Category: Franciscan Well

2014, Beer Ireland, EBBC14, Four Provinces, Franciscan Well, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Premier Beers, The Church, Ugly Duckling Dublin

And now the conclusion – EBBC Day 2 – Thoughts

by irishbeersnob2 Comments on And now the conclusion – EBBC Day 2 – Thoughts

So this is following on from my previous posts re the European Beer Bloggers Conference, this one will cover the final day.

Day 2 was an early start, 10am was the first event. Dean McGuinness of Premier Beers was giving the talk and the state of the Irish Craft Beer sector. Knowing this was going to be a long day pre conference grub and fuel was provided by Ugly Duckling – Cheers Darragh for the awesome full irish! Just what was needed.

Dean talked us through his 10 Commandments and they made a lot of sense, but the Honesty one was the one that resonated. Just tell people whats in their beer. 



It was a bit odd that when the subject being discussed was the Irish Beer Scene that we were sampling a couple of UK Beers, and a German Bock. I know this caused conversation to the side. Personally though it reflects the small amount of Dean’s portfolio that is actually Irish. Most of it is foreign. The beers themselves were tasty, even if we did peer pressure Simon into joining us at that time.

Next up was the meat and potatoes, Supercharging you’re Blog. This was the main reason I came. As a new blogger I wanted to learn some tips to improve my blog, and ultimately increase readership. Cindy from Zephyr tours gave the talk and it was fascinating to learn about the different things. A lot of these I will be implementing over the coming months.

So it was break time, and once again Pilsner Urquell provided the generous hospitality of lunch, we had the awesome Church staff cook up a great barbecue with more unfiltered Pilsner. I got to tap the keg myself, and so did Rossa. The quality checking was very important!

Quality check of the pour with Vaclav Berka

The generosity didn’t stop there, they had packs of can’s for us to take with us too. I was lucky enough that the marketing people let me take home an extra pack for a twitter raffle with a branded Pilsner Urquell glass. My only regret, I didn’t get a glass for myself! 

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsAfter lunch we then had the guys from WordPress talking about their blog platform. I must say I was really impressed with the tips they also gave and they were extremely helpful, a migration to wordpress could be on the cards later in the year. We also had a fascinating chat with Tomasz from Poland who has frankly insane numbers of views for youtube. His main hint – don’t edit your videos, just get them up! Once these were done and dusted we had a beer reception from Beer Ireland showcasing yet again the great craft brews in this country. The Hurler by Four Provinces was the perfect beer for the clammy conditions in the Church. 

Approaching the end of the events was a dinner sponsored by Franciscan Well, allowing our host venue to highlight again the quality of their food, with Irish produced matched to the Fran Well beers. My favourite beer of the night was the Jameson Barrel aged Stout, simply amazing. But the highlight was Shane Long’s talk, Shane is the Head Brewer and it was great to hear his passionate speech where he covered the move from independent brewer to being in the Molson Coors family. Shane is a massive influence in the Irish market and provides advice, help, and his time to brewers all over the country. I for one hope they heed his plea to break from the norm of pale ale, red, and stout. But the night wasn’t over yet. We had a final event of entertainment and beers from O’Haras. We got to try all of their core beers, but we also got to suggest a beer for them to make. I suggested a Gooseberry sour, but wouldn’t be hopeful it will be picked.

All in all this was a fantastic weekend, and I am grateful to the sponsors for stepping in to make sure this went ahead. A big thank you to Zephyr for organising this, and I can’t wait to see where it is in 2015.

11pm somewhere, 2014, Blacks of Kinsale, Craft Beer, european beer bloggers conference, Franciscan Well, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Ireland, N17, Norseman, The Church, Ugly Duckling Dublin, Vanguard Beer Collective

European Beer Bloggers Conference – Day One

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on European Beer Bloggers Conference – Day One

Now in it’s fourth year the European Beer Bloggers Conference came to Dublin last weekend for the first time. Following on from a successful event last year in Edinburgh, Dublin had big shoes to follow.

Dublin is undergoing a craft beer revolution at the moment and it was going to be interesting to see what foreign visitors from the UK, Europe and the USA thought of it.

