Kate and Denis have shown in six years that they've got what it takes to lead the revival of Mead in Ireland. An impressive palette of flavours from Kinsale.

Kate and Denis have shown in six years that they've got what it takes to lead the revival of Mead in Ireland. 

Already, an impressive palette of flavours from Kinsale.

Cleanliness. Temperature Control. Good Ingredients. These are vital if you are in the mead business (or in any any food or beverage business). Add in infinite patience and enthusiasm, the appropriate skills and hard work.

See the Wild Geese on this marvellous Barrel Aged mead

And these qualities were evident in abundance during our recent visit to the Kinsale Mead Company, officially opened on Friday the 13th October 2017 (following a period of unofficial trial and error).

Kate and Denis Dempsey are the couple behind the venture and, in 2016, they went to work to rediscover the ancient art of mead making and to create a world-class range of light and refreshing drinks. Much has been achieved since then. They have certainly opened many eyes (palates?), both here and abroad, to the flavours and possibilities of the ancient drink.

St Bridget

But they are not sitting back these days, far from it. If you have the good fortune to have had a tour  here, you’ll know of their enthusiasm. And you’ll also have heard of the history of the drink and the bees, the bees because honey is the main ingredient in mead.

Two of the bees from Gobnait's sculpture in Ballyvourney

They have some marvellous illustrated info-posters by local artist Fiona Boniwell on the walls of the reception and one in particular deals with the Bechbretha, the Brehon Bee Judgements. The Brehon system was quite revolutionary for the early medieval age and dealt with all kinds of situations involving those between humans but also including animals.

There was a full set of laws and judgements relating to cattle for instance and, yes, also for bees. A compensation was laid out for an injury (even as simple as a sting). There was a procedure in place to deal with swarms, even if a neighbour’s bees “invaded’ a person’s land to gather nectar. Not surprisingly, honey also featured as a compensation.

Denis. Waiting by the barrels!

Very very detailed stuff indeed - just Google it and see for yourself. Edited by Thomas Charles-Edwards, Bechbretha is available in Cork City Library.

Saint Gobnait features in the posters - many of you will have seen the rather large bees that sculptor Seamus Murphy included in his statue of her in Ballyvourney. In the meadery itself, there are a couple of murals and here a golden-haired St Bridget is seen urging a bunch of bees to go forth in search of the precious nectar so they can make more honey.

St Bridget is also regarded as the patron saint of brewers and,  just a few days back, I enjoyed a beer, a Honey Hefeweizen from Wicklow Wolf, that used honey from the locality and supplied to the brewery by @openhivehoney.

You can have all the stories and saints you want but your product still needs to have substance and Kate and Denis are strong on all counts. The meads are superb and vary a lot so there is something there for every taste as we found out in our tasting.

Kinsale Wild Red Mead (12% ABV) is a gorgeous melomel mead fermented off-dry with Irish blackcurrants, dark cherries and pure honey. Melomel mead has fruit as an ingredient and here it comes through here beautifully.

Kinsale Atlantic Dry Mead (12% ABV) is a delicious, off-dry traditional style mead (no fruit), beautifully crisp with a lovely citrus honey flavour

The third in their Signature series is Kinsale Hazy Summer Mead (11% ABV) a fabulous, fruity, off-dry berry mead with generous strawberry and raspberry aromas, a lovely burst of summer berries and a smooth, subtle honey finish. 

They also do a series of barrel aged meads. The Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged (12% ABV) is a gorgeous 3 year-old berry mead fermented off dry and silky smooth and matured for the last 12 months in French Merlot wine barrels to add intriguing structure and depth. An exceptional, unique mead, a lively, attractive drink with a decadent richness. The beautiful label was inspired by the story of the “Wild Geese”.

Another is the Atlantic Dry Mead – Sauternes Barrel Aged (12% ABV) , a gorgeous 3-year-old traditional mead fermented from orange blossom honey, matured for the last 12 months in a French oak wine barrel to add intriguing structure and depth. The third is the same Atlantic Dry Mead – this time aged in White Port Barrel (12% ABV),  matured for the last 12 months in an oak port barrel to add spicy oak depth.

We were also privileged to taste the Kinsale Irish Wildflower Mead. This is a very special, limited edition mead made from 100% Irish summer wildflower honey from the  Chanting Bee Apiary. This honey is a lovely expression of the aromas and flavours of West Cork. Quite a few of the meads were seen on celebrity chef, John Torode’s Ireland on the Food Network.

John Torode wasn't the only TV chef to visit Kinsale Mead. Neven came too!

