RACK ‘EM UP SERIES #1: Yellow Ball Double Dry Hop IPA with Bale Breaker Brewing & Revolution Brewing

On February 28, 2019   /   Blog, New Brews   /   Leave a comment
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The RACK ‘EM UP SERIES from Eight Degrees Brewing #1: Yellow Ball Double Dry Hop IPA with Bale Breaker Brewing and Revolution Brewing Eight Degrees is turning eight this year. To celebrate eight years of brewing, we are producing eight exciting and innov8ing beers throughout 2019, many of them collaborations with acclaimed craft breweries or with quality local producers. These eight unique beers will form part of our exciting and colourful RACK EM’ UP series. Eight Years. Eight Beers. Eight Collabs. First in the line up is a double dry-hopped IPA. This is a three-way collaboration between Eight Degrees, Bale Breaker Brewing – from the hop heaven that is Washington’s Yakima Valley – and Revolution Brewing, Chicago’s largest independent craft beer brewery. It’s a showcase of Yakima Valley’s finest hops chosen by Bale Breaker, a malt bill picked by Eight Degrees to feature the best of local Irish malt and a yeast strain chosen by Revolution. The result is a beer supercharged with hop freshness and aroma. Style: Double Dry Hop IPA Malt: Two-Row Irish malted barley, CaraPils. Hops: Simcoe + late addition of Citra and Jester. ABV: 5.9% IBUs: 65 Tasting notes Colour/appearance: deep, dark gold in the glass with a white, pillowy head. Aroma: an up-front biscuit malt sweetness initially, followed by pepper spice and dank pine. Flavour: medium carbonation, juicy and full bodied. A classic West Coast IPA, with sweet stone fruit to the forefront, quickly dominated by pine sap bitterness, alongside white pepper and ginger spice notes. Aftertaste: a lemon marmalade bitterness that lingers. Food pairings We love beer and cheese and this IPA goes particularly well with blue cheese, especially our local favourite Cashel Blue, the creamy funk of the cheese contrasting beautifully with the bitterness of the beer. Make that Cashel Blue into a

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Meet the brew crew

On January 20, 2019   /   Blog   /   Leave a comment

  Just in case you don’t know what we look like, we got a shot of (almost!) all the crew together in our #MauritiustoMitchelstown brewery during December’s strategy day. From left: Scott (founder), Dan (brewer), Cam (founder), Paudy (office maestro), Killian (packaging), Patryk (packaging), David (sales), Derek (brewer). Not in shot, Caitriona (office assistant) and – because she’s behind the camera as usual – Caroline (marketing).

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Review: Food & Wine Magazine – Hopsfume Brett IPA

On January 15, 2019   /   Blog   /   Leave a comment
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Jan 4 2019: Food & Wine Magazine: So it goes… Ernie Whalley’s monthly balance sheet of liquid assets “After promising Eight Degrees’ Caroline Hennessy that I would “bloody hate this beer,” I found I didn’t. Brett presence is more a forest walk on dead leaves than a sniff of Ruby Walsh’s breeches; on the palate, there’s nectarine, kumquat and a slight figgy essence with distinct hop bitterness-over-fudge on the back palate. Tasty. What doesn’t work for wine certainly made a contribution to a beer of class and character, one I’d buy again.”

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Howling Gale Ale in World Beer Awards magazine

On January 7, 2019   /   Awards, Blog   /   Leave a comment
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We’re very proud to see our World’s Best Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale in the latest World Beer Awards magazine celebrating the 2018 award winners. We were delighted when Howling Gale – our flagship pale ale since we launched the brewery back in 2011 and the first beer that we ever brewed – was named winner of the World’s Best American Style Pale Ale category last year. In the review, it is described as: “Light golden in colour with a good hop aroma. Citrus and flowers coming through too. Good amount of bitterness on the palate.” You’ll find Howling Gale widely available in bottles and on draught in pubs, restaurants and off licences throughout Ireland.   More Tasting notes: Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale 2018 World Beer Awards – World Best American-style Pale Ale winner 2017 Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale voted best IPA at Molloy’s Liquor Stores

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Review: Irish News: Saison’s greetings from Eight Degrees – Trespass and Blowhard

