Beár Bia Podcast

• Bord Bia Bloom 2025 - Part 2

  It's one of Ireland's largest gatherings of top tier Irish food & drink producers, so it's always great to be down at Bord Bia Bloom in the Phoenix Park. This year, the Bloom team there engaged with Irishbeer.ie and Beár Bia to highlight pairings made with breweries and food makers who would all be at Bloom.  Produced over two episodes, our first saw us pair Irish beers with Irish seafoods, and for our second, we looked at something more sweet and savoury!To supply us with beers and plenty of Donegal banter for the day, we were joined by Sean McCarthy, Sales Manager of Kinnegar Brewing. Letterkenny. He filled us in not just on the whole range of great beers they craft there but also on the company's 15-year history. With nationwide distribution and a selection of tours available, Kinnegar's beers are enjoyed both on site and all over Ireland. One particular item from the brewery that is increasingly doing better and better for them is their "Lowtide lPA", which is a 1% ABV low-alcohol brew. It has the full flavour and texture of a standard IPA but without the boozy bite. It was the perfect accompaniment to the O'Neills Dry Cure Bacon bap that we had to pair it with. To talk us through this company's great philosophy of only making the most natural, traditional bacon products was their founder, Pat O'Neill from Enniscorthy, Wexford. After already working in the bacon business for 13 years, Pat was inspired by the growing customer demand for additive-free foods and established his brand with the aim of making the finest dry-cured bacon with no phosphates or added water to bulk it out. It was a formula for success that has served him well. We enjoyed a bap made with his excellent bacon and his equally tasty bacon jam.Alongside the Lowtide IPA, the bacon jam's sweet umami taste balanced beautifully with the hoppy bitterness of the beer. The second pairing was definitely one for the more sweet-toothed among us! Our next guest was Daniel Linehan, who, alongside his wife Georgia Quealy, founded Bon Chocolatiers out of necessity during COVID. Both are highly trained Michelin-level chefs, and when their respective places of work closed during lockdown, they focused their energy and creativity elsewhere to handcraft ultra premium chocolates. They have since gone on to pick up multiple awards and were a huge hit at Bloom this year. When we asked Daniel to consider the best chocolate from his range to pair with Kinnegar's Black Rabbit - black lager, he instantly knew what to pick up. To bring out the rich coffee and dark malty notes of the beer, he opted for Bon Chocolatiers' Dark "Truly Dark" range. It comes in four flavours that include raspberry and caramelised cacao. Both the beer and the chocolates are incredible on their own - but when enjoyed together, this is a sublime Irish food & drink pairing and something that is very easy to seek out. We hope you enjoy this second part of our Bloom Special for 2025! Thanks, Dee & Oisín

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• Bord Bia Bloom 2025

  Kickstarting things off for 2025, the first two episodes of this new season will highlight beer and food producers who are exhibiting at one of Ireland's largest festivals, Bord Bia Bloom at Phoenix Park. With a little help from IrishBeer.ie, theydecided to first see which of the participating beers would work best pairedwith fish and seafood. The results are delicious!EPISODE 1If you’re going to be sampling some of Ireland’s best seafood, the setting iskey. Thankfully, the good folk over at Kish Fish Café in Howth very kindlyallowed us to record in their office. With views right out onto the Irish Sea,it was the ideal location, and they were the perfect hosts! Managing Director Tadhg O'Meara told us all about how the Kish Fish business started in Dublin’s city centre, and they’ve successfully expanded to become vitalwholesalers and operators of their fantastic seafood cafe on Howth pier.After settling in, Kian Louet-Feisser from Carlingford Oysters joined thetable and got shucking! He shared details of how his family started thebusiness in the 70s and now ships their marvellous molluscs worldwide.With his operation just down the road in Kilbarrack, Wim De Jongh fromHope Brewery didn’t have as far to travel and he brought with him the idealbeer to match with those oysters. His “Overboard Witbier” was quite literallydesigned to pair with seafood. It's wheat beer and malt base provided acreamy texture but it was the addition of orange peel and juniper berries inthe brew that really bounced beautifully off the salinity of the oysters.Our second pairing began with another amazing Irish family business - MagKirwan from Goatsbridge Trout made the journey from Kilkenny. Sheproudly told us all about how it all started in the 1960s, servicing localrestaurants, to now being a beloved nationwide product available in multiplesupermarkets. Their whiskey-dill-infused rainbow trout was her choice fora beer pairing, and it was sublime with Irish Pale Ale from O’Haras. Thiswas brought down by Sergiu Leu from the brewery’s sales team and he gotinto how O’Haras (also known as Carlow Brewing) got started nearly 30years ago by owner Seamus O’Hara. Over those three decades, they havevery steadily managed to build up a brilliant portfolio as well as excellentinternational distribution. The dry hopping technique they employ for thisale gives it a long, zesty finish, which cuts through the soft smoke and spiceof the fish.Both of these pairings can be enjoyed at Bord Bia Bloom, which runs fromMay 29th - June 2nd in Phoenix Park.Stay tuned for our second Bord Bia Bloom episode coming in two weeks as we delve into what types of beers can be paired alongside some sweeter, more dessert-type dishes!

