L. MULLIGAN. GROCER.

Mo'vember

2011-11-23T05:25:00.000-08:00

In order to raise funds and awareness for the fight against Prostate Cancer, on 31st October, we shaved our faces clean (a traumatic experience for some who were quite fond of their beardiness). We then waited...and waited, anxiously anticipating the first blooms of moustachioed autumnal stylings, some of us planning walrus tusk-like growth, others a more elegant Dali-esque effort. The first few days took some resilience with November throwing its wintery best at us, and previously bearded faces facing the elements. Hardily we persevered, losing some of the less hirsute Mulligers on the way, and several of us are now the proud owners of moustaches a 1970s porn star would be proud to call their own.

For anyone wishing to donate to the L Mulligan Grocer Mo'vember fund can do it in one (or all!)of three ways:

1. In a most organized fashion we have joined the Movember website and have a proper donate button for your contributing pleasure. The donation can be as large or as little as you desire, and can be done anonymously if that’s what you wish.

2. Secondly, we have provided away for you to drink some tasty wine whilst also passing the hat. In association with Shane Murphy from La Rousse Foods (and Stoneybatter!) we are donating €2 a bottle from each bottle of Mo Monastrell 2009 during November.

Monastrell is the main grape variety of Alicante and Jumilla in Southern Spain, it is also known as Mourvedre in France where it is one of the main components of Chateauneuf du pape and Bandol, so it makes fairly big, hearty wines. This is a big, juicy red with red cherry with fresh clean fruit notes of raspberry and black pepper. It is €6 a glass and €25 a bottle.

3. Finally, rounding out our bushy upperlipped season, is our monthly table quiz at 8.30pm-ish this Sunday where I hope (and fear) I will see many a moustache mouth utter expletives at our ticklingly tricky questions. As is normal at the LMG quiz nights, we offer people the opportunity to donate some cash to a charity. Normally the winning team gets to choose the recipient of everyones' generosity, but on this occasion we must insist that it goes to the Mo’vember cause and the Irish Cancer Society. Further, LMG will match the amount collected on the night and add that to the total donation. Huzzah!

Alternatively, you could just come down, look at our impressive moustaches (an endangered species) and point, just don’t laugh.

Beer tasting and other assorted tales

2011-11-03T13:51:00.001-07:00

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.
Khalil Gibran

The thing I enjoy about doing beer tastings is the craic that I have. This sounds positively narcissistic I realise, and it is; but allow me to explain myself a little!

I have always enjoyed reading about beer, drinking beer and especially being engaged by other people’s knowledge of beer. I have found that it is through stories, anecdotes and “did you know?s” that my interest is constantly being piqued. We are not talking about PH levels or mash efficiencies here, more along the lines of the etymology of beer styles, or the theory that beer created civilisation as we know it! Fun facts and mad cap ideas as they may be, they are still laden with kernels of information that frequently fan the embers of a deeper curiosity. I know they have done for me, and it is with continuing joy that I watch as people in the tasting sessions put up their hand up to ask the beery question that they have always wanted to know the answer to. It could be what the difference between lager and ale is, why wheat beers are cloudy, or what is beer made from, all valid questions and make for interesting discussions.

Now, I would never be so pompous as to suggest that I have such a level of knowledge as to be able impart all wisdom to the initiated and uninitiated alike, or to withdraw to a mountain top to be sought out like a Buddhist beer master! Like everything else in life, the more I have learned, the clearer I can see the gaps in my knowledge, and so the thirst intensifies!

My next beer tasting will be on the Saturday the 12th of November where we will taste 8 beers, with a break in the middle for some food, all between 15:00 and 17:00, for €25. If the truth be told, it rarely ends at 17:00 as I talk too much, but we always get through the beer and food, no matter how long it takes. In the sessions I like to focus on locally produced beers, as I feel it is important to highlight the wonderful products that are coming out of our breweries, from Blonde Ales to Wheat beers, through Porters and beyond, so I think I will stick to this path for Saturday week. As we now have two cask engines, it would remiss of me to not allow everyone to at least try the cask conditioned beer that has been, until recently, the guarded bastion of British pub culture. Apart from that, I guess you will just have to wait and see.

Cheers!

Beer and Cheese

2011-10-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend we shall be matching beers and cheese in association with Bord Bia's Farmhouse Cheese and Irish Craft Beer weekend. Friday and Saturday we are recommending beers to match especially with our house cheese board, Sunday and Monday we will be matching three cheeses with three draft beers, available over the counter in the bar and on Monday we shall host a craft beer and cheese tutored tasting starting at 8.30pm. To sign up, please email 'hello@lmulligangrocer.com'. Places are limited.

Whiskey and Dessert Event Now Booked Out

2011-10-12T07:11:00.001-07:00

To join our mailing list for advance notice of such events email hello@lmulligangrocer.com

Whiskey and Dessert-Event now booked out

2011-10-11T03:48:00.000-07:00

We match each of the dishes on our menu with a recommended whisk(e)y. Sometimes when working on the matches, the pairings really work, they sing in syncopated duet like the corny teenagers on the 'match.com' ad... other times, the whiskey overwhelms the food, the delicate notes being drowned out by its boozy partner (or vice versa).

My fledgling love affair with whisk(e)y has resulted in a notebook crammed with clumsily-phrased tasting notes, most scotch taped in, having been hastily scrawled on the back of a beer mat, old envelope, even a flight ticket stub. The book is filled with various adjectives for sweet: cloying, candied, honeyed, caramel, muscavado, syrupy, saccharine (and the odd reference to Jordan Almonds). It is natural then, that many of these whiskeys would be excellent matched with dessert. In fact, we have a section on our dessert menu for whiskeys served as dessert, their big sherry, dried fruit and porty flavours the perfect end to a meal.

Next Tuesday we are partnering with Tullamore Dew to present a dessert and whiskey tasting. It is a formal tasting, where each of the whiskeys will be matched with a dessert. It will kick off at 8p.m. and there is no charge for attending, but places are limited so we ask that you email us ~~to reserve a place~~ (Event now fully booked!) if you change your mind and can't attend anymore!

Posted by Seáneen.

Whiskey and Dessert Tasting.
8 p.m. Tuesday 18th October.
L. Mulligan. Grocer.
18 Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.
Free of Charge, ~~please book via email:~~ ~~hello@lmulligangrocer.com~~ Event now fully booked.

"Arthur's Day"

2011-09-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

We are quite proud of the fact that we support Irish artisanal products from the length and breadth of the country. From Kanturk sausages to Lisburn ale, we try to source the best products made on this island and give them a platform on which they can stand. We choose each ingredient on our menu very carefully.

My personal crusade is the promotion of Irish micro brewing, and as such have lined the pub with as many taps as I can fit, never mind the countless bottles. LMG holds products from each of the micro-breweries that contact us. I am a soft target! If someone calls me and says they have a new beer or even a variation on an old beer I commit to pallets of the stuff without even blinking! Andy from Breweyed Brewery drove from Offaly in his mate's Landrover with a cabin full to the brim with bottles of Pale Ale and Lager, a new offering to the Dublin market. Sheepishly wandering in with a sample and a optimistic glint in his eye, he asked if we would take a case of each from him. I tasted it, bought the lot, handed a cheque over, and immediately matched it with the whiting on our menu! Huzzah!

To me it meant that Breweyed Brewing had a couple of euro in their pocket to invest in the next batch of brewing, but also that they knew there was a market out there for what they were investing in. In turn, I was able to match an Irish beer with a dish previously matched with the imported Fruh and our customers got to taste a new beer. We got such positive feedback from our customers about their Lager that we committed to putting it on tap, where it is still available and selling really well.

At LMG we support Irish micro brewing. We believe that by supporting irish micro brewing we are supporting families, communities and the promotion of artisan products. While the first beer poured, bought and paid for in our pub was Or from Trouble Brewing, the first beer we had pouring was a keg of Belfast Blonde donated by CWI Drinks as a thank-you to the friends and family that worked so hard on getting us open. Everything from painting to sewing to pulling thumbtacks out of the wall with a blunted butterknife was rewarded with a pint of this fine example of Irish micro brewing. In fact, it was harder to find a clean glass at that stage then the rewards of your work, such was the intensity of the labour that was being carried out!

