- Beer in Ireland
Beer in Ireland is dominated by stout.
Brewing in
Ireland has a long history, and by the beginning of the nineteenth century there were over two hundred breweries in the country, fifty-five of them inDublin . During the nineteenth century the number of breweries fell to about fifty, and today only about 12.Historically
Ireland producedale , without the use ofhops as these are not native to Ireland. Even in the late 18th century hops were not used, when almost all other countries had adopted the use of them as an ingredient to preserve and flavour theirbeer .Most beer was imported from
England ,Scotland andWales in the eighteenth century. However in 1756Arthur Guinness set up a smallbrewery , moving toDublin in 1759. Having initially brewed bitter, he switched to producing porter, which was a style fromLondon . Unlike theLondon beers he used some unmalted roasted barley, as this avoided tax (which was on malted barley only), making it more bitter and dry. In the early twentieth century Guinness became the largest brewer in the world, exporting the Irish style to many countries.Lager brewing
The first
lager brewery in Ireland was set up inDartry , Dublin, in 1891, but did not survive very long. Lager was later brewed for a short period inKells , in the Regal Brewery.Harp Lager has been brewed inDundalk since 1960.In 1959, the consumpution of lager in Ireland and
United Kingdom was five times greater than the 1950s figure elsewhere, and the potential of brewing and marketing lager with a traditional continental character in the islands was realised.Irish red ale
The ales produced in Ireland are now largely in the
Irish red ale style, with a slight red colour, generally not very strong (although export versions are often stronger).tout
Stout brewed by
Guinness (and the smaller brewersMurphy's and Beamish) dominated domestic beer consumption in Ireland, withlager (Harp Lager ) andale (Smithwick's , Macardle's andCherry's ) having much smaller shares. Much more recently (beginning in the 1990s) small, craft-brewing brewpubs such as theFranciscan Well Brewpub in Cork, theBiddy Early Brewery inCounty Clare and a number of small breweries inDublin have started to brew and sell their own distinctive and popular beers. Dublin Brewpubs include Messrs Maguire on Burgh Quay and The Porter House on Parliament Street.References
Notes
Bibliography
* Protz, Roger. "The Complete Guide to World Beer". ISBN 1-84442-865-6.
External links
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