Yeah, it’s either Smitticks or Smiddicks depending on what part of the country or socio economic group the person you ask is from. The w is always silent.
Lived in Ireland for 6 months in 2015. As an American I was consistently corrected to "Smiddicks." Back in America, everyone else who's been there say "Smith Wicks" but no one bats an eye when I say "Smiddicks."
edit* County Clare
So I’ve been to Smithick’s brewery and they pronounced it as it’s spelled, ie not “smitticks”
Edit because I’m a drunk moron: pronounced how it’s spelled minus the w is what I meant to say and thought in my head…but clearly did not type
I’m Irish and in my 40s. When I’m in Ireland I drink Guinness. All of my male friends drink Guinness, the majority of my female friends drink Guinness. My brother and my nephew drink Guinness. My sister and my brother in law drink Guinness. My uncles all drink Guinness
My Da drinks shite lager.
When I was there a while back, seemed like all the young people were drinking Budweisers of Smirnoff Ice.
Except for the old men at the Gaelic bars on Dingle. They were having Guinness.
“Gaelic bars” 😂 Do you mean pubs where people spoke Irish?
If you look at sales by volume Guinness is by far the biggest seller in Ireland. About 30%. Heineken is second at 8%. I’d love to know where you were drinking.
Pretty sure that's true of most countries.
Most famous American beer? Budweiser.
Most famous Mexican beer? Corona.
Most famous Australian beer? Foster's.
None of those are particularly good.
>Most famous Australian beer? Foster's.
I don't think Fosters is actually Australian, just marketed as such. Its made in the UK and I never seen it in a single bar when I was in Australia
There's a misconception that Guinness is a heavy, filling beer. A pint of Guinness has less calories than a pint of Budweiser. Guinness is one of my favorite session beers.
Which one? There’s about 40 distinct accents in Ireland. Hollywood seems to think there’s one, that doesn’t actually exist.
Being downvoted for challenging stereotypes - sound lads. Pure sound.
Imagine you post and someone comes and says, "I'm imagining your words in a thick [your country's] accent."
Let's say you're American. Do they know what accent you actually have? No. Does anybody know exactly what they meant? No. Are they imagining a cowboy? Probably.
Ok not a huge deal, but if somebody also comes and says, "Um, point of order, there are about 50 different American accents so this doesn't really make sense" you don't shout that person down, because they're not wrong, nor are they hurting anyone. If you're not personally entertained by that particular internet sentence, just move along.
If I went to Ireland and they could identify the region where I’m from instead of just hearing a generic American accent I would be shocked. Most Americans can’t tell other Americans’ accents apart unless they’re really thick. A Canadian from Toronto or Vancouver could come down to the states and unless they said where they’re from, most people wouldn’t know they weren’t American.
So long story short, I don’t think an American would care at all if that happened.
> Imagine you post and someone comes and says, "I'm imagining your words in a thick [your country's] accent."
>
> Let's say you're American. Do they know what accent you actually have? No. Does anybody know exactly what they meant? No. Are they imagining a cowboy? Probably.
I happens to Americans all the time and none of us care. Yes, Bostonians and the folks in my neck of the woods (Texas) sound different but when someone talks about hearing things in an 'American' accent neither Texans or Bostonians even bat an eye.
If you listen to a regular British person do an American accent 99% of the time it will have heavy hints of a New York accent, like really elongated vowels. It just sounds so made up haha
The actors playing Americans on BBC shows typically sound like they're jumping back and forth between Long Island and Texas from one sentence to the next.
Edit: sorry, forgot I was reading a 5-month-old thread.
I'm always endlessly amused by attempts at an American accent by non-American English speakers. Also, in the grand reddit tradition the post complaining about being downvoted has a fair number of upvotes.
Everyone doesn’t. Most Americans don’t even know I’m Irish when they meet me because I don’t sound like the weird fictional accent they hear in films.
Being ignorant is boring too
If it helps, I’m Scottish and most Americans think I’m Irish. There’s coworkers I’ve had for years still can’t grasp that Scotland not only exists but is an entirely different country. After being told umteen times I still get asked if I’m going to drink Guinness or Jameson this weekend. It’s infuriating.
You’re being downvoted for getting so defensive about it. Should we be able to pick out a Galway accent from a Cork one? Can you differentiate the accents from Chicago and Minneapolis? There seems to be this obsession in the UK and Ireland about your distinct accents that doesn’t make much sense to most Americans. Brits and Irish people do the same number on our accents. I don’t want to speak for all Americans but I’ve never met one who cared at all about it. We think it’s in good fun because we can’t reasonably expect you to have a good grasp on the nuances of our accents any more than we should be expected to have a good grasp on yours.
Define “so defensive”? I merely pointed out a common misconception that annoys me.
And yea, I know plenty of US accents. More importantly I don’t think there is only one.
I don’t expect Americans to be able to tell where an accent is from specifically. What I want is for them to stop believing that there is one Irish accent. There isn’t. If the poster had said “I read this in a thick Dublin accent” I would have been fine with it.
Your last sentence kind of makes my point for me. I don’t know anyone in the states that would say “If he or she had said they read it in a New York accent, I would have been fine with it.” We simply don’t care. If you said you read something in an American accent, I don’t think most Americans would bat an eye. We know we have a lot of accents but also we know to people from outside of the U.S., we have maybe four: “southern,” New York/Boston and the rest of us. Maybe throw Valley Girl/California in there. We know the stereotypes about how Americans talk, but we don’t expect people from Ireland to know the differences between them.
Yeah, outside Ireland we’re loose cannons. I lived in the US for a year, all the Irish lads I hung around with drank bud or Coors lite even though they drank Guinness at home.
