The big day is approaching. While you might feel obligated to grab a Guinness or one of those pints of green beer that started showing up a week or so ago, why not try some stout based beer cocktails this year?
Naturally, there’s the classic Black and Tan. Traditionally, the B&T is made with Guinness and Bass. The drink works because pale ale is heavier than stout. If you fill a glass halfway with pale ale then carefully pour stout on top, the stout will literally float on top. Not only does the drink look cool, it’s quite tasty, too. If you try this yourself, you probably want to use a spoon to slow the stout down so it won’t mix with the pale ale. Pouring it over the curved back of the spoon should do the trick. There are tools made for this very purpose which mount on the rim of the glass that make the pour a lot easier.
The Black and Red is like the B&T except in the beer styles used. The best option is a framboise lambic topped with a chocolate stout. This decadent drink tastes like chocolate covered berries in liquid form.
The Stout Sangria was originally designed to be a Christmas drink but it’s good anytime. Besides, this day when stout is the star seems like the perfect day to whip up the drink. To make it you’ll need:
One bottle of dry stout
1/2 ounce of simple syrup
1/2 ounce of ruby port
Cinnamon or nutmeg for garnish
Fill the glass about 3/4 full with the stout. Add the syrup and port then top it up with the rest of the beer. Sprinkle the spice of your choice on top. Drink. Enjoy. Repeat.
The final stout cocktail comes from our favorite guru of cocktails, Colleen Graham. She recently published this recipe for Apple Cider Shandy. It’s an easy drink to make - the best always are, aren’t they? Pour about half an oatmeal stout in a glass. Top it with an ounce of cider. Colleen recommends soft, nonalcoholic, sparkling cider. The flavor of hard cider is too harsh, she says, and will overwhelm the drink. I haven’t tried this one yet but I look forward to experimenting with it to find which cider is my favorite in it.
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Hardly a cold day passes that there isn’t some form of black beer in my refrigerator. These rich, dark beers with notes of chocolate, coffee, and dark roasted grain are perfect for cold weather sipping.
The difference between stout and porter is almost indistinguishable these days. There are so many variations on each - chocolate, coffee, sweet, imperial, etc. - that both styles manage to cover the spectrum of dark beer tastes. One general truth remains - porters, like most other beer styles, rely on hops to balance the natural sweetness of beer while stouts include a type of dark roasted barley that contributes a particular sort of bitterness along with hops. It’s a subtle difference that’s difficult to distinguish in the glass.
Dry stouts, of which Guinness Extra Stout is an example, are my favorite. Many breweries brew a dry stout all year long but even if they don’t, they often will introduce a seasonal dry stout in January or February in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day in March. So, I have plenty of dry stout options to choose from during these cold months.
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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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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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