Obviously, these are all new products so the best way to encourage people to try them is to give them a taste. If we get something new in on draught, you get to taste it to see if you like it. There’s no point trying to promote something to someone if they don’t like the taste of it! What’s the point in a bank of taps all pouring the same beer? Thanks to the men and women of Irish micro brewing, the diversity of choice that is currently available is such that I am always able to find an Irish beer to suit each and every beer drinker that walks in my doors, and most other people too! So this coming Thursday, 22nd September, as every day we celebrate diversity, ingenuity and the courage that it takes to set up a micro-brewery in the face of what is a market full of homogenous beers.

Arthur Guinness set up a micro-brewery in Leixlip in 1755. In 1759 he took the bold step of securing the St James Gate site. 10 years later (1769) he exported his first product to the UK. It wasn’t till 1799 that the brewery concentrated on the production of porter that was to become globally recognised as best in class. Arthur Guinness lived only 4 more years.

For 48 years Arthur Guinness took chances on brewing beers to the highest possible standards before he ultimately found something that struck the imagination of the people, and only then it was because porter and stouts were becoming very popular at the time. While we don't stock the draught beer that carries Arthur Guinness's name, it is this kind of tenacious attitude that the Irish microbrewing industry of today has in spades and can be proud of. We are proud to be associated with them and supply their products.

In recognition of all the hard work that Irish micro-breweries, and the people behind them, champion, we at Mulligans will be celebrating ‘Arthur’s Day’ by offering all of our Irish microbrewed draught beer at 4 euro a pint all day on the 22nd September. Worth waiting for.

Posted by Colin (@thebeercellar)

Park (ing) Day

2011-09-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

We will have new neighbours for the day tomorrow... In two parking spots on Manor Street, the good folk of Lifeline are transforming a little corner of Manor Street into a park for the day. Inspired by recent winds, their theme is 'Windfall': bring along any excess crops you have and share, swap and be inspired! More details below, or find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/201267119929061/ or Twitter: www.twitter.com/parkingdaydub

Dublin’s first Park(ing) Day is happening this Friday 16th September from 10am to 4pm at various locations around the city.

Park(ing) Day transforms on-street car parking spaces into public open spaces for one day. Car parking spaces around the city – from Arbour Hill to Portobello and right through the city centre – will be converted into temporary public parks.

The purpose is to create awareness of sustainable travel and the need for more public open space in urban areas. It aims to promote healthy cities by engaging with the public through temporary art.

The event has become a global phenomenon since it started in San Francisco just a few years ago, with over 180 cities now taking part.

Information about Park(ing) Day world-wide is online at www.parkingday.org

The first Dublin Park(ing) Day event is supported by Dublin City Council and the LifeLine Project. It is part of EU Mobility Week, a series of events promoting better mobility.

For more information about Dublin’s first Park(ing) Day event contact David O’Connor (086-8546401), Stéphanie Fy (087-9214479) or email us on dublinparkingday@gmail.com

Bamba's Heroes.

2011-08-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

The quiz is back this week, with its usual over reliance on puns, pedantic challenges to answers and stroppy huffs at trick questions (and all this just from the host!). I have been asked variously to reign in/increase the number of Eurovision questions, Wizard of Oz references and collective nouns and we are now including a healthy sprinkling of questions based on current news stories- justifying a leisurely morning spent drinking coffee and reading the papers!

Along with the usual voucher prize, from this month the winning team will also choose which charity the optional donations from the night go to.

Sunday 28th August
Time: 8.30/9pm until 10:45pm
6 Rounds of 10 questions
Free admission. Charity donation optional.
No iPhones, androids or Vulcan mind melding permitted.

Seáneen

Please stop stealing our stuff.

2011-08-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I bought twenty four milk jugs. I really wanted the ones shaped like cows, but I knew they wouldn’t last a week before they were escorted off the premises in someone’s handbag. Last week, three of my favourite childhood books by Beatrix Potter were stolen from the pub, despite the inscription inside imploring people to enjoy them and then put them back. We deliver the bill in an old mathematical instruments set, reserve tables using old scrabble tiles and use specially selected vintage novels for our menus. They all go missing regularly. One day someone even robbed a picture off our wall, confirming the wisdom that convinced me not to hang my beloved Eoili painting in the pub.

Some items aren’t essential, so due to cost we don’t always replace them. We gave up on using vintage teaspoons, and now use mass produced ones instead. Similarly, the wasabi nuts now come in standard bowls bought from Nesbits instead of the lovingly chosen glass ramekins we started out with. We have taken our personal whisky/beer/food books out of the library. Some items though, like mini water jugs, egg timers and salt and pepper shakers are necessary and need to be replaced. It is becoming increasingly difficult to justify choosing ‘special’ items when they are disappearing with alarming frequency. Replacing pilfered items should not be a weekly task, wedged in between ordering and stocktake on a Monday. If we keep having to buy the same bowl, spoon, jug over and over, we will simply be left with no choice but to price it in to the menu. We do not want to do this.

With that in mind, we are declaring an amnesty on robbed items. We will place a box on the end of the bar from tomorrow, out of sight of the security cameras, and items can be returned, no questions asked. We only hope that it doesn’t backfire spectacularly and result in the amnesty box itself being robbed.

Seáneen

Sunburnt Irish Red

2011-07-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Stand any of the Mulligers in sunlight for longer than a few minutes and we scorch. No cute freckling or golden tans round here (with the exception of Aurelien our swarthy French barman). It was with great glee then that we welcomed a new beer on draught this week that shares our aversion to ultra-violet radiation.

Beneath the russet exterior of this Irish Red beats an Antipodean heart. The brewers Cam and Scott (an Aussie and a Kiwi respectively) began their brewing education as homebrewers before training at the Versuchs und Lehranstalt fur Braurei Institute in Berlin. They purchased the old Carlow Brewing Company kit and installed it in their shiny new brewhouse in Mitchellstown.

The Sunburnt Irish Red is the second of the trio of beers they plan to unleash on the Irish market. The first, 'Howling Gale Ale' is the now ubiquitous style for Irish microbreweries: a fresh, hoppy pale ale. The Sunburnt Irish Red is a take on an Irish Red Ale with a twist. The plan is to mainly focus on six packs (so Aussie!) of 330mL bottles but they are kegging some of each batch in 30L kegs and we have purchased the majority of their first run of the Sunburnt Irish Red.

Spicy aromas give way to a malty, rich ale which is a little less sparkling than I had expected. There is some grapefruit bitterness, with a pronounced hop 'kick'. The flavour develops more as the beer heats up slightly. In fact the lads themselves cite this as the afflatus of the brand name, 8 degrees being the perfect temperature to appreciate the full flavour profile (you can read the other reasons on their site). Loads of traditional Irish red flavours: malty, biscuity etc but with pithy dry finish, this would be a great one for pairing with cheese or roasted meats.

Now pouring as part of the visiting collection at L. Mulligan. Grocer. €4.90 a pint.

Seáneen

Menu (being posted for @stephenc123 and all other iPhone/iPad users)

2011-07-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

Starters
Organic Black Pudding, rhubarb relish,
mixed seasonal leaves €5
Recommended Beer: Steep Trail Amber Ale
Recommended Whiskey: Locke’s 8

Potted Crab, sourdough soldiers €7
Recommended beer: Schneider Kristall Weissen
Recommended Whiskey: Scapa 16

Sweet potato and chilli soup, house-made brown bread €5
Recommended Beer: O’Hara’s IPA
Recommended Whiskey: Singleton of Dufftown 12

Mussels, chilli and cider broth, sourdough €7.50
Recommended beer: Hoegaarden
Recommended Whiskey: Locke’s Blend

Scotch egg: free-range egg, rare-breed pork & herby crumbs, Dijon Mayo, ’Mulligaloe’ relish €5
Recommended beer: Galway Hooker
Recommended Whisky: Glen Elgin 16

Smoked bacon, macadamia and ham hock terrine; ‘Mulligaloe’ relish, red chard €6.50
Recommended Beer: 5am Saint Amber Ale
Recommended Whiskey: Benromach 10

Vegetarian Scotch egg: free-range egg, Mossfield Organic Gouda, Mustardy Leeks, Dijon Mayo, ‘Mulligaloe’ relish, mixed leaves €5
Recommended beer: Metalman Pale Ale
Recommended whiskey: Jameson 12

