I’d been meaning to have this for ages, and the occasion of KT’s birthday — her being a good friend and fellow stout drinker — provided the perfect excuse, since it’s one of those beers that the brewery made for their own birthday. As if I really need an excuse. But it is awesome, this. Superbly big and smooth, tilting more towards the coffee-ish notes than the chocolatey ones, unless the chocolate you’ve got in mind is the savagely dark bitter yumminess that kinda blurs the difference right out.

Verbatim: O’Hara’s Celebration Stout. 10/1/09 750ml 28$ @ work 6%. Belated birthday drink with KT. And it’s awesome. Super big and smooth. More coffee-ish than chocolate, very nice sideline of yummy dark bitterness. Perfect for the occasion.

Afterthoughts, November 2010: I do like to drink occasion-appropriate beers when I can, and I’d had this in mind for KT’s birthday for weeks after seeing we had this in the fridge. KT is one of those wonderful women I cite as a counter-example when I’m grumping about how people talk about “girly” beers, and seem to have something irrelevantly particular in mind.

Verbatim: O’Hara’s Celtic Stout. 12oz, 4.3%, <$5, 20/08/04, at home. Same brewery as above: Carlow, Ireland. Good n black, but broad, tan bubbles which went wandering too soon. More like uber-dark ale, really. Won a gold at BIIA, 2000. Goes just great with Futurama. G. flinches at the coffee-ness. I must be StoutMan.

Afterthoughts, October 2010: With all the bitter coffee flavour that’s apparently in there, I’m not sure where I thought the line between “uber-dark” and stout lay. I quite like the “less than” signs on the prices for these two Carlow beers, too. Always good to know that I can occasionally remember a ballpark, if the details do escape.

Verbatim: Beamish Stout. 500ml, 4.2% $4ish, 29/3/04, at home with massive steak. It’s dark, and raining. I thought it all work together (one of those days). God bless Mr Widget. Gorgeous bubbles. Smooth, less punch than Guinness, closer to Craic*. Very good everyday stout. Uses cereals and caramel, but it’s not like I’m a mad Bavarian.

Afterthoughts, October 2010: Beamish is still very-much the Overlooked Third of the classic Irish dry stouts, still. Which I still think is unfair. (The *-mark refers further down the page — see the next scan — reminding myself that ‘Craic’ was a very-tasty little number in a similar style, made by the James Squire’s pub in town.) And I’m particularly delighted to see me beginning to mock the silly and undeservedly famous “Bavarian Purity Law” so early on; it’s a subject to which I’ll definitely return…