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The finalists for the Virgin Media Business Gold Medal Awards 2022 have been announced.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2022
2022 Virgin Media Business Gold Medal Awards Finalists Announced !!
Monday, December 19, 2022
Just in time for the Christmas weekend. Very Highly Recommended Reds From Portugal's Alentejo and France's Pays d'Oc
Very Highly Recommended Reds From
Portugal's Alentejo and France's Pays d'Oc
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NEW ZEALAND WINE FAIR DUBLIN Jan 30th. How about a ticket for the wine lover in your life? Details below.
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Esporão 2019 Alentejano (IG), 14% ABV, €17.95 Bradleys Cork
Alentejo is an area in the south east of Portugal and it is where this organic red wine comes from. Like most Portuguese wines, it is a blend and the grapes used are Alicante Bouschet, Touriga Nacional, Aragonez, Cabernet Sauvignon, Touriga Franca.
The country has scores of native grape varieties in regular use, the two Tourigas above for instance. The Alicante Bouschet is an important variety in Alentejo. It is one of those grapes where both the skin and the flesh are red, that is to say a teinturier grape. It first saw the light of the vineyard in France in the late 1800s where it was bred as a cross. It does very well in Alentejo where, as reported by Grapes and Wines, one of its best producers is our Esporão.
Anyhow, though Portugal is never boring, enough of the technical stuff. Deep ruby is the colour. Ripe fruits, mostly red, waft out in the aromas, a little spice too along with herbaceous note. It is quite fresh with a silky texture, that ripe fruit prominent with a touch of spice but superbly balanced right through the persistent finish. Very Highly Recommended.
The producers: The Wine is produced solely from grapes grown at Herdade do Esporão, applying organic farming methods. It expresses the typical features of the vintage year, diversity of the soil where the vines are planted, as well as the character and identity of the selected varieties.
Winemakers David Baverstock and Sandra Alves oversaw co-fermentation of the grapes begin in the wine presses, with foot treading at controlled temperatures (22 to 25ºC), finishing in concrete tanks. Following malolactic fermentation, aging took place in the same concrete tanks for 6 months. The unique micro-oxygenation conditions provided by this type of tank aim to preserve the wine’s character.
A character well worth preserving!
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Best Value Wines 2022 Under €18.00. With Reviews & Irish Stockists.
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Brau Pinot Noir Pays Doc (IGP) 2019, 13.5%,
RRP: €20-€21 Taste Castletownbere / Urru, Bandon / Toon's Bridge Macroom and Dublin / Mortons of Galway / Little Green Grocer Kilkenny / Scally's Supervalu Clonakilty / Mary Pawle Wines
Pinot Noir is perhaps my favourite red wine grape. And I am not alone. Wine Folly declares it “the world’s most popular light-bodied red wine”.
I’ve enjoyed excellent examples from Burgundy of course (where you’ll find the most prestigious Pinot Noir vineyards in the world) and also from the Alsace, from Germany, the US, New Zealand, Chile, and Romania. And this particular Pays Doc from this producer (the 2015 and the 2018 vintages).
The Languedoc may not be the usual place for Pinot Noir but this is a winner all the way. This 2019 has a lovely light ruby colour. The aromas are quite complex with cherry and red berry coming through plus notes of the local garrigue. Cherry takes a silky hold on the palate, and you have a light presence of spice in a full and generous mouthfeel. Soft tannins also there as this very approachable wine, more supple than some Pinot Noirs, moves to a pleasant and lingering finish. Very Highly Recommended.
It is part of a series that Brau calls “Unique Flavours” that also includes Fer Servadou, an old grape variety of the South-West. Their suggested pairings for the Pinot are cheese, poultry, and braised meat while Wine Folly go for duck, chicken, pork and mushrooms.
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Top Wines 2022. With Reviews & Irish Stockists.
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Press release:
New Zealand Consumer Tasting Monday 30th January, 2023
One of the most popular consumer wine events of the year is back in January 2023. The annual New Zealand Wine consumer tasting which takes place on Monday 30th January, 2023. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in wine to get to know more about the fantastic wines currently available on the Irish market from New Zealand.
