Thursday Treat Ahead As The Good Dairy's Delicious Ice Cream Hits Lidl Shelves
There’s a treat coming up on Thursday for
Restaurant Reviews. Food. Markets. Wine. Beer. Cider. Whiskey. Gin. Producers. . Always on the look-out for tasty food and drink from quality producers! Buy local, fresh and fair. The more we pull together, the further we will go. Contact: cork.billy@gmail.com Follow on Twitter: @corkbilly Facebook: Billy Lyons
Thursday Treat Ahead As The Good Dairy's Delicious Ice Cream Hits Lidl Shelves
Three lovely riverside towns in County Carlow:
Leighlinbridge - Bagnalstown - Borris.
The Barrow flows under the old 9-arch bridge and past the ruined Black Castle in Leighlinbridge. |
The old Norton maltings in Bagenalstown that may yet get a new lease of life. |
A walk into history on the banks of The Barrow
The River Barrowis a link between the three small towns of Leighlinbridge (pop. c 1k), Bagenalstown (2.8k) and Borris (0.7k). The Barrow is one of the Three Sisters and runs through much of County Carlow.
I don't know how long the trip between
Gareth Naughton, Head Chef of Neighbourhood, Naas |
Final Countdown Begins for the Taste of Kildare Festival of Food & Drink at Naas Racecourse
The Taste of Kildare Festival of Food & Drink, brought to you by Into Kildare and supported by Ballymore and Kildare County Council’s Local Enterprise Office, is just days away! From September 20th to 22nd, Naas Racecourse in Co. Kildare will come alive with a
Escape the Ordinary:
A Day at Arboretum, Carlow
Craving a Refreshing Oasis? Look no further than Arboretum in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow! This haven for all things green and delicious is the perfect escape from the ordinary.
Fuel Your Adventure at Rachel's Café
After your scenic (and perhaps rainy) drive, recharge at
A Very Highly Recommended Reserva Double from Portugal's Vale De Lobos
Vale De Lobos Touriga Nacional Reserva Tejo 2021, 13.5% ABV.
€20.00 (on offer 16) Matson's Bandon, Grange and Youghal
“a round, persistent and balanced wine”
The colour of this 100% Touriga Nacional from Portugal’s Tejo, is a dense ruby. Aromas are complex (plum and blueberry) and the intense violet (typical of the variety) heading the posse. And they remain through the palate where you will most definitely note spices and vanilla (it has spent 8 months ageing in French oak barrels).
A round, persistent and balanced wine with a
Tio Pepe Fino En Rama Jerez (DO Sherry)
€25.00 Bradleys
Cherish a unique, special, and unrepeatable wine.
Our Fino En Rama, from the sherry triangle, comes in an inviting golden colour. Notes of yeast in the aromas. And immediately it hits the palate - captivating, fresh, intense, smooth and with a
An unmissable wine dinner with Giacomo Boscaini of Masi Wines at The River Lee
The River Lee, in partnership with Findlater & Co., presents an exclusive wine dinner with Giacomo Boscaini of Masi Wines, a seventh-generation winemaker of the
Wide Street Mill Pils Farmhouse Pilsner, 5.5% ABV, 440 ml can Bradleys
A hoppy Pils from Longford is Beer of the Week
Ballymahon (Co. Longford) has one of the widest streets in the country and that is where this Mill Pils comes from and from where the brewery takes its name.
The town may be part of hidden Ireland but this superb beer has international influences. Wide Street: “The inspiration behind this beer is an Italian Pilsner style”. It is fermented with the famous German Strain 34/70 at 12C and the hops are of German and Czechian origin.
Hallertauer Mittlefruh is known as the Kaiser of German Hops. This Noble Hops tends to a clean crisp style and has mild bitterness and is ideal for lagers and pilsner. This is indeed a lager with hops on.
Colour of this Longford Pilsner is a pale gold, and cloudy. No shortage of hops here so you notice them straightaway on the nose and soon on the palate, where you come across plenty of that earthy character and a hint of spice and then a good dry finish. Something that bit different and well worth looking out for, a lager with Attitude and Very Highly Recommended.
Wide Street Brewing Company specialises in mixed fermentation methods and 100% Brettanomyces beers. The vision is to brew innovative beers with alternative fermentation methods. Their house yeast is a custom blend of Brettanomyces, saccharomyces and lactobacillus strains from Bootleg Biology, a yeast laboratory based in Nashville, USA. This gives the beer a distinctive dry mouthfeel and enhanced fruity flavours.
Quinta Da Ribeirinha Vale de Cabanas Vinho Branca Tejo (Vinho Regional) 2023, 12% ABV.
€13.00 (€10.00 on offer) at Matson's Bandon, Grange, Youghal.
very pleasant from start to finish
It comes in a light citrus colour and the aromas also have you thinking “citrus”. It is fresh and young and that shows on a relatively lively palate, a simple everyday wine for conversation rather than contemplation. It may be simple but is very pleasant from start to finish.
Serve at 10 degrees especially with grilled fish (get a bunch of sardines midweek from Pat O’Connell), shellfish (mussels from Ballycotton Seafood) and Japanese food (sushi from Maki Sushi). You might want two bottles but is also very affordable at the reduced price of ten euro. Highly Recommended.
The label says the fruit is Fernao Pires while I read on their website that it’s a blend of the Fernâo (70%) and Arinto. Don’t worry too much about the details. I visited a cidery a few years back and saw they had two varieties in the orchard. I asked how much of each went into the cider. The cidermaker just smiled and said it could be fifty-fifty but wasn’t too sure. In any case, the cider was top-class, and still is!
The Tejo refers to the Tejo river (best-known to us as Tagus) and the wine lands here lie either side of the river as it runs southwest from the Spanish border in central eastern Portugal to Lisbon and the Atlantic Ocean. According to Wine-Searcher.com, it had two apellations DO Tejo and IG Tejo.
We enjoyed this grape FarnĂŁo Pires a few weeks ago in a different expression in the orange wine Contracena Curtimenta by the same producer. A very different wine indeed, a few extra details here.
Thompsons:
A New Steakhouse Emerges in Cork City
Head chef Cormac cutting it down to size! |
Thompsons founded 2020 |
A Passion for Local Ingredients
At the heart of Thompsons' ethos is a
The Cider Mill Ciderkin, 4.0% ABV,
500 ml bottle, Dunnes Stores
amongst the finest drinks produced in Ireland.
A cider for harvest-time or indeed any other celebration. The aromas are not as delicate as some reviewers write; they are expressive, undoubtedly so, and hint strongly enough too of
Blarney Castle Gardens.
30th August 2024. Colourful Foliage. Carnivorous plants.
7th September. Fern Tree Garden. Rose & Hips. Sneezeweed.