Menu for @MaybeRory (and anyone else flash-less) 12 April 2013

Starters

All dishes are cooked fresh to order.

Soup of the Day, Arun Bakery Brown Bread €5

Please ask for a beer recommendation.

Vegetarian Scotch Egg: Free-Range Egg, Coolea Gouda Style Cheese, Mustardy Leeks, Dijon Mayo, ‘Mulligaloe’ Relish, Mixed Leaves €6

Recommended Beer: Dungarvan Helvick Gold

“Sir” Jack McCarthy's Black Pudding, Champ Rosti, Cranberry Poached Rhubarb, Pistachio, Scallion & Wild Garlic Pesto €7.50

Recommended Beer: Chimay Blanche

Ploughman’s Platter: Heggarty’s Cheddar Style Cheese, House Made Piccalilli, Pickles, “Mulligaloe” Relish, Sourdough Toast €7.50

Recommended Beer: Bitter and Twisted

Garlic mushrooms, Inishowen Whiskey Butter, Honey Mustard Mayo, Mixed Leaves €6

Recommended Beer: Jagged Edge IPA

Potted Crab, Sourdough Soldiers €7

Recommended Beer: Trouble Or

Mussels, Chilli & Cider Broth, Walnut Sourdough Bread €7.50

Recommended beer: Cuvee De Troll

Scotch egg: Free-Range Egg, Rare-Breed Pork,

Herby Crumbs, Dijon Mayo,’Mulligaloe’Relish €6

Recommended Beer: 8 Degrees Sunburnt Irish Red

Mains

Herb-Crumbed Haddock, ‘Jenga’ Chips, Crème Fraiche Mushy Peas, Tartare Sauce €15.50

Recommended Beer: Rathaus Weizen

Moules Frites: Mussels, Chilli & Cider Broth, Hoegaarden Mayo, Cone of Twice Cooked Chips €15

Recommended Beer: Cuvee De Trolls

Spiced Chickpea & Spinach Stew, Turmeric Natural Yogurt, Mustard Seed Spiced Baby Potatoes

€14.50

Recommended Beer: Galway Hooker

Sage Marinated Free Range Chicken Burger, Spiced Pumpkin Pesto, Coolooney Brie, Rocket, Arun Bakery Bap, Twice Cooked Chips, Dijon Mayo €16

Recommended Beer: La Trappe Blonde

Panfried Red Gurnard, Wild Garlic & Toonsbridge Ricotta Potato Cake, Carrot Puree, Spring Greens, Willick Popcorn, Sauce Gribiche €16.50

Recommended Beer: Schneider Weisse Mein Grunes

9 oz Rib Eye Steak, Connemara Whiskey Butter,  Portobello Mushroom, Baby Spinach, Twice Cooked Chips €23.50

Recommended Beer: O’Hara’s Red Ale

Bangers & Mash, “Sir” Jack McCarthy Black Pudding Sausages, Heaven & Earth Mash, O’Hara’s Stout Onion Gravy, Onion Rings €15.50

Recommended Beer: 5 AM Saint

Hazelnut Crusted Inishowen Whiskey Chicken Kiev, Twice Cooked Chips, Beetroot Coleslaw, Creamed Corn €16.50

Recommended Beer: Westmalle Tripel

This is cooked from scratch, so please allow 25 minutes

Open Veggie Burger: Butternut Squash & Butterbean, Crozier Blue (Ewe’s Milk Blue Cheese Made By “The Grubbs” In Tipperary), Rocket, Pear, Arun Bakery Sesame Bread, Twice Cooked Chips, Dijon Mayo €15

Recommended Beer: DAAS Blonde (Vegan)

Slow Roasted Free Range Pork Belly, Smoked Bacon, Parsley & Onion Mash, Savoy Cabbage, Carrot Puree, Black Pudding Croquette, Lovely Gravy €17.50                                                    

Recommended Beer: Metalman Pale Ale

This is cooked to order, so please allow 25 minutes

Side dishes: Twice Cooked Chips; Onion Rings €3.50 Buttered Greens; Beetroot Coleslaw; Leaf Salad €3

Dessert Menu

Dark Sea Salt Caramel & Chocolate Brownie,

Lovely Plums, Tyrconnell Whiskey Cream, Plum Sauce, Biscotti Crumb €7

 ‘Dark Arts’ Porter Chocolate Mousse,

Mini Gingerbread Man/Elephant €6

Recommended Whisky: Glenmorangie Lesanta

Sherry Sweetness, Some Spice, Chocolatey Dried Fruit, A Perfect Finish To A Meal.

Apple Crumble, Murphy’s Sea Salt Ice-cream €7

Recommended Whiskey: Greenore 8

Single Grain Irish Whiskey. Rich Vanilla, Honeyed Popcorn.

Cheeseboard for One: Wicklow Baun, Coolea Gouda Style, Fivemiletown Goats Cheese, Sourdough Crackerbread, Apple Jam, Irish Honey €8

Recommended Whiskey: Powers 12

Whisk(e)y for Dessert

Black Bull 12, Scotland €5.50

Silky Smooth Mouth-Feel, Suggestions of Citrus & Oak

Powers John’s Lane, 12 Year Old, Ireland €9

Single Pot Still. Rich, Sherried, & A Great After Dinner Dram

Tyrconnell Madeira, Ireland €8.50

Irish Whiskey of the year from Jim Murray. Vanilla and Raspberries on the nose, Soft and Rich on the Palate, Beautiful Lingering Finish.

