Beer of the Week: Whitefield Old Smoke Porter, 5.4% ABV
500 ml bottle Bradleys
Explore the dark, delightful depths of an exceptional brew!
Delve into the dark depths of Whitefield’s Old Smoke porter, an exceptional brew by Cuilán Loughnane that stands as a testament to the art of balance in craft beer.
With its pitch-black pour and tantalising smoky aroma accented with
Beer of the Week
Whitefield Bock 7.0% ABV, 500ml bottle Bradleys
Another top beer from Templemore. One that those Bavarian monk brewers would appreciate.
Whitefield's traditional strong lager has a clear copper colour with a persistent and soft off-white silky head. There’s toasty malt in the aromatics and more on the rich, deep, and complex palate. There’s an old legend that Bavarian monks subsisted on bock during long spells of fasting and indeed you feel that some sweet malty sustenance is being delivered with every sip. Maybe that's where the saying "there's eating and drinking in it" came from😉.
The sweet, toasty, nutty aroma and flavour is an excellent addition to a hearty meal of veal, pork, or beef or a nice companion to an earthy cheese course.
Very Highly Recommended. Not altogether a surprise as Whitefield is consistently coming up with the goods, particularly when it comes to ales and lagers and bock is a form of lager.
The brewery kit in Templemore was made to make wheat beer. Brewer Cuilan expands: “So it comes as no surprise that our best sellers in both draught and bottle are Weiss beers. This makes it tricky to brew drier hoppy beers, so we focus on the malty styles of beer with plenty of sweetness.” And their Bock is a fine example, one that those Bavarian monks would recognise and appreciate.
Traditionally Bock is a sweet, relatively strong (6.3–7.6% by volume), a lightly hopped lager that should be clear, with colour ranging from light copper to brown, and a bountiful, persistent off-white head. That’s a summation from Wikipedia. Doppelbock is the bigger and stronger brother of Bock and others in the family include Maibock, Eisenbock, and Weizenbock.
Beer of the Week
Whitefield The Banker Wheat Beer, 5.2% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys
Tipperary's Whitefield Brewery was made to make wheat beer!
Believe it or not, the brewery kit in Templemore’s Whitefield Brewery was made to make wheat beer. Really!
Colour here is a mid-amber and you can see fountains of little bubbles rising to the soft white head. Aromas are on the modest side, with hints of spice and rye. On the palate, there is no shortage of flavour, banana and clove included. An excellent supple malty drink with flavours continuing to a refreshing finish.
Cuilan again: “A slight twist on the German classic wheat beer the addition of rye malt gives a drier, lighter flavour profile and is very refreshing on warm summer days. Yes! I know we live in Ireland.”
No doubt the brewery kit (and brewer) worked their magic here and The Banker is Beer of the Week. Very Highly Recommended.
CorkBillyBeers #53
Craft with Rye River, Rascals, Whitefield and Camba.
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Rye River Upstream Pale Ale, 4.5% ABV, 500 ml bottle Dunnes Stores
Rye River sums this up neatly: ..Dry hopped classic pale ale…..bitter, citrus and malty.
Amber gold is the colour with a white head that doesn’t hang about, at least when poured from the bottle straight from the fridge. As the label indicates, it is really well balanced, the citrus aromas being matched by the hop bitterness with the malt keeping any potential hop extremes in check.
It is light and very drinkable, yet there is a good bite to it and it is also refreshing. You may well have had this previously under its original name of "Rosie's Pale Ale”. This is my first tasting of it and it is Very Highly Recommended.
Geek Bits
Best Before 07.24 (bought 05.10.23)
Pairs with: Grilled meat, spicy sausages, dishes with garlic,
Hops: Chinook, Columbus, El Dorado, Mosaic, Vic Secret
Malts: Carapils, Honey Malt, Pale Malt, Vienna Malt
IBU: 37
Format: Draught, bottle, can
2022 World Beer Awards: Bronze Medal
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Rascals The Phoenix Dark Autumnal Ale 5.3% ABV, 440 ml can Bradleys
“Savour the taste of Autumn with our subtly smoked dark ale. Warm your bones with this medium-bodied cold-fermented smoke brown ale.”
That’s the invite from Dublin brewery Rascals. The colour is indeed a dark brown/black with a slight fleeting head. Aromas are smoky, not overly forceful, with a hint of bacon frying in the next room. And yes, it is nuts and chocolate combined on the palate to give a dark sweetness. The balance is pretty good all through to the smooth finish.
Highly Recommended.
