Nix the green, fizzy beer this St. Patrick’s Day and order a pint of something that tastes great and actually has roots in the emerald isle. Hailing from Dublin, the Irish dry stout is too often mislabeled as heavy, thick, and highly alcoholic. It’s none of these things. Rather it’s a full-flavored, but light-bodied ale with alcohol and calorie levels similar to a light beer.
The dark color and roasty, cocoa flavors are derived from a brewer’s use of heavily-roasted barley. The majority of stout’s recipe uses the same pale malts that make up lighter-colored beers like Grain Belt or Summit Extra Pale Ale. But making a relatively small portion (about 10 percent) of the grains black barley is powerful enough to define the beer.
Drinking strictly Irish can be difficult beyond Guinness, but here are a few favorite Irish and otherwise delicious stouts available in Maple Grove.
Price: $6.99/4 cans
Brewed with Murphy’s original recipe in Ireland since 1856, it’s light and dry with malt and caramel flavors.
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout
Price: $8.49/4 cans
Think Guinness with cocoa mixed it. Similarly canned with nitrogen, Young’s provides that familiar creamy feel.
Price: $7.99/6 bottles
Schell’s pulled inspiration from the stouts of London for their richer, fuller take on the style.
Price: $3.99/19-oz. bottle
The addition of oats smoothes out the dry, roasted edge, for a wonderfully drinkable dark ale.
Price: $8.99
There’s no 2-percent involved, rather these rural Minnesota brewers add lactose to sweeten their stout.
—Matt Allyn, a 2002 graduate of Maple Grove Senior High, is co-author of The Brewer’s Apprentice, published last fall. He’s a certified beer judge that began his brewing career in his Maple Grove kitchen.