It may be the only Irish honey based mead that they produce - all their other honey comes from Spain as Irish honey is just not available in any quantity - but the Dempseys do use Irish as much as possible.

Their blackcurrants (from day 1) are supplied by Des Jeffares (Wexford), wild berries from John Howard of Rathcormac (John is also into wildflower seeds) and that Irish honey is by West Cork’s Paul Kelly (of Kelly Family fame). Local artists are supported like Fiona Boniwell who, in addition to the Bechbretha poster, also has done a splendid Mead Map of Ireland for them while the eye-catching counter was crafted in Carrignavar from timber between two and three hundred years old..

I mentioned patience at the start. Honey mead is slow to finish (though the fruit version is faster). You are talking about 6 to 18 months to mature and then another 12 are added with the barrel-aged trio.

A honey tasting.

They have some excellent technology on their side such as a US made Ozone-ator, their German tanks are very well made (no crevices inside where the nasties might hide) and they have a Ferrari bottle washer! Also a bit of luck in that Kinsale’s hard water is ideal for Mead.

They do all this themselves, on the road promoting far and wide, in the meadery when required, with the help of a small staff including daughter Grace who just loves the festivals and tastings.

We mentioned melomel mead (those with fruit) earlier. There are quite a few other types. How do serve them? Can you use them in cocktails. Besides, you’ll probably have quite a few questions on mead in general. And here too Kinsale Mead can help you. They have a long list of FAQ and much more info (including on those tours) on their excellent website here .

Renovated Mount Congreve is looking very well indeed this year! Fuel up at the Stables Café.

 Renovated Mount Congreve is looking very well indeed this year.

You can fuel up at  Stables Café.

The Temple, with the River Suir in background
All pics taken 13.04.2023

Mount Congreve House and Gardens are situated in Kilmeaden, Co. Waterford, in Ireland’s Ancient East and are home to one of “The Great Gardens of the World”. 

Mount Congreve House, home to six generations of Congreves, was built in 1760 by the celebrated local architect John Roberts. It is now in the hands of the OPW and, after a recent seven million euro revamp, is looking very well indeed, both the house and the gardens.

The gardens comprise around seventy acres of intensively planted woodland, a four acre walled garden and 16 kilometres of walkways and some great viewpoints. But don’t worry. There are some long and shorter walks and all are well signed and you can check the distances before you start off. If you tired halfway through and need some feed, then check out the Stables Café. The main walks are The Woodland Garden (55 mins), the Fragrant Walk (20 mins) and the Walled Garden Walk (30 mins). There are also guided tours.

The shop is alongside the café

If you visited Mount Congreve in the past, you’ll remember that the cafe was down in the old out-buildings, near to the car park. Now it is part of the house itself with outside tables on a terrace as well. It is now run by Catoca Fine Food and Giftware, who already list Emo Court, Portumna Castle and Doneraile Court as places where they operate food facilities.

Something sweet?

You have to queue to order your food here, then pay for it and then find a table. Not too difficult but do take a look at the menu boards around and also check the displays in the glass cabinet as the queue makes progress. Lots of us would prefer a menu in hand but this is a busy spot and some 80,000 visitors are expected this year.

Approaching the house from the car park (which is not very close at all)

Anyhow, I settled on the (already prepared) Chicken Caesar Salad  (13.00) which was neatly presented and a good one. No shortage of good quality chicken, crispy bacon pieces, one or two baby tomatoes, lettuce leaves, sauce and of course the essential parmesan. CL had to wait for hers to be cooked - Smoked Salmon and Prawn Salad (16.50) - ands brought to the table and that too proved quite satisfactory and we were ready for the garden walks!

Plants for sale here also

The gardens are of course seasonal. The woodland garden peaks in the months of February through to May so the colourful rhododendrons and magnolias have reached their peak by now. One other side of the coin, the walled garden (a very extensive one) looks rather bare right now but will be the sight to see in late summer. Around the same time, in a three-quarter mile walk, there are over ninety different varieties of Hydrangeas is in full flower.

On this trip

Mount Congreve, Kilmeaden

The Local, Dungarvan

The Baker's Table of Lismore

Vinilo, Lismore

Marvellous Sunny Morning On The Vee (Waterford/Tipperary)

360 Town Stay, Dungarvan

The Shamrock

Seafood Delights at Cliff House Hotel Festival Lunch

The Pagoda

Before you go be sure and check out the very informative website here 

The house, where you'll find the entrance to the gardens, the cafe and shop.

