Cheers 201112: JJ Corry, Black's Distillery, Station to Station, Maharani

 Cheers 201112. 

JJ Corry, Black's Distillery, Station to Station, Maharani

Maharani Christmas Hamper

The perfect gift for the Gin lover in your life.

We were so honoured to have all our gift boxes sell out already! But don't worry we've put together some very lovely Maharani Christmas Hampers. A bottle of our award-winning Maharani Gin, two signature Maharani/ Rebel City Distillery glasses and a little sweet treat. The perfect gift for the Gin lover in your life including yourself.

Maharani gin is zested with pomelo, and uniquely spiced with cassia and nutmeg mace, all sourced from an organic farming co-operative in Kerala, India. Produced by Rebel City Distillery, which is located in the old Ford building in the docklands of Cork City. It is the first distillery in Cork City in over 50 years. More details here

Station to Station Wine have...  

Premium Hampers, gift packs with Ireland's best indie spirits and craft cocktails. Zalto Glassware, boxed Port and Champagne Gift Ideas. A serious Cellar List. We have it all.

Check it all out here

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Free hamper time! Black's Brewery & Distillery have news!

Well it's getting to that time of year folks and we wanted to finish 2020 with a bang! We have a very special offer for any of you that would like to become a member of the founders club and invest in a cask next week. Any new members or existing members purchasing a cask over this weekend will be sent the Mega Founders Hamper (worth €750)  for free! Please contact us below if you would like to avail of this offer!  To avoid confusion this free hamper is available when you invest in a full cask from our founders club program. This offer is open to new and existing founder club members. Stock is very limited so if you are interested please reach out now without delay!  All orders need to be confirmed and deposit paid by close of business Tuesday to give time to get your hamper to you before the big day! More info here. J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey The Christmas season is well and truly upon us at J.J. Corry HQ! Before we wrap up the year we have two very special events to share with you. J.J. Corry x Milroy's of Soho  Bonder's Blending Session and J.J. Corry Christmas Pop-Up Details here

Cheers 200912. The Drinks Digest. Fidelity. Whiplash. O'Briens Wine. Clonakilty Distillery. Wines of the World.

Cheers 200912. The Drinks Digest. Fidelity. Whiplash. O'Briens Wine. Clonakilty Distillery. Wines of the World.

Fidelity beer festival to return in 2021

Founded by Whiplash and The Big Romance, Fidelity Beer Festival is set to return to Dublin’s

Mansion House on July 16th and 17th 2021, following a break this year.

Building on the success of the first event, Fidelity will once again bring world-class breweries

to the city, many for the first time, for two evening tasting sessions over two days. Unlike

many other beer festivals, Fidelity’s concept is simple – your ticket includes all your beer

samples. No tokens or cash required! Once you collect your specially designed tasting glass

at the door, you’re free to start sampling some of the best beers from a line-up of both

international and local breweries. Whiplash will be creating some limited-edition beers for

the event too.

The festival is designed to allow guests sample at their leisure and take the time to meet all

the fantastic brewers while they serve their incredible beer. As with the previous event,

many of the beers available for sampling will be pouring in Ireland for the very first time,

and each session will have a completely different roster of beers. There will also be a

selection of Dublin’s finest DJs and more to add to the entertainment. The full line-up of

breweries will be announced in 2021.

Tickets cost €62.50 + fees and will be available on Thursday 10th December at 9am from

fidelity.beer.

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Lynne Coyle MW takes you through her picks in

O'Briens Annual Fine Wine Sale

Château Phélan Ségur

CULT, ICONIC & CLASSIC WINES AT REMARKABLE VALUE IN OUR ANNUAL FINE WINE SALE
By Lynne Coyle MW | O'Briens Wine Director


Our annual Fine Wine Sale starts in-store and online 11am Monday 7th December, with our carefully curated selection of cult, iconic and classic wines. On offer are very individual wines from top estates, some famous brands and some made in tiny quantities along with a few new treasures joining the line-up. So, whether gift buying, treating yourself or investing in an exceptional bottle to cellar, this once a year sale presents the opportunity to buy unique wines at exceptional prices, here are a few suggestions to mull over. See the full list of our Fine Wines below (While stocks last, limited quantities available online, customer quotas apply, check your local store too)!  Read more here.

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Clonakilty Distillery Back Open! We're delighted to announce we are opening our Distillery Gift Shop from Saturday 5th December.   Open every Wednesday – Saturday  11:30am – 6pm.

