It’s Saint Patrick’s Day.
Much has already been written about the overcommercialized exploitation of what used to be a rather pleasant holiday. I’m one of the 30+% of Americans who can claim Irish heritage (my maternal Grandmother, Anna Dowd, was processed through Ellis Island) but I’m a little saddened that it has turned into a “drinking” holiday. (See other opinions from: The Beer Nut, Jay Brooks, The Potable Curmudgeon)
I’m not Catholic, so we’re not celebrating the feast day. (Even if I were, it was moved to last Saturday as not to interfere with Holy Week.) And the last place I want to be is out on the town dealing with faux-irishmen who have had a few too many green beers. So, it’ll be a quiet evening in. Well, as quiet as it could be watching a friend’s three daughters (as well as my two). My wife informed me that I needed to pick up my prescription, drop off the dry cleaning, and oh by the way could I pick her up some beer.
She likes Harp Lager, which is what she requested, so I figured the local, but usually not so good, liquor store would be fine. Lo and behold, they actually had O’Hara’s Irish Red in the cooler. So, I bought the wife her Irish beer from Canada, and I bought myself some Irish beer from Ireland.
Over on the other side of the Big Water, they apparently call it it used to be called Molings Traditional Red Ale. From the outdated Carlow Brewing Company website:
Inspired by the beauty of their natural surroundings and an ethos of care and dedication, the Celtic monks of the 6th century St Molings monastery in south Carlow produced the Book of Moling, a book of great craftsmanship and artistic achievement. A product of this same environment Molings Traditional Celtic Beer is brewed with the same care and dedication and strives for the same achievement. Molings is a fruity and aromatic beer with a distinctive coffee like finish. The traditional hop flavour balances the sweet malty caramel taste. Brewed with pale malt , torrified wheat crystal malt and generous portion of roasted barley, Molings is an excellent accompaniment to roast dishes.
Ruby red in color, with a pretty hefty malt character. Hop bitterness is understated, and I’m getting some caramel flavors. Unfortunately–and unsurprising for this retailer, which is why I try not to go there–it’s a little too old and/or hasn’t been well-treated, as I’m getting some off-flavors as well.
But I will enjoy these in the comfortable surroundings of home. And to raise a toast to my dear departed Grandma Hubbs.
Phew! I was just coming on to whine about the giant pint of non-Irish nitro-stout you have depicted down below, and was very gratified to see something about real Irish beer.
The Carlow web site is rather out of date at the moment: Moling’s was rebranded as “O’Hara’s Red” here in Ireland several months ago. Currently it’s a handy way of assessing the freshness of the beer: what it’s called on the label.
Sorry to hear it wasn’t fresh, but that’s the slow rate of turnover of Irish craft beer generally. I’m a little gratified that it’s a problem in the US just as it is here.
I checked the label, and it has a “Best Before” date of 30-Mar-2008.
So, either it didn’t make the transatlantic journey very well or it has been abused by the distributor and/or retailer.
I’ll try getting it again from my preferred retailer and see if it’s in better condition.
Carlow don’t do their own bottling, and the stuff we get is tankered to Britain and exported back in bottles. It could be that the north American version, which is in a different style of bottle, is sent across the Atlantic in tankers, which I suspect wouldn’t be terribly good for the beer.
Still, it does sound like it’s been sitting around in the shop for nearly a year.
I don’t think it’s bottled here. For one thing, the bottles aren’t the (U.S.) standard 12 ounce size. They’re 11.2 ounces. 300 ml?