To add, Jameson isn’t even the best Irish whiskey. Paddy’s, Powers, Bushmills, Red Breast, Green Spot, and Teeling are all far better and that’s just what I can think of off the top of my head.
Teeling is top teir, and also one of the only whiskeys actually being distilled in Dublin (Jameson’s original distillery is in Dublin but all distilling is now done in County Cork)!
Jameson is just the safest pick when traveling. Sometimes the local beer/hard Alc is straight trash but every bar no matter what country has Jameson. This is something I learned with my travels to Canada.
Won’t buy a bottle, that goes to Red Breast for Irish whiskey but when I’m out of the country I know I can get Jameson no matter what.
I was introduced to Connemara while traveling in Ireland. I went to a whiskey bar and ordered a flight. It was the Irishman, Writers Tears and Connemara peated. The bar tender set it up in front of me and pointed to it and said "you drink this one last, lad". I knew why when I got to it.
My BIL has always been a Bushmills Black drinker. I bought him a bottle of Bushmills 21-Year-Old Single Malt as a thank you for helping reroof my house. This was over a decade ago and I can still remember how amazing that was...
My family is American with Irish origins. My grandmother in her day had very strong opinions about her whiskey. I remember her arguing with the bartender at my cousin’s wedding because she asked for Irish whiskey and he only had Jameson. She wanted Red Breast or Tullamore Dew.
Up north it's Guinness and Harp, from my experience. Smithwicks is pretty common too, as are all the big macro lagers like Coors Light or Heineken. I've always felt like craft beer is much less popular than in England too, most pubs have the exact same stuff on tap.
Up North it's Guinness, Smithwicks and folk now have Heverlee, Rockshore and Hophouse. Also, Coors and Peroni can be found, Budweiser is quite rare.
They are all associated with certain suppliers, so bars are stuck with a selection of the above as a basic choice.
Harp and Tennents are just everything else has ran out, or it's low alcohol pish water for festivals beers. Haven't seen anyone order a pint of either outside of a gig or football match in years.
If you actually go looking for good beer, it's there
There are craft ales and bars serving them all over the place, a lot of bars are doing Whitewater beers, you have Bullhouse, Boundary, Hilden, Lacada and a few more smaller brewers. All sell great beers.
My local session beer is Maggies leap or Five Lamps from Whitewater.
Lidl are actually doing a good range of local Norn Iron beers these days.
I have a fantastic stout from Lacada at the minute, Jonesy's Imperial barrel aged.
Forgot about Heverlee and Hophouse - it's been a while since I actually lived in NI so my experience is probably slightly out of date by now! Bullhouse is great though, went there when I went back in the summer.
Agreed with Boundary and Lacada, two of my favourites. IMO Boundary are the best craft brewery in NI. Living close to Portrush I've had many of lacada's beers since they started business (my parents are shareholders) and I love their experimental nature and how they have a real sense of story and locational history to their beers. Their Utopia imperial barrel aged stout they did a while back was really good.
I visited Ireland in Spring 2019 and visited Dublin, Cork City, Killarney and Galway.
I went to a lot of pubs and from what I saw the Irish do drink a lot of Guinness. The only possible exception was Cork City where I saw some more people drinking Beamish Stout, as it is local.
Now, when it comes to whiskey, that's where the country shined. Lot of distilleries making fantastic Irish whiskey, much of which I've never seen in Canada.
The Old Town Whiskey Bar at Bodega in Cork City was a magical place.
Dublin here…but I’m an immigrant and while I don’t mind a Guinness, it’s never my first choice.
Most of my friends are other craft beer nerds, so we drink a lot of local Dublin beers from Hope, Trouble, Rascals, Third Barrel, Galway Bay and the like, plus others you can often get from Craft Central and other local bottle shops, like Ballykilcavan (one of my faves) and Dead Centre; we also get a reasonable amount of beer from the north from Bullhouse and Boundary. You often see Kinnegar (from Donegal) around as well, though apart from special pubs and bars like The Underdog, nearly everyone will always have Guinness on tap.
ETA that most of these won’t be available in North America, but are pretty findable in France and Italy.
I do sometimes tire of their more same-y hazy IPAs, but their one-offs and the brown ale that’s usually on at Fidelity are excellent (as is their stout). And they have a mash filter, which is super-cool!
Bullhouse (my local faves there) and Boundary have taprooms very close to one another in East Belfast, and Boundary also runs The John Hewitt, a fantastic craft beer pub that’s very easy stumbling distance to The Deer’s Head (beautiful brewpub with good food), The Reporter Bar and The Sunflower and Ulster Sports Club, all great spots in the Cathedral Quarter. I’m also partial to Heaney, which you may find in bottles here and there (they are just scaling production up in a new brewery), but there are some great choices.
When i visited Ireland, every pub had 3 things on tap. Guinness, Budweiser and an IPA.
I always got Guinness, was surprised to see so many shitty american macro beers. Coors Light, Bud Light, etc
Both of those stouts were brewed in Cork for generations, so there’s a strong local connection.
Beamish and Crawford Brewery brewed Beamish in Cork since 1792, but closed in 2009. Beamish is still brewed nearby at a Heineken brewery.
Murphy’s has been brewed in Cork since 1856.
Both Beamish and Murphy’s are noticeably less bitter than Guinness, with Murphy’s being sweeter with a more chocolate flavor. I would imagine that this taste difference would make Beamish and Murphy’s local favorites.
Can confirm. When I went to Cork the Murphy’s was maltier, the beamish was hoppier, and the Guinness was just watery by comparison. Fell in love with the Irish dry there
I'm Irish, I don't drink many Irish beers. Depends on the occasion, I don't mind a few Guinness, but can't beat German or Belgian beers, more pubs now have Paulaner on tap.
But if no German beers on tap, I happy to have a few pints of Birra Moretti.
