Beer 93 Smithwicks Irish Ale and Beer 94 Harp Lager

In honor of St Patrick’s Day, I felt it would be appropriate to write about a couple of Irish Beers. I will admit to enjoying “more than 1 Guiness Stout” last night at Mc K’s, but didn’t feel that anyone really needed to read about the World’s most popular Stout. Instead, I thought that it was a better idea to review 2 of the lesser known products from the Brewers of Guiness.

Beer 93- Smithwicks Irish Ale. Made by Guiness- check. Green label – check. OK its St Patricks Day approved.

In the spirit of fair play, I decided to actually DRINK the beer, as opposed to giving it a free pass. I wasn’t sure if I was being lured by the greatness of the stout, or if the beer was going to stink would actually hold up well in a taste test. This 5% alcohol Irish Ale poured nicely into a pint glass and formed a better head than I would have imagined. Reddish in color, it has the look of a good Irish Ale. Turns out that it tastes pretty good too. It was an enjoyable sample, and I could see having a number of these over the course of an evening. A good discovery that won’t fill you up too much, and won’t render you useless the next day.

Beer 94 Harp – I found this one at Publix on a holiday display. It has been several years since I had one of these. The light green label is much different than the bottles that use to be stocked at The Lookout in my past life. Weighing in at 5% alcohol, this light golden colored beer is an almost sweet lager. It has a malty after taste that is mildly bitter. It is quite often mixed half and half similar to the way Bass Ale is used to make a Black and Tan. I almost think that it had more flavor when it was in the old packaging. Maybe they tweaked the recipe a bit. Is there such a thing as Classic Harp or New Recipe Harp like the Coca Cola people have? I didn’t see any little Green Lucky Charms fellows after finishing my pint, so it leads me believe that I didn’t drink enough of it to get the full effect.

I was able to get the Smithwicks from the $1.99 a bottle shelf at World Market, and the Harp was on Special at Publix for only $6.49 a 6 pack.

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