On the craft trail with a couple of Stouts and a Red Ale to begin. Kildare Brewing, O Brother and Left Hand.

On the craft trail with a Stout double and a Red Ale to begin. 

Kildare Brewing, O Brother and Left Hand.

Kildare Red Ale, 4% ABV, 440 ml can, Bradleys

The colour of our Kildare Red is a strikingly dark red with a soft off-white head that sinks quickly enough. Aromas are malty and there’s a malty element too as it starts in the palate. Toffee and toast are also in the background along with fruity and flowery notes from the yeast and quite a streak of acidity helps keep it nicely balanced. A really excellent classic Irish Red and quite refreshing.

“The classic beer for the modern beer lover.” That’s the description of this red ale from Kildare Brewing, the first beer I've tasted from the Sallins micro-brewery. “Store cold, drink fresh and enjoy,” is what the brewery advises. I did and it is Very Highly Recommended. And 4% ABV puts it in the session basket!

Good Food Ireland says the brewery’s Lock13 pub “serves up pub grub favourites made with local ingredients as well as a wonderful selection of craft beers made on-site by the Kildare Brewing Company”.

Must call there on my next visit to Kildare.

O Brother The Nightcrawler Milk Stout, 4.5% ABV, 440 ml can, Bradleys

Dark, rich, roasty, chocolate, and vanilla are the words on the label of this milk stout from O Brother.

I’m always a bit worried about stouts that mention chocolate and vanilla and those, like this one, that have lactose listed in the ingredients. I don't like my stout too sweet.

First things first though; it is dark, deep brown to midnight black, with a coffee-dust-coloured head that didn’t hang about for long. The expected creaminess is there and you get some of that “roasty” in the aromas. Also on the deliciously smooth palate. And the bitterness of the hops toward the finalé provides a nice bit of balance.

All this without any nitro and no sign of any excessive sweetness. An excellent stout then and Highly Recommended.

O Brother Brewing is the brainchild of three brothers from Co. Wicklow, Ireland – Barry, Brian, and Paddy O’Neill. “In December 2014 we swapped the 9-5 jobs for beer 24/7 and set up our brewery in the beautiful village of Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow.  We haven’t looked back since!”

Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout Nitro, 6.0% ABV, 404 ml can Bradleys

I like the nitro theatre at the start and like the finish but the overall experience is all a bit modest, a little on the slight side, more butterfly than bee, a dance at arm’s length rather than a clinger. More shadow than substance. Give me a local like Cotton Ball, Elbow Lane, or Casey Brothers any day. And besides the American can is smaller!

Still, it is an interesting stout, easy to drink, well worth a try and I fully understand why quite a few drinkers rave about nitro. Just not me. The body colour is black, and the pillowy head, which really stays around, is tan. There is coffee and cream in the moderately (if even that) intense aromas. The sensation on the palate is ultra smooth, creamy/milky, and that head coats your upper lip, a bit on the sweet side though. Initially roasty, mocha flavours rise up, with slight hop and roast bitterness in the finish.

In all fairness, as a Corkman might remark, I’ll give Left Hand their say: Experience America’s Stout. Milk Stout Nitro is a full sensory experience. Gaze at the mesmerizing cascade of all those tiny Nitro bubbles. Breathe in the aromas of roasted coffee, milk chocolate, brown sugar and vanilla cream. Savor the super smooth Nitro sensation. And, smile as the perfectly pillowy head coats your upper lip. This portable draft beer experience is Good to Go straight from the can or served Like a Pro in a glass. From the bottle, Pour Hard to release the Nitro magic inside.

Geek Bits

IBU 25

Malt: 2-Row, Crystal, Chocolate, Munich, Rolled Oats, Flaked Barley, Roasted Barley

Hops: CTZ, US Goldings

Lactose is also listed in ingredients.

For the best experience, pour hard at 180 degrees into a your glass. 

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Italian Natural Wine Royalty Represented At Le Caveau Spring Portfolio Tasting In The Old Apple Store

 Le Caveau Tasting In The Old Apple Store.

Italian Natural Wine Royalty Well Represented  

Colm McCan (l) of #lecaveauwinemerchants with artist Tom Campbell in the Apple Store (Barrack St Cork) Wednesday.
Pic taken during Le Caveau spring portfolio tasting where Tom ( #tomcampbellart ) was guest artist.

Celebrating 25 years, Le Caveau moved its annual Cork Spring Portfolio back to the 200-year-old Apple Store for the first time since 2019. For much of its life, the building facilitated the local apple trade. Its most recent and continuing role is as headquarters and collection branch of the Neighbourhood Food organisation.

The modest high-ceilinged building proved quite an eye-catching venue with plenty of artwork scattered around the stone walls, quite a bit of it (lots of dogs) created by Tom Campbell, the guest artist on the day.

