Of Art And Brewing. Five Little Cans Of Hopfully. Inside Out, Kneesocks, Legswap, Graciosa, Shinebright.

A Quart of Ale± #30

Moving on over to craft with Hopfully.

Of Art And Brewing. Five Little Cans Of Hopfully. 

Inside Out, Kneesocks, Legswap, Graciosa, Shinebright. 

Based in Ireland, Hopfully are what's called a gypsy or contract brewery. They may be gypsy brewers but they're not too hard to find. Metalman in Waterford have been engaged a few times.

 "Each one of our labels is designed by different illustrators to complement the uniqueness we aim to bring to every brew. I hope you enjoy drinking our beers as much as we enjoy brewing them." They are doing well and have lots of friends online. Below are a few quotes.

"Great and unique beers. I love all the art involved in the brand! Highly recommend it!"

"They've an insanely tasty selection of beers. The beet juice was a personal favourite. I get excited every time they announce something new and also for the artwork hugging the can."

"This is a poetry dressed up as a beer. Quenching the thirsty of our soul! It's beautiful sensation to look at the design of the cans then drink the tasteful and enchanted liquid in it!"

Hopfully was founded in 2017 by three friends with a shared love for beer, art, and food. Hopfully Brewing aims to bring it all together to the public in innovative ways. The company combines modern brewing and blending with visual arts. Passionate about working with vibrant fresh talents in Ireland, the brewery works directly with up-and-coming artists.

"We founded Hopfully with the mission to create a series of beers that would introduce distinctive flavors and would give emerging local artists a platform to showcase their work. We want to inspire collaboration among a wide variety of talented people, primarily to promote who they are and what they do, helping to facilitate the dawn of a new connected and innovative creative community. Not only does Hopfully aim to promote the work of individual artists, but we are also committed to building an interdisciplinary network of creative people. 

Are you an artist? Get in touch!"

Hopfully “Insideout” Pale Ale, 5.0%, 300ml can via Bradley’s

Pull the tab on this artfully decorated can and a burst of piney hops jumps out. Colour is lemon, hazy with a white head that soon settles down to a thin lacy disc. And that hoppy backbone -  a king’s ransom of Mosaic and Simcoe have been utilised here - continues all the way through to the finish. The hops also contribute concentrated and “lovely notes of bright juicy tangerine, citrus, ..” 

They say: Mosaic to the whirlpool and double dry-hopped with some more Mosaic and Simcoe, Insideout is silky, with a smooth mouthfeel, low bitterness, and finishes slightly sweet.

I say: More or less perfect

Details:

Malts: Maris Otter, Flaked Oats, Wheat, Vienna, and Dextrin

Hops: Mosaic and Simcoe

ABV – 5%

Hopfully Brewing’s “Graciosa” Tropical IPA 5.3%, 300 and 400ml can, via Bradley’s

Colour is close to a Citron Pressé, cloudy. Soft white head sticks around. Citrus and more exotic too in the aromas. The beer has been dry-hopped with Citra and Chinook. And the hops are prominent yet the beer itself is very well balanced. Overall, a very pleasant and a satisfying mouthful, full of flavour and refreshing. Thumbs up for this lip-smacking beer.

They say: Brewed in Waterford by Metalman for Hopfully. The label warns: drink fresh, do not age! It is unfiltered and unpasteurised. Indiscreetly charming and full of character. 

Dublin based Hopfully match art with the beer and the colourful cartoon on the can is by Albert Terre.

Hopfully “Shinebright” IPA 6.0%, 300ml can Bradley’s

Colour of this IPA is a light gold, hazy. Head soon reduces to flimsy proportions. Aromas speak of the tropics or at least of the fruit from thereabouts. This juicy IPA, flying “off the shelves”, has smoothness to go with the flavour yet there’s tartiness enough to get it all in balance. Skilfully executed and one to enjoy. Just a word of warning on the label: drink fresh, do not age. No danger, I reckon, of this beauty growing old.

They say: Based in Ireland, we're what's called gypsy or contract brewery. Each one of our labels is designed by different illustrators to complement the uniqueness we aim to bring to every brew. I hope you enjoy drinking our beers as much as we enjoy brewing them.

This label also features artwork by Staselle Mutabor. The  illustration is part of her SWAP project in which "parts of common images or situations are swapped with each other creating new somehow unusual and surprising senses and ideas." Have a think about that when you’re sipping!

Hopfully “Legswap” Raspberry & Lime Sour 5.0% (4% on the website), via Bradley’s

This comes with a gorgeous red hue in the glass. Crisp and refreshing on the palate with a burst of fruit and a zesty tang of citrus and a lip smacking finish. This easy-drinking sour is probably best in the summertime. Just wondering about the ABV as they say 5.0% on the can, 4% on the website. Artwork also by Stasele Mutabor.