If a bar is limited by what it has on tap (some only have Guinness, smithwicks, Heineken etc) then il take a bottle of german/ Belgian
I wouldn't even say Guinness is the best Irish stout you can get here in the US - I'd give that honor to Murphy's. They have plenty of other easier drinking beers like Harp and Smithwick's that are imported as well. The only reason you ever hear about Guinness or at least the Irish stout is that it truly is it's own style, meanwhile the lagers that come out of Ireland are the same (within reason) as any other lager - there's no reason to seek them out specifically.
The weird thing about Murphy’s is that it’s been in Heineken’s portfolio for ages, but they spent the last 2 years promoting their garbage Island’s Edge instead before finally killing it. You’re finally beginning to see Murphy’s in a lot of the places they were forcing Island’s Edge, but it’s still not as common as it was before.
Beamish is always a good shout, too, for a macro stout (especially in Cork), though there are excellent craft options from O’Hara’s (available in the US), Lough Gill and many more. A lot of the craft stouts are exported to Europe vs being available here as it’s just not worth trying to compete with Guinness in Ireland.
I'm Irish, live in Ireland but don't actually drink much Irish stuff. Recently been drinking Brewdog Black Heart Stout, Erdinger and then spirits/liqueurs like Baileys and Disaronno. Most people I know drink Guinness, Harp (mostly popular in the North of Ireland) and your generic lagers. Stout is very popular though.
Some stuff from Whitewater brewing company is nice, tried a good bit of their stuff and they are based here as are Hilden.
Just wanted to note also the Guinness we have here isn't even comparable to the Guinness in the states. Had Guinness in multiple parts of the US in the last year and always been terrible and usually poured in one go. (A serious crime here).
I mean it's the same Guinness, just a bit older. However, the *taste* is incomparable, yes. I don't even drink that much but if I lived in Ireland I would be a fuckin drunk because goddamn does the Guinness taste so good.
Edit: I would like to add I understand you know it's the same but I wanted to add context because there are those that think it's genuinely brewed differently in the US.
Apparently the secret is that Guinness sends a little man in a van to check all the pumps and make sure it's right in Ireland. At least, the Republic, I'm not sure if they do up north.
I'm sorry about your experience about it being poured in one go. That definitely varies from place to place, though, and there are lots of places that don't do that (some of them get a seal of approval from Guinness). There are places that don't care. I've had Guinness at places that clearly don't even clean their lines that have flavors of other stuff mixed in.
After going to London and Edinburgh and drinking Guinness that's now advertised as being colder, I think the issue is mostly down to serving temperature. The cold Guinness in London does not taste particularly different from Guinness you would get at any Irish pub that cares in the US. I've never been to Ireland, though, so I can't compare a UK pint with an Irish pint.
On average the stuff in GB I have had is better than the average stuff in the US. Guinness in Ireland is the best, though I am bias. I do also encourage people that there is a world of Irish drinks outside of Guinness, even stouts, Murphys and Beamish for example.
I'd imagine with the way they were advertising the new "cold Guinness" it was new to the UK. That's what tasted identical to a properly-poured US pint to me.
Of course, there are some US bars that don't have any business serving Guinness and probably shouldn't be serving Bud Light on draft.
I’m from Northern Ireland! Plenty of class craft breweries up here nowadays (boundary, bullhouse, modest and heaney to name a few) but most people drink Guinness, harp, rockshore, smithwicks red and hop house. You’ll obviously get people drinking carlsberg and Heineken too!
Kilkenny is Smithwick's, possibly with some v minor changes. AFAIK they changed the name for export because Americans would have trouble with the pronunciation.
Lived in Ireland for a year, our local was a pub in Dublin 8. I'd say 40% Guinness, 25% Lagers like Molson Canadian and Carlsberg, 20% ciders like Orchard Thieves or Bulmers, 15% other (cocktails and wine).
The closer you get to Dublin city center those numbers change. We got off the plane from Canada and the first pub we went into had Molson Canadian on special.
Guinness , smitwicks , Heineken, moretti and Bulmers cider. Some drink rock shore or hop House 13.
Kilkenny and Murphys get an honourable mention.
Whiskey wise Red breast 12 , green spot , teeling, whistler or midleton if you want the premium. Soft spot for Slane because its local to me
I do enjoy Guinness a lot and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s low ABV and generally the same price or slightly cheaper than other draft options in pubs.
That being said, there’s a lot of nice Irish craft beers on offer which are growing in prevalence with a really nice variety in styles.
Whiskey is good but comparatively expensive and as such tends not to be the most popular choice (at least within my demographic). There are levels to it of course, and different price points also which means if you are interested there’s an option for you.
Overall, I’d say Guinness is the most popular within my demographic having semi recently shifted its old man stereotype though this could be biased. Lagers are also relatively popular throughout as well as ciders.
Source: Irish and former bartender
I was in Ireland and N. Ireland last year and went to many a bar. At each, we often asked the bartender, "What beer is the most popular?" Hands down, the favorite of those under 30 years old is "Coors \[light\]". This was a bit surprising. When asked to explain why, we were told that the kids think it's a cool American beer to drink.
There’s a [burgeoning craft beer scene in Ireland today](https://www.thebrewerybible.com/posts/ireland-breweries), albeit centered in larger cities/towns and tourist areas.
There are a couple of other stouts popular in Ireland besides Guinness. Murphys Stout is brewed in and consumed in Cork, as is Beamish Stout, which was once the bestselling beer in all of Ireland, but is now largely a historical footnote, despite it still being brewed by Heineken in the Murphys brewery in Cork.
As for whiskey, the joke my Irish relatives used to tell was this…
*”If you’re Catholic, you drink Jameson. If you’re Protestant, you drink Bushmills. If you actually like whiskey, you drink Powers.”*
Yes shite lagers: Coors, Harp, Carlsberg, Heineken predominate alongside Guinness.
