Clonakilty Food & Drink Travel Guide – From Brewery Town to Foodie Town

Clonakilty is a town that is well rehearsed in the traditional Irish Céad Míle Fáilte. If the town had a middle name it would be ‘Welcome’. Blessed by both its position to the Atlantic Coast and award winning Inchydoney Beach, the rolling verdant hills peppered with happy cows, Clonakilty is a place that’s more than comfortable in its own skin.

I was delighted to be asked to work with Allison Roberts, founder of Clonakilty Chocolate, on a new product launch and rebranding project. In February, Allison launched her Cocoa Husk Tea under the new brand Exploding Tree. I absolutely love everything that Allison is about - her enthusiasm and energy is to be seen to be believed.

The beautiful and welcoming seaside town of Clonakilty has a reputation for firsts.  The first Fair Trade town in Ireland; Ireland’s first EDEN destination of excellence; the first Cittaslow town in Ireland for celebrating the multiple benefits of slow living and slow food and recently voted the Greatest Town in Europe at the AOU Awards in London.

Clonakilty Food & Drink Travel Guide – From Brewery Town to Foodie Town

Clonakilty is a town that is well rehearsed in the traditional Irish Céad Míle Fáilte. If the town had a middle name it would be ‘Welcome’. Blessed by both its position to the Atlantic Coast and award winning Inchydoney Beach, the rolling verdant hills peppered with happy cows, Clonakilty is a place that’s more than comfortable in its own skin.

This article was first published on TheTaste.ie in July 2016. Information has been updated April 2018.

Whilst often times Kinsale is hailed as the gourmet destination of West Cork, Clonakilty is its more understated cousin that is quietly growing its reputation as a world-class gourmet destination.

Clonakilty’s proud food history dates back to the 1600’s and the market that remains still so vital to the community today. For nearly 200 years, the town was home to the Deasy & Co brewhouse, famous for its Clonakilty Wrastler porter, giving rise to “The Brewery Town” moniker. The old Mill, long since silenced, would have been vital to the brewing industry as well other essential produce; and the fertile soil lent itself to great agriculture, both animal and vegetable.
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Launch of Cocoa Husk Tea by Exploding Tree

I was delighted to be asked to work with Allison Roberts, founder of Clonakilty Chocolate, on a new product launch and rebranding project. In February, Allison launched her Cocoa Husk Tea under the new brand Exploding Tree. I absolutely love everything that Allison is about – her enthusiasm and energy is to be seen to be believed.

Her rebranding from Clonakilty Chocolate to Exploding Tree took a little selling to me – only because I loved the original brand, but when Allison shared her vision for where she wanted to take her business it all fell into place and made total sense. Read all about the journey of her new product and then head to her website and purchase some – seeing as Storm Emma is preventing us from heading out at all at the moment! The tea is brilliant – I love it!

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Clonakilty – Ireland’s Premier Foodie Town

The beautiful and welcoming seaside town of Clonakilty has a reputation for firsts.  The first Fair Trade town in Ireland; Ireland’s first EDEN destination of excellence; the first Cittaslow town in Ireland for celebrating the multiple benefits of slow living and slow food and recently voted the Greatest Town in Europe at the AOU Awards in London.

Now, the multi-award winning town on the south west coast of Irelands’ Wild Atlantic Way is holding claim to being the hidden gem in Ireland’s foodie crown; and a collaborative project of the towns’ best food and creative people have produced an inspiring short film about its top class foodie credentials to prove it.

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Going Bean-ananas in Under a Year

In May 2014, Clonakilty Chocolate launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise funds to be able to make Chocolate Maker Allison Roberts’ dream of creating her own bean-to-bar chocolate factory in Clonakilty a reality. The target was to raise €15,000 and between 25th May and 11th July 2014 the good people of Clonakilty and beyond did not fail in supporting this great campaign, raising in total €15,025!

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