Boozin’ Blog

With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner my mind has been turning to the good black stuff. Guinness is a unique beer brand in that it is so connected to both a country and a holiday. No other beer brand comes close in either respect.

Sure, there are a few brands like Corona and Fosters whose marketers have tried to make something of their countries of origin. But even a tagline that we all know like “Australian for beer” can’t approach the relationship between Guinness and Ireland.

As well known and loved as is Guinness I’m surprised at how few of its fans realize that there is more than one sort of Guinness. It’s true. In The Brewmaster’s Table Garret Olive says that there are 19 versions of Guinness. It is brewed in 40 countries and sold in 135!

For most of us there are two main versions of Guinness available. Guinness Draught, the version on tap and responsible for the famous 180 second pour, is probably the first that pops into most beer drinkers head. It is the Guinness with the thick creamy head and served at bars and pubs worldwide. Its flavor is pleasantly dry and coffee like. It feels soft and creamy on the tongue. This is the same recipe as the Guinness Draught-style Stout sold in bottles and cans.

But there’s another bottle, isn’t there. Those shorter Guinness bottles are Foreign Extra Stout. Extra is a completely different recipe and different style of stout. It has a much more assertive flavor, tends to be more carbonated and is higher in alcohol. I’ve never seen Extra on draught; only in those stubby brown bottles.

I enjoy both versions of Guinness. Draught style tends to pair better with food since it’s softer flavor profile doesn’t overwhelm some dishes like Extra does. Draught is also a better session beer since it’s lower in alcohol. But Extra can be very nice, too. Sometimes one wants a stout to slap their taste buds around a bit and Extra is just the beer to do it!

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Yep, it’s March which means stout, Irish whiskey, corned beef and cabbage and lots and lots and lots of green. Whether you like your green on a tee shirt, a pair of flip-flops or beer there will be plenty of it as we get closer to St. Patrick’s Day.

As far as I’m concerned, though, you can keep your green beer. The part of whole thing that I look forward to is that it provides a better excuse for me to participate in two of my favorite pastimes - drinking stout and drinking Irish whiskey. That’s not to say that I don’t find plenty of chances to do both through the rest of the year it’s just that in March I feel like I’m part of something when I do.

For my stout this year I started with a six pack of Schlafly’s Irish Stout last week. I’m down to two bottles and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I tend to prefer dry stouts (Irish) over sweet stouts and this one delivers. It has a huge body and, at 8%, a fairly hefty serving of alcohol. It also has lots of bittering hops so it bites back a little, just how I like it.

I plan to drop by my local brewpub soon and see what kind of stout they’ve whipped up.

As for my whiskey? I’m not quite the snob in that area as I am beer. Bushmills Original does quite nicely for me.

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Have a safe and happy time tonight, everyone!

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What’s the right beer for St. Patrick’s Day? Probably 90% of you said stout and a further 90% of that probably thought of a lovely pint of Guinness. But stout is brewed by almost every brewery in the world and there are many different styles of stout. And what better time to take a look at them than St. Patrick’s Day?

Dry Stout – This is the stout that most people probably think of when they think of stout. It is what you get when you buy a pint of Guinness on draught. Also known as Irish stout it’s no surprise that this particular stout flows the most freely here in the middle of March. It’s called dry because there is little detectable sweetness in the flavor. Although it is there it is covered up by the coffee-like bitterness of black roasted barley.

Sweet Stout – Also called Milk Stout it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this style tastes sweeter than dry. In most cases the sweetness comes from lactose, the sugar found in milk, because it isn’t fermentable by brewers yeast. With the bitterness toned down a bit this style is often enjoyed by those that find Guinness “a bit too much.”

Oatmeal Stout – This stout is brewed with oatmeal which gives it a sweeter taste, though oatmeal stouts are not typically as sweet as milk stouts. The oatmeal also gives the beer a full, silky mouthfeel.

Export Stout – Originally this stout was brewed with extra hops and extra barley making it higher in alcohol and bitterer than other stouts. Like India Pale Ale it was brewed this way for export as the extra alcohol and hops acted as preservative agents and protected it from spoilage. Naturally more stuff also meant more flavor and the style caught on. These days Export Stout retains the flavor but not the higher alcohol.

Russian Imperial Stout – This is the stout for big beer lovers. Historically this style always packed a punch with more flavor and alcohol even than export. Today’s brewers – especially American craft brewers – use the style as they compete to see who can cram the most flavor and alcohol into one brew. Imperial definitely is not for the faint hearted but if you want a serious stout experience this St. Patrick’s Day then this is the brew for you.

