Torc Brewery: ‘core and besoke beers to suit every taste

FOR John Keane and his team over at Torc Brewery in Coolcaslagh, ideas and concepts about beer are in a constant state of fermentation (if you’ll pardon the pun). Torc brew four core beers, but also do seasonal and bespoke beers for restaurants and hotels, as John explains:

“We’re now doing bespoke beers for hotels and restaurants where we basically come up with a new recipe for them. For example, the hotel or restaurant might have a story or aspect of their business they wish to form part of their very own beer, which we will brew specially for them. They present to us the style of beer they want and we make up a few recipes until they settle on the one they like, and there you have it – they’ll have their own beer for evermore associated with their business.”

Awards and experimentation are important at Torc Brewery where local landscapes and ingredients serve as a constant source of inspiration when it comes to beer recipes.

“We have our core beers but we also do seasonal ones. At Christmas we brought out a Smoked German Ale recipe that won us a silver medal at the Alltech Beer Festival.

At the Killarney Beer Festival we also did a rare, historic beer called ‘Anything Gose’ - made with coriander and O’Neill’s Wild Atlantic Sea Salt from the Beara Peninsula - this won us a bronze medal. Here at Torc Brewery it isn’t just about our core beers as there’s lots of different things you can do. Also, when you use ingredients from local suppliers, it adds to the uniqueness and quality of the beer.

It’s a growing industry and we’ve doubled our workforce from this time last year, while support from locals has been fantastic.”