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• Ep. 12 Christmas & NY Special with Sian Conway and Garron Noone (Part 02)

  When we saw that our final two episodes would land in late December, we knew we had to go festive! So we called upon a few friends to see if they could share their favourite Irish Christmas and Irish New Year's Day meals and we would pair some Irish drinks with them. Each pairing falls into a different episode but they both feature the same guests and each episode was recorded in Row Wines on Coppinger Row in Dublin. Our very special guests were social media star and musician Garron Noone and freelance content creator and writer, Sian Conway. EPISODE 12:SIAN CONWAY'S ULTIMATE NEW YEAR'S DAY COMFORT SANDWICH PAIRED WITH AN IRISH BLOODY MARY New Year's Eve revellers can quite often feel a little tender the next day and they might well be in need of some comfort the following morning. New Year's Day is the perfect time to embrace your favourite hangover food and of course, everyone has their own special dish that they yearn for during those moments. Food writer and content creator Sian Conway has some strong views on this issue, born by all accounts from a wealth of experience... When Sian wants to rustle up something at home after a New Year's Eve party with friends, she reaches for the Gubbeen Cheese, slices it up and throws it onto a nice sourdough bread smothered with Dublin-made smoky Harry's Nut Butter and some Space Jaru kimchi. This was a surprising sandwich combination for us to try, but like intrepid explorers, we tucked into it with much excitement! It had a multitude of flavours from spice to umami and smoke and made for a lovely pairing to accompany our Irish Bloody Mary. To give it a proper local twist we mixed our Irish Bloody Mary with iStil 38 Irish vodka, sherry, fresh tomato, fresh celery & horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and for that all-important heat - Scarlet For Yer Ma, Dublin Hot sauce. This episode goes live on December 30th, which gives everyone plenty of time to pick up all the necessary ingredients for Sian's Irish New Year's Day sarnie & cocktail extravaganza.Happy New Year folks!Oisín & Dee 

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• Ep. 11 Christmas & NY Special with Garron Noone and Sian Conway (Part 01)