This popular tasting will feature an incredible range of wine style from New Zealand. Taste some of their fantastic reds, their sparkling wines, the aromatic white grape varieties. The two hour tasting will allow you to explore all the wine styles New Zealand has to offer.
Participating wineries for the 2023 New Zealand Winegrowers consumer tasting include
Akarua, Babich Wines, Caythorpe Family Estate, Decibel Wines, Dublin St, Graham Norton's Own Wines, Greenhough Vineyard, Hunter's Wines, Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jules Taylor Wines, LeftField, Oyster Bay, Pyramid Valley, Rimapere, Smith & Sheth, Vidal, Villa Maria, Waipara Springs, Whitehaven Wine Company, Wither Hills
Why not purchase a ticket as a stocking filler for the wine lover in your life?
NEW ZEALAND WINE FAIR DUBLIN CONSUMER TASTING
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm Monday 30th January, 2023
Venue: Grafton Suite, Westbury Hotel, Balfe St, Dublin 2
Tickets available on line priced at €20.00 from:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/
Taste of the Week Mella's Salted Caramel Fudge
Taste of the Week
Mella's Salted Caramel Fudge
(or any fudge by Mella!)
When it comes to fudge, West Cork's Mella is the one for me. I recently bought a pack of her Salted Caramel at The Pantry in Bakestone (Fota Retail Park) and it is our Taste of the Week. But I know from past experience that any other fudge by Mella, including her Vanilla, her Rum and Raisin or Dark Chocolate, would be just as welcome by the taste buds.
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Mella is one of Ireland's Great Producers. Full 2022 list here!
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This particular one, the deeply caramel flavoured fudge, is West Cork butter combined with Irish Atlantic Sea Salt. And, yes, like all her fudge, this just melts in the mouth - no effort required - and the top notch salt adds an extra note or two to the combination. Another symphony from the fudge maestro!
Not surprisingly, Mella's Fudge is widely available including at her online shop here! And she also has a seasonal special: Christmas Spice with Orange. Must get one (or more) of those myself!
Sunday, December 18, 2022
CorkBillyBeers #2. Enjoying a black Christmas on the Craft journey with Cotton Ball, Dungarvan Brewing, Lineman, Whiplash.
CorkBillyBeers #2
Craft journey with stouts from Cotton Ball, Dungarvan Brewing, Lineman, Whiplash
Enjoying a black Christmas!
Four smashing stouts to enjoy in mid-winter (not that you have to confine yourself to any one season!)
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This is the second post in CorkBillyBeers, a new series (we got to over 130 post in the previous series A Quart of Ale) and again will be trying to get beers from all over the country, including from small breweries who may not be able to produce specials every week, so lots of core beers to be included.
Some weeks, the focus may be on one brewery, another week may concentrate on a style - like this one on stout. Again, it will be mostly Irish beer but I will throw in a "visitor" from time to time!
Just let me know your stockist(s) in Cork where I can buy them. I know some of you have terrific boxes for sale online but I don't need six or twelve of the same beer; as a regular blogger, I need six or twelve different beers!
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Four smashing stouts to enjoy in mid-winter (not that you have to confine yourself to any one season!)
Cotton Ball Lynch’s Stout, 4.3% ABV, 500ml bottle O’Donovan’s
Black, a very definite opaque one, is the colour here with a soft tan head. The ABV of 4.3 is very much in the 4% to 6.5% of the style and the finish is dry, not sweet, so no bother in calling this a dry Irish stout. Roasted malt (including coffee) lead the aromas. They are also found on the palate along with caramel and cacao plus a streak of light fresh fruitiness. And yes, it does finish dry, and long. Indeed that finish, along with its flavour and smoothness, combine in an excellent stout.
Humphrey Lynch, an American Civil War veteran and a cotton mill foreman, returned to his native Cork in 1874 to set up his own public house which he called the Cotton Ball. It is still here today and the current generation are brewing a selection of craft beers named after their great great grandfather who left the West Cork countryside as a teenager. The brewery was founded in 2013.