Mains
Chickpea and Spinach Stew, cayenne & scallion potato rosti, natural yoghurt €12.50
Recommended beer: Galway Hooker
Recommended whiskey: Greenore 8

10 oz. Rib-eye steak, Connemara whiskey butter, Portobello mushroom, wilted spinach, twice
cooked chips €21.00
Recommended Beer: Sunburnt Irish red ale
Recommended Whiskey: Connemara Single Malt

Beer battered whiting, twice cooked chips, crème fraiche mushy peas, tartare, pickled onion €14
Recommended beer: Früh Kolsch
Recommended whiskey: Tullamore 12

Bangers and Mash, O’Haras Stout Onion Gravy and onion rings, TJ Crowes free range sausages
or
Jack McCarthy’s free range black puddings sausages, Heaven and Earth mash(Apple mash) €13.00
Recommended Beer: Brooklyn Lager
Recommended Whisky: Tyrconnell Single Malt

Organic Gammon Steak, Duck egg, Grilled Pineapple Ring, Parsley Sauce, twice cooked chips €15
Recommended Beer: Brooklyn Lager
Recommended Whiskey: Glen Garioch Founders Reserve

Lamb Burger: Ardsallagh Goats’ Cheese, Bacon, Beetroot Coleslaw, ‘Paris Bakery’ Rosemary & Tomato Bun, ‘Mulligaloe’ Relish, Twice Cooked Chips €15.00
Recommended Beer: Howling Gale
Recommended Whisky: Glendronach Muscatel Finish

Moules Frites: mussels, chilli & cider broth, cone of twice cooked chips, Hoegaarden mayonnaise €15
Recommended Beer: Hoegaarden
Recommended Whiskey: Locke’s Blend

Black Pudding stuffed Supreme of free-range Chicken Breast, garlic Derrycamma rapeseed oil mash, spinach, mushroom ragout €16.00
Recommended Beer: Trouble Ór
Recommended Whiskey: Inishowen

Side dishes: twice cooked chips; €3.50 buttered greens, beetroot coleslaw, leaf salad €3 each

Beer Garden

2011-06-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

Were the 'Mary Celeste' a pub, it would be L. Mulligan. Grocer. circa. May 2010, more specifically the beer garden. The first time we walked through the pub we discovered a back yard littered with half consumed pints, abandoned bar stools, ash trays full of cigarettes which, in the right light, seemed to still smoulder and flicker against the odd wooden structure perched in the corner of the yard, as if they had been deserted mid-drag. (There was also inexplicably an icecream fridge full of rainwater.)

Fortunately, the lot was firmly tethered in Stoneybatter and not heading in the direction of the Bay of Gibraltar.

Eleven months, three coats of masonry paint, eighty herb seeds, sixty railway sleepers and one bought of sunstroke later, our beer garden is open, just in time for the 'heat wave' being predicted for June.

We are working on a beer garden snack menu, some beer garden specific events and a garden gate to protect the raised herb bed from pillaging...but in the meantime, stop by for a glass of Pimms No 1 Cup in the sunshine and please be nice to the herbs, they are hard at work growing!

Posted by Seáneen

Making butter & free Connemara tasting.

2011-03-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

One of the pub's friends, Imen makes butter. Her name practically demands it. She makes butter from cream from the cows that live on her farm, in her off-white stand mixer wearing candy coloured aprons while dreaming of Manolos. She stamps it with her custom made butter stamp and uses it to bake the most decadent looking cakes. I desperately want her to start making it commercially, and try to convince her of this often, because I want to buy it and serve it along side the brown bread we make using Colin's mum's recipe and slathered it on top of our rib eye steaks.

To sate me recently, three weekends ago, at the inspirational gathering that was Inishfood, she taught me how to make butter. She is good that way: a teacher, a sharer (and all kinds of wonderful besides!). Not three days later, she taught the country, and the world how to make it along side the lovely Ella McSweeney on Butterlive as part of GIY week.

Michael and I made this butter last night, using wild garlic I found in Phoenix Park on Sunday and Connemara whiskey. Michael, in typical peat-head fashion kept insisting the whiskey was not prevalent enough. I, on the other hand think I have a hangover this morning from the bit of the butter I tried smeared on fresh soda bread from the oven.

I used Imen's recipe here: but let it soften slightly before adding two tablespoons of finely minced wild garlic leaves, two generous measures of Connemara whiskey and a sprinkle of salt to taste (be careful with the salt, you don't need a lot!)

Posted by Seáneen. All typos are her own.

The butter is for serving on wild garlic soda bread at the Connemara 'vertical' tasting that we are holding this evening, hosted by Cooley distillery's John Cashman. The evening starts at 7.30pm and is free, but booking is essential by emailing Michael@LMulliganGrocer.com

It is a great opportunity to try this unique Irish whiskey, and the component parts that go into making the whiskey. Is is also a once off chance to gain unique insight into Ireland's only Irish owned distillery from their Global Brand Ambassador.

Connemara Peated Whiskey Vertical Tasting.
7.30pm, 29th March 2011.
L. Mulligan. Grocer.
18 Stoneybatter, Dublin 7. 01 670 9889.

Whiskey of the Week: the Return

2011-03-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

After a short break, I’m glad to welcome back our whiskey of the week (WoW). The short break was self-imposed after attending Whisky Live London, where over three days I had the chance to sample over 200+ whiskies. Trying to pick something out of that was an extremely hard challenge so I decided to give the taste buds a rest for a short time. This weeks WoW is Greenore 8 year old as chosen by those that attended our St Patrick’s Eve Dinner. Greenore is a Single Grain whiskey produced by Cooley Distillery.

What is a single grain whiskey?

There are several types of whiskey on the market the one most of us will know is single malt. However one of the most important whiskeys is single grain. Single grain whiskey is produced in a less glamorous way than single malt. It has a distillation technique similar to vodka: distilled in a column still, which is essentially a big ugly tube with condensing plates spread through it. Single grain whiskies are produced from grains such as corn rather than malted barley. What a column still does do is produce spirit quicker and cheaper than the more traditional pot still, however it generally has little flavour. The column still was partly created by Scot Robert Stein and patented by Irishman Aeneas Coffey who was an excise man in Ireland until 1824, at which point he became gamekeeper turned poacher! After being responsible for collecting tax on whiskey and stopping elicit distilling he became involved in the distillation industry. Coffey had little success in selling his still in Ireland, but the Scots thought it was a fantastic invention. John Haig (cousin of Robert Stien and a descendant of Margret Haig who married John Jameson) opened the Cameron Bridge distillery in Fife, Scotland and this was the first to produce grain whisky. His son was one of the whisky barons that pioneered blending. The ability to produce whisky cheaply and easily came in particularly handy during the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge (located very close to Cameron Bridge). Hundreds of Irish navvies worked on the construction of the bridge and the lighter style of the grain whisky was suited to their palate rather than the more traditional Scotch whiskies. As time went on, John Haig started blending the cheaper grain whisky with the more flavoursome malt whisky, which had huge success around the world, success that contributed in part to the decline of the Irish whiskey industry.

Grain whiskey has largely been unavailable in Ireland despite being produced at Midleton distillery (for blending in brands such as Jameson) for many years. When Cooley distillery opened in 1987 they produced a significant amount of grain whiskey, which has been released as Greenore in 6, 8, 10, 15, 18 and 19 year old versions. Despite grain whiskey lacking a little flavour, Cooley have managed to create a little gem by using high quality ex-bourbon barrels that have imparted rich flavours on the whiskey. On the nose the corn is very evident with a hint of fudge. On the palate the whiskey has generous amounts of toffee and lashings of vanilla. It has a light dry finish with a touch of cream.

This is a great introduction to whiskey and is only €5.50 a drop.

Michael

Beer of the Week: Metalman Pale Ale

2011-03-23T04:59:00.000-07:00

A recent and noted addition to our stable of Irish beers, after selling out in the space of a week, Metal Man Pale Ale has been back on draught for just over 48 hours. The reaction has been very positive.

I first spoke to Grainne and Tim of Metal Man brewing company some time ago about beer, breweries, excise, VAT, margins, sales and all the things that go into starting to think about a business plan for a micro-brewery in Ireland. We would frequently meet up at Irish Craft Brewer (now Beoir) beer tastings, where budding brewers would share their wares with other budding brewers, and discuss. It was a very thinly veiled excuse to drinks lots of types of beers to be honest, but also a wonderful breeding ground for a recent surge of newly opened micro-breweries. Cormac from Dungarvan Brewing Company, Thom from Trouble Brewing and now Grainne and Tim from Metal Man Brewing are all members and co-experimenters of the Irish Craft Brewer website.

