Kinsale Mead Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged IRISH DRINK AWARD BY KATE RYAN
French wine barrels for 12 months. The Irish Food Writers’ Guild Irish Drink Award is for their Wild Red Mead – Merlot Barrel Aged, a three-year-old fermented off-dry mead flavoured with tart Irish blackberry and juicy cherry, then aged for 12 months in Bordeaux wine casks. ‘We wanted to add another layer of complexity and depth to our smooth, eminently drinkable Wild Red Mead, particularly with an eye to pairing it with food,’ says Kate and Denis. ‘We found the maturation and micro-oxygenation process of ageing in barrels resulted in a fruity liveliness with juice and bright fruit flavours that were fantastic on the palate.’ ‘Historically mead was stored – and by default, aged – in barrels, and as Kinsale was such an important wine port, we knew we wanted to
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insale Mead, established by Kate and Denis Dempsey in 2017, is Ireland’s first commercial meadery for over 200 years. Ireland has a mead heritage that reaches back to the ancient mead halls of the high kings and queens at the Hill of Tara, making this fermented honey drink older in origin than Irish whiskey. Kinsale, with its long-standing reputation as Ireland’s premier gourmet destination and its historical trading routes to Spain, is reflected in the ingredients crafted into their white and red mead: Spanish orange blossom honey, local botanicals and fruits grown in Ireland. In 2020, Kate and Denis, inspired by the legends of Ireland’s Wild Geese, wanted to explore the potential of their mead further by ageing it in
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IRELAND HAS A MEAD HERITAGE THAT REACHES BACK TO THE ANCIENT MEAD HALLS OF THE HIGH KINGS AND QUEENS AT THE HILL OF TARA, MAKING THIS FERMENTED HONEY DRINK OLDER IN ORIGIN THAN IRISH WHISKEY.
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