Myself and my family went camping in Killarney at the weekend. We did touristy things but this IS a beer blog so I won’t detail them here!
With all the money we saved by camping we said we’d treat ourselves and went to the Hotel Europe for dinner. I had one of the local brews from Killarney Brewing Company with my Kerry lamb but the flavours jarred a bit. The lamb was only gorgeous and the beer was grand, just not a good match for each other!
After dinner I retired to the library with a drop of the newly released Dingle Single Malt. I’m not a whiskey expert but I’d normally sip it neat, this one needed a drop of water to mellow it out a bit. (Pretentious twat!)
That evening I had arranged to meet Soren, a Killarney based beer nut who runs the Irish beer and breweriana Facebook page. He recommended The Celtic Whiskey Bar.
They’ve a good number of taps on their two bars. I asked for White Gypsy Banker first as I hadn’t tried it, but, alas the tap was dry. So I opted for Killarney’s Helles instead. It went down very nicely indeed.
I stuck with Lager and had a delicious pint of YellowBelly’s The Passion after that. Cool spot, serious selection of whiskey too, good shout Soren!
Back at Base Camp I had Northern Monk’s Patrons Project 1.02 Coffee Porter. Earlier in the day, I’d had BrewDog’s Semi Skimmed Occultist with my chocolate Easter bunny but this one from blew that out of the water. It was rich, creamy and indulgent. If you happen upon a can I highly recommend picking it up!
The next day we were in Dingle and I enjoyed a West Kerry Carraig Dubh with some beef and I checked how far the brewery/pub was. 11km. Sure it would’ve been rude not to pay a visit.
My first choice was Blue Rose, an English style Pale Ale. Very refreshing and easy to drink.
After that I tried a half of Black Elder. A Dark Ale brewed with Elderflower. On cask too, which is indeed a rare treat. I was chatting to Adrienne (hope I’ve that right!) She brews the beer and is a great host. You Really Should spin out as far as Ballyferiter. I’m glad I did before we had to hit the road home, with my patient, loving wife once again behind the wheel. Sláinte!
