It’s a great time to be a beer drinker in Ireland. Craft brewers are putting the fun and the flavour back into beer, it’s something to celebrate and that’s from the nephew of the former Master Brewer at Budweiser.

New beers bring new flavours and since taste is what we are all about, it only makes sense to see if a Irish craft distiller and brewer could work together.

Dungaravan

It’s about a week since we agreed to work with the Dungarvan Brewing Company on what we here called Brú House 01. We wanted to distill one of their beers, mature it in sherry wood and release this Spirit of West Waterford in time for the West Waterford Festival of Food. The plan got the thumbs up from social media and the story was picked up local, national and international press.

Cormac and Peter chat over a beer.
Cormac and Peter chat over a beer.

Which got us thinking . . . would there be an interest in limited editions spirits based on craft beers? If you like local spirits for local markets, just like it was in the heyday of Irish distilling.

Blacks of Kinsale

So we got talking to another great local brewery, Black’s of Kinsale. We are both going to the Alltech Craft Beer Festival in Dublin, they are all about hops and distilleries aren’t – so a perfect mismatch. We just had to work together and that is how Brú House 02 was born, the Double Black. 

The idea here is to distill a wash and divide it in two. One half gets distilled, the other goes on to become a double IPA. So at the Alltech Featival consumers will be able to experience two totally different drinks made from the exact same mash. Love it!

Which got us thinking . . .

Beers

There’s a lot of craft beer out there. So is this the start of something? Could we do a limited run every couple of months? Every month? In our minds the possibilities, the combinations, the flavours are almost without limit!

So what do you think? Should we continue? Are you a brewer? Wanna come play?