CRAFTconditioned

It’s that time of year again when everyone wants to be Irish, at least for a few hours. To many, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day means wearing green and getting drunk. Myself, I enjoy the drinking, but I also like to reconnect with the culture a bit. I’ve lived in Ireland on and off over the years, so I have a soft spot for the feast day as a cultural expression.

While I write this, I’m enjoying a new batch of oatmeal stout I recently brewed with a friend, and I’m catching up on one of the Irish rugby team’s Six Nations matches. Sure, this is more pretentious than most Americans would aim for, but there are many little things revelers this weekend can do to step up their game and evolve beyond amateur drinking in order to pay homage to the Irish culture.

* Learn some Irish and know how to pronounce it. I suggest “Sláinte” (cheers), “Slan abhaile” (safe home/good night), and “Lá ‘le Pádraig sona duit”  (Happy St Patrick’s Day to you). Here’s a kind of cheesy site with helpful audio to hone your pronunciation.

* Avoid artificially green food. Most times, it only results in food failure. If you want to be festive and enjoy some Irish fare, there are plenty of delicious options without pulling out the food coloring. Some of my favorites, which aren’t a lot of effort, are to drizzle a little Baileys on my oatmeal, whip together an Irish breakfast, swap mashed potatoes for colcannon, or enjoy some fish and chips after a beer or two.

* Pour something more than Guinness. St. Patrick’s Day is as good an excuse as any to sample a variety of Irish beverages.

1. As I already mentioned, you can start your day with a bit of Baileys or try a breakfast tea like Barry’s.

2. Come mid-day, you may start looking for something stronger. Since it will be difficult to find a well-poured pint of Guinness due to demand, consider trying an alternative. I’d go through the variety of other Irish or Irish-style beers, but I believe Greg Engert is spot on with his recommendations. I’ll add that Murphy’s cans retain the sweeter creaminess of the original stout whereas the US draught tends to have an unfortunate metallic taste. And sample some Guinness Foreign Extra if you can find it. This stronger, slightly bitter variation is the Guinness known to most of the rest of the world.

3. If you’re looking for something stronger still, there’s always the Jamesons and Bushmills, but I suggest trying something different. Powers is becoming increasingly more popular in the U.S., and offers a more peppery alternative to the standard Irish blends. Connemara is a double-distilled peaty single malt. And I particularly like Knappogue Castle, a triple-distilled single malt with a cleaner, smoother flavor. For tomorrow, I’m eyeing up some Midleton single pot still samples I picked up the last time I was in Dublin.

* Know your limit and pace yourself however you choose to celebrate this weekend and whatever you choice to drink. You honor no culture by acting like it’s amateur hour.

Most importantly, embrace the craic, have fun, enjoy the company of your friends, and get talking to the fellow next to you because he’ll soon be your friend, too.

Lá ‘le Pádraig sona daoibh!