River Suir in mid distance

On this trip

Mount Congreve, Kilmeaden

The Local, Dungarvan

The Baker's Table of Lismore

Vinilo, Lismore

Marvellous Sunny Morning On The Vee (Waterford/Tipperary)

360 Town Stay, Dungarvan

The Shamrock

Seafood Delights at Cliff House Hotel Festival Lunch

 

Drinking through Portugal wine regions I. An engaging Alvarinho from Minho.

Drinking through Portugal wine regions I. 

An engaging Alvarinho from Minho

Foot Trodden (2021), a book on Portuguese wine that I am currently reading, covers these eight regions: Minho, Douro, Dao, Bairrada, Colares, Ribatejo, Alentejo and Madeira (home of one of the most age-worthy wines). Other regions noted are Algarve, Setubal, Beiras Interior, Tránsmontano, Bucelas, VR Lisbon and Carcavelos. This is the start of an occasional focus on Portugal over the next month or two and I’ll try to get my hands on as many of the wines as I can. Any tips or help will be most welcome!

Quinta de Gomariz Alvarinho, Vinho Regional Minho, 2020, 13.5% ABV, €18.00 Bubble Brothers

I’m starting in Minho (where Vinho Verde comes from ) and I bought this Alvarinho at the Bubbles Brothers stall in the English Market. It has a bright and clean straw colour, no tints of green in this twilight hour. The nose is quite complex with scents of fresh citrus fruits as well as floral hints and a hint of honey. Quite a lively duet of flavour and freshness in the mouth on the way to a lip-smacking finalé. 

Very engaging, Very Highly Recommended.

At a tasting some years ago in Cork, I heard a wine importer posit that it was difficult to find a bad Albarino. 

António Sousa, winemaker at Gomariz would agree. In conversation with Jamie Goode, interview here, Sousa said: 'It's almost impossible to have a bad wine from this..’. He was speaking of Alvarinho, the same grape as Albarino. Gomariz operate in the extreme north of Portugal, close to the Minho River, the border with Spain, (you’ll know the area better as Vinho Verde). 

I thought, for a long time, that Vinho Verde meant green (or young) wine and the most recent World Atlas of Wine seems to agree but I’ve also seen that it refers instead to the wet and green landscape. 

Foot Trodden (2022) refers to Minho (the country’s second biggest wine region after the Douro) as “Portugal’s sister region to Galicia”. Here in the Spanish homeland of the ancient Celts, Rias Baixas, also wet and green, is home to the crisp light and refreshing Albarino.

Amazing how Albarino has taken off in Ireland over the past decade or more but you don’t see that much Alvarinho here. Many wines from Portugal are blends, sometimes with many grapes, and the less experienced customers find it difficult enough. But this one is 100% Alvarinho, surely not more difficult to pronounce than the successful Spanish equivalent. Perhaps the busy label here is off-putting for the casual wine-shopper.

We owe the Irish introduction of Gomariz wine to Bubble Brothers of course but the initial inspiration was provided by baker Declan Ryan. The Ryans had drank these wines while in the area and brought the info home and shared it with Bubble Bros who made good use of it!

Bubbles elaborate: ..the Alvarinho, which bears the legend 'Vinho Regional Minho' ...... The Quinta de Gomariz Alvarinho is a terrifically appealing wine from beginning to end, and it's not hard to see what appealed to the Ryans about this thrilling liquid..Thank you Declan Ryan for a fantastic tip, not to mention all the great loaves from Midleton and Mahon Point market.. .. .. .” 

Portugal mini-series

Part IV (Vinho Verde, Lisboa and Alentejano).

Part III (Alentejo) 

Part 11 (Douro, Dão, Alentejo and Setubal.)  

Part 1 (Minho) 

CorkBillyBeers #20. Craft Lager with Cotton Ball, Whitefield, Tom Crean and Obolon

CorkBillyBeers #20

Craft Lager with Cotton Ball, Whitefield, Tom Crean and Obolon

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Cotton Ball Mayfield 5 Lager, 5% ABV, 500 ml bottle O’Donovan’s

This lager, from my local, has a mid-amber colour, fountains of little bubbles, white head slims down rapidly but then hangs around for a good spell. A modest touch of hops in the aromas, more of the malt though. The refreshment factor immediately appears on the smooth palate, spot on balance between the German hops and malts. Has more character going for it than many lagers, good mouthfeel too. A thirst cutting clean bitterness rounds off an excellent lager experience with the gorgeous malt still clinging to the lips. 

A beer for all seasons, they indicate, saying: This Pilsner Lager, like the Noble Northsider’s adventures, spans the Atlantic, brewed using 100% Irish malted barley, clean bittered with three U.S. grown hops followed by a late kettle addition of Noble Hops (Hallertau Perle and Hersbrucker). Pour is clean and refreshing with a subtle aromatic hop flavour arising from a bed of light caramel malt. The Classic brew to compliment party food. This inviting pilsner goes down smoothly with gourmet burgers, pizzas or wings. A perfect hit at BBQs a great choice for alfresco dining.