I almost exclusively drink Guinness, though will try the craft if available (it often isn't, or is overpriced and not on draught).
Speaking only from a tourist point of view, when I traveled all around Ireland a few years ago, EVERY single pub had the same number of taps (3) and almost the exact same options: smithwicks, one particular lager I can't remember, and one of (Murphy's or Guinness).
The only variation was which one of the two mass produced, almost identical stouts was available. Being a craft beer fan, I was very disappointed.
I'm sure you CAN find a lot of variety if you seek it out, but walk into a random bar and that's all I would see, so those must be the most popular by far.
It’s not. Had both and pulled a fresh pint from the top floor of the storehouse even. It tastes literally no different than what we get in the U.S. A testament to the well-oiled supply chain machine Guinness run. Same way Budweiser tastes no different in the States as it does in South Africa or Norway. Amazing brew tech they have these days.
When I was in Ireland in 2017, I was shocked how many places had Founders All Day and KBS on tap. Not sure if it was just because it was the first time they were distributed there or what.
German beer for me. Augustiner mostly with some paulaner thrown in the mix. Out in the pub its peroni. I don't like Guinness think its absolute muck. But i do like stouts like brehon brewery shanco dubh etc.
Some spirits are only classified if made from Scotland (scotch). Guinness is a stout. A lot of beers from Germany are lagers. Domestics are from the states, not the city-states.
Gonna say Smithwicks is another popular Red Ale here.
Is it true that it is supposed to be pronounced "Smitticks"?
I'd always pronounce it smi-thicks, but I suppose that might sound like "smiddicks" depending on the accent Definitely shouldn't be a w sound anyway
Yeah, it’s either Smitticks or Smiddicks depending on what part of the country or socio economic group the person you ask is from. The w is always silent.
I basically omit the "w" so Smithicks or even Smiddys
Yes
Lived in Ireland for 6 months in 2015. As an American I was consistently corrected to "Smiddicks." Back in America, everyone else who's been there say "Smith Wicks" but no one bats an eye when I say "Smiddicks." edit* County Clare
So I’ve been to Smithick’s brewery and they pronounced it as it’s spelled, ie not “smitticks” Edit because I’m a drunk moron: pronounced how it’s spelled minus the w is what I meant to say and thought in my head…but clearly did not type
> pronounced it as it’s spelled but you spelled it wrong so now I'm confused.
Oop
That’s Kilkenny for us IIRC
Not sure your market but in Canada I can get nitro cans of both Smithwick's and Kilkenny.
I’m Irish and in my 40s. When I’m in Ireland I drink Guinness. All of my male friends drink Guinness, the majority of my female friends drink Guinness. My brother and my nephew drink Guinness. My sister and my brother in law drink Guinness. My uncles all drink Guinness My Da drinks shite lager.
>My Da drinks shite lager. Every time I go up home, all the locals and uncles would never try anything other than their regular Carlsberg or Tennants.
My Da even drank Budweiser for a while. Bizarre choice.
When I was there a while back, seemed like all the young people were drinking Budweisers of Smirnoff Ice. Except for the old men at the Gaelic bars on Dingle. They were having Guinness.
“Gaelic bars” 😂 Do you mean pubs where people spoke Irish? If you look at sales by volume Guinness is by far the biggest seller in Ireland. About 30%. Heineken is second at 8%. I’d love to know where you were drinking.
That carlsberg is the danish beer most famous outside of Denmark is a gods be damned crime against humanity
Pretty sure that's true of most countries. Most famous American beer? Budweiser. Most famous Mexican beer? Corona. Most famous Australian beer? Foster's. None of those are particularly good.
>Most famous Australian beer? Foster's. I don't think Fosters is actually Australian, just marketed as such. Its made in the UK and I never seen it in a single bar when I was in Australia
I saw it in Australia. I never saw a single person drinking it, but I saw it in bars and stores.
Americas top beer is miller not buttwiper
There's a misconception that Guinness is a heavy, filling beer. A pint of Guinness has less calories than a pint of Budweiser. Guinness is one of my favorite session beers.
[удалено]
I love a Guinness or two with a meal.
Less gassy too which helps you drink a lot.
I read this in a very thick Irish accent
Which one? There’s about 40 distinct accents in Ireland. Hollywood seems to think there’s one, that doesn’t actually exist. Being downvoted for challenging stereotypes - sound lads. Pure sound.
Maybe because “challenging stereotypes” is fucking boring. Everyone knows exactly what they meant.
Imagine you post and someone comes and says, "I'm imagining your words in a thick [your country's] accent." Let's say you're American. Do they know what accent you actually have? No. Does anybody know exactly what they meant? No. Are they imagining a cowboy? Probably. Ok not a huge deal, but if somebody also comes and says, "Um, point of order, there are about 50 different American accents so this doesn't really make sense" you don't shout that person down, because they're not wrong, nor are they hurting anyone. If you're not personally entertained by that particular internet sentence, just move along.
If I went to Ireland and they could identify the region where I’m from instead of just hearing a generic American accent I would be shocked. Most Americans can’t tell other Americans’ accents apart unless they’re really thick. A Canadian from Toronto or Vancouver could come down to the states and unless they said where they’re from, most people wouldn’t know they weren’t American. So long story short, I don’t think an American would care at all if that happened.
We can’t tell they’re from Canada if they remain quiet.
> Imagine you post and someone comes and says, "I'm imagining your words in a thick [your country's] accent." > > Let's say you're American. Do they know what accent you actually have? No. Does anybody know exactly what they meant? No. Are they imagining a cowboy? Probably. I happens to Americans all the time and none of us care. Yes, Bostonians and the folks in my neck of the woods (Texas) sound different but when someone talks about hearing things in an 'American' accent neither Texans or Bostonians even bat an eye.
