West Mayo Brewery of Islandeady are about to officially launch their latest beer Franconian, which has recently gone on sale locally. Caroline and Iain Price were inspired to make Franconian, a smoked beer, after visiting Höchstadt an der Aisch, a town in Northern Bavaria that is twinned with Castlebar and a place where they encountered many versions of smoked beer. They came home and developed a recipe using beech-smoked malt sourced from Franconia in Bavaria and put their own distinctive mark on their Irish version of this very special smoked beer.
The launch is to take place at 8pm on Wednesday next November 2 in Bar One on Rush Street in Castlebar. To mark the occasion, De Búrca Traditional Butcher Shop on Main Street Castlebar has developed a bratwurst-style sausage made using the warm smokiness of Franconian beer. De Búrca’s produce international award-winning handmade sausages and this is their first attempt at a smoked version. It’s called the Franconian Frank and both the beer and the sausage can be tasted for free on the night.
