Irish Beer - written by Dennis Visionaire

Irish Beer

When you mention Irish beer, the very first thought that is going to come up is stout or Guinness. For those of you unfamiliar with the terms, stout is the most popular Irish beer and Guinness is the most popular brand name. The Irish are famous for their Guinness and it is still the number one choice for beer in the country.

The Irish invented stout and it first started being brewed in the 1730s. There are many kinds of stout beer but they are all top-fermented. Irish stout is almost always equated with Guinness, its number one brewer. Guinness is not the only brand of stout, even in Ireland, but there is no doubt when it comes to stout beer that it has a monopoly.

The definition of stout is beer that is made of barley and several types of malt. Guinness is a dry stout. Murphy and Beamish (a Heineken product) are brand names that remained competitive with Guinness for a while but have fallen in recent years, with many pubs not even serving anything except Guinness. Both Murphy and Beamish are competitive in the lager market, where although Guinness is also represented, it holds only about fifty-percent of the business.

Not all Americans are as fond of stout as the Irish are. That's because of the darkness of the brew. In recent years, especially in America, there has been a trend toward lighter beers and pale ales. Stout has a strong taste, verging on bitter, and is not as sweet as many of the lighter ales. Stout can be made of oatmeal instead of barley and that will produce a sweeter beer. Other variations on traditional stout include coffee and chocolate stout, which are manufactured in the United States.and#8232;
In the 1960s, Guinness introduced a new dispensing system for draught stout and ale that combined nitrogen and carbon dioxide. That resulted in Guinness being able to be drawn from a single barrel. Before this, pubs had to have two barrels behind the bar, one with an older beer and one with a young beer which were combined when it was served.

Stout may have lost popularity in the last half century but it is still the number one choice in Ireland and in Irish pubs in America. Guinness now makes a lager and an ale, reflecting the rise in popularity of both. In the middle of the 1960s, Guinness bought several small ale breweries and merged them under the company name of Irish Ale Brewers.

O'Hara's Irish Stout won brewing awards in the early 2000s and is considered to be a very strong alternative to Guinness. It can be found in bars in America as can an Irish red ale known as Smithwicks. George Killian's Irish Red is a Coors beer product, or rather MillerCoors since the merger.

Irish beer made in America has its own appeal. Boston's Irish population can brag about two Boston brews, Hibernian Ale, manufactured by Harpoon Brewery and Samuel Adams Irish Red Ale, made by no one else but Samuel Adams. If you live in Minnesota and want your drinking to help the poor, check out Finnegans Irish Amber. It is only available in that state, but profits go to the homeless and poor. Online contributions can also be made.