The Thursday evening pub crawl was arranged by Reuben Gray who had a major part in getting the conference to Dublin this year, and this highlighted the best craft beer bars Dublin has to offer. Ian (11pm Somewhere Podcast) and I arranged to meet early to film a pre conference hangout, the videos are below. We were joined by Carol Dekkers from Tampa Florida, Eric & Flo of Brewsweplate and Brian of Irish Craft Beer Show. 

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/shWuWRIi1v8&source=uds

So along comes Friday and conference proper. The advice was to eat before we arrived as there was a trade show displaying the best of Irish brewing before events kicked off at 2pm. I could think of no better place than the Ugly Duckling Cafe in the Epicurean Food Hall. I went with the McWurly, which is a battered beef burger in a bun with cheese and salad. Accompanied with a side of chips. This set me up for the day. 


From here we made our way to the Church Bar, which used to be a Church funnily enough given the name. Arthur Guinness even got married there. Where we registered and made our way through the samples. It was great to see some of the newer brewers there especially Black Donkey Brewing who really came with a great farmhouse ale called “Sheep Stealer” (Review to follow) There were some other great beers including the Honey IPA by Sharps, the Big Brown Bear by Trouble Brewing and N17’s famous Rye Ale. 



The events kicked off with a history of brewing in Ireland which was fascinating to learn that it goes back thousands of years. Though it would explain a lot. Which lead onto a great discussion on the merits of Cask vs Keg, and Can vs Bottle. I expected this to get a bit heated, however it was a well delivered presentation which I think covered all the pros and cons in a balanced way but ultimately there are some styles that aren’t suited to certain packaging. There then the last talk for the afternoon which had a panel discussion with Sarah of N17, Cathal of Rascals, and Paul from Trouble Brewing. A wide range discussed, including the topical pricing issues. I think Sarah summed it up best when she said as a brewer she wants to “keep it in the hands of the people!”

From here we had a break before the big festivities of the evening, Dinner in St James’ Gate hosted by Guinness, and the legendary Pilsner Urquell party. Taking the opportunity a few of us recently acquainted bloggers went to the Norseman to try the Kinsale Pale Ale which was pouring through a Randall. We caught up with the group as they continued along Fishamble St on the Way to St James’ Gate. 

I’m going to leave this post here, as I feel the Guinness event and Pilsner Urquell event really deserve a lot more detail. 

All in all, Day 1 was a fun day. Met some really interesting people, Sarah, Sean, Richard and Carol. The craic was mighty all day. We had some fantastic drinks. And it meant the second day was also going to be great. 


2014, Beerhouse, Cassidys, Craft Beer, Craft Beer Tour Dublin, Farringtons, Franciscan Well, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Irish, JW Sweetman, Metalman, Rascals, Saison

Dublin Craft Beer Tour

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Dublin Craft Beer Tour

Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats sang about hating Mondays and with good reason, its universally known as the worst day of the week. You go to bed on Sunday evening with that Monday morning fear. Well this past monday we did something different than what we’d usually do on a Monday evening. We were going to do a Craft Beer Tour of Dublin.

Now I met Kevin through mutual friends in Probus wines recently and I said i’d come along and try round up a few heads for Kevin’s tour. Sadly the weather was rubbish and a few people dropped out on account of the weather. 

The premise is quite simple, we all meet at 730 in the Beerhouse on Capel St, and the group then goes on one of the two routes which will take in 4 pubs in total including the starting pub.

Our route this evening will take us via Farringtons, Cassidy’s and JW Sweetman. All stalwarts of the Craft beer scene in Dublin. The thing is, we are only trying Irish Craft Beers.

Our first beer of the night was a new one from Franciscan Well. Now its well documented they are part of the Molson Coors Family, but this does not stop them producing quality beers. Tonight’s offering was a Clementine and Rosemary Saison. 

A trio of Saison, photo by @bakingbatchelor

Kevin explained the beer was made by a friend of his and that he helped by peeling 27KG of clementines. Hopefully when it’s bottled you’ll get a few for your hard work. It was strange drinking this beer on a dank Monday evening but it was very tasty and well balanced. It would be a great summer beer. So will keep an eye out for this when it launches soon.

Next stop was Farringtons where we would get to sample a different beer. This time we had a Rascals Ginger Porter. It wasn’t the first time i’d had it and it was still as surprisingly light as the first time i’d had it. Well done Cathal & Emma, and am looking forward to seeing your new brewhouse in Rathcoole.

