A beer named after local Antarctic explorer Tom Crean will headline the annual Dingle Food Wine Festival this month,
writes Ann Lucey.
The lager, available in draught, is made in a microbrewery outside Dingle near the Conor Pass in what used to be a creamery, chosen mainly due to its spring water. It is being launched nationally on September 30th at the Dingle festival.
It has already been sampled in Crean’s old pub, the South Pole Inn in the village of Anascaul. About €750,000 has been invested in the microbrewery by local businessman Gerry O’Sullivan. Brewed under direction of master brewer Tim O’Rourke, the lager has already won a tasting award.
Also to be sampled at the festival are a light and a dark ale produced by Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne, a microbrewery run by two local pubs in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in the west Kerry Gaeltacht. Again, a local spring well is used in the production of the ale in this microbrewery, located at the Tig Bhric pub.