It has taken some time, a lot of work and remarkable conviction that has finally brought Metal Man Brewing to our establishment. To illustrate, Grainne quit her job. In these times of economic frowning and recession giving up a perfectly sound job, with a decent wage, benefits and holidays, to create a business from scratch, in an industry that you haven’t worked in before, where competition is friendly but prevalent sounds like madness, but I for one am delighted that they have done it. It is encouraging!

The Tuesday morning the beer arrived was a flurry of Metal Man action. The beer arrived, the lines were chased, the font was erected, the keg was tapped and the beer was flowing all before the stroke of midday, which made my very first taste of Metal Man Pale Ale all that much more exciting. The ale poured a golden, straw-like colour, with a clear white head, containing the results of Grainne and Tim’s hard work. It had a wonderful lychee, kiwi and grapefruit nose, with hints of white pepper, orange peel and lemon rind. The initial flavour in your mouth is a sweetness, which develops into a bittered dryness that puckers your pallet. That bitterness that ensues reminds me of an American Pale Ale in that it has a fresh vibrancy about it, but has plenty of biting back bone to bring you back down to earth. I wasn’t too sure what to make of it after the first taste, so I went back in for another try, and then another. As I tried the beer time and over, I noticed that I was meeting each sip with as much curiosity, enjoyment and interest as the last. It is a very moreish drink! The body isn’t over carbonated which lends itself to easy drinking. The beer itself is a bit different to what is available on the Irish market at the moment. It is more bittered, more lightly malted and more gently carbonated than our current offerings, which will likely gain it quiet a following, especially coming into Summer.

More than the excitement we all feel at seeing a new Irish Micro Brewery spring up, I am delighted for Grainne and Tim. They started out on a lonely and difficult path, armed themselves with information, advice, necks of brass and took the leap that most of us fantasise and lament over. It is a road less travelled but I feel they will see the reward of their endeavours. I am certain that when the summer hand hits twelve o’clock we will all be chiming along to the sound of Metal Man Pale Ale.

Colin

Metal Man Pale Ale, part of the Semi-Permanent collection at L. Mulligan. Grocer. €4.50 a pint

St Patrick's Week at LMG

2011-03-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

A rather fetching postcard. 

Spurning green beer, shamrock shaped antennae and somewhat terrifying adult sized leprauchaun outfits in favour of celebrating Irish food and drink, our first St Patrick's Day celebrations will include: Blind Tasting evening on the search for the Ultimate Irish Coffee, whiskey/beer food matching dinner on St Patrick's Eve and a beer tasting on Saturday 19th.

Places are limited for the St Patrick’s Eve Whiskey Dinner, so to book email table (at) lmulligangrocer (dot) com.

Whiskey/Beer Matching Dinner

7.30pm Wednesday 16th March €49 a head

Menu subject to market availability.

Starters

Burren Smoked Salmon, Margaret Hession’s Brown Bread, Preserved Lemon, watercress

matched with either:

Whiskey: Connemara Single Malt, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford; or

Beer: Belfast Blonde, College Green Brewery, N. Ireland

Fresh Irish Mussels in David Llewelyn's cider cream sauce, soda bread

matched with either:

Whiskey: Locke’s Blend, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford; or

Beer: Friar Weiss, Franciscan Well Brewery, Cork

Smoked Bacon and Cabbage terrine, roasted salsify and shallot puree

matched with either:

Whiskey: Lockes 8 year old single malt, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford; or

Beer: Galway Hooker, Galway Hooker Brewery, Roscommon

Roasted Field Mushrooms with Aged Cashel Blue Cheese and Spinach on a Scallion Boxty cake

matched with either:

Whiskey: Inishowen Blend, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford

Beer: Or, Trouble Brewing Company, Kildare

Mains

Slow Roasted Pork Belly, Dulse Mash, Buttered Savoy Cabbage, Tyrconnell madeira finish Whiskey Jus

matched with either:

Whiskey: Tyrconnell Madeira Finish, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford

Beer: Metal Man Pale Ale, Metal Man Brewing, Waterford

Trouble brewing ‘Dark Arts’ Lamb stew, green scallion champ

matched with either:

Whiskey: GreenSpot, Bottled for Mitchell and Sons, Dublin

Beer: O’Hara’s Red Ale, Carlow Brewing Company, Carlow.

Chicken breast stuffed with fresh Organic Irish Black Pudding, red cabbage colcannon, caramelised parsnips, O’Hara’s red ale reduction

matched with either:

Whiskey: Lockes 8 year old single malt, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford

Beer: Galway Hooker, Galway Hooker Brewery, Roscommon

Vegetarian Nut Roast, Colcannon, Buttered spinach, O’Hara’s Stout onion Gravy

matched with either:

Whiskey: Greenore, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford

Beer: Belfast Blonde, College Green Brewery, N. Ireland

Desserts

Dungarvan Blackrock Stout Chocolate Cake, tyrconnell sherry finished whiskey cream, seville marmalade compote

matched with either:

Whiskey: Irishman 70, bottled for the Irishman, Carlow.

Beer: Molly’s Chocolate Stout, College Green Brewery, N. Ireland

Trio of Murphy’s Irish Icecreams

Flavours: Porter, Kilbeggan Whiskey, Dingle Sea Salt

matched with either:

Whiskey: Tyrconnell Port Finish, Cooley Distillery, Carlingford

Beer: Celebration Stout, Porterhouse Brewing Co., Dublin

Irish Cheese Board for One: Kileen Goat Cheese, Mossfield Organic Gouda Style, Aged Cashel Blue, walnut sourdough.

matched with either:

Whiskey: Writers Tears, Bottled for the Irishman, Carlow.

Beer: Headless Dog, College Green Brewery, N. Ireland

Posted by Seáneen

This Week's Irish Coffee

2011-03-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

This week's Irish Coffee is made with Bailie's Roastery coffee.

They spent all of Thursday afternoon tasting and testing Irish Coffees, tasting eight single estate handroasted coffees matched with Kilbeggan whiskey, for which we commend their dedication!

They finally narrowed it down to Finca Malacara, Honey Bourbon from El Salvador.

This is what they have to say about it:

The Bourbon varietal is usually characterised by sweet acidity and complex flavours, and this particular Malacara bean is honey processed – which means the beans are first pulped from the cherries, then allowed to dry with the mucilage still attached, which results in an even sweeter cup, and a honey colouring on the unroasted beans. This coffee is very elegant and balanced, with a luxurious syrupy mouthfeel and sweet, big buttery body. Some cedar and wood spice aromas can be detected on the nose, and deeper stone fruit notes develop in the cup. The coffee has a sweet, smooth, toffee finish.

Sounds like a perfect match for the chosen whiskey, Kilbeggan, described in the words of the distillery:

Tropical and citrus fruits together with, vanilla and toasty wood aromas are your first experience of Kilbeggan Irish whiskey. In the mouth it has a soft, silky smooth texture, a delicious sweetness with, toffee, fruit and peppery spice flavours all of which are followed by a creamy vanilla and toasty wood finish.

Judge for yourself. It is our featured Irish Coffee all weekend at L. Mulligan. Grocer.

If you would like to be on the panel of judges (it will be a rather large panel, perhaps more akin to a mob) for the Blind Tasting on Tuesday 15th March, just leave a comment below, or email irishcoffee (at) lmulligangrocer (dot) com

Metalman: now pouring.

2011-03-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

The keg arrived at 10am this morning. By 12 midday the tap was installed and the first sips tasted. The impressive tap clip won't be here until tomorrow, but a surreptitious nod to the barman tonight will put you in possession of Grainne and Tim's first offering: full of fresh hop flavour, lots of kiwi and lychee with a refreshing bitter finish.

Metalman Pale Ale €4.90; Part of the semi-permanent collection at L. Mulligan. Grocer.

Belated Whiskey of the Week: Tullamore Dew 10 year old Single Malt

2011-02-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

“Give every man his Dew.”

The Tullamore Distillery was founded 1829 by Michael Molloy, who produced a typical Irish pot still whiskey. Molloy passed away in the 1880s and the distillery passed to Bernard Daly who employed one Daniel E. Williams as distillery manager. Williams was instrumental in charting the success of the distillery and even today his initials can be found on every bottle of Tullamore “D.E.W.” William became a shareholder in the distillery as well as having several other business interests, including importing tea. He even had the town of Tullamore’s first telephone installed at the distillery!

After American prohibition and the general decline of the Irish whiskey industry Tullamore was mothballed in 1954 and eventually shut its doors in the 1963 despite the huge success of its whiskey based liqueur Irish Mist.

The Tullamore 10 year old single malt should have happened a few years back, but after requesting “finished” whiskey from Cooley distillery for the product, they decide not to follow that path. However Cooley released the “finished” whiskeys as Tyrconnell 10 year old single malts in the following finishes Maderia, Sherry and Port. The success of these (the Maderia finish scooped Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2008 "Best Irish whiskey") led to Tullamore requesting finished whiskey again. They have since blended all these finished whiskeys with some bourbon barrel aged whiskey and have came up with a cracker.

On the nose it is sweet and fruity with hints of charred oak. As it rolls over the palate, there is evidence of toasted marshmallows and rich toffee and a little dried fruit. Lasting sweet oak finish.

Posted by Michael

The first person in on Saturday night who can tell us what the “E” in Daniel E. Williams stands for can have a measure on us, for the rest of you, it will be €6.50.

Also on this weekend at L. Mulligan. Grocer., our fortnightly beer tasting, and our Irish coffee series continues.

Beer of the week: Trouble Brewing Dark Arts

2011-02-23T12:01:00.000-08:00

When we first walked in the door of L. Mulligan. Grocer. close on 8 months ago, we took a lot in; contorted beer mats, half-drunk pints on the bar, filthy over turned stools and a somewhat ‘earthy’ aroma, but we didn’t let that perturb us. We were able to see the beauty in the bar, the potential in the slowly and disturbingly sloped ceiling and the room for growth in the rubbish tip that was the smoking area, and so we signed for the pub. We have documented before the transformation of the pub over the subsequent weeks, and it was with nervous apprehension, akin to the arrival of a new-born, that we watched our very first beer tap go in: Trouble Brewing, Ór. Other taps have come and gone in the intervening days but I will always remember Ór as the beer that opened our place. It was the first beer ordered, paid for and drank in the pub (you know who you are) and is the beer of choice for many of the customers that have become regulars, and beer converts. When Stephen from Trouble Brewing told me they were brewing another beer, a seasonal special, it is understandable that I sacrificed *e**** ***o** to give them the elbowroom to broaden their range here. It was only a seasonal special though, so I wouldn’t be committing to losing a tap full-time. Or so I thought!

Dark Arts has been an extremely popular choice amongst the Mulligan’s faithful and rightly so. It’s a great beer. From where I stand, it pours beautifully, with a tornado like cascade, which starts out creamy white and settles to a very appealing ruby hue with an off white head that nearly looks like a perfectly executed Irish coffee, minus the whiskey lacing of course. Dark Arts sits at 4.4%, and drinks extremely smoothly. On the nose it has a wonderful nutty, cocoa and slight orange aroma to it. The body of the beer isn’t massively thick or creamy but I don’t feel it needs it as it has enough cocoa and nutty flavours going on to balance that out. It reminds me of chocolate bread and butter pudding with crème anglaise. I know it sounds crazy but the nutty, chocolate centre has an oaky, vanilla flavour that brings me back to the version of that dessert I had recently in Wolfe’s of Capel Street; decadent, rich, creamy and very moreish. There is a nice dry finish to the porter that accentuates the dry chocolate components in the porter, and leaves your mouth feeling nicely coated, and your palate sated.

Dark Arts is many a Mulligers' favoured after-shift beer these days. On days the three of us are here, after our shift, you will often find us at the end of the bar talking shop. We are coven-like in our hushed tones, and our all too familiar chant of “3 Dark Arts please” every 40 minutes or so. The excitement we felt that first day Steven came in to install the tap still resonates with this porter, and keeps us, and our customers, ordering and reordering with gusto.

Dark Arts: Part of the Permanent Collection at L. Muligan. Grocer.

€4.50 a delicious pint.

Also available at Glennons, Allenwood-the closest pub to Trouble H.Q.

Images by permission of Trouble Brewing.

Whiskey of the Week: Connemara Peated Single Malt

2011-02-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

Connemara has been produced by Cooley Distillery for a number of years now. It is currently Ireland’s only peated single malt, that is, a single malt with a smoky flavour. Peated whiskeys had become somewhat obsolete in Ireland. Given the country's concentration of peat bogs there would likely have been a long history of peated whiskey in Ireland. The construction of Ireland's iconic canal system however also heralded the arrival of a cheaper fuel source: coal, and the demise of smokey whiskey. Thankfully Cooley have revived this tradition.

In order to “peat” a whiskey you must dry the barley over a peat fire. The smoke clings to the barley during the drying process and as result imparts its flavour on the spirit. The amount of smokiness in a whisky is measured in phenol parts per million (ppm). In Connemara’s case its 20 ppm. By point of reference, the Scotch 'Ardbeg' would be closer to 40 ppm. You can vary the the ppm by how much peat you use in the drying process. Recently Cooley released a heavier peated whiskey, Connemara Turf Mor which weighs in at approx 60 ppm.

Connemara Single Malt is straw yellow in colour and with charcoal on the nose. Once you get past the smoke, it has flavours of apples and pears, it glides across the palate effortlessly and has a lingering smoky finish.

€4.50 a measure.

Beer of the Week: Blackrock Stout on Cask

2011-02-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

Casked beer is a curious creature. It comes in gallon, firkin, kilderkin, barrel, hogshead, butt and ton. It is protected and revered in the UK by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and almost never produced, or at least retailed, in modern Ireland. It is served at close to room temperature, it doesn’t exhibit the same fabricated creaminess of texture of ‘traditional’ stouts (much of that ‘creaminess’ is actually due to forced nitrogenation post-fermentation). It takes special equipment to dispense, usually needs to be 'hand sold' to a customer and only a handful of pubs in the country choose to sell it at all. It doesn’t tick the marketing boxes that ‘Dragons’ Den’ seat warmers would invest in, it doesn’t conform.

So why on earth would a fledgling producer such as Dungarvan Brewing Company take a chance on brewing for cask when there is a dearth of a market for it? Most other Irish micro-breweries primarily keg their beers, as well as producing casks for the small market that exists, not Dungarvan Brewing Company. I can see Duncan Balintyne shaking his head in deep concern, and incredulity at the prospect of it. The answer, as it so often does, lies in the glass.
Blackrock Stout is almost opaque. Topped with a rich caramel head that rests gently against the glass, it has the smallest of bubbles that give it a silky texture, allowing all the dark coffee, molasses, and slightly burnt caramel flavours to wash through your mouth. The initial flavour is demandingly stouty: a proud, hoppy bitterness that stands up to be counted, but mellows out to allow the sweeter side of the stout to develop. It has the sort of sweetness tasted at the end of a well brewed espresso (but without the caffeine sucker punch!), a lip smacking, savouring sweetness that steps aside for a little spice to finish the experience with a flourish.

As the stout is pumped from cask to vessel it is aerated by the sparkler at the bottom of the tap, and delivers a delightful performance, a seesaw like effect: the ale gush-fills a portion of the glass, only for a little to be sucked back up when the tap handle is once again reset. It has a laconic cadence of its own that is simply soothing and speaks to the genre emphatically. It has its own pace, attitude and will not be rushed, nor should it. It is a luxury and a scourge for a barman, a few moments of forced stillness on a busy night.

There is a certain amount of faith on the part of the Dungarvan brauhaus in their ability to not only brew excellent, handcrafted products, but that the market is going to be there to sustain the brewing of same. There is even more faith that there is enough piqued interest out there for punters to travel to the few outlets that support cask beers, like us, the Bull and Castle, Against the Grain and the Porterhouse Temple Bar. They, like the rest of the Irish micro brewing community, don’t compete on comparison, nor on ubiquity, they have the ability to compete on points of differentiation and individuality, of quality and this is why they cask their stout. It is worth traveling for, it is worth waiting for, and we have all waited long enough.

Colin.

Pictures with thanks to Dungarvan Brewing Company.

Blackrock Stout now available on cask in L. Mulligan. Grocer. at €5 a pint.

New email addresses

2011-02-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

The excitement is palpable here at L. Mulligan. Grocer., with the advent of our:
New Email Addresses.
There are impromptue jigs of glee, there are joyful outbursts of speaking in tongues, and the bottle of Glendronach 30 is nearly drained with the repeated toasting of the event. It is what our lovely customer Catherine likes to call 'A Banner Day'.

From this day forth, there shall be no more three-person managed gmail account, whereby correspondents were left bewildered as to which of the three of they were in communication with, a literary device which enabled each of us on occasion to claim complete ignorance of any number of exchanges.

To book in with us, you can now reach Dan on table (at) lmulligangrocer (dot) com.

To write us a poem, tell us a story, or any other reason you might have to want to contact us, you can contact us hello (at) lmulligangrocer (dot) com.

All credit mut go to the wonderful Dave from Give a Damn Design who freed us from the shackles of generic electronic mail. A banner day indeed.

Glen Garioch Founders Reserve

2011-02-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

The Glen Garioch distillery has been on the go since 1797 and is one of Scotland's oldest distilleries. Like most Scottish distilleries it had its ups and downs and funny moments. While visiting several years ago I learned a funy story about one of the previous owners:

William Sanderson was one of the most prominent whisky barrons in the 1880’s. At that time he launched VAT 69. Yawn! Here comes the blarney: Yep, he selected the 69th barrel from 100. As a result, Glen Garioch became the major malt in this blend. Not so today, Glen Garioch is soley used in single malt bottlings. Sanderson then went on to produce several other blends , SVG (Specially Vatted Glen Garioch) OBG (Old Best Glen Garioch) and my favourites A.M. & P.M. , which were for drinking before and after lunch!

The distillery was sold to Morrison Bowmore in the 1960s and has stayed under their control since (albeit, they in turn have been taken over by Japanese giants Suntory). Suntory with a bit of Scottish vision, temporary closed the distillery in 1995, to make sure of its long term survival. The distillery got a bit of a makeover and reopened in 1997, the results of the re-vamped distillery are clearly evident in the Glen Garioch Founder Reserve.

Rich and malty with lashings of toffee, dried prunes and hints of charcoal.

Enjoy at only €5 a measure, but the first person who comes to the bar this Friday and Saturday who can pronounce it correctly, I will give them a free dram.

Michael.

The search for the Ultimate Irish Coffee...

2011-02-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

We serve a lot of Irish coffees. We use french press to brew coffee, a process made more laborious during the recent water shortages, when we had to resort to filling a domestic kettle with Ballygowen. Thus, our planned Irish coffee series in December was delayed!

We want to rescue this classic from its dreary status of 1980s carvery chasing tipple: the oft-proffered slug of lacklustre whiskey thrown into the bottom of a glass topped with lukewarm instant coffee and pallid curdled supermarket cream. We want to showcase a coffee made with the best of Irish whiskeys being distilled on this island, coffee that has been roasted with care by Irish coffee suppliers and topped with Irish cream produced by passionate local farmers. We are setting out to develop an Irish coffee that marries the best Irish produce available.

We plan to run a series starting this weekend, each week featuring an Irish Coffee made with a different roastery, chosen especially to compliment the selected whiskey, Kilbeggan, distilled by Ireland’s only Irish owned distillery. We have chosen this whiskey because of its smooth texture and a complimentary sweetness as well as the commitment of the distiller to independent whiskey making tradition. Our cream is from Glenisk, a collective passionate about local food, and organic products

The series will culminate in an evening blind tasting mid March where the ‘Ultimate Irish Coffee’ will be declared. This week's coffee is from Ariosa, a Brazilian coffee with dark, nutty aroma and lovely malty bitterness. We hope you enjoy it!

Staff Wanted

2011-02-08T04:17:00.000-08:00

Image Credit: Kake Pugh Flickr

We are hiring Mulligers and Mulligettes. We looking for people who are passionate about food, beer, wine and whisk(e)y. Even if you are not a particular expert an interest and willingness to learn and an ability to look dashing in a grocer’s apron are the only essential requirements. Please apply to seaneen (at) lmulligangrocer (dot) com.

Whiskey of the Week: Glendronach 12 year old

2011-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

The guid Glendronach*

The Glendronach distillery has been around for over 170 years but has been relatively silent in the marketing of its single malts whiskies.

The distillery was founded by James Allardice in 1826 and he was a bit of a pioneer to the whisky industry- he was one of the first to use sherry barrels for maturation.

At the beginning things weren’t easy for Allardice. On a sales trip to Edinburgh where he had hoped to flog his wares he was left feeling like a broken man when noone took him up on his offer. However, following the rejection, he wandered the streets of Edinburgh he bumped into certain ‘ladies of the night” who, after tasting Allardice’s whisky, thought it was amazing. Their affection (for the whisky) kept Allardice happy and more importantly, probably in business.

As recently as the 1970’s Glendronach played a major part in blends such as Teacher's and Balantine's, thus was rarely seen as a single malt. Since the distillery's acquisition by the Ben Riach Distillery PLC in 2008, the single malt is now getting the exposure and credit it deserves.

This is a very rich sherried dram with lots of stewed fruit (apricots and dates) flavour, it has a long and lingering Christmas pudding like finish.

€6.50 a dram

*Guid means good in Scots.

Posted by Michael on 5th February
Photo Credits Glendronach

Beer of the Week: Molly's Chocolate Stout

2011-02-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

Beer has lovely big groupings when it comes to style, this is ale, that is a lager, that yoke over there is a stout. My favourite beers are the ones that throw caution to the wind and create flavours and textures that can’t easily be categorized, and refuse to be to conform.

In my mind Molly’s Chocolate Stout is one of those. Firstly, it is not sweet, the chocolate in the name comes from the type of malt that is used in its production, unsurprisingly titled ‘chocolate malt’. Molly’s has a bitter dry finish reminiscent of Lindt's 70% chocolate, but in a much more luxurious, stylish and silky way. The clever lads and lassies at Hilden Brewery add cocoa powder at the end of the brewing process which gently imparts its nuances to this creamy tipple. Molly’s on draught has a lovely puff of chocolate on the nose and a creamy body ably assisted by nitrogen, which, in this case ameliorates the stout’s appeal.

The nitrogen bolsters the cocoa in Molly’s but not to the point of sweetness, it leaves a memory of confectionary eaten and enjoyed, without the nausea often experienced from such indulgence. You can still enjoy the hints of coffee and bittersweet dryness that is expected (and frequently missing) from dry Irish stouts, and Mollys entices you back with her moreish nature.

Would Molly be proud of this beer? Who knows! Molly is a dog, and does not drink. For shame…

Molly's Chocolate Stout
Brewed by Eoin at Hilden Brewery, just outside Lisburn, N. Ireland.
ABV: 4.3%
Pint: €4.50

Posted by Colin on 3rd February.

Bangers and Mash Mondays

2011-01-31T07:38:00.000-08:00

We believe Irish produce is special and worth celebrating. We are a little bit in love with our suppliers: the people who rear our meat, grow our vegetables, bake our bread, brew our beer, make our ice-cream, import our whisky and wine, roast and supply our coffee. We are really excited about what each of them do, and list them on our menus. A lot of them know each other, supply each others’ premises. It is a nice symbiosis and one we are proud to be a part of.

Our menu follows the seasons & we change it every week. For January we have limited our food service to Wednesday-Sunday and had some semi-permanent staples getting cozy on the menu while we experiment with different cuts of meat, cooking techniques and produce. Our chefs are braising their little hearts (and livers and onglets) out and we are speaking with suppliers, farmers and producers to partner with them to create new dishes, menu items and snacks (wild Irish game sausage rolls and piccillili for example!)

The sausages on our regular bangers & mash come from the fabulous TJ Crowe in Tipperary. We tweet him every Monday to order them and he brings them up to us the next day. We have just tried his garlic infused version, garlicky deliciousness which would give a vampire a nasty shock if bitten into unawares. From this evening we will also be including Jack McCarthy of Kanturk’s sausages along with TJ’s on our Monday and Tuesday menu when we will be doing exclusively bangers and mash, six different kinds of sausages matched with six different mashes.

The menu will be twitted each Monday, and up on our Facebook page too.

This week’s menu is:

(all €12.50 served with O’Hara’s onion gravy)

Free range rare breed sausages, mustardseed mash.
Black pudding and apple sausages, ‘heaven and earth’ mash (apple and potato).
Garlic infused sausages, herby mash.
Ardrahan and smoked bacon sausages, cheesy mash.
Vegetarian Nut roast, herby mash. (still working on our Glenmorgan sausage recipe)

Monday 5pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 5pm-9.30pm

Wednesday-Sunday full menu.

Whiskey of the Week: The Irishman 70

2011-01-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

The company behind this whiskey are more famous for their pre packaged "just add hot water" Irish Coffee mix "The Hot Irishman". They have always bottled a whiskey but didn't get it just right a few years ago. At one point they proclaimed their whiskey had smokey notes: it didn't. It inevitably became the butt of many jokes.

However a brand overhaul, and a better whiskey selection process have resulted in this cracking little pot still blend whiskey. Admittedly it still sounds a bit 'blarney', and a bit confusing with the "70": it is not 70 years old! What the 70 denotes a malt whiskey content of 70% from a distillery in the North, which means the pot still content is 30%, which comes from a distillery in Co. Cork. The big-wigs down there won't allow their name to be mentioned in connection with this whiskey (more fool them!)

Anyhow, its a cracking number, with lots of vanilla present, a little peppery spice is evident too, with a lovely toasted almond finish. Enjoy at €4.50 a measure!

Beer of the Week

2011-01-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Not to be outdone by Michael's whisky-centric soliloquy (and accompanying naff puns) each week, every Wednesday Colin shall be penning his thoughts on his beer of the week, with the inaugural beer being chosen in honour of Rabbie Burns night, with the beer bottle featuring an image of the rather fertile Scottish poet and Exciseman (Burns fathered no fewer than thirteen children with five women!)

Broughtons Exciseman 80\-

As Scottish beer and whisky was so popular and readily available in Scotland, frequently from the near convenience of a shed or outhouse, the ruling classes determined that it was a fine way to bolster their coffers and so began the ignominy of the Exciseman. This character would travel the high and lowlands with a complicated suitcase of measures to determine the gravity and alcohol content of the local beery produce. The neat classifications 60(Scottish light), 70 (Scottish Heavy) and 80 (Scottish Export) shillings were were an indicator both of the strength of the beer and also the levy due on its production. Breweries outside of Scotland have adopted the term 90 Shilling to donote the Strong Scotch Ale or Wee Heavy, but it is unlikely that Rabbie Burns would approve!

Broughtons Exciseman 80 Shilling is a malty reflection of its style, showing a vibrant ruby colour to the light. On the nose it is a golden treacle and blackcurrant affair, which carries through to the body of the beer when sampled. Its initial sharp sweetness develops into a floral hopped middle and full mouthfeel that leaves a slight peppery finish on the tongue. This is an ideal beer to wash the offaly good flavour of haggis down!

Both Exciseman 80/- and Haggis are available for a limited season at L. Mulligan. Grocer. 

ABV: 4.6% 

Volume: 500mL bottle

Price: €5.50

This Saturday from 3-5pm Colin will host a tutored tasting of Scottish beers. €25 a head includes 8 beers, finger food (including Scotch eggs!) and a limited number of puns.

Sporrans Optional.

2011-01-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
-Robert Burns 'Address to a Haggis'

There is something wonderfully surreal about the notion of addressing a haggis (or haggii, be there more than one). Tomorrow night, (25th January) in honour of Burns Night, Michael in his be-kilted finest will be officiating haggis-addressing, the toasting of lassies and general whisky imbibing at our first Burns Supper.

The menu is a three course affair, featuring traditional Scottish dishes (including the indispensable haggis!) with each course matched with either a Scotch whisky or a microbrewed Scottish beer. There will also be rousing poetry, whisky fueled toasts and general merriment.

Dinner shall be followed by Athole Brose and a premium whisky tasting of 4 Scottish malt whiskies. There are still a small number of spaces left though advanced booking is required. Bookings may be made by emailing mulligan.grocer@gmail.com or calling 01 670 9889.

Location: L. Mulligan Grocer, 18 Stoneybatter, Dublin 7

Time: 7pm

Cost: €45 per person which includes all food, whiskies, ale and be-sporraned gaity.

Whiskey of the Week

2011-01-23T07:16:00.000-08:00

Every week, Michael will be waxing lyrical about his whiskey of the week. Kicking off this week with anCnoc.

After sampling about a dozen whiskies this week, and drinking about the same again, it was the one drank after work on Thursday night that caught my eye. anCnoc 12 year old single malt (pronounced An Knock) is one of those distilleries in Scotland suffering an identity crisis. The actual name of the distillery is Knockdhu but the whisky is branded anCnoc as to avoid confusion with Knockando Distillery.

Anyway, its a lovely, cracking whisky, its not the sort of dram you would have after work or late at night, but it hit the spot for me. It has a light grassy citrus flavour to it, which would make it a great aperitif. It has a decent finish, some fudge, with a touch of chalkyness that clings to the palate. Enjoy!

The business of being open six months

2011-01-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

For thirty seconds or so, at 12.03am on first day of January this year we stood in the alley out the back of the pub, the alley that has seen the combi arrive, the bain marie, the microwave and countless other 'vintage' kitchen equipment leave, through which 60 railway sleepers traversed, on their way to be made into tables by Michael and Colin, out of which left the dart board, four TVs, a defunct cigarette machine and great many other things besides, and the three of us celebrated ~~surviving~~ being open six months (with an O’Hara’s IPA). Then we went back to work.

It does not bear to dwell too much here on the past six months except to say that they have been the most challenging, interesting, joyful and exhausting six months we have ever known. We are excited about the year ahead, and our plans for them: about our new till system arriving, working with new suppliers, growing our own herbs, whisk(e)y dinners commencing (along with the opportunity for Michael to wear his ~~skirt~~ kilt), continuing our Saturday beer tastings, our Irish Coffee series, new menu items, finally getting wasabi peanuts back behind the bar, and hopefully Dublin City Council seeing fit to continue supplying us with water. We are also determined to blog about it, so expect cameo appearances here by the other two thirds of team Mulligans, Michael and Colin, and possibly other Mulligers and Mulligettes.

It’s going to be a big year, we can’t wait.

Heralding the arrival of the Combi Oven and Unctuous Pork Belly.

2010-08-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

Our lovely chef is now bereft of conversation topics. For weeks each time we spoke, he started, continued and ended by extolling the virtues of the Combi Oven, the necessity of the Combi Oven, the beauty of the Combi Oven. The Combi Oven was like a long awaited baby, with the gestation being punctuated by an anxious Frenchman fretting over its every development and hiccup.

We enquired often as to what the Combi Oven did and were met with tales of the feats the Combi Oven could perform, its might, its impeccable sense of style, its wit. Prearrival, the Combi Oven was the stuff of folklore and legend in L. Mulligan. Grocer., though now that it has arrived we understand the fuss. It has taken what was already achingly tender pork belly and turned it unctuous, oozingly decadent, layers melting into one another with the crackling blistered and perfect. To say nothing of its effect on our Thyme Roasted Chook, or Aubergines stuffed to the gills with Red Pepper Compote and Mozzarella.

If only its Herculean feats extended to refurbishing the beer garden.

Our Twenty-Seventh Day

2010-07-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

At this very moment I am listening to the quiet in L. Mulligan. Grocer. The ice machine is steadying itself for the service ahead, clunking and churning as it produces its little cubes with a recess in the top, reminiscent of the well worn pool chalk that was wedged into the side of the snooker table that Michael and Colin helped carry out the back of the pub merely hours before we opened. Our lovely French chef Jerome is speaking very softly in the kitchen, perhaps to himself. The quiet won’t last, and I am glad. In an hour or so, at 4pm the doors will open on our 27th day, and shortly after that the space will start to fill with chatter, the clink of tiles from our new Scrabble set, clattering knives, forks and potted crab jars, the sound of being busy. It is great, exhausting, overwhelming, humbling.

