It is never too early to plan for your St. Patrick’s Day party so I thought I would start a discussion with Al and our readers about what types of beer selection you think are best to have on hand to please the crowd on March 17th.
All good hosts would want to be able to please a wide variety of drinkers. Some guests may not even *gasp* drink beer! If it were my party, I would try to meet three basic factions: 1) the occasional beer drinker, 2) the serious, megabrew junkie, and 3) the serious, real beer, drinker. (I fall into this last category.) I would love to suggest all sorts of beers, but some are just so hard to find, I will try to stick with varieties that most people can get.
The occasional beer drinker I’m defining as is the kind of person who might prefer wine over beer; or, one who doesn’t drink beer often but likes quality and interesting beer when they do drink. For this person, you might seek out something like Southampton’s Irish Red or Sam Adams Cream Stout.
Do I have to define the megabrew junkie? This is a crowd I would suggest Killian’s Irish Red for. Killian’s is made by a megabrewery (Coors) and is a weak attempt at a craft beer, but it might be different enough for your megabrewery junkie to feel a little more in with the real beer drinkers. (and a little more Irish)
I think Guinness is a must, whether that is all you drink, if you have just one, or if you plan to make some black and tans. Guinness is true to the Irish Dry Stout style, it is sure to please the true Irishman, and it makes for a darn good breakfast the next morning as well.
For that real die-hard craft beer snob (kind of like me) I suggest seeking out something different and don’t be afraid to draw outside the lines, especially if the Irish part of St. Patrick’s Day is not as important as the social beer drinking aspect. For these few people, seek out a couple big bottles of Smuttynose Scotch Style Ale or Middle Ages Brewing Blackheart Stout. Or, because I’m familiar with the products, a growler of 120 Shilling Ale (Lake Placid Brewery) for those in upstate New York, or Willy’s Wee Heavy (Long Valley Pub and Brewery) for those in New Jersey.
Maybe none of this matters to you in making your beer selections for St. Patrick’s Day; if not, tell us!
I think I’m going to give up on trying to keep track of what I should and shouldn’t be drinking. It seems like every time I turn around, something everyone thought was bad for you is now good, and vice versa.