Rascals say: The Phoenix Dark has been cold fermented for a nobler taste and fuller body. It’s a real fireside beer for the evenings drawing in and kicking up leaves on autumnal walks in the park….. Dark autumnal ale with a delightful palette of flavours, nice body, and smooth finish.
Geek Bits
Malt: Beech Smoked Malt, Melanoidin, Cara Blond, Dark Crystal Malt, Chocolate Wheat, Oak Smoked Malt, Lager Malt.
Hops: Hops: Hallertau Mittelfrüh,
Yeast: LAX
ABV: 5.3%
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Whitefield Brewery Morning Dew Saison style, 6.0% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys
Realised I was a good bit late coming to this one as I read the label from the Templemore brewery: “Ah Spring! Finally, the spirits start to lift, the birds begin to sing and the hope of a long good summer is just around the next bend. To celebrate we’ve brewed a beer with a variety of traditional grains in the French Saison style.”
The summer was long. But not so good. Having waited all summer, I just had to wait a bit longer as that head took its time to settle down. Malt makes a smokey impact on the aromas. And there’s no shortage of malt in the flavours either. The taste though is light and refreshing, and a hint of clove adds interest. Just the job for refreshment after work on a summer's day and not too bad either on a wet October night with Storm Babet for company!
Very Highly Recommended. The beer that is, not the storm. I’m thinking this Saison from Tipp is up there with the best of them, including the Dupont. Whitefield says: “it is a seasonal beer brewed with traditional grains in a French saison style”.
Geek Bits
Brewed with water from own well.
Ingredients: Malted barley, spelt and rye, hops and yeast.
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Camba Märzen 5.8% ABV, 500 ml bottle Bradleys
“It is the love for the craft of brewing, the desire to discover and a unique landscape shaped by nature and culture in a variety of ways that make every Camba a special taste experience: a beer with character.”
Most of the German beers we come across in Ireland are from breweries whose history reaches back over multiple centuries. Not Camba! "Camba Bavaria" was originally founded in 2008 as a showroom for the brewing equipment manufacturer BrauKon in Truchtlaching.
Founder Markus Lohner wanted to show customers from all over the world how his brewing systems work and the variety of beers that could be brewed with them. His sample beers tasted so well that in a short few years, Camba has carved out a place for itself in the beer industry with a range of traditional and international beers.
This Marzen has a darkish colour, red in the gold, and a soft white head. There are sweet malty notes in the aromas. There is an immediately noticeable if slight, bitterness on the palate along with the nutty tones from the malt. Somewhat fuller than regular lagers, this is a smooth and well-balanced beer, refreshing too.
They may well be a “young” Bavarian brewery but, like their older siblings, they have food recommendations for this bottom-fermented beer and they are roasts, home cooking or roasted chicken.
Geeks Bits
Type of beer: Marzen
Alcohol Vol: 5.8%
Bitter units/ IBU: 16
Malt: Pilsner, Munich, caramel malts
Yeast: Bavarian lager yeast
Hops: tradition
Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops, yeast
CorkBillyBeers #52
https://www.corkbilly.com/2023/12/happy-christmas-to-you-and-yours.html
Craft with Whitefield, Lineman, Blacks, and Lomza
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Whitefield Harvest Ale 5.8% ABV, 375 ml bottle Bradleys
Seasonal. Classic tastes to suit the seasons. Brewed in Tipperary.
“To celebrate each year’s harvest we brew a beer with a unique ingredient. This year we are using raspberries from Con Traas’s farm in Cahir in a blend of sour beer and weisss beer. The raspberries were added at the start of cold maceration to preserve their unique flavour.”
Orange is the colour (opaque) here and the white head vanishes quickly. The longish cork is secured with the normal wire trap and takes some removing. Smell the beer and you get a sour whiff, no hint of the wheat beer as yet! No hint of the raspberries from the Apple Farm though I did detect a hint of crab apples.
That refreshing sourness rushes through on the palate, a concentrated hit, some clove notes interspersed, that my palate welcomed,. Probably one of the rarest flavours I've ever tasted. But I'm not backing off. I'm ready for more, taking my time though, sipping small the more to enjoy the flavour and the refreshment.
Out on its own in more ways than one! Go for it. Very Highly Recommended.
Best before date is March 2025 (bought 10.10.23). Wonder if I got a few and kept them until ‘25! They could well be even better.