Hand crafted from five malts and traditional flaked barley, moderately bittered and late hopped with US and New Zealand hops, they say: “This stout is as dark as our great grandfather Humphrey’s black humour and has a warm and mature flavour. With a phenomenal marriage of coffee roast, caramel lush, balanced by a clean bitterness exploding into a tangerine, mandarin aromatic delivery.`’
They reckon it’s a great accompaniment for hearty meat dishes, stews and steaks. But, with a shameless piece of name dropping, they say that the ultimate food pairing is our Famous Cousins’ Clonakilty Black pudding! Might as well let you know that I’m a neighbour of the Cotton Ball. Not a frequent visitor (at least not as frequent as I once was) but my order is always for the Lynch’s Stout.
Very Highly Recommended
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Dungarvan Coffee & Oatmeal Stout, 4.7%, 440 ml can Bradleys
Really excellent seasonal. No bells and whistles. Nothing added to this well made stout but a single origin coffee.
This is a regular Christmas stout from Dungarvan, now into its second decade. Oatmeal though has been used in stout since the late 1800s according to Mark Dredge’s Beer. “It was brewed and marketed as a nourishing drink for convalescents and invalids.”
When I was growing up, an adult would stick a hot poker into a mix of stout and milk and give it to an ailing child as a tonic. A few years on and, after a hard night's training, the club officials would have a pint of milk and stout as a pick-me up. Never won anything with that club though!
They say: This classic oatmeal stout is made with oats from Flahavan’s Mills in Kilmacthomas and infused with a single origin coffee - the annual release generally signifies the beginning of the yuletide season for many. Yuletide is a term I’ve rarely heard around here, except in Christmas songs!
Dungarvan brewer Tom says “there’s usually a bit of trial and error as we try to find the sweet spot. The beans that produce a nice cup may not necessarily work well in the stout blend."
The current Dungarvan seasonal is black with a foamy tan head. Smell it and also stick your finger into the head for an early sweetish taste! I’ve been a fan of this Christmas stout since its first appearance. It is as smooth as ever with citrus and berry notes from the coffee giving a lift and adding a rich warmth to the roasted dryness.
More malty sweet than hops bitter, a smooth and lovely companion for the weeks ahead as it’s great with earthy casseroles or desserts. It is great to cook or bake with as it doesn’t have the same bitterness as other stouts. Goes well with blue cheese as you need something that will hold up to the strong flavour of the cheese. Also works with smoked hard cheddar and other fuller flavoured cheeses.
Can conditioned - so expect a harmless yeast sediment.
Down Waterford way they have their own way of doing things. Anyone fancy a large bottle? For instance. No large bottle of this stout but they have a surprising enough serving tip too: Ideally this stout should be served in the traditional south eastern way which is ‘off the shelf’ — ie. at room temperature.
Geek Bits
Style: Irish Stout
ABV: 4.7%
Hops: Challenger
Malts: Roasted Barley
IBUs: 41
Allergens: Contains Barley and Oats
Calories: 215 per 500ml
Very Highly Recommended
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Lineman (with Craic Beer Community) Pulse Irish Extra Stout, 5.8%, 440 ml can Bradleys
“The Community Brew Project invites Craic members to decide what beer styles they'd like to see brewed most. Stout was the overwhelming winner this time around, so we approached our friends in Lineman who we knew would be the perfect brewery for the job!” A good choice and this very acceptable Pulse Irish Extra Stout is the result!
It is of course black. And has a lasting tan head. And the aromas are of toasty malt, caramel included. Like the freshness of this one, the caramel and coffee in the complex palate, full of flavour right through to the dry finish. The labels sums it up as “a full-flavoured stout that will leave you wanting more”. Hard to argue with that.