We will also be opening our doors on Tuesday 8th December for the Christmas in Clonakilty Shopping day. More info here *****   Wines Of The World Final Virtual Tasting of the year Our final virtual tasting of 2020 will take place on Friday December 18th. Valued at €95, you can order your case now for only €79.99. You will even receive a little surprise as a thank you for all your support over the year! It is the final few days for orders on our Virtual Tasting Case. More details here

Cheers 200412. The Drinks Digest. Red Nose Wine. Hopfully. Wines of the World. O'Briens Wine. Rascals.

Cheers 200412

Red Nose Wine Partners With Enrico Fantasia!

The new wines keep on coming and we have partnered with Enrico Fantasia to bring in more hand made wines, many of which are organic and biodynamic. Enrico is from Venice and is almost as famous a fisherman as he is a wine expert. He works with all of the top restaurants around the country and is a co-owner in Piglet, a traditional trattoria style wine bar in Temple Bar. This is where the wine importers bring their winemakers when they want to show off - a phenomenal wine list and a great night out ( whenever we get out again ). See more details here.

Who else loves the Hopfully Beers?

It's starting to feel like our favorite time of the year, it's almost Christmas time! We've got a brand new webpage with some exclusive items, including this beautiful Gift Box, the perfect gift for someone special. Click on the link below to place your order, make sure to use this promo-code HOP100 to get a 10% discount on your purchase. The promo-code will expire on the 4th of December. More details here

The gift box includes: 1 Graciosa Tropical IPA 5.3% 1 Insideout New England Pale Ale 5% 1 Legswap Raspberry & Lime Sour 4% 1 Shinebright New England IPA 6% 1 Insideout Glass 40cl

MULLED WINE

Wines Of The World 

have tips on mulled wine, the traditional winter warmer...

A Traditional Winter favourite, Winter Warmer Mulled Wine blends the finest ingredients to give a character of subtle cinnamon, clove spices and zesty citrus fruits. Making your life easy – simply garnish with cinnamon sticks and an orange slice. More here

Paul Barry advises to check

O'Briens Whiskey Offer, including Teelings.

Irish whiskey is experiencing a renaissance with many new distilleries setting up, showcasing the diverse range of whiskey now produced on the island. Teeling Whiskey, winners of over 60 international awards over the last few years, are placing themselves at the forefront of this movement. Their goal is to produce a collection of whiskeys that illustrate the breadth of choice and the different styles and flavours that Irish whiskey has to offer. With this in mind I have picked out three whiskeys that show case the versatility of their range.

Whichever you choose we have plenty on offer in our Irish Whiskey Sale, with 10% off a selection of great Teeling whiskeys.

The Rascal's Question: Fancy a case of Happy Days?

We’ve more news than you can shake a stick at. First up, our new off-licence is open for business. Now you can bring home your favourite Rascals beers, and a few fancy guest beers, from Rascals HQ Inchicore. We’re exclusively selling mini kegs of our Pilot Kit Series as well. Don't forget your shopping bag! Opening times for the off-licence are the same as our restaurant: from 4pm Wed – Sun, from 1pm Sat and Sun. More here

Cheers #24: Blacks Distillery. Teeling Masterclass. Waterford's Organic Spirit. White Hag Smash. Austria's Sweet Wines.

Cheers #24: Blacks Distillery. Waterford's Organic Spirit.

White Hag Smash. Teeling Masterclass. Austria's Sweet Wines.

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Blacks Distillery Hitting Milestones

Cask No. 100 was filled this week! It's great to meet this first major production milestone ! It feels like we have been filling casks for years until a reminder like this comes along. The distillery is in full swing with both the  finest single malt and single pot still spirit  flowing well. To reach cask 100 this week really does feels great! Thanks to all the founders for your support in helping us reach this historic milestone. Founders with cask numbers 100-200 will be contacted over the course of next two weeks to confirm your inscriptions! More on Blacks Brewery and Distillery here.

IRELAND'S FIRST CERTIFIED ORGANIC WHISKY IS AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE FROM 12TH OCTOBER

The Arcadian Series represents our otherworldly garden of delights. We sought out maverick farmers, inspirational growers, iconoclasts whose ethos & way of life respects the land & the old ways in the pursuit of pure flavours over yield imperatives. Gaia, the neopagan goddess of yore, a personification of Mother Earth herself, is a fitting custodian to bring forth Ireland’s first whisky distilled from certified organic Irish barley. More info from Waterford Distillery here