Diageo – not the Anti-Christ.

We often hear it said by critics, reviewers and the general population that we, and our little brother premises W. J. Kavanagh’s, do not sell Diageo products. Whether said with admiration or incredulity, this statement causes people to believe we are anti-Diageo. We are not. We do not have Diageo’s most ‘Irish’ product on draught in our premises, because we support Irish craft brewing. Our beers are not made by Arthur, but by Dave, Liam, Cam & Scott, Grainne, Owen, Stephen, Paul & Thom, Culainn, Paudie, Tom & Cormac, Aidan, Andy, Bernard. We support the spirit of Irish independent brewers and support products: beers, whisk(e)ys, wines, foods with their own story and unique tradition.  

We do however stock a number of Diageo products. The drinks megalith owns 30 distilleries in Scotland, 28 of which are single malt producers. Under their former guise, United Distillers & Vinters (UDV) Diageo played a huge part in the survival of many of these distilleries and put many of them on the map. These distilleries teem with life, passion and a genuine connection to the liquid that is their lifeblood.

In the early 1980s, there was what is now known a whisky loch. With whisky taking time to mature, it is difficult to predict the volume of whisky to make today to fulfill requirements in ten years’ time. As a result, overloaded with whisky, UDV like others in the industry decided to close some distilleries. One of the most notable closures was of the Port Ellen distillery on the Inner Hebridean Island of Islay. With many of the island’s distilleries struggling to survive a deal was struck with them that would see Port Ellen Distillery turned in to a malting plant providing malted barley for the Islands remaining distilleries, safe guarding many jobs of the 3000 strong population.

Later on that decade UDV launched “The Classic Malts of Scotland”, which opened up a whole world of single malt whisky to the whisky drinker. Dalwhinnie, Talisker , Cragganmore, Oban, Glenkinchie and the smoky golden nectar of Lagavulin became instant classics around the globe. Their inclusion in the Classic Malts opened a whole new market for these distilleries. On the island of Ireland, Diageo acquired Bushmills in 2005 has built several new warehouses, upgraded and installed new pot stills and is producing an alarming amount of spirit. We are proud to stock these brands today. They are each unique whiskies with a proud tradition, and their own story.

Opening and closure of whisky distilleries is part of the whisky life cycle and as nobody can forecast how much whisky will be required in years to come, enjoy it while you can and try some of these wonderful smaller single malts. If it wasn’t for Diageo and the classic malts we may not now be enjoying single malt in the way that we do.

So today whilst many bars are celebrating another Diageo product why not join us for a few drams.

In L. Mulligan Grocer the following Diageo whiskies will be available for €5.00: Mannochmore, Royal Lochnagar, Caol Ila , Knockando  and Bushmills 10 year old.

In WJ Kavanaghs the following Diageo whiskies will also be €5.00: Dalwhinnie, Dailuaine (the first person to pronounce it correctly can have a free dram), Glen Spey, Mortlach and Bushmills 10 year old.

(There are currently 18 Diageo brands in W.J. Kavanagh’s and 24 in L. Mulligan. Grocer.)

Sunday Quiz

The Quiz returns this coming Sunday 29th July. It will be guest-compered by the acid tongued Fiachra Cleere who has promised to mark with iron-fisted zeal. As usual, tables of six, no cover charge, 8.30pm assembly for a 9pm (sharp) start, optional donation to a charity of the winners' choosing. iPhone infractions will be subject to rigorous mocking. 

We are two.

Sometimes, it seems a lifetime ago that myself, Michael and Colin first crossed the weather-worn threshold of L. Mulligan. Grocer. Gazing around at the tattered upholstery, questionable wiring and grime encrusted walls, we steeled ourselves for the mammoth clean-up ahead.

Mulligan's as we found it.

We could not, that first day, lungs filled with dust, and air full of chatter about what we might do, have predicted the monomythic journey we were embarking upon. It has been quite the two years: a joyous flurry of wasabi nuts, craft beer, casked ales, whiskey tastings, table quizzes, Scotch eggs, beer garden construction, beetroot coleslaw, Irish coffees, marriages, grocers' aprons, scrabble tiles and cucumber with everything.

The old bar.

Thank you for sticking with us through it all... the backward migrating curtain, the kitchen expansion, dodgy facial hair, the pubs premature spell of the terrible twos and associated fuse-blowing, roof leaks and general malaise and the short-lived bangers and mash Monday phase. Thanks for believing that a place like us can exist, which celebrates and believes in craft beer, awesome whisk(e)ys and food made with love. We are proud to be part of Stoneybatter, and proud to be continuing a tradition of plying thirst-quenching libations and tasty victuals in Mulligan's.