On December 20, 2018   /   Blog   /   Leave a comment
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Irish News: 15 December 2018: Craft Beer: Saison’s greetings from Eight Degrees in form of Trespass and Blowhard Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale “…It pours a dark brown, kind of rusty colour, with a fair bit of haze going on. You get nice sweet, jammy aromas and almost a hint of balsamic vinegar on the nose. On the palate, all those ripe blackberry flavours initially dominate before you get that tangy finish you’d expect from a farmhouse ale. But there’s a whole lot more in between. The beer has been aged in the Burgundy pinot noir and chardonnay wine barrels for over a year, and you definitely a vinous feel to it all. It has a nice woody profile too and even sweet toffee caramel flavour too, with a hint of bitter chocolate all before that lovely, dry finish. It’s a wonderfully complex beer and if you’re the sort that likes to tear off a bit of the festive ham on Christmas Eve, this would be the perfect accompaniment – a splash of it might even help to glaze the meat too and it’ll certainly partner up well with a seasonal cheeseboard…” Blowhard Imperial Stout “Blowhard Imperial Stout evokes all sorts of whale analogies although you don’t have to be Captain Ahab to land one of these – although only 1,000 have been bottled so you’ll need to move fast if you want to track down your own Moby Dick. The beer has been aged in Jameson whiskey barrels and clocks in at 12 per cent abv. There’s a rich aroma of espresso and chocolate on the nose and lovely flavours of roasted malt, vanilla, chocolate and dried fruits on the palate.”

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Limited edition: Vermilion Red IPA

On December 6, 2018   /   Blog, New Brews   /   Leave a comment

A vivid bright red pigment, vermilion was highly prized by Renaissance artists but, because it was as expensive as gold leaf, only used sparingly for the most important decorative manuscripts and frescos. Also called Chinese Red, Taoists regarded the bloody red pigment as the colour of life and used it to make made potions meant to rejuvenate and heal. Whilst we would never make this claim, the precious hops that we use in this red IPA have a preservative effect but, more importantly, impart the luscious tropical fruit flavours of juicy mango and passionfruit, underpinned by bitter orange and pine. Style: Red IPA Malt: Two-Row Irish malted barley, CaraMunich, CaraAroma. Hops: Vic Secret, Enigma ABV: 5.8% IBUs: 58 Tasting notes Colour/appearance: a distinct terracotta tint with a billowing creamy head. Aroma: sweet tropical fruit on the nose initially, with dank and leafy depths. Flavour: there’s a proper amount of robust bitterness up front here with bitter Seville orange peel, lime and pine coming through at the start. The tropical fruit flavours are more evident as the beer warms up in the glass. Aftertaste: lingering assertive bitterness. Food pairings: the delicious bitter aftertaste of this beer makes it ideal to cut through any rich foods. Pairs well with roast chicken, turkey or goose, the caramel notes in the beer hooking onto the flavours of the crispy roast skin and making sure that it never becomes to. Savour it alongside a sweet-savoury-sour dish of Pad Thai noodles or try with some Irish farmhouse cheese like Hegarty’s Comté-style Tempegall or their distinctive piquant Cheddar. Launch Date: December 2018. Serving temperature: 8 degrees Celsius Availability: 440ml cans, limited draught. Get social: #VermilionRIPA

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Christmas 2018 releases: Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale with Blackberries & Blowhard Imperial Stout aged in Jameson Barrels

On December 3, 2018   /   Blog   /   Leave a comment
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Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale with Blackberries 7.5% ABV Blowhard Imperial Stout aged in Jameson Barrels 12% ABV Following from the success of our barrel-aged releases from 2017 (The Holly King and The Oak King) and 2016 (The Dukes of Burgundy trilogy), we are releasing a brace of barrel-aged beauties for Christmas 2018. Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale with Blackberries 7.5% ABV In September 2017 we did a special collaboration brew with the renowned author and co-owner of Heretic Brewing in San Francisco, Jamil Zainasheff. Collaborations are all about exploring new possibilities, challenging one another to push boundaries. Jamil – author of Yeast and Brewing Classic Styles – has done it all. So we looked local and, in keeping with the grand saison tradition of brewing with what’s at hand, we developed a recipe to take advantage of the plentiful supply of ripe blackberries growing wild in the nearby Ballyhoura mountains. For one of our most complex beers ever, we brewed a Belgian farmhouse-style ale, with premium Irish malt, Bavarian specialty malt, English hops, and a mixed fermentation comprising a saison yeast for primary with Brettanomyces yeast as a secondary fermentation. We aged this in Burgundy pinot noir and chardonnay wine barrels for 13 months, then added even more blackberries to create a rich, dark and complex blackberry farmhouse ale. We called it Trespass: the sweetest blackberries always grow on another man’s bush. Limited draught. 750ml bottles. Also available in a 2 x 750ml bottle gift pack with Hopsfume Brett IPA, our complex, tart and funky 100% Brett IPA, which takes its name from Limerick author Kevin Barry’s dystopian debut, City of Bohane. Blowhard Imperial Stout aged in Jameson Whiskey Barrels 12% ABV In brewing circles, trying to create a rare, best of breed beer is called a White Whale. In the