Whitefield is a small family-owned brewery dedicated to brewing authentic, traditional-style beers. “Our focus is on using the best available malt and hops from farmers and people we’ve actually met and visited. Beers are brewed using a traditional style German brewhouse, matured over many months and then we self-distribute all our beers to publicans and off licences we respect and trust. This we believe, allows us to provide you, the customer, with a genuinely authentic beer.” See our feature on the Tipperary brewer from earlier this year here.
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Lineman KHZ IPA, 7% ABV, 440 ml can Bradleys
There’s this promise on the label: “With the bitterness to refresh and the fruitiness to satisfy your hop cravings..”
Lineman’s KHZ is back after a 2-year break, “one of our dankest and funkiest IPAs thanks to the lashings of Ekuanot and Azacca we give it.”
Colour is a light orange but a very hazy one whose white head holds on for a brief moment. Aromas tell of the dankness to come. And it comes in a power-packed rush, bitterness welling across the palate as a shoal of strong citrus flavours swirl about. The dry hopping has worked like a dream but this is no heavy metal performance. It is Booker T cool and smooth, knocking out a rhythm of fruity hop aromas. Jamming it up so you don't want it to end.
Very Highly Recommended. Kilohertz or kilohops, KHZ is just buzzing, just the job for the Lineman himself.
Geek Bits
BB: 15.08.24. Bought 25.09.23
ABV: 6.9%
Hops: Azzaca, Ekuanot, Centennial, Citra
Suitable for vegans
Format: 440 ml can
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Blacks KPA Kinsale Pale Ale, 5.0% ABV, 500 ml bottle Dunnes Stores
Can’t blame folks for blowing their own trumpet! “Our world-famous KPA is all about perfect balance and amazing drinkability.” I have been drinking this since 2014 and would gladly help with that trumpet.
You know the story. This is an American-style Pale Ale bursting with Cascade and Citra Hops. Tropical and citrus flavours are beautifully balanced with malt sweetness. Loved the way the flavours spread over the palate from the first sip and that dry clean lingering finish. Indeed, linger is the word. Take your time sipping, the better to enjoy every single drop.
The Magic of Malt and Hops
The delicate balance between malt and hops is what makes this pale ale so special. Some brewers go too heavy on the malt, but this recipe allows the hops—a mix of Centennial, Cascade, and Citra—to shine through with their grapefruit, lime, and other citrus flavours. The malt still plays its part, giving the beer a delicious mouthfeel and a crisp clean finish.
This is how Blacks themselves put it: Blacks escape the mundane of the mass market, producing beers with passion, personality and lots of hops. American-style Pale Ale bursting with Cascade and Citra Hops. Tropical and citrus flavours are beautifully balanced with malt sweetness.
Very Highly Recommended
Geek Bits
Style: Top Fermented*******************
Lomza Lager 5.7% ABV, 500 ml bottle Dunnes Stores
Spotted this Polish lager on the shelf and thought, thanks to my long-standing European spirit, that I’d give it a twirl.
Their recipe consists of nothing more than three carefully selected ingredients: water, barley malt and hops. It is distinguished by being non-pasteurised.
It certainly looks (with its gold colour and white head and millions of bubbles) like a lager. Smells like one also with its malt qualities prominent. The flavour is excellent and the beer is refreshing, a simple well-made lager.
“At Łomża we believe that simplicity is a great thing. In an increasingly complex world, we offer clarity - just the highest quality ingredients with nothing to hide. The only complicated thing about Łomża is our name.”
The Łomża brewery is one of the last remaining independent big-capacity breweries in Poland. “The decisions we make directly affect us and our business. We don’t compromise on quality. We stay true to ourselves and our aim to produce good quality, honest beer.”
Expiry date is next January. I didn't take too much notice of the non-pasteurised note even though it is flagged very clearly on the label until I photographed the bottle for this post. The cans and bottles of pasteurised beers are run through a hot water spray that’s around 140 degrees to kill any bacteria and stop any yeast still in the beer from growing. Unpasteurised don’t get that treatment.
CorkBillyBeers #21
Craft Wheat beer with Rye River, Tom Crean, Whitefield, Ballykilcavan
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Rye River Backwaters American Wheat, 6.2% ABV, 500 ml bottle Supervalu
Beers brewed in this American Wheat style do not exhibit the clove or high levels of banana-like esters that are hallmarks of the Bavarian wheat beer styles. And this is the case here. Regular European wheat beers use special strains of yeast that produce notes of banana and clove as by-products of fermentation.
Backwaters has the clear golden colour you’d expect from a wheat beer. Dank aromas rise from the glass in a diplomatic kind of way, nothing extreme, plus mild aromas of passion fruit and citrus. The hops, Cascade and Strata, bring bright fresh fruit.
