800 Years
Not one, but two 800th birthdays being celebrated around us this weekend!
Dungarvan 800
From Waterford County Museum:
On 3 July 1215 King John issued a charter at Marlborough which granted the customs of Breteuil (in France) to Dungarvan. It freed the burgesses in the town from tolls and customs owed to the Crown. The 800th anniversary of this important event takes place on 3rd July this year.
Dungarvan will be spending the weekend celebrating this occasion, beginning with the arrival of ‘King John’ by boat to Dungarvan quay on Friday at 5.45pm, accompanied by a flotilla from Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club and there’ll also be a medieval banquet at Crews Restaurant, a market at King John’s Castle courtyard and a series of lectures organised by Waterford Museum.
Sherry cask which we aged Copper Coast in.
Crews were keen to serve a beer at the medieval banquet, which let’s face it would be a lot more fitting historically than “other drinks”, so we decided to barrel age some of our Copper Coast for the night – we used the same sherry barrels that Blackwater Distillery aged our Poitín collaboration in. It’ll be served from a cask on the night along with their fantastic medieval menu.
Crews’ Medieval Banquet Menu
Dromana 800
In tandem with this, Dromana 800 also takes place this weekend, celebrating 800 years of Dromana House. We will be taking part in their Georgian Fete on Sunday, 5th of July and will also be serving our barrel aged beer there, alongside our core range of beers.
For a taster of what will be happening in Dungarvan this weekend take a look at the RTE Nationwide programme which aired on July 2nd and features lots of familiar Dungarvan faces and places.
Father’s Day
Father’s Day is tomorrow. But you knew that, right? And you’re all sorted with gifts and cards, right? Riiight..?
Ok, you’re not. But don’t panic just yet – we’re looking out for you here and have a back up plan for you. First, you need a card – no probs, download the image below, print, fold and write your greeting. Card sorted.
Click on image for full size.
Then, for a gift run to your nearest off licence which stocks great craft beer, grab a bottle and present it with the card. Job done.
Too hot to run to the shop? Or finding it hard to let go of Dad’s bottle? The why not book a brewery tour and tasting session for him. We have a Friday evening series running throughout the summer, bookings can be made on our webshop and we can send you a printable ticket to include with your card. Bingo! Instant status as best son or daughter ever.
If your Dad likes his card, send us a pic on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or even a Vine. Our favourite will get a goodie pack from the brewery 🙂
Here’s to the Dads! 🍻
Brewery Tours 2015
Following on from the popularity of last year’s brewery tours we are delighted to announce this year’s Summer Series.
Summer Series 2015
Join us on Friday evenings throughout the summer when we will host a ninety minute session including a brewery tour, tasting and food pairings. These relaxed, informal events were very popular in 2014 and this years sessions are soon to fill up quickly. Sessions include a look at the brewing equipment, a talk on the brewing process and the ingredients we use as well as a tutored beer tasting. Tastings will be done with one of our certified Beer Sommeliers and food pairings including the award winning Brewer’s Gold cheese from The Little Milk Company will be on offer.
Head Brewer Cormac talking brewing
As we are a working micro brewery our tours are ‘on the ground’; you get to meet and talk with the brewers and others who are hands-on in the brewery and have a thorough knowledge of beer and brewing. Visitors on last year’s brewery tours included Cork blogger Billy Lyons who wrote about his tour on his blog, which you can read here.
Booking Information
Sessions will begin at 5pm, running on the following Fridays: July 10th*, 17th, 24th and August 7th, 14th 21st. Entry fee is €10 per person.
Group sizes will be limited, so advance booking is necessary.
Bookings can be made online via our webshop, or get in touch with us either by email, on Twitter or on Facebook for more enquiries or to make your booking.
These sessions are for over 18s only. *July 10th now fully booked
If you would like to do a brewery visit outside of these times please contact the brewery and we will do our best to accommodate you. Be aware, though, that summer is our busiest time both for production and events so we may not be able to meet all requests.
O’Dwyer’s Irish Stout
Cormac was delighted recently to be one of ten international brewers to be invited to the UK to brew for the Wetherspoon’s Real Ale Festival 2015, brewing up O’Dwyer’s Irish Stout at Wadworth’s Brewery in Wiltshire.
All the brews took place at the UK breweries on the 9th February 2015, with all the brewers meeting in London for the social side of things the following evening.
Cormac (front and centre) with the other international brewers.
The beers are to be served alongside forty other UK real ales as part of the JDW Real Ale Festival which runs from March 13th – 29th, with ales going on rotation in the pubs across the UK. Each of the beers has been brewed using only British-grown hop varieties; a total of 24 different hop varieties are being featured amongst the festival beers, including established varieties (Fuggles and Goldings) and newer varieties (Boadicea and Jester).
The overseas beers on offer have been sourced from brewers in Brazil, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, USA, Spain, Ireland and Australia.
