Legacy Cider. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! A Quart of Ale± #96

Legacy Cider. 

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

A Quart of Ale± #96

There’s going to be some top notch cider coming your way in Legacy bottles soon. On a visit to the Dungarvan based cidery last week, I got a hint of what is around the corner thanks to owner Liam McDonell. 

And there’s a lot of it here, so no worries about supplies. Some 80,000 litres slowly working its way towards maturity (it takes 6 to 9 months) and more in casks, bottles and other containers that pack the floor of the facility.

The original legacy.

“Since you’re here, why not try some straight from than tank," offered Liam. He explained that they do single variety fermentation here with the blending coming at the end, after much sampling of course!

The Michelin variety is common in cider production and we headed to that tank first. It is a medium bittersweet cider with soft tannins. A few sips and we could see that, while very dry at present (all cider apples are dry), it is, in Liam’s words, “coming along nicely”.

Pat and Liam

Next up was a tank of Elstar and John O’Gold. This was lighter in colour than the Michelin with its characteristic pear drop showing well. Dabinett, another well-known cider apple (which also produces a bittersweet juice), was also true to character. Bramley is well known to cooks and usually eaten cooked due to its sourness and that went down well with CL, much to Liam’s surprise.

He is obviously looking ahead to getting all this liquid bottled and on the way to a wide spread of customers. He’a also looking forward to their cooperation with Cape Clear Distillery who have provided Legacy with some barrels, previously used for gin and for white wine. And they also have some barrel aged cider on the way; the process is quite well advanced and should be ready before the end of the year, certainly for Christmas. Also on the schedule for Christmas and before is an Apple Wine (using those wine barrels from Cape Clear!); it will come in a 750ml bottle.

There be good things here! Patience required.

And what was Liam doing when we arrived? Why, beginning work on their mulled cider for next Christmas. The 2021 edition went down very well but, as they started it in the autumn, the production coincided with their busiest time of the year and caused something of a bottleneck in the premises (which is big but not that big!). It is blended with award-winning Legacy Irish Cider and spiced with winter warming spices including cloves, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon and more; a heart-warming drink to enjoy with friends and family. By the way, the spent spice mix finds its way to restaurants and into some tasty dishes!

Keep an eye out
 for this later
in the year!

While Legacy Cider is a relative new company, having been started in April 2016, apples have been very much in the McDonell family for at least three generations. Liam's grandfather was one of a number of locals encouraged by the government of the day to grow apples, And there was an apple market right where we were in Dungarvan. Indeed, Liam still uses some small wooden crates in which his grandfather stored and transported the apples. The venture eventually petered out as the group, with no value added, weren’t getting reward enough for their produce.

But the seed had been sown and Liam’s dad Pat took a different route. “My Dad became passionate in apple tree growing, achieved a PhD in the subject and developed his own miniature apple tree!" Pat still runs his own company and is “the chief advisor" at Legacy. As Liam said:  “He’s a wise old sage with over 40 years of experience.” 

No wonder Liam went into apples, eventually going on to found the well-named Legacy. The Legacy Dry was their original cider. Liam is as enthusiastic as ever about it: “It’s my favourite as I think it has a lovely balance between sweet and dry. There is a 'good bite to it' as I’ve been told oftentimes, this 'bite' is the strong Bramley flavour coming through.”

And he is very happy also with their Legacy Medium. “This is a crowd pleasing cider; easy drinking, great flavour profile, natural apple aroma. Great with good friends, a warm sun, a good sporting occasion or kicking back on your own.” This one is a bit like the Alsace Gentil wine: it has no less than six varieties: Elstar, Bramley, Discovery, Katy, Michelin and Dabinette. 

Latest: Catch Liam talking about yeast and more on Beoirfest this coming Saturday. He'll be joined by  Brewpub De Kromme Haring and Eik & Tid who will bring the beer experience. Interested? Register here for free.

Also on this trip:

Dine and Stay at The Tannery

Copper Coast Road

Trip to Mahon Falls in the Comeraghs

Found Two Beauties For You. An Italian Verduzzo and A Spanish Garnatxa.

