

Ormond Castle

Shopping at Dove Hill

The Butlers may have moved all the best bits to their castle in Kilkenny when they were forced to downsize but that means you get to see more of the basics when you visit their ruined castle and restored manor house in Carrick on Suir. You get the impression from the Ormond Castle guides that they’d prefer to have some of those paintings and tapestries back from Kilkenny. Yet there is much to be seen in the castle and house on the banks of the Suir. 

At the Apple Farm

The Butlers (original family name was Walter), by the way, did start off as royal butlers, and their initial land here was a gift from the crown. But, well known to the crown and related to Elizabeth 1, they got more and more as time went by and eventually held sway over large areas of Kilkenny, Carlow and Tipperary, castles all over including substantial ones, as in Cahir, and small ones like that at Farney. Indeed that Farney building has a butler’s pantry “hidden” in the 12 foot thick walls. Clonmel's Main Guard is another Butler building.

Situated in the middle of Carrick, Ormond Castle is the best example of an Elizabethan manor house in Ireland. It, along with extensive gardens, was built by Thomas, the 10th Earl of Ormond in the 1560s. Closely integrated into the manor house are two 15th century towers. It is the country's only major unfortified dwelling from that turbulent period. The state rooms contain some of the finest decorative plasterwork in the country, including plasterwork portraits.

Clonmel's splendid Main Guard

The above paragraph is a direct quote from the Heritage Ireland entry. The Butlers abandoned the home after James' death in 1688. It remained a possession of the family until the middle of the 20th century. In 1947 the house was given over to state agencies who restored the historic structures. The restoration continues.

Admission to the site is by guided tour only and there is a small fee. There is a video show detailing the history of the Butlers and you can see that before or after your tour. As you walk between the walls of the derelict castle, you’ll note that there was a large arched door ahead of you. This opened directly on to the River Suir, the main source of traffic at the time. Indeed, Queen Elizabeth was expected to walk through here but died before she could fulfil the promise of a visit to her cousin (rumours, continued within these walls to this day suggest the relationship was more than innocently familial). 

Clonmel mural

The house is the “star” of the visit, and the long room is the highlight. Much of the plasterwork is original and is indeed very impressive. The timber, much of it original (dating back hundreds of years), is amazing. You get a great view of it up in the attic, all held together without nails, the kind of basics view you don’t get in Kilkenny. Outstanding workmanship from the 16th century and the OPW guys of more recent times don’t come out of it too badly either! 

After a slow walk up the river by the small marina and a quick cuppa in the town we headed west towards the Dove Hill Design Centre on the Clonmel Road. Disappointed to find the large garden centre has closed but we did get some shopping done, mostly kitchen gear (from Meadows and Byrne) and food. The latter included Flahavan’s Hi8 muesli and Lismore Food Company’s Dark Chocolate Apple Crisp Thins (delicious!) from  the Ardkeen shop there, Skellig’s Chocolate and more from the Blarney Woollen Mills’ large selection.

Hotel Minella, a friendly place.

Time then to check in at the Minella Hotel, splendidly sited on the south bank of the Suir in Clonmel. We also got a splendid welcome here and were soon relaxing with tea and cake! While seemingly isolated on its own extensive grounds, the hotel is within 15 minutes walk of the town centre and we checked that on our way for an evening meal at the Kyoto Asian Street Food restaurant in Parnell Street but not before we had a look at the Main Guard, a distinctive and nicely restored 17th century building.

Kyoto, upstairs over Boyle’s bookmakers, is popular and was busy. The menu is wide-ranging with options under various headings such as Sushi, Curries, Donburi, Noodles, and Wok. There was even dessert, an interesting one. We hadn’t come across Banana Katsu (with ice cream) before so we shared it and the deep-fried crumbed banana (4.95) was delicious. Also delicious was the plum wine (5.50). I took the wine instead of the sake (6.00).

Back then to the hotel for a pint in the bar. After a good breakfast we said our goodbyes and the friendly folks at the front desk didn’t allow us go empty-handed, gifting us a top class fruit cake on exit, one that we still enjoying!

The Full Irish, local produce, at the Minella

Later, on their website, I noted that the Minella is well known for its cake baking. It is also well-known for its association with horse-racing and all their runners (most if not all over fences) have Minella in the name.

We were heading home now in the sun but had one final call to make. You really shouldn’t drive the Clonmel-Cahir road without making a stop at the Apple Farm, owned and run by Con Traas, just be careful entering and exiting as this is quite a fast road (well, let me say there are fast drivers on it).

Sunset in Clonmel

The farm is beautifully kept; even the shed where the shop is situated is brightened up with some thriving roses. You may pick your own strawberries here but we took the easy option and bought a few punnets of the beauties. Also came away with lots of bottles of juices (some of cider too!), jars of jams and packets of his apple crisps (yet to be tried). 

The Apple Farm

I have often mentioned his sparkling apple juice here and it is still a lovely product. But my new favourite is the Apple and Raspberry juice, an ideal summer-time drink. Thanks Con. Cheers.

On this trip:
Enjoyable lunch at historic Barron's Bakery

A Can of Bass and A Swallow in a Country Pub

My Nire Gap Walk. Thirsty Work.