  Our first season of Beár Bia has been one hell of an adventure. We have recorded in 12 different locations across 6 counties. Along the way, we have showcased 24 different Irish food producers, 22 Irish drinks producers as well as 13 hospitality or retail businesses. It's been extremely inspiring getting to know all the remarkable makers of some of Ireland's most beloved culinary offerings. Bringing them together and pairing them at the same table for each episode has not just been a great privilege but it's allowed us to shine a light on what a more complete experience of Irish cuisine can look like. When we saw that our final two episodes would land in late December, we knew we had to go festive! So we called upon a few friends to see if they could share their favourite Irish Christmas and Irish New Year's Day meals and we would pair some Irish drinks with them. Each pairing falls into a different episode but they both feature the same guests and each episode was recorded in Row Wines on Coppinger Row in Dublin. Our very special guests were social media star and musician Garron Noone and freelance content creator and food writer, Sian Conway.Part 01 went a little something like this... EPISODE 11 - THE PEPPERPOT CAFÉ CHRISTMAS SANDWICH PAIRED WITH THE "HOLY IRISH TRINITY" COCKTAIL Garron Noone has amassed a colossal social media following that is into the millions. The proud Mayo man is an incredibly talented musician and songwriter but is also hugely loved for his skills as a comedian. His videos cover a multitude of Irish cultural topics - from mullets to Met Éireann! But he will very often talk all about Irish food and has professed his love for Irish Christmas dinners and hatred of the effects of shrinkflation on Christmas sweets and snacks. So, we asked him if he would like to get stuck into one of the nation's finest Christmas sandwiches and he kindly obliged. It was made by The Pepperpot Cafe in Dublin city's Powerscourt Centre and features their house-baked focaccia bread, Irish turkey & ham, chestnut stuffing, Brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce and mustard mayo. We paired it with one of Oisin's cocktails, the Holy Irish Trinity - so-called as it features three Irish ingredients that go perfectly with each other, Irish whiskey, cider & elderflower. This particular one was mixed with 35 ml of Powers Irish Whiskey, 2 teaspoons of Richmount Elderflower Cordial and 120 ml of MacIvor's Dry Irish Cider. It is the kind of pairing that is very complimentary as the cocktail is light but spicy and enhances the richness of the sandwich. Our second guest Sian Conway was on hand to share the wonderful Yuletide bounty, which also included the house Connemara oysters from Row Wines that are dressed in a chilli & ginger vinaigrette and for a sweet finish, some stunning mince pies courtesy of The Cupcake Bloke, Graham Herterich.We really hope you enjoy this festive episode and thank you for listening throughout the year - wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Oisín and Dee

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• Ep 10. Kildare

  The county of Kildare is renowned the world over for its thriving equine industry but more recently, its food & drink producers have taken a bigger share of the spotlight. At the invitation of Kildare Local Enterprise Office, we were thrilled to pop down and check out a couple of leading lights from the county's ever-burgeoning culinary scene.It is well documented that St Brigid of Kildare was quite the fan of beer so as a mark of respect to the great lady herself, we decided to focus on the current breweries in her home county especially as some of Ireland's best independent breweries are situated there!So we recorded the episode in Farrington's Brewery in Rathcoffey where they also have a superb bar and restaurant with an adjoining event space. A brilliant, all-in-one business where they can even host a wedding overlooking the brewery area.For our first pairing, their head chef Kuba Wlodarski took three different beers to make a dish with the local Feighcullen Farm free-range chicken. It was brined overnight in their IPA before he made a beer batter with their stout to deep fry the chicken in and served it alongside their Auger's Twist light lager as an excellent accompaniment. This was truly a symphony of flavours and such an exciting way to celebrate their in-house beers.Head brewer Phil Bizzell was on hand to talk us through their portfolio and tell us more about their beer philosophy there.Our second pairing came courtesy of another two excellent Kildare businesses. Bill Laukitis from Rye River Brewing Co in Celbridge joined us. He is their head brewer and shared details of his own personal work journey from the USA and the incredible accomplishments of the whole Rye River Brewing team, now made up of 65 employees.Ryan Lally of Grá Pizza from Celbridge popped down with a pizza that the Michelin-starred chef JP McMahon of Aniar collaborated with him on. It's made with Garryhinch mushrooms, roasted potatoes from Ballymakenny, Toonsbridge mozzarella, smoked provola from Barbavilla dairy, Achill Island sea salt, brown bread crumb and buttermilk gel. This all-Irish piece of pizza perfection was paired with the rich, smoky Nocturne Stout from Rye River Brewing. The contrast and the intensity of flavours bounced off each other so well.Kildare has such an incredible array of food & drink producers there now. You can read more about them here in this link. To join the Flavours of Kildare Network, hit this link here.

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