With the darker colour and malt prominent, you are inclined to think lager rather than wheat beer. But everything’s fine in this beer garden from start to a very satisfactory clean and crisp finish, hops and malts combining more or less perfectly.
And that dankness? Well it comes from the Strata which has been described as “Passion fruit meets pot.” Along with the exotic fruit comes this herbal note of drifting cannabis (the dankness)
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Cascade is one of the best known hops and has been described as the hop “that made hops famous”. Bursting with zesty grapefruit flavour and aroma, Cascade, with its bright citrus and some soft floral and spice, is a real treat and is credited with the making of American Pale. In this wheat beer, it also plays a crucial role. In fairness, Rye River have used their ingredients well and we have a good one in our hands.
Very Highly Recommended.
Geeks Bits
Malts: CARAPILS, VIENNA MALT, WHEAT, ALE MALT,
Hops: CASCADE, STRATA
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Tom Crean Druid’s Wheat Beer, 4.2% ABV, 440ml can, Carry Out Killarney
Druid’s, the wheat beer, “celebrates the landscape”, according to the brewery. “… a beer that gives acknowledgement to our rich local ancient history, we used delicately smoked oak malted barley, the reduced hop bill allows the full wheat and yeast flavours to dominate.”
Colour is a hazy pale lemon/yellow with a soft white head that soon loses height. The delicately smoked barley and the yeast has its say as seems to have been the intention here. Finishes with a refreshing tartness.
Not your classic wheat beer, but not a million miles away either. Brewer Bill Shepherd has his way of doing things. He has his fans. In Christmas 2021 the Independent’s Aoife Carrigy recommended this as one of her 10 great Irish beers to pair with festive food.
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Bill was born in Chester in the northwest of England. He worked as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade and later graduated from Chester University with a degree in Archaeology. He has retrained as a brewer and is turning out quite a range of Tom Crean beers, everything from the 1% Last man Standing to the Six Magpies Stout with lots of ales (pale and red and IPA) in between.
With a wide range of beers and ales brewed on the premises, including prize winners, their brewery bar is the perfect place to enjoy a refreshing pint and soak in the atmosphere. Head over to the brewery page here for more info…
For a recent post on the brewery go here.
Recommended
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Whitefield The Banker Weissbier, 5.2% ABV, 500 ml bottle No. 21
Whitefield’s Cuilan tells us about this beer: A slight twist on the German classic wheat beer the addition of rye malt gives a drier, lighter flavour profile and is very refreshing on warm summer days. Yes! I know we live in Ireland.”
The brewery kit in Templemore was made to make wheat beer. Really. “Our brewhouse was originally commissioned by Pauliner, so it is designed as a wheat beer brewery. The fermentation tanks are low, wide and flat bottomed to help maintain consistent flavour profile while using a volatile yeast. So it comes as no surprise that our best sellers in both draught and bottle are Weiss beers. This makes it tricky to brew drier hoppy beers, so we focus on the malty styles of beer with plenty of sweetness.”
Colour here is a mid-amber, no haze and you can see fountains of little bubbles rising. The head doesn’t hang about. Aromas are on the modest side, hints of spice perhaps, rye perhaps. On the palate, there is no shortage of flavour, banana and clove included. An excellent supple drink with flavours continuing to a refreshing finish.
Highly Recommended.
Recent detailed post on Whitefield here.
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Ballykilcavan Robinson's Revenge Raspberry Wheat Beer 5.00% ABV, 440ml can CraftCentral
In the winter of 1861, after a bitter quarrel, the famous gardener William Robinson stormed out of Ballykilcavan opening all the greenhouses to kill the plants in them. This American Raspberry Wheat Beer gets his name from that vengeful act. That’s the story, at least one side of it, behind the beer’s name.
Colour is a darkish amber/orange, murky (enough to enable dastardly acts). Aromas are modest with hops taking a firm grip early on. And never really letting go though the raspberry (listed in the ingredients) gets a turn in the mouth before the US hops closes its grip again.
Ingredients: Water, wheat, Barley, Oats, Raspberries, Hops, Yeast.
The producers: “Ballykilcavan Farm has been the home of our family for 13 generations. We have lived and worked here since 1639, and diversification has always been important to keep our farm viable for future generations. When I took over Ballykilcavan from my father in 2004, my motivation was to try to sustain it so that someone else would be able to take it over from me.”
Ballykilcavan is an amazing place. We recently published a post on the brewery there and you may read it here.
Recommended