And the Northsider they refer to on the label is Humphrey Lynch, who left Ballyvourney (now the home of 9 White Deer) at 15 years of age and settled in an American town known as Byefield which he later used in naming his Cork estate house. After working for two years with Joseph Longfellow, cousin to the famous poet, he worked for a year in the ship yard at Newburyport until the American civil war in which he fought in a string of “engagements”. He returned to his native Cork in 1874 and set up in Mayfield, calling his newly-purchased public house The Cotton Ball. And the Lynch family are still here today, the brewery one of the latest additions to the family’s businesses.

Very Highly Recommended.

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Whitefield Ivy Hall, Dark Lager, 5.2% ABV, 500 ml bottle No. 21

DUNKEL! A lager style almost single-handedly saved by the descendants of the last king of Bavaria König Ludwig III it belies the senses, but don’t be afraid of the dark!

That’s the message from Whitefield Brewery of Templemore as they offer their dark lager. It is called Ivy Hall but was once Dark Lady. A rebrand in recent years has seen the Tipperary brewery change the names of its various beers and even the brewery name itself from White Gypsy. “As part of the rebrand we wanted to link everything to our locality and Ivy Hall is a townland in Templemore.”

The beer is indeed dark and if you didn’t know you’d be inclined to think you had a stout ahead of you, right down to the tan head and the roasted aromas. The brew is put together with Bohemian and Munich malts, roasted barley, Saaz hops, and Czech yeast.

A dark brown colour conceals the soul of this European dark beer that turns out to be a lager; as the bottle label says “don't be afraid of the dark”. The dark beer also turns out to be well-made, well mannered. Nothing sinister here, just a very interesting beer from Templemore, not for the first time. The notes from the roasted barley are a prominent feature though, in fairness, it has an excellent rounded flavour all the way through to a very satisfying finish.

A (slightly) sweet malty dark lager, as you might expect to get in Munich, a really top notch beer. Another Irish beer that proves you can do without Nitro.

Very Highly Recommended.

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Tom Crean St Brigid’s Irish Lager, 4.5% ABV, 440ml can, Carry Out Killarney

A lovely golden colour on this one, bubbles galore and the bubbly head is not retained for very long. Good balance of hops (Slovenia) and malt (German) on the palate with the malt getting an edge on the finale as it has in the aromas. 

More refreshment from this one than I remembered from a previous tasting a few years back. Brewer Bill Sheppard has his own methods - go to Kenmare and take that tour! - and this is a very satisfying lager indeed that reminds me of the traditional Central European style.

This is one of the Crean beers that was awarded in last year’s Blas awards. It got bronze while their 6 Magpies Stout did even better with a gold.

They say: “This is our salute to an accomplished medieval brewer.  Rich golden colour, German malts with hops from Slovenia. We allow six weeks to bring this classic to perfection. St. Bridget known in Ireland for her saintly status, her feast day (1st Feb) and her cross made from reeds, less known for being a fine Irish brewer.”

Bill Sheppard also had a story about the saint: “…quite a lot of the early brewers were women and the church wasn’t very happy with that situation. The brewers wore a special hat for the trade and kept a cat (to protect the grain from mice) and that eventually led to some of them being called witches with dire consequences.”

Lager of course ties up your brewing kit for longer than ale and maybe that was why there was a shortage of lager from the current wave of craft breweries in the early stages. No shortage now though. Still takes extra time though and Tom Crean allow six weeks to bring their lager “to perfection”.

Very Highly Recommended.

For a recent post on the brewery please click here.  

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Obolon Premium Lager, 5.0% ABV, 500ml can Bradleys

Clear gold is the colour, head short-lived. Sweet malty plus boiled rice aromas. Much the same in the mouth too but well balanced, sharply refreshing and easy drinking. Just the job for the brighter days ahead. Very affordable also at two euro for the large can.

Budmo, the Ukrainian toast, means 'let us be' and is the shortest and the most popular Ukrainian toast. Appropriate too in more ways than one these days.

This is what the Ukrainian brewery says about it: Obolon Premium is a lager beer which presents an extremely soft and rich taste. Aromatic hops in combination with a special ingredient-rice, provides this beer with a distinct flavor and a pleasant bitterness. Especially refreshing and effervescent beer with pronounced taste and palatable bitterness. This is one of the most popular beer due to its mild taste.