Romantic tale at the heart of Blacks Brewing & Distilling
Maudeline and Sam Black in the visitor shop at Blacks Brewery & Distillery, Kinsale Co Cork. Pic Larry Cummins
As Valentine’s Day gifts go, a home brewing kit doesn’t have the ring of romance about it, but it was the catalyst for an enterprise that is thriving in Kinsale.
Maudeline Black bought her husband Sam the kit, which gave him great pleasure — so much so that in 2013, he and his wife started a brewery, followed by a distillery, in the yachting town. Sam, an engineer, was always interested in brewing and found a willing partner in Maudeline, a nurse, for the business, Blacks Brewing & Distilling.
After eight years of rapid growth and numerous awards they had outgrown there previous Kinsale premises … the couple took the plunge and purchased a derelict factory and site which was zoned for industrial use, after securing planning for a Brewery & Distillery, Tourist centre and Bar the build commenced in June 2022, and in the summer of 2023 the equipment for the Brewery & Distillery was being moved into the new building in the beautiful water side location in Kinsale, where the the river Bandon meets the sea.
After a six-month commissioning process production began on site, brewing beer and distillation of Whiskey, Gin and Rum. The investment and development of the site is close to 8 million by the time of completion, this reinforces Blacks commitment to the town of Kinsale. The site has it own history, firstly being a boat yard, followed by a TVR sports car factory, and a T-shirt factory prior to Blacks redevelopment of the site.
“The picturesque location of the site is very special, overlooking the water a 20minute walk past the Trident hotel in Kinsale.” Visitors are welcome to take a tour & tasting, these currently run Wednesday to Sunday, four tours a day, you can chose from, whiskey, gin, rum and beer tasting, depending on your tipple.”
Blacks Brewing & Distilling is Ireland’s first co-located Brewery & Distillery and is the only such business in Kinsale: “This crossover between brewery and distillery is unique and gives us the option to age our beers in spirit barrels and vice versa to improve the depth of flavour.”
The Blacks’ first bottle of gin hit the shelves in 2015. The company made history in 2018 with the production of Blacks Spiced Rum, Ireland’s first-ever rum, continuing their success on 2020 with a World Rum award Gold medal. Recently, they launched four new distinctly flavoured gins: rhubarb and ginger, strawberry and hibiscus, apple and kiwi, and citrus smash.
They supply pubs, restaurants and office licenses with a full range of beers and spirits nation wide through their distribution partner Classic Drinks.
Looking back, Sam says he enjoyed his hobby so much that he wanted to develop it “and share the fantastic drinks I was making with the world.” The couple’s mission was to produce beers “with passion, personality, and lots of hops.”
They have a strong core range, including KPA(Kinsale Pale Ale) and Sovereign Island Lager but are constantly creating new recipes and quirky flavour combinations, releasing anywhere from six to ten experimental beers a year, according to the company’s website.
“A large part of our market is exporting to other countries, but it’s important that we keep an eye on our carbon footprint,” says Maudeline.
“We use different malts in the production of whiskey and beer using locally sourced ingredients such as locally grown barley from Kinsale, and botanicals for our gins. Our spent grain from production goes to a local farmer for feeding cattle, and this week we are installing over a 100 solar panels to achieve our sustainability goals and reduce our dreaded electricity bill, solar powered beer, whiskey, gin and rum coming soon from Kinsale!”
“Our beers contain a variety of exotic hops,” explains Sam. “It allows us to create beers with interesting flavours such as pineapple, passionfruit and citrus for example. And there are hundreds of hops to choose from. So what we do is a lot more than your standard lager. The hops come from New Zealand, Australia, and America.”
This trend for bold flavour innovation has also been brought into the Rum with a spiced apple, Pineapple and Coconut and honeycomb varieties.
Since 2019 they have dived head first into Irish Whiskey installing copper pot stills to create Single malt and pot still style whiskeys. And produce some exciting products such as Maple Mayhem which is matured in barrels that once held maple syrup, and Citrus Galaxy matured in barrels which were used for storing their own IPA beers.
What started as a hobby now employs twenty people. Always with an eye on further developments, Sam and Maudeline decided to open their doors to tourism and the scenic waterside site now features a full licenced bar, with live DJ’s and music at the weekends, and regular daily tours of the production facility with tasting sessions. The distillery and brewery is on the Wild Atlantic Way, making it a mecca for tourists, heaven for imbibers, and a great conversation piece.
“We are delighted to be open to the public this year and share our history and vision for the future with tourist and locals alike” says Sam. “There is quite a lot of tourism here in the summer. So we have a good base for sales. We also open the brewery and distillery for tours and give a history of the business.”
And what an interesting history it is....
Tours can be booked on tours@blacksbrewingdistilling.com or via the booking site on the website
