Ahead of the next instalment of the Dublin City Brewing Tasting Club, head brewer Fergal Murray, tells us more about the club and future plans.
What is the idea behind the Dublin City Brewing Tasting Club?
This gives us an opportunity share our beers and especially our new releases with club members, all the while enjoying some amazing collaborations with local chefs, cheesemongers and cocktail maestros. These are fun events that had to go online during the pandemic. It was a new way for us to reach our customer while face-to-face tastings weren’t allowed
Can you tell us a little bit about the forthcoming edition with Dave Mulligan from Bar 1661? What can attendees expect?
Dave Mulligan has used our new stout to create a unique cocktail – a Stout Syrup Old-Fashioned. This is a real step away from the food and beer tastings we have done to date and it’s going to be a real treat to taste our stout in a cocktail produced by the team in the Best Cocktail Bar in Ireland 2019. We will also be tasting three of our products – the pale ale, red ale and stout – and enjoying all the qualities of our unique brews. It promises to be a good one.
Are you planning on moving the Club offline once restrictions are lifted?
Absolutely yes, the tasting club will go live with our first in house event at the end of July in KOH restaurant on Millenium Walk just around the corner from the brewery. We cannot wait to connect face-to-face with our customers and enjoy an evening of great food and beer. Restrictions permitting, of course.
Where is the Brewery development at right now?
Brewery development is in its final stages and we are aiming to turn on our tanks and open our doors by early Autumn. This is a unique, bespoke brewery and I cannot wait to get in there with our brewing team and start having some fun with all this incredible equipment we will have at our fingertips. A brewer’s heaven!
Why does it feel right to be entering the craft beer game right now? What do you hope to bring to the glass and the table?
Well the craft beer sector is a brilliant space – the beer category always has been exciting and full of fun. There has been such innovation in the sector and there is an extraordinary array of brews out there – what a great time to be a beer enthusiast. Being in the city centre of Dublin will give drinkers a great opportunity to taste and love brews made on their doorstep. Aside from our core range of five beers, we are currently concocting our seasonal and limited edition brews as we speak – watch this space as there will be an exciting new release not long after opening the doors….
Can you tell us a little bit about some of your brews?
We have two Lager choices – a fresh and sessionable lager we fondly call the Liberator. It was our first release and a real labour of love! Secondly our pilsner called the Pioneer – a classic pils with layers of malt character well balanced with floral notes from the hops. It’s refreshing, crisp and invigorating and hard not reach for another as you get to the end of the glass. We have released a further three products over the last year – our Patriot Pale Ale, a full-bodied, complex ale boasting a fragrant aroma, spicy undertone and a punch of fruit and herbal notes at the end; our Renegade Red Ale, our take on the classic Irish red ale, with soft, warming notes of caramel and roasted barley, like a big hug really and our stout, there is a spice and an earthiness here that’s really inviting, hints of pepper, citrus and roast barley and a very gentle carbonation. This was the release I was most nervous about but delighted with the response it got from our first tasters in our May Tasting Club event.
The next edition of the Dublin City Brewing Tasting Club is on Thursday June 24 at 7.30 pm on Zoom. Special guest is Dave Mulligan from Bar 1661.
Tickets are priced €25 and include 3 x 440 ml Dublin City Brewing Co. cans ( 1 Renegade Red Ale, 1 Patriot Pale Ale, 1 Dublin City Brewing Co Irish Stout), 200 ml (2 serves) of Stout Syrup Old Fashioned made by BAR 1661 and a Dublin City Brewing Co branded glass. National orders need to be placed before close of business on Friday June 18 and Dublin ones before close of Tuesday June 22.
