Ireland is oddly often referred to as either the “Emerald Isle” or “The Home of the Black Stuff”. Two very different colours for two very different reasons. The one I’m bringing to you to day relates to “the black stuff”. Guinness is arguably the world’s most recognisable beer, and one of the world’s best known brands. Guinness mastered marketing and today still reap the rewards. But this has led to those seeking a great drink on their trip to Ireland missing out on some other great stouts. Here are the very best non-Guinness stouts you should be looking out for on your trip to Ireland.
The Dublin Craft Beer Tour is the best way to discover Irish craft beer with friends and an experienced guide with great value drinks, exclusive discounts and a unique view of the city’s history.
O’Hara’s Irish Stout/Irish Nitro Stout
I’m going to cover a wide range of stouts here, but I’m starting with an indie brand first. O’Hara’s Brewing Company, also known as Carlow Brewing Company or simply just “O’Hara’s”, was founded in 1996 in Carlow by two brothers. One of the breweries core offerings is the Irish Stout.
While this stout is available in both nitro and non-nitro offerings, my personal favourite is to get it served on nitro. Nitro is what gives stouts their creamy white collar and luscious mouthfeel. O’Hara’s committed to this a long time ago, and today you can easily find their widget-powered Irish Nitro Stout on the shelves of most supermarket off-licenses and even in the duty-free sections of Irish airports. A nice treat to bring back home after your holiday.
O’Hara’s Irish Stout is one of the very best competitors and alternatives out there on the market to Guinness, with many believing this is even kinder on the palate.
If you get to try this in Carlow, it’s the best and freshest. But you’ll also find it in lots of places. In Dublin, Urban Brewing is the best place to sample it. A brewpub owned by O’Hara’s themselves. But also, don’t knock the cans.
Beamish Stout and Murphy’s Irish Stout
Some won’t like that I’m lumping these two stouts in together, as they are very different drinks – so really you should try to sample both. However, both are held under the ownership/distributorship of Heineken, so I’m going to combine them into this section. But first I want to talk about the weirdest decision I’ve seen a big brand make in a long time.
Island’s Edge
Let me begin by breaking the “bad news” to you that Island’s Edge is no longer available. Heineken decided to take on Guinness with this stout by targeting younger markets with a less bitter offering. It failed terribly. From my point of view, the stout itself was poor. When initially served, it was OK but after a few minutes losing temperature, it became borderline undrinkable.
The point could be made that in a post-lockdown world, people were open to new experiences and this was the perfect moment to try and challenge Guinness. But no. Island’s Edge was utterly rejected by pretty much everyone and after just two years, Heineken admitted defeat and killed the brand off. Now, you’ll find hundreds of these pint glasses in charity shops.
But why is this all so weird?
Well, as I alluded to earlier, Heineken already has two fantastic established stouts in its stable; Beamish and Murphy’s.
Beamish Stout
Referred to lovingly as “creamy beamy”, Beamish is having a bit of a renaissance in Ireland right now. As Diageo continue to increase the price of a pint, Heineken is taking the position to increase the availability of Beamish which keeping the price about 50c behind Guinness. Never underestimate the willingness of people in Ireland to shop around for 50c, particularly if you’re sinking a few pints. They all add up.
Beamish, or Beamish and Crawford, was founded in 1792 in Cork. While Guinness dominates most of Ireland, Cork is the outlier where Beamish is highly common. Beamish Stout is a small bit more bitter than Guinness and I’ve always found the flavour to be a little stronger and ever so slightly more roasted.
If in Cork, it’s an absolutely must try. Anywhere else, just ask if it’s moving. You want to be sure it hasn’t been sitting on tap for a few days without anyone drinking it.
Murphy’s Irish Stout
Murphy’s is another Cork entry into the list. This is a great choice for anyone who is seeking a less robust drinking experience. Murphy’s Irish Stout is less bitter than both Beamish and Guinness and is the lowest ABV of the three at 4%. It breaks down a lot of barriers for non-stout drinkers.
It’s unfortunately very hard to find though, and is much harder to find in the wild than Beamish. I grew up in Kilkenny, and this still baffles me because Murphy’s was the title sponsor of the Kilkenny Cat Laugh’s Comedy Festival. It was such a big name back in the day, but again, likely owing to Heineken’s confused stout strategy, it’s been very stop start.
