An Irish toast, with
beer worth drinking

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Jon Bonné

Lifestyle Editor

Stouts: Let's face it — you can't substitute Guinness. Other Irish stouts like Murphy's may appeal more to some palates, but there's not many on the U.S. market. We gave Cork's storied Beamish Genuine Irish Stout (Scottish & Newcastle, San Rafael, Calif.) a whirl, but the most charitable tasters could do was call it "junior-varsity Guinness."

There's nothing wrong with toasting the day with an American beer, though; domestic microbrew stouts are aplenty. Adam Tolsma, beer director of Green's Beverages in Atlanta, suggests Sierra Nevada's stout as an easy-to-find option, along with Victory Storm King Imperial Stout from Downingtown, Pa., Great Divide's Yeti stout from Denver and the “insanely strong” Dogfish Head WorldWide Stout from Rehoboth Beach, Del.

We were fans of the Old. No. 38 Stout from North Coast Brewing Co. in Fort Bragg, Calif. It's too carbonated for the Irish style, but has a perfumed nose and a coffee finish the length of a freight train. Its name hails from an engine on an old California railroad, and we'll extrapolate from that a nod to the backbreaking Irish role in building rails from sea to sea.

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If you can manage to down more than a few of these in one night, you really should reconsider that second career in a sideshow.

Ales: The traditional Irish ale is red and has just a bit of sweetness. Few authentic Irish selections appear on the market, but plenty of domestic facsimiles can be found. We were partial to Dick's Irish Style Ale from Centralia, Wash., which was malty and rich, with some cocoa and coffee in the mix. It also goes great with the corned beef and cabbage you're likely to encounter on your Celtic binge.

You might also try your hand with a cream ale, though one of the most popular “Irish” cream ales, Wexford (Thames America, Sebastopol, Calif.), is actually brewed in England.

Under no circumstances should you toast St. Patrick's Day with British beer, unless you're looking for trouble. Anyway, we thought the Wexford had a Guinness mouthfeel (it uses nitrogen, too) but not much taste.

American ales such as Hale's Cream Ale from Seattle (made in what it calls the “Dublin style”) would certainly stand in as a worthy drink for the night.

Anything else? Our conclusion was that it's really, really hard to trump Guinness when it comes to adding a dash of Irish to your day.

But honestly, any decent beer should serve you just fine for the evening. Or order up a half and half (stout and lager mixed) -- and presumably not a loyalist black and tan (stout with Bass ale). The important part, and we're going to stand by this, is to take the day as an opportunity to celebrate a culture that knows a heck of a lot more about brewing than we do. That means drinking beer that doesn't suck.

And no green food coloring, or the shillelagh patrol may be looking for you.

Lifestyle editor Jon Bonne usually writes about wine. If you're looking for Irish wine, he advises that Wine Geese are easier to find.

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