Category: Dubh

2015, Beer & Food, Boyne Valley, Boyne Valley Food Series, Bru Brewery, Copper & Spices, Craft Beer, Dubh, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, inistioge foods, Rí, Rua, the whole hoggs, what's for pudding

Beer & Food Pairing Night at Bru Brewery

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Beer & Food Pairing Night at Bru Brewery

When I saw this event advertised a few weeks ago I just knew I had to go. As part of the Boyne Valley Food Series, this night was a great opportunity for local food producers to showcase their products in a unique way. Many actually used the Brú beers in their treats for customers to try.

On the night itself it was a dreary wet evening, but that awful weather didn’t dampen the spirits of Paddy & Dáire, the owners of Brú Brewery. They were in flying form greeting everybody and pouring their delicious beers. On tap was their amazing Stout Dubh & their IPA Rí. Later in the evening, much to my delight, their red ale Rua was flowing beautifully. Neil from Boyne Valley Cider brought along bottles too.

As a very last minute decision, I baked up two different batches of chocolate brownies to take along with me. I had no intention of standing at a stall to hand them out to the unsuspecting crowd. But brewer Dave had other ideas. The first batch had to be the double chocolate porter brownies (thanks to the book Sláinte for the recipe) that I make for nearly every event I attend. I used Brú’s stout Dubh, mint & dark chocolate in this batch. For the second lot, again I used Dubh, a slightly different recipe. This batch didn’t have milk or eggs. But they were covered in chocolate frosting. Both of which seemed to go down quite well.

While I was busy at my wee table, Wayne was off sampling the wares of the producers. Straight away he hit up Copper & Spices for their simple yet tasty chicken curry with rice. I was lucky he brought me a bowl, this flew out real quick! I enjoyed it with a nice cold glass of Brú Rí while Wayne enjoyed the Dubh.

Newgrange gold, who are based in Slane, were there with their beautiful Irish seed oils. They actually used some of the hops used by Brú to create their oh so tasty Citra Hop Rapeseed oil & a once off mayonnaise. Another interesting oil was the smokey rapeseed oil. Both of which I’m delighted to admit were only gorgeous. Especially when I dipped some of the homemade brown bread using spent grains baked by lilyphils foods. I did notice bowls of salad, for the more health conscious of us, and people using the oils as dressing. For this I went with another glass of Rí.

Next up for me,was the highlight of my night. Sausages infused with Brú Rua and black pudding made with Dubh, from The Whole Hoggs. Also from Slane, they rear a breed of pig called the irish grazer and specialize in traditional pork products such as salami. But for the event the created these products that were spectacular. Cooked expertly on the BBQ by Pam, mother to Dáire. Pam was only too delighted to tell me my brownies were worth every Syn.

While nibbling away on our BBQ treats, I noticed a stand of marinades. These were cleverly put together by the man behind Inistioge food, based in Kilkenny. They make marinades & dry rubs using craft beers! Instantly had my attention. For the event they brought a beef marinade made with Brú Dubh. We were given a sample pack to bring home. But he had some to try and suggested putting it on top of the sausages & black pudding. Any excuse for seconds, i was off. It was gorgeous, really tasty and took it to a whole new level. Thought it would’ve been greedy to go for thirds. At this point I discovered Brú Rua was pouring. Perfect with the sausages we thought.

Last but not least was dessert. I was thrilled to see it was What’s For Pudding supplying it. They are only around the corner in Kilmessan. I met them for the first time at an event last year and fell in love with their sticky toffee pudding. So it was only fitting I ended my night with a sampling of this. They also make a chocolate pudding which is yummy with fresh cream, which they had on hand. But then out of the corner of my eye sat a sampling of their lemon blueberry pudding. Oh dear god, this was fabulous and is now my favourite. What’s for pudding is available locally so it’ll be easy to stock up!

Throughout the duration of the event there was a local singer entertaining us with some great tunes. For an entry of €15 in, it was great value for a great evening. Well done to all concerned and check out the Boyne Valley Food Series website, and twitter feed for info on their upcoming events.