Rascals Ginger Porter photo by @dunnejm

From here we ran the hurdle through Temple Bar to Cassidy’s of Westmoreland St. In here we all had the rocksteady Metalman Pale Ale. 

Metal Man Pale Ale photo by @bakingbatchelor

Then for the last stop of the night, JW Sweetmans on Burgh Quay. In here we all went with their Galaxy Hopped Amber Ale. A very tasty amber ale and would recommend anyone who’s in there to try it before it all goes.


Kevin runs the tour’s every Monday evening and meets at the Beerhouse on Capel St. The meet time is 730PM. He can be found on Facebook, and Twitter @crafttourdublin. Definitely one of the more interesting ways to spend a Monday evening.



2014, Bison Bar, Bru Brewery, Cask, Cork, Franciscan Well, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Mountain Man Brewing, N17, Sarah Roarty, White Gypsy

Franciscan Well – Cask & Winter Ale Festival 2014

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Franciscan Well – Cask & Winter Ale Festival 2014

It may just have been St Valentines day, but Janice and I didn’t celebrate this infamous holiday in the traditional manner, oh no, you know at this stage that’s not my style.

The day itself we went on a little pub crawl of the Galway Bay Pubs in Dublin, taking in the new bar Alfie Byrnes which is situated in the basement of the Conrad Hotel. Against the Grain on Wexford St. We then had a fantastic dinner in Bison, a 51oz Cowboy Steak (A Ribeye with the bone in) along with 5 sumptuous sides and a cocktail each for €50.


Cowboy Steak from Bison

  Of course we ended the night with Alan and the crew in Brewdock.

Alas, I digress, on the Saturday we went down to Cork, to visit the 3rd Annual Franciscan Well Cask & Winter Ale Festival 

For those who don’t know Franciscan Well is a Cork based brew pub and brewery who are massive supporters of Irish Craft Beer. Cask is really a niche within a niche of craft beer consumption in Ireland but it offers such a different way to enjoy some of your favourite breweries. There was also some of the newer brewers present on Keg, such as Otterbank with their amazing Farami, Rascals with their award winning Ginger Porter, and N17 with their Rye Ale.

Bru Brewery had 3 of their products on that day, I didn’t see the Dubh, maybe it ran out on the first night, as i’d had a sneak of it previously and its such a great stout on cask. I was really impressed with the Rí which is their west coast IPA. Very bright in colour, a nice malt base that allowed the hops to do their thing with the piney citrus aroma followed by a smooth bitterness. Daire mate you can be truly happy with that as the feedback from everyone I spoke to was great. 

Bru Rí on the Cask Bar

2013 Dublin Cup winner Twisted Hop by Hilden was also here on cask, a lovely straw colour with a white head and great smooth flavour. Trent and Amber both by White Gypsy were both also really good.


Another real standout for me was Hop Magnet by Blacks of Kinsale, fresh off the back of their success at Alltech, they’d brought a fantastic Double IPA to the party. Not long ago Ireland was a wasteland in this style now we have 3 of these. At 8% this is not to be treated lightly, but it like Of Foam and Fury is eminently drinkable despite its ABV. The aroma was nice and you got a great citrus, clementine taste on the tongue as well. Sam already has two great permanent fixtures, be great to see this become the third.

As an aside to the beer, and the proper stone oven cooked pizza provided by Pompeii pizza. There was also a meet the brewer series. I only attented the talks by the utterly inspirational Sarah Roarty who outlined her journey from Industrial Chemist to Brewer, and what her motivations and aims are. Thankfully I didn’t make Sarah cry this time! A truly great story and keep an eye out for N17 Brewing coming to a pub / off license near you. 

I also attended Phil from the Mountain Man who held a great informative Q&A session. One thing is for sure I can’t wait to see your set up at the RDS this year and my offer to man the bar is still there (Better start growing the beard now, or at least get a decent fake one) We also got a sneak peak of the next Mountain Man beer, Crazy Horse, the 100 IBU is delish.

All in all a great day was had, we got the train back to Dublin that evening. I’m already looking forward to this next year where i’m sure it will as great as it was this weekend. Coming up shortly is the Irish Craft Beer Fest in CHQ in March and potentially a return to Franciscan Well for their Easter Fest.