Celebratory dram

We Mulligers are partial to  bunting, we love cake and are rarely seperated from our jaunty hats, so this Saturday we will be celebrating by wearing our finest bonnets (Aurelien's will predictably be a beret!), Stewart will be hanging polka dotted bunting and Laghlan will be making lovely cake and black pudding sausage rolls using Sir Jack's black pudding. Our staff will be choosing their favourite whisk(e)ys to sell for a fiver, and we will have €4 pints of craft beer all day Saturday. We would love if you would don your favourite headgear, and come raise a dram, a glass of craft beer or a slice of cake and celebrate with us.  


Saturday 30th June 2012 7pm onward 
Cake, Bunting, Black Pudding Sausage Rolls, Fun Hats 

 

Mo'vember

In order to raise funds and awareness for the fight against Prostate Cancer, on 31st October, we shaved our faces clean (a traumatic experience for some who were quite fond of their beardiness). We then waited...and waited, anxiously anticipating the first blooms of moustachioed autumnal stylings, some of us planning walrus tusk-like growth, others a more elegant Dali-esque effort. The first few days took some resilience with November throwing its wintery best at us, and previously bearded faces facing the elements. Hardily we persevered, losing some of the less hirsute Mulligers on the way, and several of us are now the proud owners of moustaches a 1970s porn star would be proud to call their own.

For anyone wishing to donate to the L Mulligan Grocer Mo'vember fund can do it in one (or all!)of three ways:

1. In a most organized fashion we have joined the Movember website and have a proper donate button for your contributing pleasure. The donation can be as large or as little as you desire, and can be done anonymously if that’s what you wish.

2. Secondly, we have provided away for you to drink some tasty wine whilst also passing the hat. In association with Shane Murphy from La Rousse Foods (and Stoneybatter!) we are donating €2 a bottle from each bottle of Mo Monastrell 2009 during November.

Monastrell is the main grape variety of Alicante and Jumilla in Southern Spain, it is also known as Mourvedre in France where it is one of the main components of Chateauneuf du pape and Bandol, so it makes fairly big, hearty wines. This is a big, juicy red with red cherry with fresh clean fruit notes of raspberry and black pepper. It is €6 a glass and €25 a bottle.

3. Finally, rounding out our bushy upperlipped season, is our monthly table quiz at 8.30pm-ish this Sunday where I hope (and fear) I will see many a moustache mouth utter expletives at our ticklingly tricky questions. As is normal at the LMG quiz nights, we offer people the opportunity to donate some cash to a charity. Normally the winning team gets to choose the recipient of everyones' generosity, but on this occasion we must insist that it goes to the Mo’vember cause and the Irish Cancer Society. Further, LMG will match the amount collected on the night and add that to the total donation. Huzzah!

Alternatively, you could just come down, look at our impressive moustaches (an endangered species) and point, just don’t laugh.

Beer tasting and other assorted tales

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.
Khalil Gibran

The thing I enjoy about doing beer tastings is the craic that I have. This sounds positively narcissistic I realise, and it is; but allow me to explain myself a little!

I have always enjoyed reading about beer, drinking beer and especially being engaged by other people’s knowledge of beer. I have found that it is through stories, anecdotes and “did you know?s” that my interest is constantly being piqued. We are not talking about PH levels or mash efficiencies here, more along the lines of the etymology of beer styles, or the theory that beer created civilisation as we know it! Fun facts and mad cap ideas as they may be, they are still laden with kernels of information that frequently fan the embers of a deeper curiosity. I know they have done for me, and it is with continuing joy that I watch as people in the tasting sessions put up their hand up to ask the beery question that they have always wanted to know the answer to. It could be what the difference between lager and ale is, why wheat beers are cloudy, or what is beer made from, all valid questions and make for interesting discussions.

Now, I would never be so pompous as to suggest that I have such a level of knowledge as to be able impart all wisdom to the initiated and uninitiated alike, or to withdraw to a mountain top to be sought out like a Buddhist beer master! Like everything else in life, the more I have learned, the clearer I can see the gaps in my knowledge, and so the thirst intensifies!


My next beer tasting will be on the Saturday the 12th of November where we will taste 8 beers, with a break in the middle for some food, all between 15:00 and 17:00, for €25. If the truth be told, it rarely ends at 17:00 as I talk too much, but we always get through the beer and food, no matter how long it takes. In the sessions I like to focus on locally produced beers, as I feel it is important to highlight the wonderful products that are coming out of our breweries, from Blonde Ales to Wheat beers, through Porters and beyond, so I think I will stick to this path for Saturday week. As we now have two cask engines, it would remiss of me to not allow everyone to at least try the cask conditioned beer that has been, until recently, the guarded bastion of British pub culture. Apart from that, I guess you will just have to wait and see.


Cheers!

Beer and Cheese

This weekend we shall be matching beers and cheese in association with Bord Bia's Farmhouse Cheese and Irish Craft Beer weekend. Friday and Saturday we are recommending beers to match especially with our house cheese board, Sunday and Monday we will be matching three cheeses with three draft beers, available over the counter in the bar and on Monday we shall host a craft beer and cheese tutored tasting starting at 8.30pm. To sign up, please email 'hello@lmulligangrocer.com'. Places are limited.