Taste of the Week
Kerry Lane Pale Ale
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| Cotton Ball pic |
“This is one terrific ale,” I thought to myself last night as I sipped the cool Kerry Lane Pale Ale (5%), made a very short walk from me by the Cotton Ball Brewing Company. I hadn’t had a Kerry Lane with a while and was very pleasantly surprised by the reacquaintance.
I’m not the only one pleased with our latest Taste of the Week as the Kerry Lane won gold at last October’s Blas na hEireann Awards in Dingle. It is full bodied and “the classic aromatic hop flavour is accentuated by a late kettle hop addition”. I had bought a bottle (or two) at the Cotton Ball’s off licence but I’ve also enjoyed it in draught at the bar itself, along with the other beers being produced in the attached micro-brewery.
The beers are finding their way around the country now and indeed getting high praise. Recently, Leslie Williams nominated their Indian Summer as the Irish Examiner Beer of the Week. Other mainstays are their Lynch’s Stout and Mayfield Lager. Watch out too for specials. After all, Indian Summer started life as a seasonal but turned out to be a beer for all seasons.
The Cotton Ball, owned by the Lynch family, started brewing in late 2013. The pub itself was bought by their ancestor Humphrey J. Lynch (he appears on the bottles) in the 1870s.
