KRISTIN JENSEN, co-author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders - introduces us to Rascal’s Brewing Company Ginger Porter

ABOUT THE BREWER

Like many other Irish brewers, owners Emma Devlin and Cathal O’Donoghue’s love of good craft beer began abroad, when they were living in New Zealand. After returning to Ireland, not one but two home brewing competition awards in 2013 spurred them to make the leap into brewing professionally. They started off by contract brewing with Brú Brewery in County Meath before moving to their own premises in Rathcoole, and they haven’t looked back.

The Rascal’s self-styled mission is ‘to continually brew many different styles of beer and to bring something new and exciting to the Irish craft beer scene’. They hit the ground running through the introduction of their ginger porter and a spin on it, a chocolate ginger porter, both of which won awards at the Alltech International Beer Convention in 2014.

Other regulars include Big Hop Red and Wit Woo, a Belgian wheat beer that’s so good, even people who don’t usually go for wheat beers like it. They push the envelope with seasonal beers, including their World Hop Series, which so far has featured New Zealand, German, American, Czech and Australian hops.

For the past couple of years it’s been hard to find Rascal’s beer outside of Dublin, but that is set to change now that they’ve started canning their beers as of December 2015. Keep your eyes peeled for them in your off-license and snap them up when you see them. They’re one to watch – and now, increasingly, enjoy.

ABOUT THE BEER

Beer style: Porter

ABV: 4.8%

Matches well with: Berries, chocolate, ginger biscuits, mince pies, black pudding, oysters

If, like me, you can’t get to the pub or a beer festival very often, a Rascal’s beer has been a rare treat. But that is set to change now that they’ve started canning their beer – and the arrival of their ginger porter in particular is perfectly timed for Christmas. The first time I tried it, at a festival on a sunny, hot summer’s day in 2014, all I could think was how good it would be with a mince pie in December. And you know what? It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be.

The aroma is full of chocolate syrup, treacle and vanilla with only the merest hint of spicy ginger underneath it all. It’s light bodied, yet it has a smooth, creamy mouthfeel thanks to the oats in it, with trademark porter flavours of coffee but hardly any bitterness at all. If you didn’t know the ginger was in there you could easily miss it, but it does give it a lovely warming lift at the back of your throat.

When it comes to matching this ginger porter with food, I would shy away from the usual combos like beef, game or roasts – they would overpower this porter, which is on the lighter end of the spectrum. It would do well, though, paired with black pudding or sweet, briny oysters. And at this time of year, you couldn’t do better than a glass of this with a ginger biscuit, a square of chocolate or best of all, a mince pie. I also wouldn’t be averse to serving it as a contrast to a salty blue cheese.

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Secretary of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, 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 .