What goes around comes around

In late 2012, about a month before the announcement that the brewery had been sold to Molson Coors, Franciscan Well released an extra stout aged in Jameson barrels. It was packaged in a one litre fliptop bottle, cost €12 and, according to my review, tasted great: lots of treacle, a solid dosing of hops, and a subtle hint of Irish whiskey. Time has not been kind to it, and the remaining bottle I opened recently had a definite air of faded grandeur about it.

Time hasn't been kind to Franciscan Well, either. Molson Coors, to the surprise of nobody in particular, tanked this fondly considered Cork brand, releasing a string of poor mass-market beers and a disastrous macro lager that was everywhere, doubtless at great expense, for a brief while, then seemingly retired to be replaced by stablemate Madrí. Then last year it looked like there was a bit of good news from the whole affair. The brewery at the Franciscan Well pub had stayed in the ownership of founder Shane Long, who together with former Franciscan Well brewer Páidí Scully, had embarked on a new independent brewing enterprise. Since, by Shane's count, Franciscan Well had been Ireland's 7th independent brewery when founded in 1998, the new operation is called Original 7. Until now, all the beers had been draught only and confined to Cork, so I had never tried any. And then, with bemusement, I was gifted their first bottled beer a couple of weeks ago, by their PR firm. It's an Extra Stout Aged in Jameson Casks in a one litre fliptop.

You can perhaps tell that it's their first bottled beer as it's not legally compliant, missing the ABV on the packaging. One press release told me it's 5.4% ABV, and another that its "close to 8% ABV". The Original 7 webshop has it at 9.3% ABV. It's probably one or other of those. Replete with a handsome cardboard tube, the RRP is €29. It's not 2012 any more.

Once poured, it gets full marks for the visuals. It's properly black and the head forms slowly and surely, resulting in a beige pillow of foam with an attractive dome transcending the glass rim. There's not much of an aroma, just like with the 2012 edition, but the flavour is beautiful. A subtle dark chocolate bitterness leads into a tangy herbal pinch of fresh hops. While that's going on, a sweet honeycomb element gradually unfolds on the palate as the whiskey arrives, all flavour but none of the heat. It's fantastically smooth, and very easy drinking for 5.4% / 8% / 9.3% ABV.

And maybe that's the downside. In this day and age, big stouts are really big. This does a great job of recreating the 2012 one, which was revolutionary for a country which didn't even have any double IPA yet. Since then, the nordics in particular have shown us worlds of strong stout flavour, and eye-watering prices, with which this doesn't compare favourably. I'm not a fan of Jameson whiskey, but a bottle of it for around the same price is still a better value proposition.

I can't argue with the liquid, however. It's undeniably a very good stout. And now I can safely add the proviso that if you have a bottle, drink it fresh. It won't improve over the next eleven years. None of us will.