St. Patrick's Day (beer) rituals?

I usually work during such holidays (I am bar/hotel manager so I often am helping run our events). This year it falls on a Monday (boo! hiss!) so I'm not sure if we're having an event. As such I plan on getting Guinness and Murphy's, and then drinking said beers throughout the day while blasting The Pogues and The Tossers and just generally being Irish with my wife.

She will bring the Jameson. Once we're good and drunk we will attempt to make bangers and mash the best we can.

 

Smash up all the old shitty Guinness and fake green beer rituals and seek out and embrace the new Irish brewers who are desperately trying produce beer that isn't an embarrassment. Now that would be Irish beer advocacy.

 

Agreed, but Guinness is alright.

 

I just wish there were more Irish dry stout options out there. Elysian brews up a great one but its only at their brewery (or maybe limited distro that I have missed) and that is in downtown Seattle. That is a long cab/bus!

 

Its only 4.3% for starters.
Contrary to most beliefs as it being a "thick", "heavy", "monster" - it's actually an extremely Light beer. Thats less ABV than some actual Light beers (the avg Light beer % is 4.5)
I was just bein' a bit Tongue in Cheek..more for the Folks who say "I cant do Dark, thick beers like Guinness".
Eh, I used to drink quite a bit of it back in the day here & there. Not really saying, anything's WRONG with it. Just sayin, there's a bit of Fallacy & misdirection that follows it, in a way. AND There's extremely better things out there.
- Cheers
ps - sorry, I (AM) a beer snob..very Proudly.

 

Fair enough, you're right about the abv. I wish it was higher, and of course it's nothing special but I think Guinness is solid. Maybe it tastes better here when it has travelled across the atlantic, or maybe I'm just used to drinking it.

 

No, its all good..i agree with you. I dont mind one Still, but its more a Rarity nowadays it Does have a bit of its own Unique qualities.

 

I make myself "Green Goblin"s. Half lager, half cider and a splash of blue curacao. Last year I used Sammy Smiths Lager/Cider. I know it's not Irish but whatever I like it. Might just try out O'Hara's dry stout instead this year.

 

Lots of good craft beers are 4.5% or less.

 

It depends on which of the many stouts marketed under the Guinness label one is discussing. That "belief" long predates the late 1950-early 60s era's creation of the lower alcohol Guinness Draught (can, bottle, keg) - a beer that didn't become well distributed in the US until the 1980s. Before that, post-Repeal in the US, "Guinness" was Foreign Extra Stout and, after the 1960s, Extra Stout.

How do you figure? Of the the six Top 10 US beers labeled "light" - which account for over 40% of all beer sold - most of them (Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite and Natural Light) are listed at 4.2% abv by their brewers, with the two economy brands, Keystone Light and Busch Light, at 4.1% abv.

 

Just nuked about half the thread due to the DOLTS ;-) that forgot this is a beer site, half the comments were useless to begin with ... keep on track or I'll toss the rest out the door. Thanks!!

 

So by my posting of gathering with family, drinking and eating, that makes me a DOLT for posting that?

 

Nope ... your's was collateral damage as I ended up taking down a whole page of crass or non-beer related comments.

 

Sure wouldn't be the first time that has happened.

Slainte

 

I tend to buy "craft" even on this day, if someone hands me a Guinness I certainly would not say no though. I also do a killer beer brine for the corned beef.

Irish Car Bombs? No thanks ... just give me a Paddy's or Powers with a beer chaser.

 

Any truth behind if Guinness uses their "essence" for the US market? Are they really shipping back empty kegs to Ireland?

 

Great stuff but not as easy to find though they obviously do a bit of a push this time of the year in the US.

 

3/4 Guiness and 1/4 Crispin

 

Can you elaborate on that please? Arthur Guinness isn't Irish, and it wasn't started in Ireland by an Irish Brewery?

 

The guinness foreign extra is 7.5 percent I am pretty sure.