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Hopsfume Brett IPA in The Irish Times

On November 28, 2018   /   Blog   /   Leave a comment
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‘Dreamy with hops fume’: two beer styles for the weekend Beerista: 8 Degrees releases a Brett IPA inspired by a Kevin Barry novel; Trouble and Blacks have new Brut IPAs “In the dawn haze the brewery lads were dreamy with hops fume . . .” The misty, dystopian setting of City of Bohane, a novel by Kevin Barry, has found its way into the real-life world of beer, inspiring a new release by Cork’s 8 Degrees. Hopsfume comes in a 750ml sharing bottle and is an 8.3 per cent Brett IPA with a lovely dry, fruity and earthy flavour profile. Brett is an alternative wild yeast – a different species to the standard brewers’ yeast – and it adds a kind of leathery and funky character which, interestingly, used to be considered a flaw in a beer. So while you might not want your regular IPA or pale ale to have these characteristics – add a Brett yeast and the rules change. With Hopsfume, 8 Degrees has combined the fresh, fruity aroma of hops with the unique profile of the Brett – I really enjoyed it. You can expect to hear more about yeasts over the next while, as more and more breweries start to turn their experimental focus from hops to yeasts. Could yeast become the new hops? It’s certainly edging into the foreground as brewers seek to drive different flavour profiles from yeast instead of the usual hop-dominated ones. And while hops fade from the taste of a beer over time, the yeast character does not… Sat, Nov 24, 2018, 06:00 ‘Dreamy with hops fume’: two beer styles for the weekend

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Limited edition: Wild Ballyhoura: Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale

On November 12, 2018   /   Blog, New Brews   /   Leave a comment
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In September 2017 we did a special collaboration brew with Jamil Zainasheff, famed author and co-owner of Heretic Brewing in San Francisco. Collaborations are all about exploring new possibilities, challenging one another to push boundaries. Jamil – author of Yeast and Brewing Classic Styles – has done it all. So we looked local and, in keeping with the grand saison tradition of brewing with what’s at hand, we developed a recipe to take advantage of the plentiful supply of ripe blackberries growing wild in the nearby Ballyhoura mountains. For one of our most complex beers ever, we brewed a Belgian farmhouse-style ale, with premium Irish malt, Bavarian specialty malt, English hops, and a mixed fermentation comprising a saison yeast for primary with Brettanomyces yeast as a secondary fermentation. We aged this in Burgundy pinot noir and chardonnay wine barrels for 13 months, then added even more blackberries to create a rich, dark and complex blackberry farmhouse ale. We called it Trespass: the sweetest blackberries always grow on another man’s bush. Style: Dark farmhouse ale infused with blackberries. Malt: MCI Pale ale malt, Weyermans Caraaroma, Caramunich III, Carafa Special III, wheat malt. Yeast: Belgian saison yeast, Brett Brux, Brett Lambicus and and Brett C. Hops: Fuggles. Strength: 7.5% ABV Bitterness: 35 IBUs Tasting notes Colour/appearance: dark chestnut brown in the glass with a creamy head. Aroma: a big sweet nose up front, with an aroma of sweet apple and red berries to the fore, balanced with vinous undertones and a hint of wood. Flavour: medium body. Mild tart flavour with fruity apple and jammy blackberry notes. Toffee caramel sweetness and a dry funky ending. Aftertaste: dry finish with faint Brett barnyard aftertones. Food pairings The fruity, tart flavours in this farmhouse ale make it ideal for food. Bake up a whole

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Limited edition: Blowhard Imperial Stout aged in Jameson Whiskey Barrels

