Ireland

9th January 201924th May 2011 by William Adams

Date Consumed: ?
Beer: Guinness Foreign Extra Stout
Brewed: St. James’s Gate Brewery, Dublin, Ireland
Size: 330mL
Alcohol Content: 7.5%
Sourced: Noble Green Wines, Hampton Hill, London, United Kingdom
World Beer Rating: 8/10
Notes: It’s the world famous Guinness and it’s a high alcohol export version from Ireland itself. Should be enough to score high marks and it does… just. Wonderful strong oaky stout flavour, complex but not too overwhelming. Noticed a distinct alcohol flavour which doesn’t do the stout any justice. Not the best Guinness can produce but I understand the requirement that this beer might remain in the bottle for quite a time and needs to remain drinkable. I would rate the draft version higher, only because it’s fresher.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Ireland

Date Consumed: ?
Beer: Harp Lager
Brewed: Dundalk, Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland
Size: 355mL
Alcohol Content: 4.3%
Sourced: The Beer Cellar Website (online), Hamilton, New Zealand
World Beer Rating: 5/10
Notes: Pretty average beer.

Harp Lager, Ireland

Beer! The world's most widely consumed and oldest alcoholic beverage. Such is the importance of beer in modern society that beer is the third most popular drink in the world, behind water and tea. As such, beer is produced in many of the world's countries, with little variation on the ingredients used; water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Despite the simplicity of just four ingredients, there are huge variations in the taste of beer.

Whilst it's true that many countries produce many beers, it is a rather more difficult challenge to consume a beer from every country that produces the stuff. The beer must be brewed in the country of origin and not brewed under license overseas.

This challenge started on 6th March 2011. Each country has it's own blog post. You will often see multiple beer entries in each country. This is because either 1) the original beer was so horrible the country deserves a second chance 2) I picked up a very obscure beer and it deserves to be listed 3) I wanted to review a spectrum of beers over the course.

If you have access to a beer from a country that I have not been able to drink yet, drop me a line at william@wkadams.com and we'll sort out a reward in exchange! I live in London, United Kingdom but started this challenge in Sydney, Australia.