Sullivan's Brewing Co.

Paid a visit to Sullivan's Brewing Company launch night this week and I was very impressed with the setup. Firstly the brewery (or soon to be) is located in the heart of Kilkenny on John Street, just a few steps away from Matt The Millers pub. This makes a refreshing change from breweries located in out of town industrial estates. The taproom and brewery occupy old storage space linked to the wine cellar off licence. It's a great, large space with nice sized outdoor/beer garden area which hosts a wood fired pizza oven too. 

The taproom is pretty amazing to be fair. On the right hand wall as you walk in there is a brief history of the brewery in a timeline murial. The bar is on the left with cool light fixture it really stands out. There is also a small test brew kit in the corner which we were told is used to do test batches all the time. I assume it was just on display for the night.  

Of course the main focus should be the beer! So onto Maltings Red Ale. It's a lovely dark ruby red ale. Someone on the night said they felt it was closer to a brown ale than a red. I'd disagree but say it was somewhere in between. Tasty sweet caramel with some roasty malt flavours. Historically so we were told people drank the red ale topped up with barley wine! Thankfully, Sullivan's have gone and brewed a barley wine so we were able to try this. For me, the barley wine gave the beer that bit of an extra kick which was very impressive. Hopefully they decide to experiment and maybe barrel age some of Maltings Red Ale. Would make for some very interesting beers. There are lots more beers in the pipeline anyway I was assured.

Sullivan's is headed up by family members of the Smithwick dynasty. They have wanted to bring the brewing tradition back to the heart of Kilkenny and this will officially happen in the next 8 months or so I was told by their accountant (sorry forgot his name). Currently the beer is being contract brewed in Boyne Brewhouse. From speaking to plenty of Kilkenny folk on the night (I am part of the Kilkenny beer club myself) they seemed thrilled to have brewing brought back to the town. 

There was a fantastic turn out on the night, probably the biggest I have seen for a beer event... And on a Tuesday! Plenty of bloggers, Brewers and public and publicans were in attendance along with the nations grandfather, Gay Byrne and former Tánaiste Dick Spring! This made for a fun if somewhat quirky night. I must at this point give credit to Wayne, Rebecca and the rest of the team at Burrell PR. They put on a fantastic night and re-introduced brewing to Kilkenny in a Big Bang! I was told they are going to focus on the export (US) market more than the national market so I am looking forward to getting back to Kilkenny to try more of this fine beer shortly. In the meantime, Sullivan's will be pouring at next weeks Irish Beer Festival in the RDS. Make sure you pop along and sample this new beer. If you can, request a top up of barley wine in your Maltings Red Ale! Cheers - The Beer Hopster