Shamrocker Potato Stout
Granville Island Brewery

Shamrocker Potato StoutShamrocker Potato Stout
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Granville Island Brewery
 
British Columbia, Canada
Style:
Irish Dry Stout
ABV:
4.8%
Score:
85
Avg:
3.63 | pDev: 9.09%
Reviews:
3
Ratings:
10
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 20, 2016
Added:
Mar 16, 2014
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by KalanM:
Photo of KalanM
Rated by KalanM from Canada (BC)

3.75/5  rDev +3.3%

Sep 11, 2014
More User Ratings:
Photo of biegaman
Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)

4.06/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Shamrocker pours with a rock for a head! Its brownish, almost meringue-like foam occupies more than a third of the glass even off of a slow, cautious pour. While it'd be tempting to claim a sliver of green, the truth is there's absolutely no colour to be found anywhere in this opaque black liquid. It looks heavy for something with only 4.8% alcohol content.

Same goes for the aroma - there's an awful lot of roasty, fudge-y, dark chocolaty character crammed in there. It's not over-the-top decadent by any means and the coffee notes, though certainly perceptible, aren't especially rich or overwhelming. But there's plenty to like and the style purists out there should be pleased - it's moderate and composed.

Of course, regardless of how well it complies to the guidelines for an Irish Stout, they call Shamrocker a "Potato Stout" (the first such example I've ever tried or heard of). Granville Island is suspiciously vague about the capacity in which potatoes actually factor into the recipe. In fact, potatoes aren't even listed anywhere on the label or in the brewery's write-up...

But we'll just take their word on it. We have no choice - potatoes don't lend any flavour anyhow (and certainly not enough to compete with those of the roasted barley). The palate is concentrated on those fudge-y dark chocolate and espresso flavours. It's a very dry taste with a restrained, medium length ashiness and a little vanilla on the finish. Hard to complain.

Shamrocker really does rock. It packs a ton of flavour into a relatively light frame; it's gratifying yet endlessly drinkable. Craft drinkers and those with higher standards won't find a much better option for extended St. Patrick's Day drinking. Credit where it's due: this British Columbian stout pairs very favourably to classic Irish names like Beamish, Murphy's and O'Hara's.
Nov 20, 2016
 
Rated: 3.99 by imfinished from Canada (BC)

Jan 29, 2016
 
Rated: 3.5 by scameron from Canada (BC)

Apr 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by Howlader from Canada (AB)

Jul 20, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by Aggro from Canada (BC)

Apr 23, 2014
Photo of LampertLand
Reviewed by LampertLand from Canada (BC)

3.77/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Granville Is. -Black Note Book Series- 'Shamrocker Potato Stout' @ 4.8% , served from a 650 ml bottle purchased for $6

A-pour is a dark cola brown from the bottle to almost black in the glass with some ruby red peeking thru a small tan head leaving a spotty lace along the pint

S-roasted barley & malts , hints of coffee

T-sweet and somewhat smooth , potatoes ?

MF-ok carbonation , weak medium body

Ov-ok beer , not the best dry Irish stout ,

prost LampertLand
Apr 20, 2014
Photo of biboergosum
Reviewed by biboergosum from Canada (AB)

3.46/5  rDev -4.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
400ml pint glass at the Craft Beer Market in YEGDT.

This beer appears a solid, light-sucking black, but for the slightest of basal cherry cola 'highlights', with one skinny finger of wispy, loosely foamy, and generally bubbly beige head, which leaves a bit of peninsular lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

It smells of gritty roasted bready malt, a tint of char, ethereal bittersweet cocoa, raw potatoes (I'm not freaking kidding), a certain stony flintiness, and weak earthy, weedy hops. The taste is chalky cocoa powder, toasted bready caramel malt, an earthy, shall we say, tuber sort of thing, wet dirt, and weak earthy, dead leafy hops.

The carbonation is pretty understated, just a pithy frothiness for the most part, the body medium-light in weight for the purported style, and actually rather smooth, with a sedate built-in creaminess. It finishes mostly dry, the cocoa, roast, and generic vegetal character predominating.

I'll give GIB/Molson full credit for working the titular foodstuff into the eventual flavour profile. A decent enough dry Irish Stout otherwise, the potato just adds that extra bit of weirdness that this brewery seems incapable of providing of late. Were that I could have downed a few pints of this back on St. Paddies Day, just not at this particular joint, God save my soul (sic).
Apr 12, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by mdavidson from Washington

Apr 07, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by KStark from Canada (BC)

Mar 16, 2014
Shamrocker Potato Stout from Granville Island Brewery
Beer rating: 85 out of 100 with 10 ratings