White Hag's Brand New Union Series

Union is the unification of two or more things, for a common purpose. SmaSh stands for “Single malt and Single hop”. Our Union series looks to expose our fans to some of the exciting hop varieties that we use here in our brewery . Each beer consists of only one malt - Irish Ale malt, and one hop; in this case we’re showcasing Australia’s famous Galaxy hops, and the Strata hop from Oregan, US. We use the hop throughout the entire brewing process, from kettle to dry hop, to showcase every aspect of the variety. It's an expensive beer to make, but a one off we want you to taste, so we're doing a 10% discount on the double mix case for the next 5 days - stock up in case the off licenses close! More here. 'A Taste Of Dublin 8' with Teeling Whiskey Join Master Distiller, Alex Chasko, Head of Operations, Iain Wood & Global Brand Ambassador, Robert Caldwell for a live exclusive masterclass on November 5th, where they will be tasting a premium selection of our Distillery Exclusive and Dublin Distilled Whiskeys. The masterclass will be streamed virtually via Zoom and attendees will be treated to A Taste of Dublin 8 Pack including 30ml samples of our next Fill Your Own Experience (launching soon), our 1996 Rum Cask ‘Fill Your Own’ Release available exclusively in our distillery gift shop, our Distillery Exclusive Chinkapin Oak Whiskey and our soon to be released Peated Single Malt that is fully Dublin distilled in the Teeling Distillery. The pack will also include our Dublin Pale Ale Beer collaboration with DOT Brew. T&Cs Apply. Tickets here PROTECTION OF ORIGIN FOR SWEET WINES FROM AUSTRIA'S LAKE NEUSIEDL Sweet gold from Rust (pictured) and the winegrowing region Neusiedlersee enjoys protection of origin. © AWMB/Marcus Wiesner As one of Austria’s most tradition-steeped wines, Ruster Ausbruch can look back on centuries of history. After in-depth deliberations within the region, this world-famous sweet wine has now been given legal protection of its origin as Ruster Ausbruch DAC, creating the first DAC regulation exclusively for sweet wine. With this, the number of Austria’s protected designations of origin in the DAC system has grown to sixteen. “Ruster Ausbruch is a unique and distinctive part of our Austrian heritage,” emphasises Chris Yorke, CEO of the Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB). “The fact that it has now been legally protected by the DAC regulations is an important step on our way to promoting regionally typical wines.” More here.

Sangria Recipe from Kinsale Mead Company. Cheers #5

Sangria Recipe from Kinsale Mead Company. Cheers #5 A nice glass or jug of Mead Sangria is fabulous on a sunny day, barbecue optional. Recreate the full festival experience at home. Here's the foolproof Celtic Mead Sangria Recipe: 2 parts Hazy Summer Mead 1/2 part Cointreau or Triple Sec orange liqueur 1 1/2 parts cranberry juice Dash of fresh lime juice Shake over ice with fresh lime juice and garnish with an orange slice. Order now 🌞⛱https://www.kinsalemeadco.ie/mead-shop/ For a lower alcohol version, try replacing Cointreau with orange bitters. #drinkresponsibly

The Buyer on Exploring New Zealand regionality
Last week, in the first in a series of webinars, New Zealand Winegrowers asked if consumers and the trade can ‘get past the gooseberry’ to talk about Sauvignon Blanc as a wine in its own right. Jane Skilton MW joined three master sommeliers John Szabo, David Keck and Ronan Sayburn, to debate the issue in a debate that was attended by 500 participants worldwide, including Peter Ranscombe...Read More

Another Great Tuscan Vintage

The wine gods were smiling on Tuscany's dress circle again, with another great vintage rolling onto the shelves.

By Tom Hyland | Posted Monday, 01-Jun-2020

Of all the world's great red wines, almost none requires one's patience as much as Brunello di Montalcino.

I'm not necessarily talking about the wine's aging potential here, rather I'm referring to the time you have to wait before the wine is released, as it first becomes available on the market five years after the vintage. More here... via Wine-Searcher

Wine of the Week from Spanish Wine Lover

La Montesa 2017 Tinto

Palacios Remondo, Rioja

This is the first organically certified vintage for La Montesa. Grapes are sourced from the eponymous vineyard on the foothills of Monte Yerga in Rioja Oriental. It shows the positive effects of altitude to offset a hot vintage and to add some punch to Garnacha. Scented nose evoking Mediterranean scrubland. This fruit-driven, lively, delicious red is widely available. A smart buy to carry on drinking well when belts have to be tightened. More here from Spanish Wine Lover

Rockstar Reds from Wines Direct

We came across Pier Paolo Antolini on a quest for new Italian wines. We heard rave reviews about an up and coming winemaker, known by locals as Amarone Boy. After tasting his Valpolicella Ripasso, it will tell you what Amarone Boy is all about - fantastic wines that exemplify the best of Valpolicella with intense aromas and impressive smoothness. See the full line-up here