Time to Garg 'n Go

Humble it may be but the Apple Store also showcased the amazing wines of Italian Natural Wine royalty. Angiolino Maule, Arianna Occhipinti, Elena Pantaleoni and Elisabetta Foradori are names to remember and respect and in each case are featured pictorially (and otherwise) in a recent in-depth study of wine in Italy, VINO by Joe Campanale. This book concentrates on artisanal producers, exceptional terroir and native grapes. Joe and Le Caveau's Pascal Rossignol sing from the same hymn sheet.

Angiolino Maule and his family are featured because of what he is doing to his Garganega grape which got a bad rap through its association with mass-produced Soave. Nowadays, in the Veneto region, Maule is doing "as little as possible to his Garganega grapes in order to illuminate their mineral spirit". 

Le Caveau stocks his delightful La Biancara Masieri Rosso and Bianco. But it is not all serious stuff here. Produced with Garganega and vinified in stainless steel, Garg’n’Go is a fun, approachable sparkling wine (a frizzante) and that was the very first one we tried and enjoyed in Barrack Street. It is vinified in stainless steel and bottled at the end of February. Refermentation in bottle is started with dried Garganega must. 

Similarly, Arianna Occhipinti, who celebrated her 20th harvest in 2023, is well-known for her SP 68 Rosso and Bianco, each named after the neighbouring highway in Sicily where she operates. Her "Il Frappato," a red, is also listed in "VINO" as a top pick

At the Apple Store,  SP68 Bianco was on show but, with one in the queue here at home, we gave it a skip and moved on to her Siccagno, our first red of the day. That too got a big thumbs up and, as it is a terrific expression of Nero D'Avolo. It is fermented with native yeasts with 30 days of maceration. It ages 22 months in large 25HL Slavonian oak barrels and is bottled unfiltered.

Chief fancies
Verdicchio

Campanale calls her "a young force of nature" and lauds her "resurrection of Frappato". She is not the only family member producing excellent varietal Frappato (rather than as part of a blend with Nero D'Avolo). VINO sums her up by saying "she embodies the future of Sicilian winemaking in particular and, one hopes, of Italian winemaking in general".

Elena Pantaleoni inherited La Stoppa vineyard in Emilia-Romagna in 1991. It took her a while but she eventually "turned hard towards nature". Elena has visited Cork and it was with her at a Le Caveau lunch in Skibbereen that I was introduced (not only me) to the marvellous Ageno, an amazing orange wine, a blend of 90% Malvasia and 10% Ortrugo, named after the previous owner, who hailed from Genoa. 

She has ripped up French grapes such as Chardonnay in favour of native ones and VINO emphasises that she also has a gift for blending. We would see that gift in the old Apple Store as Wine #116 was La Stoppa's Trebbiolo Rosso, a radiant light blend of Barbera (mostly) and Bonarda. The name Trebbiolo is derived from the name of the nearby Trebbia River valley and it isn't a combination of Trebbiano and Nebbiolo! 

Elisabetta Foradori is praised by VINO as the "Queen of Teroldego". She is also its saviour. She took over the family vineyard as a 19-year-old and immediately took the side of native grapes that many looked down on. These included Teroldego. She had her ups and downs (including "A Year of Extreme Weather" according to their 2023 Harvest Report) in a long battle but eventually, Teroldego now has the respect it deserves. If you haven't already done so, treat yourself to a bottle!

Manzoni Bianco was another of those unfashionable grapes and we tasted it for ourselves here. This is a single vineyard expression from the Fontanasanta vineyard. Manzoni Bianco is an early-20th-century crossing of Riesling and Pinot Bianco created by Luigi Manzoni. Manzoni Bianco is not unfashionable nowadays and the Foradori version can be highly recommended. 

It was #106 at the Apple Store and, according to my companion, knocked the socks off #105, a Colle Stefano Verdicchio di Matelica that I highly regard and which Le Caveau lauds as "an Italian classic". The fruit grows in their 15 hectares nestled in a cold and dry microclimate alongside the Esino River between the Appenine Mountains and the Adriatic.

I confess to leaning towards brighter and more elegant Matelica than the Verdicchio of its neighbour Castelli di Jesi which can have a little more by way of fruit. Actually, that superb Metelica was one of several Italian wines not made by my "big four" in the tasting.

Grub's up.
Thanks to Simone

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Denavolo Catavela is, after four months on its skins, an exuberant wine that is amber in colour, full of character, dry, tannic with aromas of yellow plums, dried flowers and more. It is a blend of 25% each of  Malvasia, Ortrugo, Trebbiano and Marsanne. An orange wine but it is still very much at home in the white zone!

That was the last of our whites but we still had some excellent reds to go through, beginning with the impressive Barbera Brich Agricola Gaia.

