Hello, everyone. It is four days until St. Patrick's Day, and we're going to honor such a notable holiday with four different Irish beers. Now, I will quickly note that these beers generally are wide commercial releases. This more or less can't be helped, as microbrews/craft beers FROM Ireland typically will not make it across the ocean to North America. So, we take what we can get, starting with arguably the widest release of the four: Smithwick's Irish Ale.

A Guinness product, Smithwick's is stylistically an Irish Red Ale. The most common Irish Reds available in the U.S. are made by Killian's and Samuel Adams. Smithwick's is typically better than either of those. It pours a pretty bold red color with perhaps some brownish hints, and has a nice pillowy light tan head. Upon drinking, the first notes are sweet notes along with some dark fruits. As my palate adapts, I find there is less sweetness that is replaced with just a small hint of hoppy bitterness. These notes gradually lead into maltiness and a hint of roast towards the back end of the sip.