Comments on: What is a Black and Tan?

By: Al

Al — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:25:23 +0000

Definitely not Finian’s. I’ll look for O’Hara’s.

By: The Beer Nut

The Beer Nut — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:56:48 +0000

It doubt if it’s something you’d miss if it was taken away

How about O’Hara’s? I think its brewers are the only Irish-owned brewery that exports to the States. Unless you get Finian’s as well.

By: Al

Al — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:05:17 +0000

Actually, we do get Smithwick’s over here. At least on the East Coast.

By: The Beer Nut

The Beer Nut — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:02:57 +0000

Finding a drink called a “Black and Tan” in Ireland would be like finding one called an “Al Qaeda Pilot” in New York. Not terribly likely.

If you want to make it all Irish, you would use Guinness’s Smithwick’s red ale rather than Harp lager. That’s if you regard Guinness as being Irish, of course. You’d be better off doing it with O’Hara’s stout and Moling’s (aka O’Hara’s Red). Or Black Biddy and Red Biddy. But real Irish beer tends not to need mixing to make it interesting.

I’ve always found it odd that Guinness import Bass to the States instead of Smithwick’s. Apparently, they used to bring Smithwick’s in but had to call it “Kilkenny” because the Americans had pronunciation difficulties. It seems they also spare you from real Kilkenny (Smithwick’s with a nitro head). No wonder the tourists go mad for it here. It’s certainly not because of the taste…