No duds here at all in the old shed, as you might expect from a wine company celebrating 25 years. The good wines continued with the delicious Palmento red by Vino di Anna. Anna is an Australian who while travelling in Europe met Eric Narioo. In 2007, they settled in Sicily, in Etna,  and this is where our red comes from.

 

In VINO, Monte Dall'Ora's Alesandra and Carlo Venturini are shortlisted as one of the top producers of Amarone/Valpolicella in Veneto. So I was expecting good things from their Valpolicella "Saseti" from the hills outside Verona. And I got it in spades, red fruits all the way to a fresh and tasty finish. It is a blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta and Molinara. The label features five wine-coloured handprints, those of husband-wife winemakers Carlo and Alessandra Zantedeschi and their three children.

The Rodano Chianti, wearing its 15% lightly, lived up to its Classico designation and, like the Palmento, is available by magnum and bottle. Though small and artisanal, Fattoria di Rodáno is a top source for classically made, user-friendly and complex Chianti. The Montefalco Rosso ‘Pomontino', from Umbria, with its large Sangiovese input (80%), maintained a high standard in the Le Caveau portfolio as did the Rosso di Caparsa, another Sangiovese wine.

For me, the star of this final red wine lap was the Casina Bric 460 Mesdi Rosso. This is 100% Nebbiolo and quite an amazing introduction to the stunning wines of Piemonte. One to watch, one to order!

High standards all the way then without touching anything from France, Germany or Austria. Next time!

How much is that
doggy in the window

Nothing Added Nothing Removed. ..100% grapes. A superb Binner Saveurs from Alsace

Binner Saveurs Alsace (AOP) 2020/21, 14% ABV

RRP: €25.95.  Stockists include 64 Wine Dublin, Bradley’s of Cork, Greenman Dublin, Le Caveau Kilkenny

Nothing Added Nothing Removed. ..100% grapes.

Gentil, a multi-blend white, is one of my favourites from Alsace. Besides, I am always happy to drink a Binner wine, so I had no hesitation in ordering this Saveurs, also a multi-blend, from Le Caveau.

The colour is an enticing bright gold and though the wine is unfiltered, there is only a slight cloudiness evident. Orchard aromas are on the other hand very evident and the pear, apple and peach are light and enjoyable. This array of aromatics continues all the way through and the palate has much the same flavours and is also well balanced with a fresh kick of acidity.

Very Highly Recommended. 

Haven’t seen any suggested food pairings but during the evening, I laid my hands on a pack of those delicious Apple Crisps by Con Traas of The Apple Farm in Cahir and they were quite a match for the Saveurs.

Check out  our Top Wines 2024 list (with stockists and short reviews) here 

Looking for better value? All under 20 euro. Click here

This Saveurs is a blend of 2 vintages (2020 and 2021). These were two 2 contrasting vintages, one was hot, ripe and rich, and the other was cooler and focused. Blending both brought the kind of balance and vibrancy Christian Binner loves.

The grapes, Le Caveay tell us, are mainly Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Auxerrois with a little Sylvaner, Chasselas and Muscat. The wine was aged on its fine lees, in large oak vats.

Not too sure if Binner produces a Gentil but this Saveur is a fantastic introduction to the family wines and indeed to their wine heritage that began in 1770. They operate 11 hectares of vineyards in and around Alsace including some prestigious Grand Crus.

They proudly proclaim this as a RARE wine: “Nothing Added Nothing Removed. ..100% grapes, without filtration, without sulfur or any added input.”

Whitefield's "Banker" is Beer of the Week. From a brewery that was made to make wheat beer! .

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! 

Brewer Cuilan:  “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 a 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 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.

Spectacular Dripsey venue is the latest in Perry Street Cafe collection

Spectacular Dripsey venue is the latest in Perry Street collection

Fish Crumble

You'll find the latest addition to the Perry Street Cafe collection in McD's garden centre in Dripsey, perched beautifully on the left bank of the Dripsey River (a tributary of the Lee).

This, the fourth venue and venture from Brian Drinan and Paul Coffey, boasts a spacious, light-filled "marquee" with glass walls giving views into the colourful garden centre and a third side offering stunning riverside views that may, from time to time, include water-ski activity. A terrace stands by for sunny days, but even on dull ones, the natural light is a welcome mood booster.

Vegetarian quiche

Perry Street Café Dripsey offers familiar comfort food in a stunning riverside setting. While the menu may not break new ground, it delivers reliable quality and caters to a variety of tastes.

Indeed the menu follows the familiar Perry Street Cafe formula, featuring well-loved breakfast and lunch options. At breakfast, choose from the "Super Perry," "Full Perry," or "Half Perry" or pick from the enticing Moroccan breakfast, various egg dishes, granola, porridge, and pancakes and more.

Mango and Passion Fruit

Lunchtime brings a wider selection, with soups, chowders, and various sandwiches. The "Perry Street Toasted Special" with its combination of ham, red onion marmalade, tomato, Hegarty's cheese, and mustard mayo is a popular choice, as is the "Perry Street Falafel" served with hummus, salsa, lettuce, and sweet potato fries.

Pies range from the classic fish crumble to hearty cottage pie. Salads cater to varied preferences, with options like the "Roast Squash and Beetroot" salad featuring orange segments, avocado, feta, walnuts, and a zingy lemon dressing.

Apple Crumble

For something more substantial, the "Mains" section offers enticing choices like the "Chargrilled Chicken and Avocado Tortilla Bowl" or the "Chicken Parm" with rocket, parmesan, slow-cooked tomato sauce, and buttery pasta. Sides like fries and house salad complete these dishes.

While the menu may not detour towards uncharted territory, the execution is consistent. The "Fish and Chips" with its perfectly cooked haddock and light batter is a crowd-pleaser.

Perry Street (in its days as The Spinning Wheel)

Other standouts include the vegetarian quiche and the "Warm Chicken & Black Pudding Salad" with its crunchy and tasty combination of mixed greens, house dressing, sundried tomatoes, potatoes, nuts, cheese, and a balsamic reduction.

Chicken & Black Pudding Salad

Desserts, with daily variations (check the tempting assortment of treats displayed at the counter), include crowd-pleasers like "Mango and Passionfruit" and "Apple Crumble." Friendly and knowledgeable servers are ready to offer recommendations, not just on desserts but throughout your dining experience.

View of the river - skier not guaranteed!

A comprehensive drinks selection, featuring wines, teas and coffees, rounds out the offerings at this very attractive Dripsey venue (formerly well-known and well-loved as Griffins). The other Perry Street locations are Ringaskiddy, Grange and Cork city centre.

Taste of the Week. Miena's Almond & Passion Fruit Nougat

Taste of the Week

Miena's Almond & Passion Fruit Nougat

When it comes to sweet things, Miena's Soft Honey Nougat is always on the shortlist. This Almond & Passion Fruit version is our Taste of the Week.

Up and running for more than 10 years, Miena’s Irish Handmade Nougat is now located in a small production facility right beside her original kitchen. She says: "My small team and I still make our tasty Irish product right here in the Garden of Ireland next to my home. It is a dream come true!"

Miena is always willing to try new flavour combinations  and this was a hit. "This is a combination of flavours that really works. Not sure why . . . but it does. Passion fruit reminds me of my awesome Mum, so this one is for her." Next up for me is the Almond & Pistachio! Looking forward to that.

I got mine in Bradley's (Cork); Miena's nougat is widely available.

A balanced, complex and elegant Douro red: Antonio Lopes Ribeiro Douro

Antonio Lopes Ribeiro Douro (DOC) 2020, 13.5% ABV,

RRP €25.00; stockists: Sonas, Newcastle West. Mary Pawle

 

A balanced, complex and elegant Douro red

The spectacular Douro region in Portugal (a World Heritage Site),  is well-known for its port and the area’s red still wines are produced from much the same grapes. This excellent Antonio Lopes Ribeiro includes Touriga-Franca (60%), Touriga-Nacional (10%), Tinta-Roriz (10%), Tinta-Barroca (10%) and Sousão (10%).

The name Antonio Lopes Ribeiro may be familiar to some readers as he co-owns Casa De Mouraz, a small natural wine estate based in the Dao region of Portugal, and “Antonio Lopes Ribeiro” is reserved for their wines from the Duoro and Vinho Verde. Some of their excellent Mouraz wines are also imported by Mary Pawle and are unmistakeable on the shelf as the labels feature the estate’s well-loved pets: Bolinha (Maltese dog), Chibu (goat) and Nina (cat).

Via Pixabay (by Andrew McLeod

Back to our Douro which is quite a dark ruby. Aromas are a heady mix of dark fruits (blackberry and cherry) along with some herbal notes. With more fruit and herbs on the palate, it is balanced, complex and elegant. Perfect all the way to the finish.

Very Highly Recommended. 

Check out  our Top Wines 2024 list (with stockists and short reviews) here 

Looking for better value? All under 20 euro. Click here

The grapes are grown on three vineyards in the Upper Duoro where the soil is mostly schist with some clay outcrops. On these slopes you see plenty of rock roses, thyme and rosemary flowers amongst the stones.

This unoaked beauty is well worth looking out for. The vineyard’s suggested pairings are kid or lamb as well as stewed veal (or cooked in the oven). Also goes well with white meat and game dishes or vegetarian dishes such as mushrooms. Over to you!