“The festival is the perfect opportunity to showcase the wonderful range of British-grown hop varieties and support British hop farmers” said beer festival organiser Gary Holmes. “It will give beer enthusiasts the perfect opportunity to enjoy a superb selection of UK and international beers, many of which have not previously been served in Wetherspoon pubs.”
O’Dwyer’s Irish Stout
Based on Dungarvan Brewing Company’s own Black Rock, this is a smooth, full-flavoured beer brewed using roasted barley to give a chocolate taste, complemented by notes by herbal hints of vanilla and aniseed.
Brewed with Challenger and East Kent Goldings hops.
Currently being served on rotation handpumps at JD Wetherspoon pubs across the UK, keep an eye out for it!
Collaboration
We have a very exciting collaboration taking place at the brewery this week… more details soon and keep an eye on our social media accounts for hints to the brewer coming to work with us, and the very special beer being planned…
Distilled Beer, The Spirit of West Waterford!
We are delighted to have Ireland’s newest distillery, Blackwater Distillery, just a few miles from us in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, and were especially pleased when Peter from there made contact with us with an idea he had in mind.. a distilled beer, the first of its kind in Ireland.
Peter wanted to explore the idea running a beer through his still and putting the resulting spirit to rest in Sherry casks for a couple of months, to take on the colouring and some of the flavouring of the casks. So, in January Cormac brewed up a strong (7%) oatmeal stout, which was then transferred to the Cappoquin distillery where Peter continued the operation, turning 800L of stout into under 100L of spirit.
Cormac and Peter, brewer and distiller,
with oatmeal stout fermenting behind them.
The spirit is currently maturing in the sherry casks, and it will be bottled at the beginning of April to be on sale in time for West Waterford Festival of Food, where it will be launched. There will be a very limited supply of this initial run of only 100 bottles. This is the first spirit of its kind in Ireland, which begins life as a beer rather than a wash which would be the normal process for making a whiskey. We are really looking forward to tasting the end result, especially to taste it side-by-side with the original oatmeal stout to see which of the flavours from it come through in the spirit.
Details of stockists and availability of the distilled beer will be coming shortly, if you are interested in stocking it please do get in touch.
During the West Waterford Festival of Food weekend there will be opportunities to visit the brewery and distillery for tours and workshops, and you can learn more about the products we make at the Irish Craft in a Glass series over the festival weekend.
Beer Dinners
We have a couple of great beer and food pairing nights lined up for August – one taking place in Dungarvan and one in Dublin, both teaming up with craft beer-loving chefs who have put together some amazing menus for you to feast on!
Merry’s Gastro Pub
First up, we are teaming up with Merry’s Gastropub in Dungarvan for a beer dinner on Thursday 21st August, featuring a five course tasting menu with each course being paired with a Dungarvan Brewing Company beer.
On the night, diners will be treated with dishes from Merry’s kitchen such as tuna carpaccio, Thai green curry with neck of lamb, black pudding with Ardsallagh goat’s cheese and homemade apple chutney, cheeses and dessert all paired with a different beer and served in the sumptuous surroundings of the recently opened Merry’s 1868 upstairs craft bar.
Dinner with accompanying beers is €25 per person and as spaces will be limited book yours now by contacting Merry’s Gastropub on (058) 24488. Further beer dinners will run with Merry’s throughout the autumn and winter 2014.
The Fabulous Surroundings of
Merry’s 1868 craft bar.
Brews We Plate
Following on from our dinner at Merry’s, we’ll be working with the Brews We Plate team for a beer and food pairing pop up at Sip and Slurp in Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Chef Eric has put together a mouthwatering menu which again pairs each dish with one of our beers, while Flo will be taking care of service on the night. We are delighted to be working with this exciting and innovative team and look forward to experiencing what they do:
#BrewsWePlate has a simple mission. We offer food and craft beer lovers a great pop up experience. We occupy a different location for each event and invite an exciting brewery over to serve and introduce the guests to their best Irish-produced beers. On our side, we put together a tasting menu in which each dish is specifically designed to enhance the flavours, various characteristics and qualities of each beer. We aim at uniting the best of what Ireland has to offer in unique venues with a great atmosphere.
The Brews We Plate dinner will be on Saturday, 23rd August and tickets can be purchased via Eric and Flo.
Beer Sommeliers
We are delighted to announce that we now have two accredited Beer Sommeliers at the brewery, with Claire and Tom both having been awarded the recognition following assessment at The Beer Academy in London last week. This brings to seven the total number of Beer Sommeliers in Ireland and both are delighted to be joining the illustrious group of Paul, Phil, Aidan, Sarah and Des.