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As you dust off your green plastic bowler hat, shamrock suspenders and leprechaun lapel pin with the flashing eyes take a moment to ask yourself if St. Patrick’s Day should be an official holiday. Guinness says that it should be, at least in the US.

The petition for Proposition 3-17 points out that more people of Irish descent live in the US than the entire island of Ireland. It says that more and more people celebrate the day every year and makes the argument that creating a national holiday would cut down on the number of revelers that call in “sick” so that they might celebrate the day. (Of course the next step in that logic is that the following day should also be a national holiday to cut down on the number of revelers that call in legitimately sick.)

OK, I know that this is a marketing gimmick but name a holiday that isn’t somehow tied to commerce. Don’t even get me started on Easter and those fat-cats at Cadbury! Besides, St. Patrick seems as legitimate of a reason to celebrate as many other holidays that we fall all over ourselves to commemorate. I signed the petition; you should, too.

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Let me start this little green beer instructional with one comment. DON’T! What the hell’s wrong with you? Making beer green. Not only is this just a silly idea but it is also stupid!

That being said, let’s make some green beer!

Ingredients:
Beer – any kind will do but it’s more effective with lighter colored beers
Green food coloring
Clear glass – you want to see your green beer, right?

Instructions:
Add one drop of green food coloring to your glass. Pour the beer into the glass.

That’s it. You just made green beer. Now hold the beer up to the light, admire the color and ask yourself why the hell you just did this.

More thoughts about the moldy color of this holiday check out What’s With All the Damn Green?

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Of course the place to be for St. Patrick’s Day is Dublin. With the 17th falling on a Monday this year, the whole weekend will be a grand festival featuring events all over the city for the whole family. If you are planning to go or have gone in the past we’d love to hear about it. Comment below.

As for the rest of us, it won’t be hard to find plenty of sources of stout, green and proud Irishness. If you’d like a little assist in tracking down the St. Patrick’s Day event or parade nearest to you check out St-Patricks-Day.com for a world wide list.

Got nothing to wear when you find that perfect event? Well, by the strangest of coincidences we happen to sell all of the Boozin’ Gear – and plenty of it green – that you could possible want. Buy something or you suck and no one will want to talk to you at the St. Patty’s day party!

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When I was growing up St. Patrick’s Day was never a very big deal for me. Being neither Catholic nor overwhelmingly Irish the day carried no traditional meaning for my family. (I’m a statistically typical American mix of German-Irish-English.) I do remember the seemingly random spring day would come along on which I had to wear green else risk a pinching at school. It wasn’t until early adulthood that the now all important drinking aspect of the day crept into my consciousness and it dawned on me that perhaps this day demanded a bit more of my attention.

I’ll get to the green in a bit but let’s talk about that drinking. While I’m a “days that end in ‘Y’” type of drinker it’s impossible to ignore the cultural requirement to drink on this day. I’d always thought that this was all about mixing the idea of embracing one’s inner Irishness – even if one possesses no Irishness whatsoever – and the stereotype of the drunken Irishman. Beyond that I hadn’t really given this aspect of the day too much consideration although it now certainly receives my honor and strict observance. But according to Bridget Nancy Margaret O’Flaherty of Irish Culture and Customs, who is the source for most of the facts presented in this post, this day was one of pleasurable indulgence long before any American salivated over a pint of green-dyed beer. For the devote Catholic Irish, the day was not only one on which they celebrated their favorite saint, but it also served as a Church sanctioned break to Lenten frugality. Feasting and drinking are as much of a time honored way of marking the day as is the wearing of the shamrock.

Wearing these green leaves was one of only two very small bits of green traditionally worn on this holiday in Ireland. The other was in handcrafted badges worn by children that were colored with red, blue and yellow as well as green. It was believed that if children wore any more green than this the faeries, who had apparently claimed the color as their own, would steal the young ones away. Kind of puts that whole pinching thing on its head, doesn’t it.

So why are we draping ourselves in head to toe green every March 17? I think that it is along the same lines as eating corned beef and cabbage – it is a way to feel Irish or, for those who had left a home in Eire, a way to remember it. This most Irish of dishes was not the traditional meal of the day. But on a day when Irish expats were trying to reconnect with days remembered what better way than with a common comfort food from home? In the same way, although blue is actually the official color of Ireland green is the sentimental unofficial color of the “Emerald Isle.”