2013, Against the Grain, Brewdock, Bru Brewery, Drinkstore, Dungarvan Brewing, Franciscan Well, Galway Bay Brewery, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Mountain Man Brewing, The Winehouse, Trouble Brewing

Golden Pints 2013 – A Year in Review

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Golden Pints 2013 – A Year in Review
Shamelessly hotlinked from Beermack

Talk about leaving it to the last minute – I’ve only been blogging really for 6 months but have been consuming craft beers a long time. Its been a great year for the Irish Breweries, some fantastic innovation and product out in the market. Its great to see. 

Ok, so here goes, I personally found it very difficult to whittle the categories to winners, so i’ve bottled it and am going to list my favourites! 

Best Irish Keg;
The obvious choice would be Of Foam and Fury by Galway Bay, Jason and Chris really have upped the ante with their beers. It is of course an unbelievable DIPA. However we saw some great other beers, 8 Degrees had 3 Standouts this year, Amber Ella, and the Northern vs Southern Hemisphere Hop off of Cyclone and Hurricane. Since its debut at ICBCF Amber Ella was sensational. Also a shout out to my local Brewery, Bru, with their cascade hopped Red Ale, Rua, after some initial carbonation teething issues, this has gone from strength to strength. Blacks of Kinsale also impressed with their debut Kinsale Pale Ale and their Black IPA. So for me, after all that Amber Ella just shades it.

Best Irish Cask
As others have mentioned, there hasn’t been a whole lot of Irish Cask, but there are some stand outs, I haven’t tried many, but I enjoyed Coffee Porter by Franciscan Well on a recent trip south. The lads in Bru managed a Cask version of Rua, which when I tried it it was a bit young. Metalman Pale Ale on cask never disappoints, but the standout for me was Galaxy Pale Ale by Trouble Brewing – pulled with a sparkler – a rarity over here, was smooth and kept a lovely creamy head all the way down.

Best Irish Bottle
I normally stick to draught however I have some great bottled beers this year from our breweries. 8 Degrees with their Back in Black series late in the year rocked in with Zeus Black IPA was very good. Dungarvan’s traditional winter seasonal Coffee & Oatmeal Stout was once again superb. But I really enjoyed Mountain Man’s Hairy Goat

Best Pub
Being based in Dublin means i’ve some great bars to choose from, the Cottage Group is strongly represented in Dublin, and I must say The Brewdock has regained my favourite status, after a lull midyear, the management team was tweaked and the place is bouncing again. It would be remiss of me not to mention Against the Grain which is capably run by Paddy, however its just the wrong direction for me on my trip home. Also have been very impressed by WJ Kavanagh’s and their 5 cask taps, and their great food. We also had a great time in Cork, the Bierhaus, and Abbotts Ale House were both fantastic. So it’s the Brew Dock this year.

Best Off License
This is where it gets more difficult. Drinkstore in Stoneybatter, has an unparalleled range in what is an Aladdin’s cave of beers from around the world. They also have a great online store with reasonable delivery charges. My favourite in Dublin for 2013 though is Probus Wines on Fenian St. Not only does Paul carry a great range of world wines and beers. He also has a knock out deli on site. There are regular tasting events, which are ran each week and are suitably themed. A special shout out must go to The Winehouse in Trim, ran by Alan & Rodney attached to the Malt House Pub, this is a veritable treasure trove in the royal county, and people come from near and far – mainly to snaffle the Rua in Bottles! 

Best Tweeter
I’ve got to say, @thebeernut and @beoirfinder both have great dry sense’s of humour. Andrew usually makes me chuckle. Even when taking the mick out of me. Keep it up in 2014. Also special mention to @taleofale, and @beermack_

Best Blog
I really enjoy reading Alex’s blog – Beermack Blog as he always has a wide range of beers for review. I also really enjoy Beernut’s Blog and Tale of Ale blogs. I’ll give the not to John and the beernut blog.

Food and Beer Pairing
I matched 8 degrees Howling Gale with Smoked Salmon Parcels on Christmas Day, and I must say the citrus matched the cream cheese salmon pate beautifully. 

Asahi, Blind Pig, Chocolat Restaurant, Denmark St, Franciscan Well, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Limerick, Peroni, Pilsner Urquell, Rebel Red, Smith's Craft Fox, White Gypsy, Worthington's

Weekend in Limerick.

