A Stout for "The Session"

Wine bloggers do it, food bloggers do it, and now beer bloggers, too. It is The
Session, a single day per month when the beer-obsessed denizens of the Internet turn their collective attention to a single style of beer, sampling one brand and recording their thoughts online. It’s the brainchild of Stan Hieronymus of Appellation Beer, and today is its first ever installment.

Elsewhere in cyberspace, I’ve devoted an entry to a most unusual stout from Scandinavia, flavored with equally unusual ingredients. But since the Jacobsen Coffee Mint Stout isn’t likely to pop up on tap around town any time soon, I offer instead here one of the few – read: the only – Irish owned, independently produced stouts from the Emerald Isle available on American soil. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you O’Hara’s Irish Stout.

But first, by way of explaining that Irish owned and independent part above, I should note that the “Big Three” of Irish stout, Murphy’s, Beamish and, of course, Guinness, are respectively from big breweries owned by the Dutch (Heineken), the British (Scottish & Newcastle) and the British (Diageo).

O’Hara’s, on the other hand, is from the family-owned Carlow Brewing Company, conceived, controlled and more-or-less operated by Seamus O’Hara, his brother and his wife. It’s also a lovely pint, pitch black in colour and complex, roasty, almost winey in aroma. A bit bigger and plenty bolder than its larger kin, O’Hara’s offers a hint of chocolaty sweetness up front, flowing into a firmly malty, yet dry and roasty character ending moderately bitter and just faintly tart.

All told, it’s a fine and fitting stout for all the celebrations on and surrounding March 17, including slurping oysters, satiating yourself with Irish stew or just raising a pint or two with friends old and new. O’Hara’s Irish Stout is imported by Distinguished Brands International.