I also think that the green comes from the American tendency to overdo. A number of St. Patrick’s Day traditions that are observed today actually seem to have originated in the US where more is always better. If Irish immigrants wore simple green shamrocks then how could it not please them if we join in the fun by wearing even more green, right?

Speaking of the shamrock there is one tradition O’Flaherty describes on her site that I particularly like. The Drowning of the Shamrock involved taking the sprig that one had worn all day and dropping it in the last drink of the night. The drink was then drained and the shamrock thrown over the left shoulder. What a great way to end a day of feasting and drinking!

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Whether you call yourself a beer lover, booze hound, beer geek or closet drinker you can’t deny the importance to alcoholphiles the world over of St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a simple little Catholic holiday having something to do with a saint name Patrick and snakes has turned into a world-wide bacchanalia dedicated to inebriation and general craic. The Irishness aside, why can’t every day be St. Patrick’s Day?

So for the next few weeks leading up to the big day I’ll be talking about the holiday right here at the Boozin’ Blog. Today I’m concerned with one George Killian Lett and the beer that bears his name.

First you may be surprised – I know I was – to learn that George is a real man and the beer now brewed by Coors in the US and Heineken in France is based, albeit loosely, on the ale brewed at Mill Park Brewery in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland.

The regional brewery was owned by George’s family’s company G. H. Lett & Company, LTD. The wholesaler and distributor is still in business but the brewery, which opened in 1864, stopped brewing in 1956. One of its best-loved beers was Enniscorthy Ruby Ale. The brand was licensed to Coors in 1981 where it became the now familiar George Killian’s Irish Red of today.

But what’s this nonsense about lifting a pint with George? Mr. Killian isn’t doing a world-wide tour of beer drinking.  (Although it strikes me that that’s not a bad idea.  I should talk to the execs at Boozin’ Gear about sponsoring a trip for me!) No, he’s appearing on the television machine on St. Paddy Day’s evening where he’ll be toasting US drinkers. Here are all the details you could possibly need in a press release from Coors:

Enniscorthy, Ireland (February 202008) – On Monday, March 17, fifth generation legendary Irish brewer George Killian Lett will toast adult Americans in honor of St. Patrick’s Day from Enniscorthy, Ireland, the birthplace of the George Killian’s legend. St. Patrick’s Day began in Ireland in the fifth century as a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, but these days it’s a holiday celebrated everywhere, especially in the U.S. Airing on ESPN at 8:07 p.m. EST, the toast will give American beer drinkers the opportunity to add some Irish authenticity to their St. Patrick’s Day experience.

“It gives everyone in Enniscorthy great pride to see our city’s name on every bottle of George Killian’s Irish Red,” said George Killian Lett. “My toast on St. Patrick’s Day is my opportunity to say thank you for keeping the spirit of our family’s recipe alive.”

In addition to toasting America, George will also share his favorite tips for raising a pint which include:

• Master the perfect pour every time. To achieve optimal head, tilt the chilled glass at a 75 degree angle and pour the beer slowly
• Appreciate the color. Before taking a first sip, hold the beer up to the light to enjoy the color. George Killian’s Irish Red has a rich, all-natural ruby color that comes from its slow-roasted caramelized malts
• Breathe in the aroma. As with wine, beer has taste notes that can be detected by inhaling its scent. George Killian’s is brewed with slow-roasted caramelized malts, which gives the beer its natural red color, and can be appreciated before even taking a sip
• Savor the first sip. In order to truly taste the full-bodied, yet smooth flavors of the slow-roasted caramelized malts, first enjoy a small sip. Be sure to hold it in the mouth and swish it around before swallowing
• Enjoy in good company. In Ireland the pub is at the heart of every community. Good people, good music and good conversation make a perfect pint taste even better. A requisite Irish spirit and a love of quality beer doesn’t hurt either

Based on the same family recipe from 1864, George Killian’s Irish Red appeals to beer drinkers looking to break out of their ordinary routine. George Killian’s is still brewed by singing malsters using special slow-roasted caramelized malts, that naturally deliver the beer’s unique red color and smooth bold taste. The George Killian’s Irish Red malsters sing to the malt before it goes into the kiln to encourage the barley as it’s a living organism and the singing brings out its goodness.

For more information on George Killian or George Killian’s Irish Red, please visit www.GeorgeKillians.com.

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