On the fourth day of St. Patrick, my true love gave to me 4 Harp lagers, 3 Magners Ciders, 2 shots of Paddy, and a pint of Kilkenny. . .
And so our journey continues – showcasing great Irish tipples every day until St. Paddy’s Day. Today’s feature drink is Harp beer, and perhaps no other beverage has a more germane symbol for celebrating Ireland. The harp is the quintessential symbol of Ireland. In fact, the official coat of arms of the Republic of Ireland is a golden harp with silver strings on a St. Patrick’s blue background. The harp also appears on Guinness glasses and on the bottles of today’s feature drink.
Harp lager beer is a relatively new Irish product, being first produced in 1960 by the Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk. In the 1960’s numerous British and Irish brewing companies realized that the trend for drinking light, clean lagers indeed was growing and posed a threat to the ale and stout loving nations of Great Britain and Ireland. As such, they worked together to launch their own lager to rival those found on the continent so that they would not lose share of their home turf. Having limited experience in producing clean tasting lagers themselves, they knew where they needed to look to find an expert – Germany. The expert they found was Dr. Herman Muendar, a traditional German “braumeister” who had extensive experience rebuilding breweries in the Ruhr region which was heavily bombed by the Allies in WWII. And thus Harp was born – the child of an Anglo-Irish brewing syndicate’s funding of a German braumeister.
Harp drinks like many other neat lagers – smooth and tasty. Although there are a plethora of more famous lagers that can be found throughout Central Europe, Harp is unique in that it is Irish (sort of . . .. ). As St. Paddy’s Day approaches, Harp is the clear choice for the lager guy or girl who wants to try something Irish without going the ale or stout route. Although it’s not the most traditional of Irish drinks, all one needs to do is look at the bottle and let the Harp lead you into the rich history and tradition of the Emerald Isle.
Slainte
