Stony Grey IPA - Beer of the Month

KRISTIN JENSEN - co-author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders - introduces us to Brehon Brewhouse Stony Grey IPA

ABOUT THE BREWER

Brehon Brewhouse is set amongst the rolling drumlins of Patrick Kavanagh country in County Monaghan – hence the inspiration for the names of their Stony Grey IPA and Shanco Dubh porter.

Open since April 2014 but already in the process of expanding, they are a true farmhouse brewery, based right on their farm outside of Carrickmacross in one of the old sheds behind their milking parlour.

As owners Seamus and Siobhán McMahon say themselves, ‘Our ambition is simple: we want to produce distinctive beers that reflect the trend towards all things craft and artisan. We hope to see these regularly paired with food but also very much enjoyed on their own.’

The emphasis on pairing beer with food comes from head brewer Phil Bizzell, who worked at the renowned L. Mulligan Grocer gastropub in Dublin, where his special interest was beer and food matching.

They currently produce a core range of four beers: Brehon Blonde, Killanny Red, Stony Grey IPA and the Shanco Dubh porter. You can find their beers in over 30 on-trade and off-trade outlets in Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Dublin too.

If you’d like to get your hands on a bottle but don’t live in one of those counties, you can find it on some of the online Dublin off-licences that will deliver it directly to your door. Keep an eye out for it on draught and they’ve recently started experimenting with casks too. Or contact them to arrange a brewery tour and sampling session at their small on-site bar.

ABOUT THE BEER

Beer style: IPA
ABV: 6.0%
Colour: Cloudy golden orange
Serve in: IPA glass or pint glass
Matches well with: Curry, game, smoked fish or meat, spicy food, Mexican food, Thai food, Vietnamese food

This beer takes its name from a Patrick Kavanagh poem about Monaghan, called ‘Stony Grey Soil’. Given the bitter tone that cuts through that poem, it’s apt that the brewery named an IPA after it.

It has a frothy, crisp white head and plenty of lively carbonation in the glass, which helps those pillowy white bubbles to linger. As this is a bottle-conditioned beer, its golden orange colour is cloudy instead of clear.

The aroma isn’t the blast of piney hops that you might usually expect from an IPA. At first it’s of sweet bubblegum and fruit before more grassy and cedar notes creep in. There’s even a strong hint of talcum powder in there.

While a lot of IPAs these days have a tropical fruit profile, this one leans more towards the herbal, woody end of the spectrum, with some bitter orange pith coming through at the end. If you like IPAs but don’t want to be hit over the head with hops, then give this one a try.

IPAs are a classic match with spicy food as well as ethnic cuisines like Mexican, Indian, Thai and Vietnamese food. It’s also a good partner for game and smoked meat or fish, while the brewery themselves suggest pairing this IPA with chicken wings or even a lemon curd cake or Key Lime pie.

IPAs can stand up well to stronger cheeses. Try it with a hard cheese like a mature Coolea or Mossfield, or one of the farmhouse cheddars, such as Hegarty’s or Mount Callan. It’s also a good match for a blue cheese. In this case, you might be pleasantly surprised at how well it goes with a milder blue cheese like Wicklow Blue or the widely available Cashel Blue.

Kristin Jensen is a freelance editor specialising in cookery and food books and has worked with many of Ireland's top food writers and chefs.  She writes the Edible Ireland blog and is a co-founder of the Irish Food Bloggers Association and, together with Caroline Hennessy, is joint author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders .