Colm McCan's Wine Diary: Wine & Drinks events at Litfest '15

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Date: June 25, 2015

We had 21 wine & drinks events with 25 wine & drinks participants over the weekend of the 3^rd ever Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food and Wine which took place 15th - 17th May 2015 with talks & tastings with wine & drinks experts on wine, craft beer, craft cider, gin, whiskey, rum, cocktail, cooperage demos, and so much more.

We welcomed the following wine & drinks experts from Ireland and overseas:

Jancis Robinson MW, one of the 'most respected wine writers in the world', who gave a wine talk and a tasting that illustrated the trend to lighter and fresher wines

Alice Feiring, the New York based award winning natural wine writer, speaking at her first public event in Ireland, gave a broad-ranging talk and tasting on Natural wine titled ‘The Dangers of Natural Wine - They Could Change Your Life' and was also on a number of wine panels including ‘Does Terroir Really Exist and How Can You Tell?’ with, Tomás Clancy, Raymond Blake and John Wilson and also 'Is Wine Lit Dead?' – with Tomás Clancy, Raymond Blake and Leslie Williams

Garrett Oliver, one of the world’s top beer writers, editor-in-chief of Oxford Companion to Beer and Brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, who gave a fascinating craft beer talk & tasting with Caroline Hennessy, co-author of Slainte, the book on Irish Craft Beer and Cider. Garrett also gave another tasting featuring beer he specially sent over for the event.

Desmond Payne, the worlds most experienced Master Gin Distiller gave a talk on Gin – The Garden Spirit, with a focus on the botanicals in Gin.

Brian Nation, Master Distiller Midleton Distillery with Dave Broom, one of the world’s top Whiskey writers, incl 'The World Atlas of Whisky' and Tomas Clancy, wine & drinks writer, The Sunday Business Post gave a talk and tasting on The Roaring Silence - Silent Stills Re-Awaken'. The Irish Whiskey Renaissance

Nick Strangeway, a Cocktail legend on the London and international bar scene gave a Cocktail Masterclass with Oisin Davis, one of Ireland’s top names in the world of cocktails

Nick also joined up with Dave Broom for a Rum events looking at the forgotten history of rum and Ireland: from Irish-born pirates like Anne Bonny to the fathoming of punch bowls in the 18th century, rum smuggling, the drink's decline and recent revival that has made rum one of the hottest drink categories of the moment.

Dave and Nick led a tasting of a selection of rum styles – as well as Rum creations from the masterly hand of Nick Strangeway.

Some of Ireland’s top wine & drinks writers gave wine talks and tastings including John Wilson, wine & drinks writer, The Irish Times; Raymond Blake, wine editor, Food and Wine Magazine; Mary Dowey, wine editor, The Gloss Magazine; Leslie Williams, wine & drinks writer, The Irish Examiner; Tomas Clancy, wine & drinks writer, The Sunday Business Post and Tom Doorley, wine & drinks writer, The Irish Daily Mail

Talks, topics, panels and tastings included:

‘Late Afternoon Sparkle’ with Mary Dowey presenting three superb sparkling wines, each one paired with an accompanying and complimenting bite of food. Mary also gave a fascinating insight into the Southern Rhone with her talk A Rhone Romance when over a glass of wine, Mary Dowey laid bare her long-term love affair with Provence and the Southern Rhône!

'The Literature of Burgundy' with Raymond Blake was a great look at the wine writings on one of the best known wine regions, Burgundy, with Raymond Blake, Author of ‘Breakfast in Burgundy, speaking about his experiences of living in Burgundy. Along with some delicious wines from Burgundy to taste by way of illustration.
Value and Wine Panel talk & tasting with wine & drinks writers, John Wilson of The Irish Times; Tomás Clancy of The Sunday Business Post; Leslie Williams of The Irish Examiner and Tom Doorley of The Irish Daily Mail.
'Wine - The Beauty of Blending' with John Wilson, wine writer The Irish Times and Tomás Clancy, wine writer The Sunday Business Post.
'Is Wine Going Out Of Fashion?' A panel discussion with John Wilson, wine writer The Irish Times; Garrett Oliver, brewmaster Brooklyn Brewery and editor-in-chief of the Oxford Companion to Beer; Dave Broom, prolific Whiskey & drinks writer including the World Atlas of Whisky; Desmond Payne, the worlds most experienced Master Gin Distiller, and Nick Strangeway, leading cocktail expert known the world over for his innovation and his deep understanding of the history of mixed drinks.
‘Emerging Wine Regions’ A panel discussion & tasting on Emerging Wine Regions with with Leslie Williams, wine & drinks writer, The Examiner; Alice Feiring, New York based wine writer; John Wilson wine & drinks writer, The Irish Times and Tomás Clancy, wine & drinks writer, The Sunday Business Post and they introduced us to the latest trends in the world of wine, which regions are newly emerging and re-emerging and what grape varieties are coming back into fashion.
Ger Buckley, 5th Generation Master Cooper, Midleton Distillery gave a demo on Forgotten Skills – Cooperage’ highlighting the ancient craft and skill of Cooperage, dating back thousands of years and expertly demonstrated with barrels and the ancient tools still in use today.
Irish Craft Beer talk with Ireland's craft brewers on stage with Caroline Hennessy was titled Brewing up a Business, talking about the craft beer revolution taking place throughout Ireland with small Irish microbreweries now taking pride of place in their local areas. Joining Caroline was a panel of brewers - Grainne Walsh from Metalman Brewing; White Gypsy 's Cuilan Loughnane, and Scott Baigent from Eight Degrees Brewing, talking talk about how they're transforming the landscape for the Irish beer drinker.
Irish Craft Cider was well represented with a panel talk chaired by wine & drinks writer with The Irish Examiner, Leslie Williams with a panel of some of Ireland’s real/craft/artisan cider producers including Daniel Emerson, Stonewell Cider, Con Traas, The Apple Farm, Simon Tyrrell, Craigies, William O’Callaghan, Longueville, and Rod Calder-Potts, Highbank Orchards giving a broad ranging talk and tasting on the exciting cider revival, the new generation of Irish cider makers and what’s happening with Irish Cider today.
Susan Boyle gave a performance of her critically acclaimed wonderful show 'A Wine Goose Chase' combing wine tasting & theatre