St. Patrick's Day in the United States is an unabashedly hedonistic affair. In Ireland the focus is more on spiritual renewal and prayer for missionaries, but here we wear green, eat corned beef and cabbage and drink Guinness.
And the greenery and corned beef and cabbage are optional so long as there's Guinness. No beer can claim to have a stronger association with its home country than Guinness, not even the King of Beers
But what is Guinness? Why is it so popular in Ireland and the rest of the world? Are there beers as good as, or dare I ask, better than Guinness for celebrating St. Patrick's Day?
It depends on what version you buy. In most pubs, Guinness will be a dry stout, also known as Irish stout. Typically this style will be served via a nitrogen system that gives the ale its characteristic fluffy and creamy texture. They are traditionally lightly hopped with a restrained roasted flavor. The Guinness at your favorite Irish pub will be the draught version, the least "authentic" of the versions Guinness makes.
The mixed-gas (carbon-dioxide and nitrogen) serving system used in Guinness was developed in the early 1960s as an attempt to give Guinness the feel of cask-served ale, but a longer shelf life. Before that, Guinness was served by filling a pint nearly to the top from an older keg and topping it off with a bit from a newer keg, which was still carbonated.
The other variety of Guinness available here is the bottle-only foreign extra stout. Guinness aficionados maintain this version comes closer to what the original Guinness would've tasted like. It was a stronger brew (in terms of alcohol) in the 1800s than today's Guinness draught and even slightly stronger than the foreign extra stout.
No matter which you prefer, it's interesting to consider stout, which developed as a stronger form of the popular brew porter, actually an English invention. When Arthur Guinness began brewing porter in 1778, he was seizing on the enormous commercial success of a brew that had been in production in the United Kingdom since at least 1721.
It is also interesting to note that when he signed his famous 9,000-year lease on what had been the Mark Rainsford's Ale Brewery on James Street, there were roughly 70 breweries in Dublin. Today there's a handful in all of Ireland. He may not have done much to encourage variety in the Irish beer landscape, but he certainly brewed an association with Ireland that will never die.
For those who'd like to branch out from the venerable Irish export here are a few top notch dry/Irish stouts worth trying:
Tampa Bay Brewing Company's Iron Rat Stout: This brew always makes me think of the Dropkick Murphy's song Good Rats, about a rumor of dead rats being found in vats of Guinness. Whatever makes it taste good - and this brew is damn tasty!
Avery Brewing's Out of Bounds Stout: For the hop heads, this is an extra hoppy interpretation of an Irish stout by a brewer that knows how to sling the hops.
Shipyard Blue Fin Stout: One of the best nitro beers available in the bay area. Try it at Mellow Mushroom in Citrus Park and see for yourself.
- Joey Redner is a Tampa resident and world beer traveler.