We now have food. Those four words seem innocuous as they are written, but they belie the all-consuming struggle to get our tiny kitchen commissioned, stocked and staffed. Even now we are a one-chef outfit with Jerome leaving each day a shadow of the man he arrived having toiled over prep, service and cleanup. We are working on getting more staff, again starting the surreal process of interviewing: never quite sure how to strike the balance between explaining our passion for what we are doing, and listening to theirs. In that rambling way of an exhausted person I have digressed- I wanted to tell you about the food, for example our amazing slow roasted pork belly. The belly is free-range, unctuous, meltingly good. So far we have served it nearly every day, sometimes with a Sailor Jerry rum reduction and mash speckled with flakes of dulse, other days with griddled vegetables, glazed with an organic Galician cider we sell in the bar for €7.50 for 750mL. It is good. I find myself even longing for the cooler weather of the last week to continue so we have an excuse to leave it on the menu. It is coming off though, tomorrow or Thursday I think, and being replaced by Moules Frites, (mussels and chips) which we served on our first evening with a mayonnaise that borrowed the spices of Hoegaarden: white pepper, coriander seed, curacao peel. The mussels are served in a dinky pot, and the chips in a cone, which we worry might be too contrived, but is a lot of fun anyway.

For the next small while the menu will continue to change daily, sometimes we reorder things when they are popular, or when we have had requests for them or when there is a glut of something at the market. We have not been without the potted crab yet, mainly because people come back specifically for it, but also because it is a favourite amongst the three of us. The daily menu will be posted on Twitter, Facebook and our website (which is hopefully going to be de-‘Flash’ed next week Iphone users). We love to hear from people what they think works, what we should do more of (or less of). The menu is evolving and changing, and we would love to know what you think.

Our 10 favourite things about L. Mulligan. Grocer. Week One.

2010-07-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

1. The negligible number of people who have turned on their heel when we have said we do not have Guinness. The roasted, malty flavours of the O’Hara’s stout and balanced sweetness of the Molly's Chocolate Stout are proving hugely popular. It is a nice feeling for all of us, we three that have spent years behind other peoples' bars, pouring pints of beer that we didn't quite believe in, to recommend and serve beer we love.

2. The amount of people who have come in who live locally. Their enthusiasm for what we are doing has raised our flagging spirits on more than one occasion. The first day we were open, a day marked with periods of frustration, fatigue and electricity failure, a woman came in to tell us that her mother had bought tea from Laurence Mulligan himself. She returned a short while later with the original paper bag the tea came in, a brown paper adorned with the strap-line 'A good cup of tea' and which is now safely tucked between the Redbreast 12 year old and Green Spot bottles, soon to be used as a model for our off-sales bags.

3. Ronan from Galway Hooker giving Stephen from Trouble Brewing little tips while they happened to each be installing their taps at the same time. This singular moment reminded us of what is great about the Irish craft brewing community. To quote Claire from Dungarvan Brewing Company ‘A rising tide floats all ships’.

4. ‘Oh, you didn’t change anything!’ Fifteen days, fourteen hours a day, two rolls of black bin bags, three tins of paint, twelve rolls of wallpaper, five packets of sandpaper, ten new shelves, two rolls of upholstery fabric, countless tins of varnish. No, we didn’t change 'anything'. Still, our intention was always to be ‘sympathetic’ to the pub’s décor. And we like to think that we have restored the pub to the way it was and the way it should be.

5. Our neighbours, the Drinks Store’s crazy world cup tweets.

6. Wasabi nuts.

7. The exciting conversations with customers, chefs and each other about the food menu. We are working round the clock to get the kitchen sorted, as well as the back half of the bar and are really excited about launching our limited menu in the coming week. Our painting, sanding and this week has been punctuated by spontaneous exclamations of 'what about salted caramel?', 'beetroot and coriander might work' and 'the chocolate stout would really compliment that!' That being said, we keep all forgetting to eat, so that is another impetus to get the kitchen open.

8. Discovering Lilliput stores, which sells Ariosa coffee. Keeps us from constantly dashing back to Middle Abbey Street for 3FE coffee.

9. The heady waft of paint stripper as we work to rid the back half of Mulligans of the scourge of red high gloss paint which someone saw fit to liberally splash asunder.If you have been in, you have likely peered around the curtain that separates the front and back bar. It is a gradual, painstaking transformation, but it is happening!

10. Being open.

We are open.

2010-07-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

And have been everyday since last Thursday. Not everything is done, not everything is perfect, but bear with us, we are getting there! Come visit us, make suggestions, taste the lovely beers and whiskies we do have, and harangue us about those we don't that you would love to see.

We are working on getting a rotating photography/art exhibition going up in the library, so if you are an artist contact us!

March of the Beers.

2010-06-27T04:03:00.000-07:00

There is a buzz of activity in L. Mulligan. Grocer this last week, with scarcely a day going by that the latest fandangled cask engine, recovered bar stools or new ceiling colour doesn't come through the door.

Amongst the most exciting of all the hubbub was the 'Arrival of the Brewers'- an event reminiscent of the March of the Penguins, though sadly lacking the smooth Morgan Freeman commentary or the diet of raw crustaceans. So far we have had the lovely Martin from Carlow, Stephen from Trouble, Ronan from Galway Hooker (who took great delight in usurping a Guinness tap with the beautiful Hooker font) with Owen from Hilden and one or two others still to descend on Stoneybatter to complete the suite of Irish beers brewed with flavour and passion that will be available in L. Mulligan. Grocer. The bottles are on their way also, with Team Mulligans committed to tirelessly sampling the candidates for the beer list, a grueling job and one we are all proving quite proficient at, with Seáneen preferring the Copper Coast from Dungarvan, Colin favouring the Oyster Stout from the Porterhouse and Michael gallantly acquainting himself with the entire tasty range from Whitewater.

The tap banks and fridges are a quickly becoming thing of beauty to behold with the best of the beers produced on this island nestling in alongside each other at the front bar at Mulligans, getting nice and cosy (and probably swapping dirty jokes about whose hops are bigger) in advance of the opening.

Taste of Dublin

2010-06-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

There is something about Taste of Dublin which turns the excruciating pain of four days with feet shoved into Birkenstocks subsisting exclusively on Ely burgers into a lovely experience.

Team Mulligans at Taste of Dublin

Mulligans shared a lurid wallpapered stall with edrinks this year, and the amazing energy and buzz of the festival renewed our enthusiasm about what we are trying to do with the pub. Doling out picnic blankets, and with half a dozen bar stools to seat thirsty festival-goers, our location near the music tent on the field was perfect for the glorious weather of the weekend. It was lovely to get positive feedback from potential customers, suppliers, and even from a serenading lounge singer spruiking her wares.

Mick and Colin working earnestly at the Mulligan's stall.

In between pumping out hundreds of pints of Headless Dog on cask and countless passionfruit mojitos, Team Mulligans ran a competition to name a prototype house Foreign Extra Stout and for a brief spell on Sunday turned our stall into a waterproof speakeasy, sheltering stranded festival goers from the deluge. There is always a lot of criticism of the cost of Taste of Dublin, and for exhibitors it is not a cheap event either, but it is one that for Mulligans is a highlight of the culinary calendar.

Stay tuned for the results of the Name our Beer competition.

So we're opening a pub.

2010-06-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog! L. Mulligan.Grocer, Eating and Drinking Emporium is the beautiful Frankenstein-esque brain child of beer expert Colin Hession, whiskey afficiado Michael Foggarty and food blogger Seáneen Sullivan. The sum of many parts, Mulligans is the result of many impassioned conversations about taste, independence and integrity and what makes Irish food and beverages great. We are setting to work to create something unique in the heart of Dublin 7.

We have taken a Stoneybatter institution which had seen better days and with the kind of pure steely minded determination which would put Daniel LaRusso to shame (but less of the coming of age angst) we are currently toiling over wallpaper paste, floor sanders and linseed oil to return Mulligans to its former glory.

Our vision is a place where mahogany panelled cool meets the momentum of the Irish craft beer revolution alongside Ireland’s best range of quality Irish whiskies. These quality libations will be complimented by the finest imported craft beers, carefully sourced ingredients, innovative cocktails and gastro-pub dishes served with a local twist.

We are really excited about it and can’t wait to have you in for a pint of Belfast Blonde, a Redbreast 12 or one of our rare-breed pork scotch eggs. In the meantime, follow our progress and keep an eye out for details of our launch on Twitter and Facebook.