Receiving the awards from Alex Barlow, Director of Training at The Beer Academy
(Photo from The Beer Academy)
The beer sommelier scheme offers recognition of a significant depth of knowledge of beer styles and beer and food matching for successful candidates and follows on from Claire and Tom’s ongoing work in the areas of food pairings, tutored tastings and beer education and staff training. Both are also qualified beer judges through The Beer Academy and have a wide knowledge of beer styles, flavours and food pairings and have been huge ambassadors and promoters of the craft beer scene here in Ireland over the last five years.
Beer Sommelier medal
Summer Series
Join Claire and Tom throughout the summer as they host tours and tasting sessions at the brewery as part of our Summer Series, where you can learn more about our beers and try some samples with food matches and test their knowledge hear their thoughts on the world of beer and food pairings! First of the series is this Friday, 11th of July at 5pm. For more information or to book a place, please contact the brewery.
Cheers!
Summer Series
Here at the brewery we just love summertime – especially with the weather we’ve been lucky enough to get so far this summer! When the sun is shining in Dungarvan there is no better place to be – whether it’s strolling along the quayside, hitting the beach or gowlie fishing in The Lookout, Dungarvan just seems to be thronged with happy people in the summertime.
The Lookout in Dungarvan
A Brewery Visit and a Beer Tasting
For us, summer is one of our busiest production times as, would you believe, people seem to enjoy a beer when the sun comes out. We get a lot of requests for visits to the brewery during the the summer, from both locals and visitors to the area, which we find difficult to accommodate due to our schedules here. So, this year we have decided to hold dedicated visiting times on Friday evenings at 5pm. These sessions will include a look at the brewing equipment, a talk on the brewing process and the ingredients we use as well as a tutored beer tasting along with some food pairings including Brewer’s Gold cheese from The Little Milk Company.
Summer Series 2014
Sessions will begin at 5pm and last 90 minutes, running on the following Fridays: July 11th, 18th, 25th and August 8th, 15th 22nd. Entry fee is €10. Group sizes will be limited, so advance booking is necessary. Get in touch with us either by email, on Twitter or on Facebook to make your booking. These sessions are for over 18s only.
Festival Fun
This year’s festival season kicks off today with the West Waterford Festival of Food here in Dungarvan. This is a highlight of the year here in Dungarvan when chefs, producers and punters all come together for a huge range of events – from Dining Experiences to Trails and Tours, Discussion to Hands On events and of course our entertainment schedule and markets over the weekend.
Again this year we have organised an event with a bit of a twist – in the form of a Comedy Grub Club this Saturday night. We got on to our buddy Danny Dowling who got on to his buddy Joe Rooney and both will be performing their own brand of comedy in a double-header show.
-
Danny Dowling – Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Danny will be doing his current show Winner Winner Chicken Dinner in which, apparently, one lucky person will go home with a chicken (stay with us!) and Joe will be doing his stand up material and also getting the guitar out to amuse and entertain. Grub will be in the form of chicken wings (plus vegetarian option) provided by Lawlor’s Hotel and entry includes a pint of Dungarvan Brewing Company beer. Tickets still available online from the festival’s website.
-
Joe Rooney
But that’s not all!
We’ll also be a stop off for the Bus Bia Beer and Seafood Tour, and on Sunday Cormac and Tom will be taking part in the Talking Food chats – discussing the rise of the craft beer scene in Ireland in the newly-opened upstairs craft bar at Merry’s Gastro Pub. Our beers will also be on promo about the town, with all of our stockists having them on offer for the duration of the festival. Lots of restaurants are using the beers on their menus as well – try some Black Rock Chocolate Cake at Interlude, Helvick Gold Battered Fish at The Moorings or some Coffee and Oatmeal Marshmallows from Cloud Confectionary at the Sunday Market.
We’ve also been busy with new installations around town, with a tap currently being installed in The Anchor Bar on the Quay giving you another place to enjoy our keg-conditioned beer. Full list of local stockists is as follows:
The Tannery – full bottled range
Merry’s Gastro Pub
Handpumps: Mahon Falls, Comeragh Challenger
Tap: Helvick Gold (upstairs bar)Full bottled range
The Moorings
Handpump: Helvick Gold
Full bottled range
Interlude – full bottled range
Indian Ocean – full bottled range
The Anchor
Tap: Helvick Gold
Full bottled range
The Lady Belle
Tap: Helvick Gold
Full bottled range
The Local – full bottled range
Downey’s Bar – full bottled range
Nude Food – full bottled range
Lawlor’s Hotel – full bottled range
Gold Coast Hotel – full bottled range
And you’ll find our bottled range in these off-licences:
Twomey’s Eurospar
Nugent’s Centra
Walsh’s Spar
Garvey’s Supervalu
Apart from our own events, we’re looking forward to hanging out at the festival, having dinner in The Tannery and going to see Tomie James’s show Super Organic Me on Sunday after spending time at the huge festival market. And there might be time to take in a beer or two.
And when Monday morning rolls around it’ll be straight into preparations for the Franciscan Well Easter Beer Festival.