Malts used are Wheat, Pilsner, and Dextrin while the hops is Sorachi Ace. Raspberries and Lime Juice are also included in the ingredients list and you’ll definitely note them as players on the palate. Hopfully’s recommended food pairings are Raw Oysters, Mussels, and Thai Curry.

Hopfully “Kneesocks” Mango IPA 7.0%, 330 can via Bradley’s

Colour is a lemon/yellow with a soft white head sitting on top of a very hazy body and content to stay there for a spell. Mango is the assertive leader both in the aromas and on the palate. It is quite a juicy one in the mouth, with tropical and citrus notes following from the mix of Azacca and Idaho 7 hops. So Mango all the way and a lip-smacking finish in an excellent high-quality beer.

Think this may also be brewed by Metalman in Waterford but not certain as there is no info on this on the website. In fact, Kneesocks doesn’t even get a mention on their site.

And the label is minimalist also. It does say the artwork is by the talented @ruan_van_vliet, that it is an unfiltered, unpasteurised natural beer and, yes, that it is brewed in Metalman (so not as minimalist as I first thought). Mango, by the way, is listed as an ingredient. And there’s a warning to drink it fresh - do not age!

Coming Home. Art and the Great Hunger

John Coll's Famine Funeral

Art and the Great Hunger is an exhibition of the world’s largest collection of famine related art and is being shown for the first time in Ireland. The collection, from Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, constitutes a direct link to the past of almost 6.5 million Irish, and 40 million Irish-American people. The exhibition may be viewed at Uillinn, West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen until 13 October 2018 (Monday to Saturday: 10.00 am to 4.45 pm) and will be in Derry after Christmas.

The exhibition website: The death and dispersion of 2 million people, followed by a further 2 million emigrations to the end of the century, makes the exhibition an important gesture of cultural reconnection. The Irish diaspora defines Ireland’s place in the world today. The impact of the Famine is still with its descendants—both at home and abroad.

This major undertaking aims to strengthen the deep cultural connection between Ireland and its diaspora by showcasing the world’s largest collection of Great Hunger-related art never before exhibited on Irish soil. Please join with us in making this powerful artistic, cultural and educational endeavor a memorable one.

Walk in here to the Uillinn and you will cry, silently perhaps, but you will weep for the individual losses and the communal loss that dealt a close to knockout blow to the Irish nation, a blow that still reverberates. Who knows how this country would now stand if the four million needlessly lost to us through death and emigration had remained fed and healthy.

One poor soul has reached the end of the hungry road in John Coll's Famine Funeral (above), the corpse carried by a quartet who themselves are on their last legs, each wondering who will remain to carry him. And will there be someone there to identify him and make sure he is buried in consecrated ground? Many weren't given that privilege, vagrants and new-born babies among them.

The exhibition features works that focus on the time of the famine and its aftermath. Paintings dominate but the handful of sculptures, most of them modern, make powerful statements just like Famine Funeral. Many escaped the famine by boat only to die on arrival in New York and they are honoured by Rowan Gillespie's Statistic 1 & 11.

Detail from Rowan Gillespie's Statistic 1

There are paintings by well-known artists such as Jack B. Yeats and Paul Henry. Many paintings tell of emigration, a living death as most of those about to board ship were never to return. Gorta, a stark and powerful work, tinged in blue, by Lillian Lucy Davidson, depicts a poorly attended funeral. A child is being buried. The few relations have nothing and face a future of nothingness. One fingers a rosary beads.  Eli Eli lama sabachthani? (My God why hast thou forsaken me?).

Accompanied by a rich and diverse programme of performances, talks, lectures and events at Uillinn, and off-site in other locations in West Cork, Coming Home is a unique opportunity for the people of Cork and visitors to the region alike to experience artworks by major Irish and Irish American artists of the past 170 years such as Jack B. Yeats, Daniel MacDonald, Paul Henry, William Crozier, Hughie O'Donoghue, Dorothy Cross and Alanna O'Kelly. See it in Derry( January-March 2019).

The Uillinn

Associated Events (some now completed):

Explore the West Cork schools programme; a series of artist residencies in association with the Crawford Art Gallery and University College Cork; a unique performance by acclaimed Irish artist Alanna O'Kelly for Schull Workhouse, Anáil na Beatha; a reading by Jeremy Irons of The Cummins Letter – a letter written by a local JP, in 1848, to Wellington describing conditions on Reen and appealing for help, taking place at Reen Farm Sculpture Garden, where internationally renowned artist John Jelly lives with his family; a celebration of the legacy of young women who emigrated to Australia after the Famine called 110 Skibbereen Girls; Chronicles of The Great Irish Famine concert with Declan O’Rourke and guests. There are the Famine Stories Walking Tours, garden trails at Reen Farm Sculpture Garden, an artists talk in the gallery with Robert Ballagh, the world premiere of Rua Breathnach’s Welcome To The Stranger at Skibbereen Town Hall, the Canon Goodman Concert with Lúnasa, Point Of Departure: A Lament film screening and drama workshops for children, a poetry reading by Cherry Smyth of her long form poem Famished as well as day long field trips, family friendly Discovery Boxes and numerous Heritage Centre Talks.

Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger is a major historical, cultural and educational event, spreading throughout West Cork and over 3 months, that should not be missed.
Visitors to A Taste of West Cork, take note!
See it in Derry( January-March 2019).

Art, Craft and Food Naturally at Ballymaloe

Art, Craft and Food Naturally at Ballymaloe

Palais de Poulets

Ballymaloe is a working farm, producing magic by the moment. I went through the looking glass last Wednesday and, in a few short hours, sampled this incredible place.

With Colm McCan as our guide, we passed the Palais des Poulets and stepped into a one acre bubble where all kinds of vegetables grow organically under the warm shelter. And so too do a selection of vines, though even the enthusiastic Colm knows that more magic will be needed if the fruit of these East Cork plants is to be turned into wine.

A fertile Allen imagination is at work in the calm warm place. One segment of the shelter has a newly laid carpet, of grass. Here later in the month, one hundred people will sit down for the Long Table Dinner, a night of fine food and conviviality.

Under cover clockwise from bottom left:
tomatoes, passionfruit flower, Colm with grapes,
and borage in the herb garden

Many tales illustrate the 30 year old story of Darina Allen’s Cookery School and we mingle with the students for lunch. The starter is pea soup. Sounds mundane enough. But it was excellent and the main course, with the Belly Bacon an outstanding feature, was incredibly delicious.

And the magic was sweetly evident on the dessert plate, emphasized by that natural cream from the Jersey cows, a memory of good times past but very much part of the present reality here in Ballymaloe, provided by six Jerseys that yield the milk for the table and for the students to make their butter, cheese and yoghurts.

Man does not live by bread alone, though I could think of a worse diet than that emanating from the Ballymaloe ovens. Colm now directed us to the gardens, starting with the herb garden, based on the legendary gardens of Villandry. May not have quite the scope of the Loire chateau but Ballymaloe has its surprises, including that unforgettable After Eight Mint (one of many varieties, including Banana and Orange).

Dinner. Check out that Jersey cream on the dessert plate!

Soon we were into the herbaceous border, a magnificent example of the type, and heading for the  Shell House, hardly a house, just a very small building but unforgettable. Here, some 20,000 shells have been artistically arranged (by Blott Kerr Wilson in 1995). You'll never look at mussel shells or scallop shells in the same way again. The gardens and shell house are open to the public and there is a charge.

Back in the main house, built around the remains of a 15th century Fitzgerald castle, part of which still stands, we went down to the wine cellar in the rock on which the buildings stand. Here lay treasure! Colm handled some of the great wines of the world with care and, like a good Corkman, I just looked, eyes and mouth open!

Time now for a reviving cup of coffee and where else would you go but to the tig beag, the roasting house of Mark and Golden Bean, right next to the well known wine and entertainment venue, the Grain Store. Mark was roasting a few kilograms of Ethiopian beans so we waited for the crack and soon we were sampling, via his AeroPress, the freshest coffee we had ever tasted. Mark, by the way, has a new outlet for his excellent coffee and soon you'll be able to buy and drink it at the Princes’ Street store, just opened (02/07/14), by The Rocket Man.

Mussel shells in small sample from Shell House

Now for a little cultural exercise, in the environs of the house and the field outfront. Colm introduced us to Richie Scott, the exhibition's coordinator. Richie would be our knowledgeable guide on the sculpture trail which features a walk into the middle of the cornfield to see some of the exhibits.

Richie first assembled FORM for Mount Juliet last year and now this revised version will be in Ballymaloe until September 28th. There is something for everyone here: some humorous pieces, some severe, large scale pieces and small, abstract and figurative. You may not like every piece but do bring the kids and let them loose; take your time as you walk around and let your eye wander and allow the magic in.

My favourite, in this first walkabout, was perhaps Holger Lonze, especially The Large Seabird. Enjoyed too the quirky pieces, mainly in Kilkenny Limestone, by Eileen McDonagh. And what about that stranded surfboard, high and dry at the base of the big tree? Go see for yourself. No charge.

Almost ready. Mark checks a roast.