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Weekend in Limerick.

So since my last update i’ve gathered some swag from Drinkstore, got some 8 Degrees Amber Ella one of the stars of the recent Irish Craft Beer & Cider Fest. Also picked up a few others including a bottle of whiskey barrel aged Leann Follain by O’Haras that i’m going to keep by for Christmas.

Anyway the main point of this post is to share what went down in Limerick this past weekend.

So after work on Friday drove down to Limerick and thanks to the motorway network made it in a very reasonable time once we got past the accident in Naas.

Our lodgings for the weekend were The Pier Hotel on Sarsfield Bridge. Easy to find and very centrally located. A very keen price and as it turned out was very good value for money. The rooms were clean, and the Breakfast was great. The real stand out thing was the fact breakfast was on til 12! That is a first for me, but it was a very tasty breakfast and the staff were really helpful.

The first night giving we got down around 830 we were famished and went to Bella Italia, an Italian Restaurant – we just went with main courses. It was on Thomas St a short hop from the hotel. Sadly the food wasn’t as great as we hoped, but filled a hole none the less. Though the pint of Peroni for €4.95 was a great thirst quencher. Once we were done there we retired back to the hotel bar for a couple of drinks. Sadly no craft beer there so had to slum it.

What an amazing view


The next day we were blessed with the weather for our trip out to the magnificent Cliffs of Moher. Only an hour or so from Limerick. Amazing scenery and one of our best tourist attractions. There was a healthy crowd there. On our way back from the Cliffs we stopped in Lahinch in a local pub called Danny Macs. We had a clam chowder with a pint, well not me as I was driving had to make do with water! 😦 this would be remedied later on. 

Once we got back to Limerick we dumped the car and went off to watch the 2nd half of the United match (now i wish i hadn’t bothered) we picked Smiths as a place to watch it due to their large amount of screens. Happily they’d Pilsner Urquell available on draught, and it was only lovely. I also loved the tankard style pint glasses 

Lovely Retro Style Tankard

So after here – i’d had enough – we decided to move on to another pub.Luckily we didn’t have far to go. The Crafty Fox was a mere stones throw down the street. I’d heard good things, and was very keen to try it out. Also there was plenty of screens to watch the All Ireland Hurling Final Replay, which was sensational. 

The Bar in the Crafty Fox – Well Stocked.

The beer menu for a limerick bar was very good, a lot of irish craft present on the taps, O’Haras and Franciscan Well having a couple of taps each, was also nice to see 8 Degrees Howling Gale, and Metalman. Importantly all very well priced. Again there was a nice choice of bottles but it was the taps that we supped from. I’d a Metalman and Dark Arts,both fantastic as always. Mrs Irishbeersnob was supping the Rebel Red. We’d a couple there and watched the amazing climax of the hurling and went off to dinner.

Chocolat in Limerick was recommended to us by our friend. What really sealed the deal was their 4 course meal for €25. On a saturday night. Mad value for money. This is what the 9% Vat rate gets us. Unbelievable value for money. The restaurant was very swanky, down stairs in the main dining room you were treated to a really modern restaurant. The music in the backround was more akin to a night club however. That was the only quibble. The food was fantastic. I went with the BBQ Rib to start, and the Sirloin Steak main, for dessert a Ferrero Rocher cheesecake. All three courses were really impressive. There was also NO supplemant for having steak. Mrs Beersnob had Clonakilty Blackpudding cake, with the BBQ Ribs as a main. I’d a Worthingtons White Knight and herself a blue moon. Obviously their beer was supplied by Molson Coors. Not the absolute worst. But was a bit disappointing not to see Irish craft there.

Then for the finale of the night we made our way to the Blind Pig.I saw on twitter earlier in the day they’d been tapped up by White Gypsy for their Ruby – an ale i’d never had before. But how hadn’t I, it was sensational. Had a nice few pints of this. To mix it up i’d a Fischers later but there was something up with the keg as it tasted off, the guys were happy to swap it out and i’d an Asahi instead. The staff were really friendly. There was a metal/rock Dj on as the metal bar downstairs wasn’t open. All in all, was very very impressed. 

The Beoirfinder App suggested a few other pubs had Irish Craft – sadly we ran out of time – but will be back in the future to check out the rest of the scene in Limerick.