Charlie is in Peru searching for more esoteric and obscure beers, so we offer this general review. Charlie did select the Murphy's to feature for St. Paddy's because "it is the best mass market Irish stout." We will taste the best Irish stout this Friday Downtown: The O'Hara's Celtic Stout (and Celtic Red Ale).
Almost every beer drinker goes through a stage when he or she drinks dark beer exclusively. For me, it came very early, drinking nothing but porters, brown ales (but only if it was a warm day and a dark brown), and stouts.
The story (or one of them) goes that porter, so named for the english docksmen that championed it, was a middling dark beer brewed with
primarily brown roasted malt, and poured from several casks (each with varying degrees of maturity) into a single drinking vessel
(usually a hard leather cup.) Sometime in the early 18th century the term "stout" started being used when describing porters of relative strength (a stout
porter.) There was an evolution in nomenclature that wasn't necesarily parallel to the evolution in flavor profile, and now we have two
different names for two different beers, and no one can really tell you the difference between them.
Stout came to Ireland in a big way in the 1840's, when Guinness changed the name of it's beer from porter to stout, and set the precedent for
Irish stouts. Dry and roasty, the Irish like to get all the attenuation they can out of a beer. This is why, even though you think "such a
thick beer" would sink to the bottom of a black and tan, Guinness is poured second. It has less residual sugar in it than the pilsner it was
poured over.
Of course the first choice for most St. Patrick's day celebrations is Guinness, but a comparable (and cheaper!) stout is Murphy's. Either of them paired with
shepherd's pie, corned beef and cabbage, and soda bread is a worthy Irish celebration.
On Sale for $6.46
Through 3/18/10
Regularly $7.49
Brewery: Scottish & Newcastle*
Country: Scotland
Region: Edinborough
Style: Irish Stout
Alcohol by Volume: 4%
Hops:
Malts:
Size: 4 Pack, 12 oz cans
*Don't you just love globalization? Heineken/Carlsberg owns Scottish & Newcastle which brews a famous Irish stout.
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