After quite a packed few hours it was time to say goodbye. But we’ll soon be back. Already the first date is confirmed. On Thursday, 24th July, at 7.00pm, a Krug Champagne tasting with Nicole Burke, Krug USA Brand Ambassador, will be held in the Ballymaloe Cookery School (note venue). Contact colm@ballymaloe.ie for further details and bookings.

And all that magic? Probably the usual formula: 5% inspiration, 95% perspiration.

Some upcoming Ballymaloe events

Ballymaloe Garden Festival, August 30th and 31st. www.ballymaloe.ie

Feel Good Food: Let’s Cook, one day course with Chef and Nutritionist Debbie Shaw at the Cookery School, Monday July 21st. www.cookingisfun.ie

Master It with Rory O’Connell, Two Day Course which sees Rory teaching a slection from his book. Wednesday Jul;y 30th to Friday Augist 1st.  www.cookingisfun.ie

On the FORM trail.

China teacups return to Kinsale after 80 years!

China teacups return to Kinsale after 80 years!

What better time to bring an exhibition of china teacups to Kinsale than during the Kinsale Gourmet Festival! Known for her colourful, sumptuous paintings of interiors, artist Róisín O'Farrell is introducing a collection of delightful paintings based on her Grandmother's china teacups that will go on exhibit between two venues this Tuesday to Sunday 20th October in the scenic harbour town of Kinsale.
As part of the ever popular foodie weekend in Kinsale 11 -13th October her paintings will be on show in Fishy Fishy Restaurant and at The Gallery Kinsale on Main street.
Speaking of the exhibition celebrity chef & Fishy Fishy proprietor Martin Shanahan said “When The Gallery Kinsale approached us to joint host the exhibition it was an obvious choice as Róisín's teacup paintings are bursting with light and colour, brimming with character, good fun and a bit of devilment; just the kind of atmosphere we enjoy during the gourmet festival!”
Róisín paints bright, vibrantly colorful paintings in textured, buttery oils with a contemporary finish. Her work is influenced by a sense of home, and feature warm, light filled period interiors, tumbled families of rain boots, and quirky china teacups.
The beautiful antique china belonged to Róisín’s grandmother, herself a native of Nohoval near Kinsale.  Like much of O’Farrell’s work the inanimate becomes characterful and in her hands this delicate 1930’s china becomes both contemporary and fun. Róisin’s Grandmother would have been delighted to see her treasured china return to Kinsale even if she may not have treated them in such a contemporary way. Impactful, beautiful and a little vintage, the teacups are set against the lush impasto palette knife backgrounds that have made O'Farrell a favourite. A ‘must see’ at the The Gallery.

​Exhibition link

Top Golf Award for Killarney Royal Hotel

Top Golf Award for Killarney Royal Hotel

Claire and Brian Scally in Fermanagh.

Claire Scally of the Killarney Royal was in great form in Fermanagh this week, delighted that the family run hotel has been awarded the Irish Golf Tour Operators Association’s Boutique Hotel of the Year 2012.

With over 110 years of welcoming golfers from all over the world to Killarney Royal, the hotel has been officially recognised as a forerunner (pun intended!) in Irish golf tourism and the night was one of big celebration for Claire and her team.

The proprietors, Joe & Margaret Scally and family, and all the members of the team at Killarney Royal were overjoyed to receive this prestigious honour at the glamorous awards ceremony held at Lough Erne resort, Fermanagh.  The award was presented to Claire Scally by IGTOA Vice Chairman and Director of Lynchpin Tours, Mr David Hudson, and celebrity presenter, GAA star Peter Canavan.

Read more here

The Killarney Royal Hotel, where I enjoyed a short stay last year, is the little sister of Cork’s Hayfield Manor and the Cork focus for the coming weekend is on the Jazz and they are, in addition to the music, marking it with the annual Gallery Kinsale Jazz Exhibition.

Ken Buckley of the gallery: “Three of our artists have committed to this year’s exhibition including the official Jazz Festival Commemorative artist 'Mia Funk'. Mia's painting "The Cork Jazz Audience" was commissioned by The Jazz Festival Committee last year in recognition of Guinness thirty year sponsorship of the festival and, this Thursday 25th, the painting will be presented by Diageo to the people of Cork at an official unveiling ceremony by Cork's Lord Mayor John Buttimer at Cork International Airport where it will permanently hang in recognition of the important link between Festival and Airport. Mia has reproduced two similar studies for the exhibition in 'Jazz Blue'.

Visit our website to view the exhibition of work including Watercolour sensation Barbara Barrett and West Cork community Arts activist Derdre Keohane.

For those of you who do visit the Hayfield you are in for a musical treat also with one of the most talented and upcoming Jazz artists, A J Brown performing along with resident 'Loungeman' Conor O'Shea Saturday and Sunday.”