|  

Monday, March 16, 2009

Booze

Forget Guinness -- here's Murphy's

Posted by Owen Morris on Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM

murphystoutpuamelia_thumb_200x266.jpg
Flickr: Puamelia
It's a shame that people think they only have two beer choices on St. Patrick's Day -- light beer with green food coloring or a Guinness. While Guinness is the de facto Irish beer, two others are also good and just as authentic. I get defensive on the subject because I consider Murphy's Stout to be one of the best beers in the world.

It's always played second fiddle to Guinness. The latter is brewed in Dublin, Ireland's biggest city and cultural center, whereas Murphy's is brewed in Cork, the second largest city, at the bottom of the isle much farther south than many tourists go. I was fortunate enough to visit the city (more like big town) where the locals are fiercely loyal to the town's two beers, Murphy's and Beamish.

Like Guinness, they're both stouts. Beamish is the cheaper of the two but too harsh for a creamy stout. It's not a bad beer but is my least favorite of the big three Irish stouts. Murphy's is a smoother form of Guinness that has more distinct flavors. In Murphy's you clearly get coffee flavors and a slight white-chocolate flavor along with a foam head that's as thick if not thicker than Guinness'.

And when I say Murphy's I mean "Murphy's Irish stout" not "Murphy's Irish red," which isn't even available on draft at most bars in Cork. I've only had one Murphy's Irish red and didn't consider it nearly as good as the stout.

The biggest problem with Murphy's Irish Stout is finding it in town. Only three places I know for sure stock it: Harling's Upstairs (which also carries Murphy's Irish red), Charlie Hooper's in Brookside and the Yard House at the Legends. Calling around, I was surprised to find that even many Irish bars don't stock it.

Be on the on the lookout for it tomorrow and if you see it give it a try.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments (5)

Showing 1-5 of 5

Add a comment

I will definitely be rocking the stouts I can find, which at Lew's means Guinness, and that's about it. Murphy's is my favorite, but harder to find. Here are my suggestions for NON green beer today:
http://beergirlsblog.blogspot....

report   
Posted by a beer sort of girl on March 17, 2009 at 9:15 AM

Actually, I can't stand to drink stouts most of the time. Tomorrow, I will be rocking the Snakebites. Mmmm, cider and lager.

report   
Posted by Chimpotle on March 17, 2009 at 7:07 AM

The Boulevard dry stout is indeed a good beer but I don't think it compares with Murph's. I'll give it high praise though and say between a Guinness and Boulevard Dry Stout, I'd choose Boulevard 50 percent of the time.

report   
Posted by Owen on March 16, 2009 at 5:27 PM

Murphy's is indeed hard to find, but I remember liking it quite a lot.

If you're in Westport tomorrow, the Boulevard Dry Stout is a great suggestion from Chimpo (I know Kelly's has it on tap), or McCoy's/Foundry have their own irish-style dry stout brewed on premises. It's very smooth and similar to Guinness, but with a little more of a chocolate note and a little less coffee.

report   
Posted by jjskck on March 16, 2009 at 12:42 PM

Or you can just drink Boulevard Dry Stout

report   
Posted by Chimpotle on March 16, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS
Showing 1-5 of 5

Add a comment

Slideshows

Christopher Elbow's chocolates

The Hollywood Casino

Restoration of the Cosby Hotel

more slideshows »

Top Commenters

All contents ©2012 Kansas City Pitch LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this service may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Kansas City Pitch LLC,
except that an individual may download and/or forward articles via email to a reasonable number of recipients for personal, non-commercial purposes.
Website powered by Foundation