Four local brews made the Irish way
The poetic version of how green beer was created credits Irish pub keepers: They dropped a clover into pints of beer for good luck, and patrons were happy to drink them down.
Another blames a New York City coroner who put blue dye in a glass and turned the beer green. Gaudy “Kiss Me I’m Irish” T-shirts and ugly pub crawls followed.
There are better ways to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland. In Galway, for instance, they throw a daylong party where Guinness flows and live music breaks out on the city’s ancient stone streets.
You probably can’t get to Galway on short notice. But you can get Guinness Extra Stout in metro Milwaukee. Or you might try one of these Irish-inspired alternatives.
Third Space Brewing 1505 W. St. Paul Ave.
Unbridled Enthusiasm, Double IPA ABV: 8% Third Space calls Unbridled Enthusiasm its version of “green beer.” That’s because it’s packed with so many hops the beer actually looks green in the tank as it ferments. The hops drop out before kegging, and the finished beer is a hazy gold color, said brewmaster Kevin Wright.
The beer will be released on Friday. The brewery opens at 9 a.m.
“The special Double Dry Hopping method will provide amazingly intense aromas and flavors of grapefruit, tangerine, passion fruit, papaya and blueberries,” Wright said.
Anywhere else, the brew would be compared to a North East IPA, beers known for their hazy appearance and bursts of fruit flavor — so the opposite of flat green beer.
Water Street Brewery
Four locations: 1101 N. Water St., Milwaukee; 2615 Washington St., Grafton; 3191 Golf Road, Delafield; 140 West Town Square Way, Oak Creek Irish Breakfast Stout ABV: 5.5% Water Street Brewery is already pouring its Irish Breakfast Stout, the 30th iteration of the pioneer brewpub’s Irish Stout.
“I occasionally do a Wisconsin Breakfast Brown, breakfast-type ingredients in a brown ale,” said brewmaster George Bluvas. “I thought for St. Pat’s Day, why not modify our traditional Irish Stout in a similar fashion?”
Bluvas added a little potato to the mash “and oats, which served by itself would be called porridge. Porridge is often sweetened with molasses, called treacle, and you’d wash it down with a glass of milk. So we added molasses and lactose (milk sugar) to balance the finished beer with some sweetness.”
But Bluvas didn’t stop there. He aged the brew in whiskey wood for a dark beer with hints of cocoa and wood. It’s on tap at all four Water Street locations.
City Lights Brewing 2210 W. Mount Vernon Ave.
City Lights Irish Red Ale ABV: 4.9% This is the fledgling brewery’s first collaborative brew between head brewer Jimmy Gohsman and David Ryder, chief innovation officer at the brewery (and former vice president of brewing, research, innovation and quality for MillerCoors).
City Lights will open at 6 a.m. on March 17 to serve its Irish Red, described as a traditional Irish Red with a mild, sweet finish.
Sprecher Brewing Co. 701 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale
Irish Stout ABV: 5.73% Sprecher calls the beer a “tribute to Ireland.” The taste is sprinkled with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and dark coffee.