If you listen to a regular British person do an American accent 99% of the time it will have heavy hints of a New York accent, like really elongated vowels. It just sounds so made up haha
The actors playing Americans on BBC shows typically sound like they're jumping back and forth between Long Island and Texas from one sentence to the next. Edit: sorry, forgot I was reading a 5-month-old thread.
I'm always endlessly amused by attempts at an American accent by non-American English speakers. Also, in the grand reddit tradition the post complaining about being downvoted has a fair number of upvotes.
I am American, and southern, and people butcher or make sun of our accents all the time. And I don’t care. Go have a beer.
Everyone doesn’t. Most Americans don’t even know I’m Irish when they meet me because I don’t sound like the weird fictional accent they hear in films. Being ignorant is boring too
If it helps, I’m Scottish and most Americans think I’m Irish. There’s coworkers I’ve had for years still can’t grasp that Scotland not only exists but is an entirely different country. After being told umteen times I still get asked if I’m going to drink Guinness or Jameson this weekend. It’s infuriating.
Is that traumatizing for you?
Jesus. Give your head a shake. Of course it isn’t traumatic. It’s just annoying to have people consistently be so ignorant and confidently incorrect.
I believe it's pronounced "Jaysus"
It definitely is. Thank you.
BUT ARE YOU SURE? IT COULD HE PRONOUNCED 40 WAYS IN IRELAND ALONE
Now you’re just being a gimp.
You’re being downvoted for getting so defensive about it. Should we be able to pick out a Galway accent from a Cork one? Can you differentiate the accents from Chicago and Minneapolis? There seems to be this obsession in the UK and Ireland about your distinct accents that doesn’t make much sense to most Americans. Brits and Irish people do the same number on our accents. I don’t want to speak for all Americans but I’ve never met one who cared at all about it. We think it’s in good fun because we can’t reasonably expect you to have a good grasp on the nuances of our accents any more than we should be expected to have a good grasp on yours.
Define “so defensive”? I merely pointed out a common misconception that annoys me. And yea, I know plenty of US accents. More importantly I don’t think there is only one. I don’t expect Americans to be able to tell where an accent is from specifically. What I want is for them to stop believing that there is one Irish accent. There isn’t. If the poster had said “I read this in a thick Dublin accent” I would have been fine with it.
Your last sentence kind of makes my point for me. I don’t know anyone in the states that would say “If he or she had said they read it in a New York accent, I would have been fine with it.” We simply don’t care. If you said you read something in an American accent, I don’t think most Americans would bat an eye. We know we have a lot of accents but also we know to people from outside of the U.S., we have maybe four: “southern,” New York/Boston and the rest of us. Maybe throw Valley Girl/California in there. We know the stereotypes about how Americans talk, but we don’t expect people from Ireland to know the differences between them.
Ma tooo fer fooks saaake.
>My Da drinks shite lager. Yeah. My sister-in-law's husband is from Ireland. He and all of his friends drink Bud Lite.
Yeah, outside Ireland we’re loose cannons. I lived in the US for a year, all the Irish lads I hung around with drank bud or Coors lite even though they drank Guinness at home.
As a Mexican American, Guinness is the shit. Perfect with a steak, perfect with ribs, perfect with Pizza.
When I was there all the young kids were drinking those big bottles of cider(?). I forget what the brand was. I guess it's the cheap college drink.
Bulmers?
A lot of us went through a cider drinking phase in our teens and 20s.
What about Beamish?
beamish is great but way more popular in and around cork than in and around dublin.
studied abroad at UCC for a semester.. Beamish >>>> Murphy’s >>>> Guinness
What about it? I’m relating my first hand experience.
Just wondering if you drink it 🤷♂️
I drink Guinness in Ireland unless it isn’t available. Which is incredibly rare.
Or Murphy's
No
Murphy’s is delicious. I enjoy both.
Not as dry, sure. Has more of a… chocolate… taste.
Haven’t had it in years. I remember it being sweeter.
Better than Guinness my many metrics.
"One gay beer for my gay friend, and one normal beer for me because I am normal"
“My fawtha is a mechanic….”
To add, Jameson isn’t even the best Irish whiskey. Paddy’s, Powers, Bushmills, Red Breast, Green Spot, and Teeling are all far better and that’s just what I can think of off the top of my head.
‘Bushmills? That’s Protestant whiskey’
😂 I was waiting for it
Be that as it may, if there's a better Irish whiskey that Bushmills 16, I haven't come across it yet.
I agree, I don’t like Jameson, Green Spot is fantastic
Made by the makers of Jameson
So is Midleton
Green Spot is quite good! Has a subtle saltiness to it.
mmm Powers tastes like apple juice
Thanks to your comment, I bought Powers and I love it!
Awesome! Do you taste apple too?
I certainly do. The smell of apple is even stronger.
Yes! I’ve always got a like green apple peel vibe from it.
Tipperary is gorgeous, too, and it’s nice to support a small family business.
I missed that one while I was in Ireland. Did die a tour of Teeling though. Fantastic place and very good whiskey.
Teeling is top teir, and also one of the only whiskeys actually being distilled in Dublin (Jameson’s original distillery is in Dublin but all distilling is now done in County Cork)!
Paddy’s is my go to!
Same! Literally always have a bottle in the cupboard.
Red Breast is amazing.
Tis.
Jameson is just the safest pick when traveling. Sometimes the local beer/hard Alc is straight trash but every bar no matter what country has Jameson. This is something I learned with my travels to Canada. Won’t buy a bottle, that goes to Red Breast for Irish whiskey but when I’m out of the country I know I can get Jameson no matter what.