GIOL Verduzzo Marca Trevigiana (IGT), 12%, 

RRP c. €14.00 Taste, Castletownbere// Little Green Grocer , Kilkenny// Mary Pawle

This organic and vegan wine, part of the vineyard’s 1950 series, is made from a local grape Verduzzo. This off-dry white (15 g/L) has a cork closure, quite a pop when extracted. And quite a lot of bubbles on the surface for a short while. 

Colour is a weak straw yellow with definite green tinges. Aromas are on the shy side, hints of peach just about making it to the fore. Fresh on the palate with peach sweetness and citrus tartness and a bubbly tingle on the tongue. Pleasant indeed and Highly Recommended. Not the longest of finishes but an agreeable one with a nice bit of citrus in attendance.

I can agree with the producer’s suggestions to pair it “with spring herbal dishes, with pizza, it is pleasant between meals, delicious with desserts and sweets. Serve at 10-12 degrees.”

They say: For nearly 600 years, our winery has placed an emphasis on nature, quality and beauty. Our family’s long experience is apparent in our esteemed wines. Since 1987, we have been producing wine from grapes grown in our historic vineyards using organic farming methods, respecting both the environment and the raw ingredients.Vegan wines are intact and pure products of the highest quality. They are preferable for their high digestibility and more natural taste. 

Verduzzo enjoyed considerable fame here in the past, later obscured by the arrival of international vines, it is now almost completely abandoned: very few producers continue the cultivation of this variety. “we vinify it in purity, giving life to a very pleasant product that deserves much more consideration than it has been granted up to now.” 

The late harvest of the grapes is done manually (towards the end of September). The production includes the following phases: crushing and destemming, soft pressing, static decanting of the musts, racking and inoculation with selected yeasts. Then the controlled cold fermentation takes place at 14 °. At the end of fermentation, the wine is decanted and maintained on its noble lees with periodic batonage, to then move on to bottling.

Marca Trevigiana IGT is just one of several IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) titles used in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. A Marca Trevigiana IGT wine may be made in any one of various styles: red, white or rosé, blend or varietal and still, frizzante or sweet. 

DIT Cellar “Cabirol” Monsant (DO) 2018, 14.5%

RRP €16 Stockists: Lettercollum Kitchen in Clonakilty// The Olive Branch in Clonakilty// Mannings Emporium, Ballylickey// Connemara Hamper, Clifden// Mortons of Galway// Mary Pawle 

From the first certified organic winery in Montsant, comes Cabirol, a tasty and intensely fruity wine. It is a deep colour, more or less purple. Aromas are also intense, a melange of small black and red fruits fruits and a whiff of peppery spice. Spice and vibrant fruit (cherry and blackberry) appear too on an immediately engaging palate and there is a racy acidity; everything is in balance, smooth and elegant with a similar finish. Cabirol, complex and with good length,  is Very Highly Recommended.

It isn’t uncommon to see a Cabirol (a European deer) when you are ascending (or descending) through the vines in the Llaberia mountains where this wine is born. The vineyard, 20 to 75 years old, is located in the natural park, surrounded by forest. Every summer afternoon, a wind coming from the Mediterranean called “Marinada” cools down the temperature and helps give to the wines a special freshness.

DiT Cabirol is made by Danni of the Azul y Garanza trio and is his personal project. It is Garnatxa but with some Syrah, % depending on the year. 

Fota Wildlife Park in the Spring Sun

Fota Wildlife Park in the Spring Sun

(Visit 28th February 2022)

Ruffed Lemur (and below)

Show-off! Peacock, also below)

Heron

Ostrich

Rhino

Monkey

Same Tiger, three times

Bobwhite quail chicks

Cheetah at lunch

The Spider Monkey house, one of many "housing" improvements in the park. 

Pretty Flamingo in familiar pose

Giraffe nibbles

'Roos. Two by Two

The red or lesser panda. Hard to get a face shot even without foliage

Two chew

Waterfowl

Constant stripes. Zebra. 