On November 10, 2018   /   Blog, New Brews   /   3 Comments
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In brewing circles, trying to create a rare, best of breed beer is called a White Whale. In the same way that Captain Ahab became maniacally obsessed with chasing the elusive Moby Dick, our brewers have taken a deep dive into the black to create this beer that we affectionately call Blowhard. We have taken a classic Imperial Stout and blown all the best bits out of proportion: stuffed the mash tun to the gills, double mashed for extra flavour, used premium Irish malt, gone overboard with toasted dark malts and extra roasted barley – all before committing the beer to a month long sentence in Jameson whiskey barrels, courtesy of our friends in Irish Distillers. Together, we may have just caught a glimpse of this rare sight, Blowhard – our White Whale – for your winter drinking pleasure. Short description: aged in Jameson Whiskey Barrels. Style: whiskey barrel-aged Imperial stout. Hops: Nugget Malt: MCI pale ale malt, chocolate malt, oats, roast barley, wheat, Caramunich Strength: 12% ABV Bitterness: 44 IBUS Tasting notes Colour/appearance: dark as the ace of spades, with a light creamy head. Aroma: espresso, chocolate and vanilla up front with a backbone of black liquorice. Flavour: medium bodied with rounded milk chocolate, dried fruit and nut flavours, akin to your favourite Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut Bar. Complex and nutty, with a hint of clove, it’s somewhat akin to Nocino, an Italian liqueur made with fresh walnuts. Dangerously sippable. Aftertaste: gentle boozy warmth and wood at the back of the mouth, with a slight tannic aftertaste. Food pairings This is the kind of beer that can stand up with aplomb to a juicy porterhouse steak, taking on accompaniments like beef dripping chips, roasted marrow bones and béarnaise sauce with ease. Towards the end of the meal, sip it with some creamy Young Buck unpasturised blue cheese

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A tale of Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale

On November 9, 2018   /   Blog   /   1 Comment
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In September 2017 we had a very special visitor. Jamil Zainasheff, the co-author of Brewing Classic Styles and Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, who is also the owner/brewer of Heretic Brewing Company in California, flew into Cork. After a night in that city – including a stout tasting! – with our Kiwi, who showed off his in-depth knowledge of the best backstreet pubs and dives Cork had to offer, Jamil came up to Mitchelstown to brew a beer with us. We had recently emptied five barrels and decided to put them to use in his honour. The plan was to brew a strong dark farmhouse ale, a nod to country porter of the past. We also had a real glut of blackberries to hand so, after some preliminary work / chat at the brewery, we headed off to do a little foraging. Jamil was a good sport on what was a fairly wet, miserable day. Derek kept him entertained with Irish folklore concerning blackberries and the devil, just to add a nice Heretical layer to the foraging, and we all competed to see who could avoid falling into the river – but still get the most amount of bramble scratches – during the berry picking.   After we let that beer sit for 14 months in Burgundy pinot noir and chardonnay barrels on a feast of blackberries, the lads came up with a suitably Heretic-al name for it: Trespass. We thought it was very fitting, given that the sweetest blackberries always grow on another man’s bush. Read more: Trespass Dark Farmhouse Ale with blackberries  

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Howling Gale Ale takes World’s Best at World Beer Awards

On August 17, 2018   /   Awards, Blog   /   Leave a comment
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World’s Best for Eight Degrees Brewing’s Howling Gale Ale at World Beer Awards Top award for Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale at the 2018 World Beer Awards Eight Degrees Brewing’s Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale has been named World’s Best in the extremely competitive American-style Pale Ale category at the 2018 World Beer Awards. Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale was chosen as the winner by a panel of international respected judges. With 2,300 beers from 50 countries entered into the 2018 awards, winning one of the prestigious beer styles – and one so hotly contested as American-style Pale Ale – is a significant achievement. “We are thrilled that our Howling Gale has taken this award,” said Eight Degrees Brewing’s Cam Wallace. “We’re blown away that our Irish Pale Ale has been judged to be the best American-style Pale Ale in the world. The award is an incredible accolade for a craft brewery to receive and a fantastic professional achievement for our brewers Derek Neville and Dan O’Shea. We’re keeping our fingers crossed as Howling Gale Ale proceeds to the final round to declare the Overall World’s Best Beer in London.” The World Beer Awards, now in its 11th year, judges beers over three rounds. First round picks the country winners per style, the second round has all country winners compete against each other to determine the World’s Best then, in the final round, the World’s Best style winners compete for the ultimate accolade. Howling Gale Irish Pale Ale was first named Country winner in the American-style Pale Ale category and then tasted against other Country winners to take the World’s Best title. The overall World’s Best award will be presented on 20 September. Eight Degrees had another two winners for their core range beers, taking Best in Ireland in the Lager

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