Shamrock Club’s top ten Irish beers for St. Patrick’s Day

The Best of the Irish Brews for the big day

On March 17th, or whenever your local St. Patrick Celebration happened to kick off, the black stuff will undoubtedly be flowing en mass. But that cold and creamy traditional Irish brew aside we strongly feel here at the Shamrock Club that there are other just as worthy thirst-quencing options to check out while proudly donning your green.

1.  Guinness Draught
The grandfather of all Irish brews. One of the most successful beer brands worldwide has a roasted malt taste and touch of chocolate flavor that has been an Irish favorite for centuries. The black ale is brewed in Dublin using black malt. A pint of the rich and creamy brew should take 119.53 seconds to pour and be served precisely at 6°C (43°F).

2. Beamish Stout
This stout has a spicier bite and lighter body than its Guinness competitor. This beer is specially brewed for two weeks using the original Beamish yeast dating back to 1792.  A sweet concoction of chocolate and coffee flavors balances the stout’s common bitter stout taste.

3. Guinness Foreign Extra Stout
This Guinness brand, originally known as West India Porter, has been in the country since 1819. It is brewed with more hops than its Guinness draught to preserve the beer over lengthy sea journeys. The strongest Guinness brew with 7.5% alcohol has a rich chocolatey taste and goes down smoother than Guinness draught.

4. Murphy’s Irish Stout
Lighter and sweeter than other stouts Murphy’s was acquired  by Heineken in1983. It has been described as chocolate milk topped with a double shot of espresso and finished with a one-inch thick head of creamy caramel.

5. O’Haras Irish Stout
O’Hara’s is brewed in Carlow. The town, located in the Barrow Valley Region, has a very proud tradition of home-brewiing craft beers dating back to the 18th century. A mixture of hops and roasted Barley, the beer is sweet with a roasty bite. You can’t go wrong with the tried and true stout recipe of hops, barley, yeast, and water.

6. Harp
This special Irish lager is a part of Diageo and has been brewed by Guinness since 1960 in its Dundalk brewery. It has a distinct clean and refreshing taste.

7. Kinsale Irish Lager
Lander’s Malt house in Kinsale has been serving beer since the 17th century. Today it’s known as the Kinsale Brewery. The water in the brew is from actual wells in southern Ireland. The light hued beer has a bitter taste at first that fades with light floral undertones.

8. Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale
Dating back to the 14th century this ale, brewed by Guinness, is part of Diageo, the world’s largest producer of alcohol. For a long while the Dubliner Pub in Washington, D.C. was the only pub that carried the Irish Cream Ale. The beer tastes like Smithwicks with less hops and a Guinness-like creamy head. It has the aroma and flavor of toasted malt.

​
Nster.com