Few would argue that local foods taste best when enjoyed with local drinks and Ireland is no exception. Pairing our native food and drinks is an integral means to further develop our Irish culinary culture and is also a great way to bring people together. These are the key tenets behind the Beár Bia podcast. Its creators, Dee Laffan and Oisín Davis are on a mission to highlight all the amazing food & drink producers in Ireland and to celebrate them in unison with each other.
It can be accessed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
How does it work?
Each episode will have a different focus – whether it be pairings from a particular county, from an event, a bar or restaurant, a specific ingredient or cooking method, or themed around a food or drink brand.
We invite Irish food & drink producers for a round-the-table, fun-filled tasting, and discussion. Brewers chatting with cheesemakers, distillers hanging out with chefs, etc – all of it recorded, filmed & photographed for the podcast.
Our first episode focuses on the garden county as we paired two different Wicklow drinks with two different Wicklow foods. We picked up some amazing Ridgeway wagyu beef, which was cooked and served by Barry Walllace of Dash Burger, and paired it with Wicklow Wolf Brewery’s Solstice Tropical Sour. The other pairing featured Ballyhubbock Farm‘s sheep’s milk halloumi cheese alongside a cocktail made with raspberry wine from Wicklow Way Wines and Powerscourt Distillery‘s Fercullen Falls whiskey.
The first season of Beár Bia will feature 12 episodes and will be broadcast fortnightly.
About the hosts….
Dee Laffan is a food journalist and editor with over 15 years of experience. Currently, she is writing for TheTaste.ie, Irish Country Living in the Farmers Journal, and Irish Country Magazine. Dee is also the co-founder and editor of Scoop: Irish Food Stories, an annual Irish food magazine, which is published by Nine Bean Rows Books.
Dee is a broadcaster and was co-host of the Spice Bags Podcast from 2020-2023 when it finished. The podcast won Best Food Podcast twice in the Irish Food Writing Awards in 2021 and 2023.
Dee describes herself as a professional eater, and when she’s not doing that you’ll find her on stage at festivals and events across the country, talking about food. She’s a proud Irish Food Writers’ Guild member and a Blas na hÉireann judge (Irish Food Awards). Her favourite tipple is Champagne and rhubarb is her all-time favourite ingredient. Follow her @deelaffan on Instagram and TikTok.
Oisín Davis is an award winning cocktail creator, spirits columnist and best selling author of his debut book, “Irish Kitchen Cocktails.” Through his company Great Irish Beverages, he has run nationwide drinks festivals, worked all around the world educating and marketing for Irish whiskey and manages publicity for some of Ireland’s most prestigious spirit brands.
He has a monthly award winning spirits column in Food & Wine Magazine, is a regular speaker at international bar and spirits shows and previously wrote a food column in The Irish Times for five years.
With thanks to…The Beár Bia podcast has been made possible with very kind support from Bord Bia.
We are extremely grateful to all the participants of our first episode – many thanks to:
Barry Wallace of Dash Burger
Celina Stephenson of Wicklow Way Wines
John Allen of Wicklow Wolf
Santina Kennedy of Powerscourt Distillery and Wicklow Naturally
For more info please email oisin@greatirishbeverages.com or deelaffan@gmail.com