Craic champions independent Irish beer, and showcases the amazing talents of brewers all across Ireland. The aim of Craic is to provide a welcoming space where beer fans can chat, learn about beer, and connect with others. Join us to expand your beer knowledge, engage with our community of beer fans, and have a bit of craic while you’re at it. Connect with us through our community platform, on social media, and via our podcast.
Very Highly Recommended.
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Whiplash The Wake Export Stout, 7.0%, Whiplash on line
Black, like newly laid tarmac, with a soft tan head that’s slow enough to shift. Aromas of lightly roasted coffee and chocolate may be mild but they are persistent. And what follows on the impressive palate is not a million miles away, flavours of lightly toasted bread, plus a lick of cherry across those lips, coffee is never that far away as this quite hefty stout waltzes smoothly on its way to a merry, dry and rather marvellous finalé. May I have the next dance also, please!
That’s my immediate reaction to The Wake, (hardly a dancing occasion, getting my metaphors mixed up). The Whiplash crew, rarely slow to offer advice, are a tad shy here: “… while we don’t want to tell you how to drink your beer, we’d highly recommend this one on a cold evening in front of an open fire.” That could be arranged as could a case of this black beauty.
Thanks you Whiplash. Enjoy The Wake and Happy Christmas.
Very Highly Recommended
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Pandemic or Recession, the Blair Boys never shirk a challenge
Pandemic or Recession, the Blair Boys never shirk a challenge
The Blairs Boys never shirk a challenge. Their family owned country inn near Cloghroe has, like many restaurants, been ambushed and battered by pandemics and rising costs, yet Duncan and Richie have come up fighting, still cooking and serving the good stuff, seasonal comforting food these bleak December days.
But leave your bleakness at the door, as they do. Lots of smiles and chats in here as regulars know. And of course they have craft beer, a full menu of it. Indeed, they were one of the pioneers (not the kind with the badge) of local beer, matching it with their local produce. On the current list, brewers such as West Kerry, Blacks of Kinsale, West Cork Brewing and 9 White Deer are highlighted.
The Stag Gluten Free Stout by 9 White Deer has been a big hit here over the years and was one of our drinks during the visit. The other was their Kölsch, a summer favourite of ours. Not summer now but the Blairs fire was warm and the beer went down a treat. Also spotted the new 9 White Deer Export Stout 7.4% (Stout Aged in Blackwater whiskey casks in West Waterford) and that came home with us. We were advised to hold on to it for a while!
We had arrived just as they opened at 1.00pm last Thursday and so did quite a few others and Christmas was very much in the air when a large group of customers came together. And there was plenty of warming food to choose from.
Starters included Soup of the Day with Potato Flatbread; Tartlet of Ardsallagh Goats Cheese, creamed leeks and a beetroot chutney; and Garlic Wild Mushrooms with potato flatbreads. Our pick, available in small and large portions, was the West Cork Whiskey Wings with a Cashel Blue dip and potato flatbreads. Superb flavours from a warming dish ideal for the zero degree weather outside in the valley.
Mains on offer included Roast Half Chicken with all the trimmings including roasties; Angus Beef Burger with cheese, gherkins and house sauce and with skin-on wedges; Roast stuffed loin of Timoleague Pork with all the trimmings with roasties of course!; a seasonal Veggie Pie, topped with Cheddar cheese mash; Thai Green Chicken Curry with steamed rice.
My pick was the Cottage Pie of ground beef topped with creamy mash and a side salad, another comforting warm blast against the cold! But I think, on the basis of a spoon or two, that CL was the winner here with a tempting looking Fisherman's Pie of fresh fish topped with smoked Hegarty’s Cheese and dill mash. It looked tempting mostly because, unusually, the chunky fish pieces were floating around an island of the tasty mash. Something different but very satisfying indeed. Just like everything else on the menu, this was comfort food at its best, perfect for the weather this time of year.
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| This one came home! |
Finished off with a chat with the brothers and wished them luck for the months ahead. But those two know you make your own luck where the main ingredient is hard work. Their loyal local customers know that too and, combined, that’s a solid foundation for whatever pestilence or economic woe that may (or may not) lie around the corner.
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