Carrig Brewing Company :
Cael & Crede Irish Ale
Carrig means "rock," and according to brewers Sinead O"Connell and Martie Deegan - who also happen to be husband and wife - the word symbolizes the richness of the Irish landscape and the cultural heritage, including the brewing heritage, it entails. So, with this in mind they named their new brewery Carrig. Located in County Leitrim, Ireland, the Carrig Brewery is one of Ireland's newer breweries, having opened in 2011. Producing a number of different varieties, the brewers pride themselves on using only the best locally sources ingredients.
To date, I have only found one of their beers here in my little corner of North America, but I am always on the look out for more.
Carrig Brewing Company's Cael & Crede Ale is aged in oak barrels that were previously used to age Irish Whiskey. Great idea! The resulting taste - malty, mellow, oaky and warm - is very nice, indeed. This is an Irish ale - some say it is a red Irish ale - that deserves to be savored slowly, so that all the flavors can be reflected upon. And, well, it's just a darn good beer.
A Tragic Irish Love Story:
Well, it was way back in the late 12th or early 13th Century that the Acallam na Senorech - The Colloquy of the Old Men - a compendium of Fenian lore (the Fenian Cycle) was believed to have been written down. The word Fenian comes from the old Irish word fiana, meaning a band of warriors, some of which actually did exist in the real world, not just in the realm of Irish folklore. The Fenian Cycle is centered around the life and times of Finn mac Cumaill, his family and his many warrior companions. As one reference notes, Finn was sort of like a King Arthur-type hero, and the question is, like Arthur, did he really exist or was he simply the work of imaginative minds.
The Colloquy of the Old Men, also know as the Colloquy with the Ancients, is a narrative text in which the last two remaining members of Finn's warrior clan, namely Oisin (Finn's son) and Cailtre (son of Crunnchu, son of Ronan), both pagans, happen to meet Saint Patrick. It was Saint Patrick - the Apostle of Ireland - who brought Christianity to Ireland back in the 5th Century. Oisin (also spelled Ossian) soon departs to find his mother (who is one of the Tuatha de Danann - the pagan gods of Ireland), while Cailtre (Caeiltre), accepts Saint Patrick's invitation to convert to Christianity. Cailtre and Saint Patrick soon begin to travel around the Irish countryside, during which Cailtre regales Saint Patrick with stories from the olden times. Thus the Colloquy of the Old Men was written.
One of these tales is the tragic love story of a Fenian warrior named Cael au Nemhnainn, described as one of Finn's valiant - "hundred-slaying" - young followers, and his quest for the lovely Crede (Credhe or Creidhe). And, of course as it usually happens in these tales, this is not going to end well. Crede sets Cael to a number of tasks, which he completes and ultimately wins her hand. Then, at the Battle of Ventry, Cael drowns, and upon finding his body Crede is so taken with grief that she laid down beside him and died. So now you know the classic, albeit tragic, tale of Cael and Crede.