2014, Beoir, Bru Brewery, Copper & Spices, Dubh, Dublin Beer Ladies, Guest Blog Post, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Irish, Irish Craft Beer, Le Cheile, Mrs Irishbeersnob, Music, Rí, Rua

Music Festival, In a Brewery? It can only be the Le Cheile launch in Brú Brewery

by irishbeersnob1 Comment on Music Festival, In a Brewery? It can only be the Le Cheile launch in Brú Brewery

Ok, in a world exclusive, Its not me doing this blog post, i’m handing over the reigns to the long suffering Mrs Irishbeersnob. Janice. 

Janice, over to you.

Sampling some craft beers

Ok, a little about me. For a long time i’ve enjoyed craft beers, and I am the one who created the Irish Beer Snob, no matter what he may tell you. My love for Timothy Taylor Landlord is famous the land over. My name is Janice, i’m a proud Dublin Beer Lady, member of Beoir, and tryer of craft beer. Its all a lot of fun, and i’m looking forward to featuring a bit more here, and hopefully in podcasts in the future. Now, i’m going to talk to you about the awesome night we had, well, I had cos poor Wayne was toiling away pulling pints for a thirsty music crowd, while I hung around with my partner in crime Carmel, supping those lovely Brú Beers.

Every August in Oldcastle, they hold a music festival called Le Cheile, this event was ran as a facebook competition for people to win entry to the brewery, and have a few beers while they were rocked by 3 local bands, all of whom will be playing at Le Cheile. I was lucky enough to be one of the forty winners.

It all kicked off at 8pm on a Friday evening and when we arrived the band were sound checking and it was still very bright out. As you’ll see from the pictures below. Famished after a day at work we went straight to Carmel from Copper and Spices for some yummy Chicken Curry with Pilau Rice. Curry and Beer, what a great combination. Now we had the curry, but not the beer. So out we went to get some Rí. Poor old Wayne couldn’t even finish the bowl before he was hooked in behind the bar to help out Neil.


There was a good crowd, but the atmosphere really took off when a bus load of music and beer lovers came down from Oldcastle. Once they got in, and were fed and watered, the bands kicked off. It was still quite bright out so Daire closed down the main loading door at the back of the brewery which made the brewing area dark, and perfect for the music that was going to come next. 

The first band was an acoustic duo called T4AA, they were perched up over looking the crowd strumming away as people continued to drink. It was notable a lot of these people wouldn’t be your typical craft beer drinkers. Most of them were Craft Beer Virgins! Lucky for them Wayne was waiting to eagerly convert each and every one of them. He even said how one lad said he’d never go back to Guinness after drinking the heavenly Brú Dubh. We all know my love of Brú is massive! 

The next band up were Travis Oaks, who were an original band, who played all their own material, and this was the group most of the crowd were here to see. They got them all worked up. Or was that the beer? Probably both. But they were rocking, and it’s a good thing that there was plenty of Copper and Spices Curry, and Samosa’s to go around. 

In fairness to Wayne, he never let my glass of Rua empty, its just delish, and it doesn’t get any better than served at the brewery.

Last up, then for the night were local covers band, No Halo, playing lots of familiar rock hits, kicking the crowd into overdrive. 

All in all, it was a great night, but, more importantly, it was very unique. 3 Bands, in a Brewery, with great curry. Where else would you get it? The organisers from Le Cheile and Brú should be commended for their imagination, and execution of a great event. 

Tickets for this great festival, are available for purchase at www.lecheile.com and several outlets in Meath. If you’ve no plans for the August Bank Holiday weekend you should check it out. Oh, and don’t worry about it being rubbish beer, the beers at the Festival will be Brú!

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Now that i’ve wrestled the laptop away from Janice, as supping a lovely Blackstairs Ruby IPA, I just want to thank Janice for being so supporting with all my beery escapades, and to let you all know this will not be the last time Janice will be posting to my blog. Hopefully soon, you too will be able to listen to us waffle on in our very own podcast, once Ian teaches me how to do it!!

Thanks for reading, please share this with all your friends! Mrs Irish Beer Snob, has arrived.