Raising a glass to new tastes
FAYE HEALY OF DUNDALK BAY BREWING COMPANY TELLS REPORTER MARGARET RODDY OF THE COMPANY’S EXCITING PLANS TO PUT DUNDALK FIRMLY ON THE DRINKS MAP
BREWING, one of Dundalk’s traditional industries, has returned to the town thanks to the family- run Dundalk Bay Brewing Company. There’s a familiar aroma of hops and barley in the air outside the brewery premises at the Finnabair Industrial Estate. The fully automated brewery has been in production for just over a year now and is making a name for itself in the competitive beer market, picking up a number of international awards.
‘We produce a family of three beers under the Brewmaster Beer label,’ explains Faye Healy, co-founder alongside father
Tony Healy.
‘Our core range of products comprises of three heavy hitters in the market. We developed Brewmaster IPA, lager and red ale and have put a lot of work and effort into creating the recipes to ensure that we have a very sessionable or drinkable product,’ she says. ‘We also have a seasonal range of limited edition beers and right now we are producing three which are available at the end of this month - a unique and truly flavoursome cask aged Weiss
Beer that has been aging all of last year in Kentucky bourbon/ whiskey barrels, a Belgium Trappist/American pale ale which is a mash between the two types of beers, and also a Brewmaster Romanov Imperial
Russian Stout.’
Brewmaster beers are now available in 52 pubs, mostly in
Louth, supermarkets and off licences and the company is hoping to establish a foothold in the national market, especially in Dublin and is also focusing on exporting.
‘We decided to call our own brand Brewmaster to celebrate the craft of the brewer and the great minds in brewing,’ says Faye. ‘We believe in every brewer out there and we acknowledge them and pay homage to their dedication to the trade on a world wide level by celebrating different styles of beers from all over the world with our own unique twist and with quality in the forefront of all our beers.’
The state of the art brewery is ‘one of its kind’ in Ireland, she explains. ‘It’s fully automated and can be controlled from an iPhone.’
While the technology behind the 50-hectolitre brewery might be cutting edge, the emphasis is on the ideology of getting the right recipe and local natural ingredients for the perfect pint.
‘We have heavily invested in our laboratory and that’s where the quality control is carried out. This is very important to us as we are producing premium beers.’
Brewmaster beer is filtered - so there is no sediment in any of their beers. This means that it has a very clean palate with a rich, robust taste.
‘We also use a reverse osmosis system which means that we filter the water to remove the minerals and then add the minerals we need for the brewing process. It’s a very accurate way of brewing.’
These rigorous standards have resulted in the Dundalk brewery winning a number of prestigious awards over the past year.
Last March, they won Bronze in the Dublin Cup for Brewmaster IPA and Brewmaster Lager, just three months after launching it on the market. Shortly afterwards they won Silver in the international award at the Common Wealth Cup in Kentucky USA for the Brewmaster IPA. And they were the only Irish competitor to win when they took the Gold Medal Honour Award in the CICA 2018 Concurso Internacional de Cervezas Artesana in Spain for best Light Lager for Brewmaster Lager.
‘Next month we are going to the Altech Craft Beer and Food Fair in the Convention Centre in Dublin,’ says Faye.
‘Looking to the future, as well as expanding into the Irish market, we are hoping to export.’
The company is Bord Bia Origin Green certified, getting approval is the space of four months, for their commitment to building a sustainable future in brewing and creating better packaging alternatives.
Alongside their own Brewmaster beers, Dundalk Bay Brewing Company has won a number of contracts for other companies.
This is a vote of confidence in their production process, as it means ‘other companies trust us to brew their beers,’ says Faye.
However, she says that their main focus is on growing their own brand and they are currently working on an exciting new product which will be revealed at the end of the year.
Matching the growing popularity of premium and craft beers, is the trending gin sector and Faye reveals that the company are working on producing their own gin within the next twelve months.
‘We have manufactured our gin still and are working on recipes,’ she says. ‘ We have already sourced our botanicals, getting orange peel from Egypt, and juniper and coriander from the middle east.’
‘While gin has become massive in recent years, there’s still a lot of growth in the market and we believe that there’s room for a new-comer in the market, especially in the premium side of things.’
This will put them in the unique position of having a dual unit, producing beer and spirits under the one roof.
‘In a couple of years time, we hope to produce whiskey as well.’
As the first brewery to open in Dundalk since the closure of the Diageo-owned Harp brewery in 2013, she says they are delighted to have restarted the traditional brewing industry.
And by adding spirits to the mix, she says: ‘It’s good to generate a bit of noise about Dundalk.’ ‘It’s a good place to do business.
‘We are growing our numbers and bringing employment to the area.’
The company is well placed to expand and if they ever need more equipment, they can order it from the Healy family’s other company, Spectac International, which manufactured everything used in the brewery.
They turn-key brewery was completed within six months and is a shining example of the synergy between the two companies which are keeping Dundalk’s great traditional industries of brewing and engineering very much alive.
IN A COUPLE OF YEARS TIME, WE HOPE TO PRODUCE WHISKEY AS WELL