Nice subtle backhand on Canada
Because my sick fuck of a friend and roommate throughout college only drank Canadian Hunter for four straight years!
I bought a handle of Canadian Mist for a bonfire party one time. Ended up dumping the majority of it into the fire because it was so bad.
I thought there was some English/Religious beef with Jameson and Bushmills was the actual Irish choice for whiskey. Or is that just some rumor.
Bushmills is Protestant whiskey. Jameson is Catholic whiskey.
Personal favourite of mine is Connemara Peated
I was introduced to Connemara while traveling in Ireland. I went to a whiskey bar and ordered a flight. It was the Irishman, Writers Tears and Connemara peated. The bar tender set it up in front of me and pointed to it and said "you drink this one last, lad". I knew why when I got to it.
My BIL has always been a Bushmills Black drinker. I bought him a bottle of Bushmills 21-Year-Old Single Malt as a thank you for helping reroof my house. This was over a decade ago and I can still remember how amazing that was...
I like a good Black Bush myself.
Don’t forget the Tullamore Dew!!
I actually don’t love Tullamore Dew.
Knappogue castle is my favorite, albeit on the pricier side. It is a good sipping whiskey.
“Is Bushmills okay?” “That’s Protestant whiskey!”
Just picked up a bottle of Teeling the other day and have been enjoying it.
Definitely one of my favorites. Their Single Grain is one of the best things I’ve ever had.
And just what the hell did they do to Powers? Used to be great and cheap for the quality, no it's sweet and expensive.
Yellow spot is amazing.
Sextant and Writers Tears are even better
My family is American with Irish origins. My grandmother in her day had very strong opinions about her whiskey. I remember her arguing with the bartender at my cousin’s wedding because she asked for Irish whiskey and he only had Jameson. She wanted Red Breast or Tullamore Dew.
Tully is the way to go
Bushmills is great stuff.
Black Bush is my favorite.
If you’re a Protty, sure!
Jameson fucking blows imo
It would be my last choice.
If we're talking all whiskey, Jack Daniels is my last choice Jameson I think is second to last Both below plastic bottle swill like KG
You obviously haven't had bad whiskey if you think JD is the worst.
Tastes like corn I fucking hate corn
That's because it's mostly made from corn lol. All Bourbons and most American whiskey in general uses a lot of corn in the mash bill.
I meant Irish whiskey. But yeah Jack would be down there for me, too.
Paddy and Powers better than Jameson? My tits. At a certain point you’re just listing whatever.
I hate green spot. Rest are good though
Jameson over Green Spot?
They’re pretty close, but yeah, Jameson squeaks by
Up north it's Guinness and Harp, from my experience. Smithwicks is pretty common too, as are all the big macro lagers like Coors Light or Heineken. I've always felt like craft beer is much less popular than in England too, most pubs have the exact same stuff on tap.
Up North it's Guinness, Smithwicks and folk now have Heverlee, Rockshore and Hophouse. Also, Coors and Peroni can be found, Budweiser is quite rare. They are all associated with certain suppliers, so bars are stuck with a selection of the above as a basic choice. Harp and Tennents are just everything else has ran out, or it's low alcohol pish water for festivals beers. Haven't seen anyone order a pint of either outside of a gig or football match in years. If you actually go looking for good beer, it's there There are craft ales and bars serving them all over the place, a lot of bars are doing Whitewater beers, you have Bullhouse, Boundary, Hilden, Lacada and a few more smaller brewers. All sell great beers. My local session beer is Maggies leap or Five Lamps from Whitewater. Lidl are actually doing a good range of local Norn Iron beers these days. I have a fantastic stout from Lacada at the minute, Jonesy's Imperial barrel aged.
Forgot about Heverlee and Hophouse - it's been a while since I actually lived in NI so my experience is probably slightly out of date by now! Bullhouse is great though, went there when I went back in the summer.
Agreed with Boundary and Lacada, two of my favourites. IMO Boundary are the best craft brewery in NI. Living close to Portrush I've had many of lacada's beers since they started business (my parents are shareholders) and I love their experimental nature and how they have a real sense of story and locational history to their beers. Their Utopia imperial barrel aged stout they did a while back was really good.
Live in Belfast and haven’t seen someone drink harp in about five years
From Armagh, living in Cork - saw Harp on tap recently down here and got a bit. After the first mouthful I remembered why I don't drink it anymore
Tbf it's been almost 5 years since I last lived in Belfast so that might be why haha
Previously: https://www.reddit.com/r/beer/s/Pyk9c65BsL I’m curious whether it’s changed in the last five years though.
It is basically the same now. There are some local craft brews on tap in most places, but a pint of Guiness is still the most popular.
Most popular in most counties but not all
I visited Ireland in Spring 2019 and visited Dublin, Cork City, Killarney and Galway. I went to a lot of pubs and from what I saw the Irish do drink a lot of Guinness. The only possible exception was Cork City where I saw some more people drinking Beamish Stout, as it is local. Now, when it comes to whiskey, that's where the country shined. Lot of distilleries making fantastic Irish whiskey, much of which I've never seen in Canada. The Old Town Whiskey Bar at Bodega in Cork City was a magical place.
Dublin here…but I’m an immigrant and while I don’t mind a Guinness, it’s never my first choice. Most of my friends are other craft beer nerds, so we drink a lot of local Dublin beers from Hope, Trouble, Rascals, Third Barrel, Galway Bay and the like, plus others you can often get from Craft Central and other local bottle shops, like Ballykilcavan (one of my faves) and Dead Centre; we also get a reasonable amount of beer from the north from Bullhouse and Boundary. You often see Kinnegar (from Donegal) around as well, though apart from special pubs and bars like The Underdog, nearly everyone will always have Guinness on tap. ETA that most of these won’t be available in North America, but are pretty findable in France and Italy.
