Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Breweries
389
Popping Cork
All About Stout
Cork, Ireland
The Irish call it
leann dubh
—“black ale”—
as good a name as any for this iconic Irish
drink. Originally it was just another name
for English porter—“stout” meant a strong
variant of porter—but over the years Irish
stout has developed its own personality:
toasty, less sweet, and surprisingly lower
in alcoholic content than other beers. For
many years, Dublin's Guinness brand has
dominated the market, both at home and
abroad. But Cork, true to its traditional
rebel nature, steadfastly prefers its home-
town brands: Walk into any pub and order
a “home and away,” and you'll be given
one pint of Guinness and one of either
Murphy's or Beamish.
The future of Cork stout, however, may
be in peril. In 1993, Heineken bought Mur-
phy's and changed the name of Murphy's
historic Lady's Well Brewery, founded in
1856, to Heineken Ireland. The taste of
Murphy's remains the same, touted as
having a less bitter taste than Guinness,
but both Murphy's Stout and popular Mur-
phy's Irish Red ale are now brewed at
other plants as well. Creamy-headed,
smooth Beamish Stout is brewed only in
Cork with pure Cork water by the
Beamish
& Crawford
brewery (South Main St.;
&
353/21/4911 100;
www.beamish.ie).
After a long series of corporate acquisi-
tions, however, Heineken bought Beamish
too in 2008, and it remains to be seen
whether the Dutch giant will go on brew-
ing two rival stouts in the same town.
Founded in 1791, on the site of an earlier
17th-century brewery, Beamish occupies
a garish mock-Tudor building that's a
kitschy local landmark. The actual beer
making takes place across the road in a
monstrous 1960s-vintage cluster of huge
steel tanks and vats. Contact the brewery
to arrange a tour, and pay special attention
to the production step that makes stout
different from other ales: The malt barley
is roasted before brewing. After your
Beamish tour, stop in across the street to
raise a pint at
An Spailpin Fanac
(28-29
S. Main St.;
&
353/21/427-7949
), a lovely
18th-century pub with low-beamed ceil-
ings, flagstone floors, and open fireplaces,
where traditional Irish music is played
most nights.
Thanks to a 2005 tax break initiative,
the future of Cork's brewing culture may
rest instead with small independent
microbreweries like the
Franciscan Well
Brewery
(North Mall, Cork;
&
353/21/421-
0130;
www.franciscanwellbrewery.com),
launched in 1998 on the site of an old
13th-century monastery. They don't offer
tours of the brew house, but you can sit in
the flagstoned outdoor courtyard and look
right into the brewing operation while you
down your pint. The monks also brewed
here, using a well said to have curative
powers; today's brew masters use that
same well to make the brewpub's award-
winning beers: Rebel lager (made with
German and Czech hops), Rebel Red
amber ale, straw-colored Blarney Blonde,
creamy-headed Shandon Stout, and Friar
Weisse, a German-style unfiltered wheat
beer. What's interesting is the cosmopoli-
tan range of beers that Franciscan Well
offers. Could Irish drinkers at last be giving
up their stout?
(
Cork Airport (100km/76 miles south of
Shannon International).
L
$$$
Hayfield Manor Hotel,
Perrott
Ave. (
&
800/525-4800
or 353/21/431-
5600; www.hayfieldmanor.ie). $$
The
Gresham Metropole,
MacCurtain St.,
Tivoli (
&
353/21/450-8122
).
