Brooklyn Sorachi Ace
7.6% €12.99
"The beer you grew up with did not taste of beer. It was crappy beer."
Garrett Oliver hauled up at the Ballymaloe Litfest last weekend to take part in debates and promote the cause of craft beer. Articulate, witty and hugely knowledgeable, he is a formidable and persuasive speaker. As well as writing the Oxford Beer Companion and The Brewmaster’s Table, he has been the driving force behind the Brooklyn Brewery, one of the most successful and innovative craft brewers in the US. In addition to their standard range, Brooklyn produces once-off highly experimental beers and seasonal releases.
Oliver uses leftover lees from cider, spruce needles, myrtle, citrus peels, pepper, honey, bourbon casks, and a host of other ingredients to add flavour and complexity to the beers. He is a great believer in matching beer and food too. The Sorachi Ace hop was developed in Japan in the 1970s, a cross between a Czech and British hop. The beer has wonderful herby lemon zest aromas, a soft dry palate full of herby flavours. Unique and delicious.
Widely available.
Wieninger Winener Gemischter Satz 2014
12.5% €18.95
Not many cities can claim to have grapes grown and wines made within their suburbs. But Vienna has 700 hectares of vines running from the burbs up into the hills above the Austrian capital. Many of these double up as heurigen, or wine taverns, where you can enjoy a glass of wine with some food. Fritz Wieninger was one of a small group that elevated these once simple wines into some of the best in Austria. His winery, in the hills overlooking Vienna, has one such heurige where you can eat some very good traditional food with Fritz's delicious wines.
The Gemischter Satz (try saying that after a few glasses) is a unique wine made from no less than eleven different grape varieties. This are all planted together in the same vineyard and picked and fermented at the same time. As some mature quicker than others, you get this complex mix of flavours, some refreshing, others ripe. The Gemischter Satz is a delicious fresh crisp dry wine with mouth-watering fruits and a spicy gingery touch. Yum.
Available from The Corkscrew, Chatham St; The Corkscrew at Kenny’s, Lucan; World Wide Wines, Waterford; Thomas Woodberry, Galway