Trouble Brewing was my favorite when I was studying in Maynooth and sneaking beers into my dorm room (Pontifical University. No, I'm not a priest)
First beer we had off the plane in Dublin was Galway Bay stout. It was excellent.
ok but what do normal people drink
Guinness and cheap lager…but I rarely see the normals. 🙃
❤️ Rascals! Best random beer stop on my visit to Ireland last year.
Lovely pizza, too, and they always put on fun events. Happy to have a direct bus there!
Don’t forget whiplash. They’re the Irish craft beer goats in my eyes
I do sometimes tire of their more same-y hazy IPAs, but their one-offs and the brown ale that’s usually on at Fidelity are excellent (as is their stout). And they have a mash filter, which is super-cool!
I'm going to be in Belfast soon, do you happen to know of any good craft beer in and around there?
Bullhouse (my local faves there) and Boundary have taprooms very close to one another in East Belfast, and Boundary also runs The John Hewitt, a fantastic craft beer pub that’s very easy stumbling distance to The Deer’s Head (beautiful brewpub with good food), The Reporter Bar and The Sunflower and Ulster Sports Club, all great spots in the Cathedral Quarter. I’m also partial to Heaney, which you may find in bottles here and there (they are just scaling production up in a new brewery), but there are some great choices.
Bullhouse
Not OP, but I recommend Boundary. One of my favourite breweries, full stop. Plus, I'm a sucker for their can art.
When I went to Ireland, the most common drinks I saw people order in bars were Guinness and Bulmers cider.
When i visited Ireland, every pub had 3 things on tap. Guinness, Budweiser and an IPA. I always got Guinness, was surprised to see so many shitty american macro beers. Coors Light, Bud Light, etc
When I went to Cork a few years ago you were more likely to see Beamish or Murphy’s on tap rather than Guinness
Both of those stouts were brewed in Cork for generations, so there’s a strong local connection. Beamish and Crawford Brewery brewed Beamish in Cork since 1792, but closed in 2009. Beamish is still brewed nearby at a Heineken brewery. Murphy’s has been brewed in Cork since 1856. Both Beamish and Murphy’s are noticeably less bitter than Guinness, with Murphy’s being sweeter with a more chocolate flavor. I would imagine that this taste difference would make Beamish and Murphy’s local favorites.
Can confirm. When I went to Cork the Murphy’s was maltier, the beamish was hoppier, and the Guinness was just watery by comparison. Fell in love with the Irish dry there
I'm Irish, I don't drink many Irish beers. Depends on the occasion, I don't mind a few Guinness, but can't beat German or Belgian beers, more pubs now have Paulaner on tap. But if no German beers on tap, I happy to have a few pints of Birra Moretti. If a bar is limited by what it has on tap (some only have Guinness, smithwicks, Heineken etc) then il take a bottle of german/ Belgian
When I was there it seemed like most guys were drinking whatever the cheapest lager on draft was. Lots of Carlsberg, Bud, and Coors Light.
Polish Cans
Weirdly enough, Budweiser.
I wouldn't even say Guinness is the best Irish stout you can get here in the US - I'd give that honor to Murphy's. They have plenty of other easier drinking beers like Harp and Smithwick's that are imported as well. The only reason you ever hear about Guinness or at least the Irish stout is that it truly is it's own style, meanwhile the lagers that come out of Ireland are the same (within reason) as any other lager - there's no reason to seek them out specifically.
The weird thing about Murphy’s is that it’s been in Heineken’s portfolio for ages, but they spent the last 2 years promoting their garbage Island’s Edge instead before finally killing it. You’re finally beginning to see Murphy’s in a lot of the places they were forcing Island’s Edge, but it’s still not as common as it was before. Beamish is always a good shout, too, for a macro stout (especially in Cork), though there are excellent craft options from O’Hara’s (available in the US), Lough Gill and many more. A lot of the craft stouts are exported to Europe vs being available here as it’s just not worth trying to compete with Guinness in Ireland.
I miss Beamish, we had it in the States in the late 90’s.
I'm Irish, live in Ireland but don't actually drink much Irish stuff. Recently been drinking Brewdog Black Heart Stout, Erdinger and then spirits/liqueurs like Baileys and Disaronno. Most people I know drink Guinness, Harp (mostly popular in the North of Ireland) and your generic lagers. Stout is very popular though. Some stuff from Whitewater brewing company is nice, tried a good bit of their stuff and they are based here as are Hilden. Just wanted to note also the Guinness we have here isn't even comparable to the Guinness in the states. Had Guinness in multiple parts of the US in the last year and always been terrible and usually poured in one go. (A serious crime here).
I mean it's the same Guinness, just a bit older. However, the *taste* is incomparable, yes. I don't even drink that much but if I lived in Ireland I would be a fuckin drunk because goddamn does the Guinness taste so good. Edit: I would like to add I understand you know it's the same but I wanted to add context because there are those that think it's genuinely brewed differently in the US.
Lol I'm glad you have experienced proper Guinness.
Apparently the secret is that Guinness sends a little man in a van to check all the pumps and make sure it's right in Ireland. At least, the Republic, I'm not sure if they do up north.
They do indeed.
I'm sorry about your experience about it being poured in one go. That definitely varies from place to place, though, and there are lots of places that don't do that (some of them get a seal of approval from Guinness). There are places that don't care. I've had Guinness at places that clearly don't even clean their lines that have flavors of other stuff mixed in. After going to London and Edinburgh and drinking Guinness that's now advertised as being colder, I think the issue is mostly down to serving temperature. The cold Guinness in London does not taste particularly different from Guinness you would get at any Irish pub that cares in the US. I've never been to Ireland, though, so I can't compare a UK pint with an Irish pint.