Fota Arboretum. A Colourful Walk Even Early In The Year

Fota Arboretum 

(Visited 26.02.2022. Parts, including walled gardens, not open. Check here before you go.)

Magnolia

Magnolia, with bee

Magnolia Campbellii 

Magnolia Campbellii 

Magnolia Campbellii 

Magnolia

Lichen rocks ferns

Green headed Mallard duck

Waterhen

Oleria Ororata NZ

??

Sorbus megalocarpa

Wagtail

2022 Beer of the Year. Candidates so far.

2022 Favourite Beer of the Year 

My favourite beers to date

February: Wicklow Wolf  “Apex Cherry” Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout.

January: Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel

December: Lough Gill Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut

Best of February 2022 Short List

Oatmeal Stout: Wicklow Wolf  “Apex Cherry” Black Cherry 

BA Stout: Bradleys & Dot Brew Shady Dealings

Milk Stout: Trouble Brewing Nocturne Milk Stout

IPA: Killarney Scarlet Pimpernel

Smoked Porter: Whitefield Old Smoke Smoked Porter; 

Porter: Clonakilty Smuggler Irish Porter. 

Bitter: West Cork Baltimore Bitter

Session: Blacks The Session Pink Grapefruit IPA 3.4%

Rye IPA: Wicklow Wolf Canis Rufus

Dark Lager: Whitefield Ivy Hall

Gold Lager: Whiplash Dawn Chorus Helles. 

Best of January 2022 Short List

Dark Lager: Whiplash Dry the Rain Double Decoction Dunkel

Stout: West Cork Stout X Stout West

Oats IPA: Hope Overnight Oats IPA.

Session IPA: Porterhouse Sundown Session IPA

American Pale Ale: O Brother The Chancer APA

Barleywine: Brehon Brewhouse Red Right Hand Barley Wine Beer

NEIPA: Porterhouse Renegade New England IPA

Blonde: Killarney Golden Spear Blonde 

Best of December (2021, for 2022) Short List

Brown Ale: Lough Gill Mac Nutty Macadamia Nut.

Lager: Whiplash Das Model.

Single Hop IPA: Eight Degrees Citra Single Hop IPA 5.7%

Cask-Aged Porter: Brehon Brewhouse Shanco Dubh Porter 8.8%

Coffee & Oatmeal Stout: Third Circle Shot In The Dark

Pale Ale: Lineman Fluid Dynamic Extra Pale Ale.

Single Malt IPA: Eight Degrees Full Irish 6.0%

Session: Whitefield Brewery “Woodville” Session Pale Ale 4.3%

ANOTHER LOVE STORY PRESENTS: LOVE IS A STRANGER BALLYMALOE

 ANOTHER LOVE STORY PRESENTS:

LOVE IS A STRANGER BALLYMALOE

 

Line-up: Conor O’Brien (Villagers), Peter Broderick, Anna Mieke, Junior Brother, Clare Sands + many more

 

THE GRAINSTORE, BALLYMALOE, CO. CORK

2PM – MIDNIGHT, SATURDAY 19TH MARCH 2022.

 

https://www.anotherlovestory.ie/lias-ballymaloe/

 

 

The team behind Another Love Story (ALS) are delighted to announce a day of music, food, and atmosphere in the wonderful surroundings of the restored 17th century barn complex, The Grainstore, Ballymaloe, Co. Cork, on Saturday March 19th as part of their continuing series of day events Love Is a Stranger.

 

Love Is a Stranger Ballymaloe presents a carefully chosen collection of friends old and new across two rooms throughout the day. Bus:  We are providing return busses from Cork City (€10) & Midleton (€5).

Resident Ballymaloe caterer Wildside Catering will be dishing up delicious street food from their stall, with The Ballymaloe Cafe & Giftshop also open throughout, and a full bar provided for the event.

You'll find all the details on the event (2.00pm - midnight) here.

Press release.