Being honest, aside from O’Hara’s, I’m assuming you know of these other Guinness alternatives. So it’s time to get into the weeds and bring you the real hidden gems you should be on the lookout for in Ireland.
Whiplash Slow Life Nitro Stout
Whiplash is one of Ireland’s premiere craft beer breweries. This completely indie brewery was founded in 2016 and is one of the more prolific producers of craft beers on the market. From the shelves, you’ll be more familiar with their IPAs but Whiplash’s Slow Life Nitro Stout is a fantastic drink. I’ve even spotted this on my travels in the UK, finding it by accident in Bier Haus, Brighton.
As you’d expect with a nitro stout, Slow Life is a creamy pint with lots of sweetness left to linger on the tongue after you take your first sip. Ensuring the second sip isn’t too far behind.
One of the best places to enjoy this stout is Fidelity, Dublin. This is a collab bar between Big Romance and Whiplash themselves. You’ll be guaranteed great stout served at the right temperature. For a bonus, you could also try Bowsie, their Nitro Brown Ale.
Porterhouse Oyster Stout
I have a special love for this stout. And the title isn’t just marketing. This stout is not vegetarian friendly and you can’t drink it if you have a seafood allergy.
Oyster stouts are brewed with oysters literally be chucked into the beer during the brewing process. The result is an extraction of some saltiness and minerality from the shells, alongside rich umami flavours from the oysters themselves. Combined with the typical roasted coffee and chocolatey sweetness from the stout itself, this is a pint that will get your flavour receptors jumping for joy.
To allay the natural concerns some will have, an oyster stout will never, or at least should never, taste like actual oysters or any form of seafood for that matter. The Porterhouse has been making this stout for years and it’s one of my personal favourites. It’s clean, crisp and full of both flavour and tasting experience to enjoy.
You’ll find this bottled in some off-licences, but the easiest place to enjoy is on nitro in Porterhouse bars. That includes Tapped on Grafton Street. Just remember that nitro serving of beers tends to round out a lot of the flavour. If you want to enjoy a more complex tasting of this stout, try find a bottle of it as that won’t be nitro-charged. Instead, it’ll be regularly carbonated.
The White Hag Black Board Imperial Oatmeal Stout
Not my favourite stout. It’s one of my favourite beers, full stop. But it comes with a massive warning on ABV. Imperial stouts are more craft beer than traditional Irish stouts. That’s why the ABV here is 10.2%. This isn’t a “sink 5 of them” kind of stout. This is nearly a special occasion stout. But it’s incredible and I highly recommend keeping an eye out for it on your trip to Ireland.
It’s unlikely you’ll find this on tap anywhere, but you will find cans of it in off-licences like Craft Central.
The drinking experience of this beer is just wild. Deep coffee notes as you pour, a silky yer full-bodied mouthfeel as you drink – thanks to the oatmeal – and a perfectly balanced sweetness and bitterness as you taste it. It’s unbelievably drinkable for the strength of it, so be warned!
The White Hag is one of Ireland’s leading indie breweries and a must-try collection of beers for your trip. They are also widely accessible in general, offering four-packs of IPA in Lidl.
9 White Deer Nitro Stout
Another Cork entry is 9 White Deer. This brewery not only produces excellent beers, but they produce EU-certified gluten free beers! Yes, you can drink a gluten-free stout when you visit Ireland. It’s not even that hard to find given 9 White Deer is typically available in all SuperValu and Centra off-licenses, amongst others.
The brewery’s stouts comes, as is often the case, in two forms; nitro and non-nitro. The bottles you get in the shop are non-nitro and are brewed with a completely different recipe to the nitro stout. Don’t let the gluten-free fool you either. This is as tasty as stout gets.
It is, unfortunately, a little harder to find 9 White Deer tapped anywhere. Right now, it is tapped in The Black Sheep on Capel Street, Dublin.
There you have it. A small cross-section of incredible stouts available in Ireland that have nothing to do with Guinness. Don’t get me wrong, I drink my fair share of Guinness, but Diageo has a near cartel-like grasp of the Irish beer market. It would be awesome if you could show the love to these other fantastic Irish beer producers.
The Dublin Craft Beer Tour is the best way to discover Irish craft beer with friends and an experienced guide with great value drinks, exclusive discounts and a unique view of the city’s history.
