6 minute read
NEWS
The main events this autumn...
Supporting future supply of Irish grain
The Teagasc Signpost programme, a campaign to lead climate action by Irish farmers, has partnered up with Drinks Ireland to further reduce the environmental footprint of grain production. Four member companies of Drinks Ireland – Diageo, Heineken Ireland, Irish Distillers and William Grant & Sons – will work with the Teagasc Signpost programme to support the transition towards climate smart cropping systems that advance reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, while maximising carbon sequestration. The aims of the partnership are to establish ground cover for spring cereal production, exploit all appropriate IPM measures available to reduce pesticide use on farms and develop a plan to improve fertiliser use e ciency, while replacing chemical fertilizers by up to 20% with organic manure.
New look for West Coast Cooler
West Coast Cooler has relaunched its wine cooler in two new fl avours, with a newlook bottle and can format. The iconic beverage, born in the 80s, is also launching a pop-up can delivery subscription service, Only Cans. Original is a citrus, pineapple and passionfruit fl avoured wine cooler with sugar and sweeteners, while Rosé is a refreshing red berry, pineapple and passionfruit fl avoured wine cooler, also with sugar and sweeteners. Speaking about the brand relaunch, Assistant Brand Manager Laura Kerr, said: “West Coast Cooler has been a consistent consumer favourite since its inception in 1984. We’ve worked to create a beautiful revamp to the packaging – both the original 750ml bottles and we’ve added something we’re really excited about, a very practical ready to drink can format. The one thing we haven’t touched is the great tasting product.”
Brewdog opens second Irish venue in Cork
Scottish craft brewer BrewDog has opened its second Irish bar in the centre of Cork city. The venue has two floors, with a bar on each floor, plus a Mezzanine. Each bar will have 30 taps of craft beer from BrewDog, along with curated local guest breweries. The bar will also serve an exclusive brew from Original 7 Brewery called Judges Pup, plus spirits and wine, along with coffee from Soma. BrewDog Cork also intends to run ‘Beer School’ sessions – guided tastings led by Ciceronetrained staff, discovering the flavours and backstories to five beers over a laid-back couple of hours.
The US Ambassador to Ireland, H.E. Claire Cronin, recently visited the Irish Whiskey Association member distillery, the Pearse Lyons Distillery in Dublin. She used the visit to mark the close ties between the Irish and American whiskey industries and also discussed the Irish Whiskey Association’s new IrishWhiskey360° Passport, which aims to incentivise international tourists to visit the numerous Irish whiskey distilleries. The US remains the largest market in the world for Irish whiskey, with over 5.9 million cases (71 million bottles) of Irish whiskey sold there in 2021, a 15% increase on Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland in the US have created artificial intelligence that can virtually ‘taste’ wine with more than 95% accuracy. According to its makers, the technology provides a “more efficient but less fun” method of sampling wines. The team began by training the AI system’s virtual palate, using 148 of the wines from a dataset of 178 made from three grape varieties. Each virtual wine had 13 characteristics to consider and each characteristic was assigned a value between 0 and 1 for the network to consider when distinguishing one wine from the others. The system passed with 95.3% accuracy and made just two mistakes on the wines it had never seen before. The winetasting AI technology has not been designed as an artificial sommelier, but to prove that similar devices could potentially be scaled up and used to build new AI systems.
2020. Tourists from the US also form the largest visitor segment for Irish whiskey distilleries, which are aiming to rebound in 2022 following an 87% collapse in visitors in 2020 and 2021 on foot of Covid-19. Speaking during the visit, Claire Cronin said: “I welcome the partnership between the Irish Whiskey Association and Kentucky Distillers’ Association, including the development of the new Irish Whiskey Passport initiative and I look forward to more Americans visiting Irish whiskey distilleries and more Irish visiting American whiskey distilleries in the future.”
Scientists develop new wine-tasting AI technology
Cocktail Hour
Kick back this summer with a vodka cocktail on The Terrace at The Shelbourne
BELVEDERE LEMON & BASIL 75
The Shelbourne’s outside space, The Terrace, has partnered with vodka brand Belvedere’s new range of super-premium organic vodkas, infused with combinations of 100% organic fruits and botanicals. To showcase each of the Belvedere Organic Infusions series, The Terrace is serving three specially created cocktails this summer — a Belvedere Blackberry & Lemongrass Spritz, a Belvedere Pear & Ginger Spritz and a Belvedere Lemon & Basil 75 (€16 each). There’s also the popular Belvedere Espresso Martini and your own style of Martini (€21), served from the Martini Trolley. Here, Bar Manager Adrian Murphy shares a recipe for one of the specially created cocktails.
Ingredients
30ml Belvedere Lemon & Basil 15ml honey water 7.5ml lemon juice 15ml pressed apple juice 45ml Laurent Perrier Lemon zest Shake all the ingredients together, except for the champagne. Double strain into a Coupe glass and top up with champagne.
Two of Ireland’s leading artisan drinks-producing families, Walsh Whiskey of Carlow and Dick Mack’s of Dingle, have collaborated to create a once-o , super-premium Irish whiskey, fi nished in a rare craft beer cask. ‘The Irishman - The Harvest Brown Berry Beer Cask Finish’ is a triple-distilled, non-chill fi ltered marriage of aged Single Malt and Single Pot Still Irish whiskeys by Walsh Whiskey in Carlow. The cask originated from the Caribbean, Saint Lucia, where it fi rst matured rum for a few years before working its magic on Dick Mack’s Brown Berry Beer for six months. The Harvest whiskey was then aged for an additional seven months in the Brown Berry Beer Cask from Dick Mack’s Brewhouse in Dingle. This rare single cask of whiskey is bottled at 50.04% ABV. Just 264 bottles have been produced, with the majority pre-sold to members of the Friend’s of Walsh Whiskey whiskey club.
Ageing Well at the Cli s of Moher
The Cli s of Moher Experience has partnered with J.J. Corry Irish Whiskey to create a new series of Irish whiskeys fi nished in sherry casks in the iconic O’Brien’s Tower. Clare-based J.J. Corry has selected single malt, pot still and single grain whiskeys from around the country to mature within the tower, which was built by Sir Cornelius O’Brien on the edge of the cli s in 1835. Working with partner Cooper Casknolia and Bodegas in Montilla & Jerez, the casks have been seasoned for over 18 months before being fi lled with J. J. Corry whiskey. The whiskeys will be released as a series of bottlings later this year. Founder of J.J. Corry, Louise McGuane, said: “We are so proud to have the opportunity to collaborate with our neighbours at the Cli s of Moher. The Cli s are an iconic symbol of County Clare and Ireland and crucial for our local economy. We are delighted to be able to share the story of County Clare and the best of Irish whiskey with visitors to the cli s.”
