As you may know I wasn’t in a position to do a blog this week. Patrick McHugh organised a visit to Black’s of Kinsale as part of Thomas Costelloe’s Stag weekend and I asked if he’d mind doing a guest blog for me on it. Here’s what he wrote:
Stags to Kinsale
Early last Saturday morning we left Athlone for the shores of Kinsale to visit Blacks Brewery. We had arranged a trip to Blacks Brewery as part of our Stag Party weekend away trip to Cork. After over 3 hours we eventually arrived in Kinsale in high spirits after having a few beverages and a few packs of Oky Dokeys to keep us going. We were welcomed by tour organiser and good friend John Fahy who showed us around and talked to us about how Blacks made their beers and a brief history of the company. John then brought us to the tasting room with which must of our party were eagerly anticipating. Firstly we tasted the Pale Ale(KPA) which was Blacks first brew. A beautifully balanced beer with citrus and tropical fruit flavour with a sweet malt finish. Next was the Black IPA which is a personal favourite of mine and is Irelands first Black IPA. A hoppy and fruity style beer with chocolate and coffee tones with a smooth style finish. Next up was the Rocketship IPA with passionfruit aromas and a malt and fruit flavour on the palate.
Finally we were treated to a taste of the new and yet not released Blacks Stout. A rich intense stout with coffee and dark chocolate flavour but a silky super smooth finish.
This stout I believe will be available to taste at the upcoming Alltech tastings at the end of this month.
While we were tasting, Sam the owner paid us a visit to see what we thought of the beers. Sam talked to us about the beer styles and his passion for brewing but he also wanted to listen to what our opinions of the beers were and what beer styles impressed us most.
It was a great day and well worth the 3 hour trip. We would of loved to stay
longer and try to drink all the beer(haha). I think at first many of our party were hesitant about the trip to a brewery on a Stag weekend but everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a great experience to try new and better quality beers that some may have not tried before.
I would definitely recommend a visit to a brewery especially Blacks for a weekend away though plan well in advance.
I would like to thank John and Sam for taking their time out in showing us around and letting us visit their Brewery. I wish Blacks every success in the future and im sure you will hear more about them in the years to come.