The Franciscan Well in Cork City is hosting its Spring beer festival this weekend. It is specific to craftbrewing – so only small Irish breweries are represented. It is free entry and a grill offers food for €3.50 per item (hamburger, chicken burger, veggie burger, hot dog,…). We went to their Autumn festival as well and are spoiled by living minutes from Franciscan Well, Bierhaus, and Abbott’s Ale House, so I was tickled to read Chris’s post in The Beer Geek.
Festival favorite, you ask? The chocolate stouts, particularly the truffle one from The Porterhouse Brewing Co., are amazingly chocolaty for a beer. Yummy!
Craftbrewing, or microbrewing as it is sometimes known, is the art of creating beers in smaller quantities with more deliberate care to each batch. It is like the difference between getting a cake from a big chain market or a little bakery (or grandmother).
The breweries featured this weekend are: Carlow Brewing Co. (Est. 1998); Hilden Brewery (Est. 1981); College Green Brewery (Est. 2005); Messrs Maguire (Est. 1998); White Gypsy (Est. 2008); The Hooker Brewery (Est. 2006); University College Cork Pilot Research Brewery (Est. 1999); The Porterhouse Brewing Co. (Est. 1996); Whitewater Brewery of Kilkeel in County Down; Franciscan Well Brewery of Cork City (Est. 1998).
11 & 12 April, 2009
