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M&S House-magazine
I write those words after enjoying an excellent bottle ofM&S Irish Stout, brewed by Carlow Brewing of County Carlow, Ireland. It wasdefinitely the best dry Irish stout I've had in a long time, with a perfectbalance of bitter can roasted flavours but at the same time smooth and withoutthe harshness often associated with heavily roasted malts.
I would say that this particular Irish stout is it adifferent league to many of the others I have tried over the years which bringsme on to Guinness, one of the best-known beer brands in the world and the runawaymarket leader when it comes to producing dry Irish stout. Guinness is regardedas the yardstick by which other stouts are measured, but despite the worldwide fameof the beer I've never been a huge fan, and certainly not of the draughtversion. I find it rather thin, and the roasted barley used in its productionimparts a harsh taste, which I am not over keen on.
Leaving Draught Guinness to one side, back in the early daysof CAMRA, I went through a phase of drinking bottled Guinness. At the timeGuinness Extra Stout in bottled form, was naturally conditioned, having a thinlayer of sedimentary yeast at the bottom of the bottle. CAMRA described thebeer as “Real Ale in a bottle,” due to the fact that the yeast allowed the beerto condition and mature, naturally in the bottle. I was a lot more serious in those days about following CAMRAguidelines, and whilst bottled Guinness was an acceptable, and satisfying beer,it only came in half pint, 275 millilitre bottles. This was a real disadvantage,volume wise, compared to those drinking draught beer, even if it was keg, aswhen drinking in rounds, I always finished my beer, way before my companions. Iwas the one left with an empty glass, waiting for others to finish, and get anew round in.
As well as still containing live yeast, another strangehangover from the past was that Guinness allowed small regional breweries tobottle their Extra Stout on their behalf. The beer was delivered in bulk, bytanker, for the breweries to package, and then sell throughout their varioustied estates. I'm not quite sure when this practise died out, or when Guinness ExtraStout ceased to be bottle conditioned, but it may have occurred when thecompany closed their large brewery at Park Royal, to the West of London, andconcentrated all production at their main St James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin.
Prior to this, Park Royal had supplied the southern half ofthe United Kingdom, whilst the north received its Guinness from Dublin. Theperception at the time was the Dublin product was superior to that brewed inLondon, although I'm sure this was all hearsay. It was possibly even a bit of oneupmanship on behalf of the parent company, as I very much doubt anyone couldhave told the two versions apart.Towards the end of the 1970s two other brands of Irish stoutbegan appearing on the nation's bars. These were produced by a couple of Cork basedbrewers – Beamish and Murphy’s. The Beamish & Crawford brewery, situated inthe heart of Cork city, was founded in 1792, by two local merchants, RichardBeamish & Richard Crawford. Beamish has a rich roasted flavour with coffeeand dark chocolate undertones, making it a genuine Irish stout. To this dayBeamish stout is being enjoyed in bars and homes throughout Ireland, but not itwould seem, in the United Kingdom.
Murphy’s was founded in 1856, and is now owned by Dutchmulti-national brewer, Heineken, although during the period I am referring to,Whitbread acted as distributor for the brand, in the UK. Upon seeing thesebrands on sale, I had to try them, despite both being keg products. Out of thetwo, I much preferred the Beamish offering, as it was smoother, and creamier thanthe Murphy's product, which had quite a harsh taste to it. Like the Guinness I wascomplaining about earlier, this was probably related to the amount of roastmalt used in the grist.
By the start of the 80’s, there was no real need for me tocontinue with bottled Guinness, as cask-conditioned ale was in plentiful supplyand widely available, in pubs up and down the land. However, my years ofdrinking Dublin’s most famous product left me with more than an occasionalyearning, for a glass of dark, dry, Irish stout. This yearning was satisfied,in part, by the appearance of the Porterhouse brewpubs which set up shop in2000, in London’s Covent Garden, four years after the original venue came intobeing, in Dublin. Both branches offer a range of house-brewed beers, includingseveral dark ones, with Porter and “Plain” complementing the Irish stout.
I’m not 100% certain that the London outlet still brews, butI know that the Dublin Porterhouse does. I experienced the pub for myself in 2014,when I visited Dublin for the first, and so far, only time. I was in the Irishcapital in order to attend that year's European Beer Writer’s Conference. My visit gaveme chance to experience some of Dublin’s amazing pubs and bars, along with thecity’s legendary nightlife, as well as trying Draught Guinness on its hometurf. It might sound like sacrilege, but I was not terribly impressed with the beer,and it certainly wasn’t a patch on some of the other interesting locally brewedIrish stouts we got to try, that weekend
As part of the overall conference weekend, our group visitedthe Guinness Storehouse, an interesting experience which, once one looks beyondthe marketing hype associated with the Guinness name, demonstrated thefascinating history behind the company. Includedin the tour, was a look at the brand-new brewery that Guinness had erected onthe extensive St Jame's Gate site. It was still being commissioned, but a fullyautomated brewing plant, packed full of gleaming stainless-steel vessels andtanks, isn’t the most exciting thing to look at, so for many of us, the newGuinness Brewery wasn’t exactly the highlight of the trip.
If you’ve read this far, then I’m sure you’ll be aware thatGuinness produce a strong, “export” stout for distribution overseas. ForeignExtra Stout (FES) first appeared in 1801, and has proved a firm favourite withdrinkers, particularly those in parts of Africa and the Caribbean. Brewed to anabv of 7.5%, FES is much more heavily hopped than the Guinness Draught and ExtraStout brewed for home consumption. The extra hops were originally intended toact as a natural preservative for the long sea voyage to the sub-Saharan Africaand the West Indies.
Today sales of FES are said to account for almost half ofGuinness sales, worldwide. It’s definitely a beer worth seeking out, and fortunatelyit’s a lot easier to come by these days. I have seen it on sale at Sainsbury’sat £2 a bottle, and I’m sure that other supermarkets will be stocking the beeras well. Without a shadow of doubt, Foreign Extra Stout is the best beer thatGuinness produce, so it’s a good one on which to end this brief look at IrishStout.Follow Blog via EmailClick to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.


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