Umami Unanimously At The Glass Curtain: Making New Delicious Memories And Recalling Some Old Ones.

Umami Unanimously At The Glass Curtain.

Making New Delicious Memories And Recalling Some Old Ones. 

It was not just the taste buds that were triggered during last week’s fantastic Tasting Menu in The Glass Curtain in MacCurtain Street’s Thompson House. The old memory bank also had a few re-awakenings and it wasn’t just of the Thompson bread vans roaming the streets and roads of Cork. Beef Heart, Cabbage Stumps and a Frogs Attack all came vividly racing back.

The Tasting Menu here is usually detailed as of five courses but, within that, there are some courses with more than one part. That applies to the opening one where no less than three treats appear simultaneously: "Jambon" - Templegall & Lardo, pickled fennel. Beef heart toast; Langoustine tartar, spiced cauliflower velouté. 

Monkfish

Really enjoyed that little nibble of Beef Heart. I’m pretty sure I’d have heard it called Cows Heart and remember it as a treat, beefy for sure and tender and apparently good for you. But it and lambs heart (another favourite back in the day) seemed to have gone out of favour in Ireland just like most offal. 

In any case this trio was an outstanding way to get the meal off on the right foot. Our next dish was the Focaccia, salsa verde, n’duja butter. Quite a chunk of their own delicious bread and that butter, not at all overly spicy, fitted in very nicely indeed. Quite a pleasant match.

Opening trio, beef heart top right

Since the friendly and efficient staff had kindly left the long menu on the table, we knew that BBQ pointed cabbage, Pork belly, Whey caramel, Black garlic, was next on the agenda. What we didn’t know was that the cabbage would be as much a star as the Pork Belly on this intriguing and superb plate. Don’t get me wrong, that pork was high quality, full of flavour but so too was the cabbage and both were lifted higher by the black garlic.

The tasty cabbage had a little bit of the stump on it and for old times sake, I tried that and of course, even if it wasn’t quite as tender, it matched the rest for flavour. Back in the day, before I was a teenager, I’d stand with my mother as she prepared dinner. Cabbage was often on the menu and regularly she pared down the stump, about where it joined the head, and handed it out as a treat. And it was a treat! Now a memory.

Now it was time for fish at The Glass Curtain. Soon, we had a splendid bowl of Monkfish, saffron and mussel sauce and lobster curry foam in front of us. Lots of foam and hard to make out the shapes, though we could spot those plump little mussels. The monkfish itself was white and seductive beneath the teasing cover of the foam and soon I was enjoying that pearly white fish. All together, it was umami unanimously.

The main event was next. Rack of Lamb (from Murphy’s Butchers in Midleton) was accompanied by confit carrot, labneh, black olive tapenade and date purée. Possibilities of delicious duets on this plate and all good though I think the match with the sweet date was the prime pairing. The lamb of course,  flesh and fat, was perfect!

Something sweet? Of course, knowing there were two to come! Dessert was Chocolate and coffee cremeux, crème fraiche ice-cream, and blood orange. A well judged balance of light and heavy and just so at the end of this lovely multi-course meal. There was a little more to come, a generous petit fours called Hazelnut Ice-cream Sandwich, a fitting finalé.

We had been studying the impressive wine list, even before we came in and, after a bit of humming and hawing, decided to go with a bottle of a favourite wine: the Classique Morgan by Beaujolais organic pioneer Jean Foillard, a beautiful expression of the Gamay and also quite versatile at the table.

And that Morgan too brought back happy memories, though much more recent. In 2018, The Frogs Attack, being two pioneering natural winemakers (Jean Foillard and Thierry Puzelat), a guerrilla chef (Antony Cointre) and a comedian (Sebastien Barrier), cornered their willing victims in a packed Latitude 51. 

They came. They saw. They conquered. Cork’s leading wine bar was the ideal venue for the French influenced evening. Beverley and her staff caught the informal spirit of the occasion perfectly and we wined and dined, and laughed a lot too.

More details here.

Pic via Glass Curtain