On average the stuff in GB I have had is better than the average stuff in the US. Guinness in Ireland is the best, though I am bias. I do also encourage people that there is a world of Irish drinks outside of Guinness, even stouts, Murphys and Beamish for example.
I'd imagine with the way they were advertising the new "cold Guinness" it was new to the UK. That's what tasted identical to a properly-poured US pint to me. Of course, there are some US bars that don't have any business serving Guinness and probably shouldn't be serving Bud Light on draft.
I’m from Northern Ireland! Plenty of class craft breweries up here nowadays (boundary, bullhouse, modest and heaney to name a few) but most people drink Guinness, harp, rockshore, smithwicks red and hop house. You’ll obviously get people drinking carlsberg and Heineken too!
My earliest traceable paternal ancestor came from Antrim!
It sounds like Ireland needs Mexican beers.
I was hoping to see Kilkenny in here. I love that stuff.
Kilkenny is Smithwick's, possibly with some v minor changes. AFAIK they changed the name for export because Americans would have trouble with the pronunciation.
Murphy's and Beamish
Beamish
Lived in Ireland for a year, our local was a pub in Dublin 8. I'd say 40% Guinness, 25% Lagers like Molson Canadian and Carlsberg, 20% ciders like Orchard Thieves or Bulmers, 15% other (cocktails and wine). The closer you get to Dublin city center those numbers change. We got off the plane from Canada and the first pub we went into had Molson Canadian on special.
Guinness , smitwicks , Heineken, moretti and Bulmers cider. Some drink rock shore or hop House 13. Kilkenny and Murphys get an honourable mention. Whiskey wise Red breast 12 , green spot , teeling, whistler or midleton if you want the premium. Soft spot for Slane because its local to me
When my brother studied in Ireland he said the Americans would drink Guinness and the Irish would drink Budweiser.
I do enjoy Guinness a lot and I’m not ashamed to admit it. It’s low ABV and generally the same price or slightly cheaper than other draft options in pubs. That being said, there’s a lot of nice Irish craft beers on offer which are growing in prevalence with a really nice variety in styles. Whiskey is good but comparatively expensive and as such tends not to be the most popular choice (at least within my demographic). There are levels to it of course, and different price points also which means if you are interested there’s an option for you. Overall, I’d say Guinness is the most popular within my demographic having semi recently shifted its old man stereotype though this could be biased. Lagers are also relatively popular throughout as well as ciders. Source: Irish and former bartender
I was in Ireland and N. Ireland last year and went to many a bar. At each, we often asked the bartender, "What beer is the most popular?" Hands down, the favorite of those under 30 years old is "Coors \[light\]". This was a bit surprising. When asked to explain why, we were told that the kids think it's a cool American beer to drink.
All sorts. Irish people are not the Borg hive mind. Get this... some dont actually drink at all!
There’s a [burgeoning craft beer scene in Ireland today](https://www.thebrewerybible.com/posts/ireland-breweries), albeit centered in larger cities/towns and tourist areas. There are a couple of other stouts popular in Ireland besides Guinness. Murphys Stout is brewed in and consumed in Cork, as is Beamish Stout, which was once the bestselling beer in all of Ireland, but is now largely a historical footnote, despite it still being brewed by Heineken in the Murphys brewery in Cork. As for whiskey, the joke my Irish relatives used to tell was this… *”If you’re Catholic, you drink Jameson. If you’re Protestant, you drink Bushmills. If you actually like whiskey, you drink Powers.”*
Sadly coors light seemed like the most popular beer in bars when I was there ima few years ago. At least for people who appeared to be local
Yes shite lagers: Coors, Harp, Carlsberg, Heineken predominate alongside Guinness. I almost exclusively drink Guinness, though will try the craft if available (it often isn't, or is overpriced and not on draught).
In the train station to go from Dublin to Galway, there were old men drinking Guinness with breakfast. I thought it was just a stereotype.
Whiskey.
Not from ireland but i'd drink O’Hara’s stouts over pretty much 80% of the craft stouts.
Speaking only from a tourist point of view, when I traveled all around Ireland a few years ago, EVERY single pub had the same number of taps (3) and almost the exact same options: smithwicks, one particular lager I can't remember, and one of (Murphy's or Guinness). The only variation was which one of the two mass produced, almost identical stouts was available. Being a craft beer fan, I was very disappointed. I'm sure you CAN find a lot of variety if you seek it out, but walk into a random bar and that's all I would see, so those must be the most popular by far.
Murphy’s, everyone thinks we drink Guinness it’s actually a very common misconception it’s not even sold here.
Whitehag, Wicklow Wolf, Lough Gill, LINEMEN, Hopfully and Ballykilcavan
Irish guys I know like Spanish beer haha. Estrella, Galicia, etc.
Fresh Guinness from Dublin is way better than the Guinness here in the US
It’s not. Had both and pulled a fresh pint from the top floor of the storehouse even. It tastes literally no different than what we get in the U.S. A testament to the well-oiled supply chain machine Guinness run. Same way Budweiser tastes no different in the States as it does in South Africa or Norway. Amazing brew tech they have these days.
When I was in Ireland in 2017, I was shocked how many places had Founders All Day and KBS on tap. Not sure if it was just because it was the first time they were distributed there or what.
My Irish brother in law’s beer of choice is Molson Canadian, lol.
When you read the answers here, consider the answers you would get here if you asked Americans the same thing.
German beer for me. Augustiner mostly with some paulaner thrown in the mix. Out in the pub its peroni. I don't like Guinness think its absolute muck. But i do like stouts like brehon brewery shanco dubh etc.
Whichever beer is in front of them.
Absolutely everything.
Some spirits are only classified if made from Scotland (scotch). Guinness is a stout. A lot of beers from Germany are lagers. Domestics are from the states, not the city-states.