Going to an Irish Bar

[griffer]

If it's a real Irish Bar, don't order a "Black & Tan".

For the Irish, that phrase refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force deployed in the 20s against the IRA, and more recently refers to any British soldier.

Order Black & Tans in Brtish pubs.

 

[Chiliarches]

If it's a real Irish Bar, don't order a "Black & Tan".

For the Irish, that phrase refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force deployed in the 20s against the IRA, and more recently refers to any British soldier.

Order Black & Tans in Brtish pubs.

Now there's an interesting factoid!

 

[djhatman]

Thanks for all the great info. I never knew this would take off like it has.

 

[Fletch]

"The notion that some Irish whiskey is Catholic and some Protestant is an American canard."
-Roy Blount, Jr., humorist, sportswriter, American, drinker

 

[rkwilker]

Might I suggest Redbreast whiskey. I drink mine neat but its also good on the rocks.

 

[Boodles]

Try "half and half" rather than "Black & Tan"

If it's a real Irish Bar, don't order a "Black & Tan".

For the Irish, that phrase refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force deployed in the 20s against the IRA, and more recently refers to any British soldier.

Order Black & Tans in Brtish pubs.

If you must dilute the good stuff.

 

[Boodles]

Redbreast is most excellent

Might I suggest Redbreast whiskey. I drink mine neat but its also good on the rocks.

Redbreast is one I like a lot. The good news for those of us in NC is that it's carried as a stock item in many ABC stores these days. Bad news is the $$$. I like Black Bush and the Bush 10 Year Malt. In my save for a special day stash I have bottles of the Bushmills 12 year, 16 year and 21 year. These were all picked up at the distillery. I'm stingy with this stuff. The Tullamore Dew I bought locally seems more suited for soaking felt hats than drinking. Jameson 12 and Gold are tasty to me. John Powers I find a bit unremarkable. The version we get in my neck 'o the wood is probably not their best work. The Connemara I've tried and really liked is finished in sherry casks, I think. Finally, I get to my absolute favorite which is Midleton. This is a blend of some of the best whisky I've every tasted. My first taste of the stuff came at the Rathmullen House, in Rathmullen, while sitting on a bench, nearing sunset, looking over Lough Swilly, watching about 100 crows jockey for a choice roost in a dead tree. Oh, and there was a rainbow over the Lough. Woo wee.

 

[rkwilker]

I agree with Boodles. Very nice summary. I am also a fan of the various Bushmills.

 

[Edward]

Poitin straight up is quite good.

I believe you mean Poteen? There is a form of it which can now be bought on sale in the Republic (and in Belfast, if you know where to look), perfectly legally. Looks like vodka, tastes more like a smooth whiskey. If you're after the real thing, it's still illegal, and forf good reason: if not properly distilled, it can send you blind, or even prove fatal!

Bushmills is considered by some as Protestant and Jameson's Catholic.
As far as I know this is based on nothing more than the location of the distilleries.

This is hilarious, and I suspect an American thing (actually, it sounds like the sort of daft story we used to love feeding to gullible American tourists.... lol ). Born and bred in Norn Irn, and never have i heard of this before! lol

Bushmills is distilled in one of the oldest stills in the country in Northern Antrim,

Bushmills Distillery, est (from memory) 1609, lay claim to being the oldest licensed distillery in the world.

If it's a real Irish Bar, don't order a "Black & Tan".

For the Irish, that phrase refers to the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force deployed in the 20s against the IRA, and more recently refers to any British soldier.

Order Black & Tans in Brtish pubs.

I've never heard of this as a drink, what's in it?

As to the matter of the inspiration for the name.... The Royal Irish Constabulary were the pre-1922 police force in Ireland (dating to the very early 1800s). The "Black and Tans" were not the RIC per se, but rather a special RIC Reserve Force that was deployed by the British during 1920 and 21, at the height of the Irish War of Independence. Unlike the RIC, who were local boys, the Tans were recruited from British cities, and were often ex-servicemen- typically men who had seen action in the trenches in France and found themselves unable to settle back into civilian life post-November 1918. Their reputation for brutality was well deserved, with reprisals against the civilian Irish population being a common response to IRA attacks on their ranks. To be fair, many of them were in all likelihood suffering from a form of PTSD, albeit one with differing symptoms than those who at the time were considered to be victims of 'shellshock'. Typical behaviour of these units is well depicted in Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Although designed to break the IRA, the activities of the Tans actually did much to shore up support for it.

The 'black and tans' nickname arose as a result of a shortage of uniforms at the time: the regular RIC black-green was supplemented with British army khaki, and any one man would likely end up wearing a uniform with any mix of the two colours across hat, tunic and trousers, depending upon local availability of appropriate sizing for him. The name actually comes from the Limerick Scarteen Black and Tans Foxhounds (still in existence, I believe). Later uniforms were standardised in RIC green, but of course by that far into the Tan War, the name stuck.

 

[Boodles]

Black & Tan

Mr. Edward, the Black & Tan may well be an invention of the "Colonies" for all I know. I cannot claim to know all the versions of the drink, if there are any, but in bars in the states the Black & Tan is about 1/2 Bass and 1/2 Guinnie. Owing to it's gravity, the Guinnie is poured first with little if any head and topped of with the Bass. If poured slowly and because of the difference in gravity of the Bass and Guinnie the two will remain separated, sort of. It's not such a bad drink but I'd not be caught dead ordering up such an adulteration in Ireland or, for that matter, in a bar in the states which is staffed with folks from the homeland. It just isn't done; it's almost on par with those who wear their 8 panel hats with the peak facing where they have been.

 

[MisterCairo]

Black and Tan is common in Canadian pubs (proper pubs - over here, almost anything calling itself "Irish" is about as Irish as the Queen's t@*s.

Bass and Guiness as described usually, or Guiness and an Irish lager. In fact, Guiness is familiar with the drink, and how it is different from a half and half:

http://www.ivo.se/guinness/bnt.html

Not well known in Ireland, though, apparently:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tan

Indeed, it was once bottled and sold in Ontario, Canada, but the brand has since been retired:

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/algonquin-black-and-tan/7140/

 

[Edward]

Black and Tan is common in Canadian pubs (proper pubs - over here, almost anything calling itself "Irish" is about as Irish as the Queen's t@*s.

lol It's much the same here in England.... despite the fact that there
's so many of us over here!

 

[Edward]

Mr. Edward, the Black & Tan may well be an invention of the "Colonies" for all I know. I cannot claim to know all the versions of the drink, if there are any, but in bars in the states the Black & Tan is about 1/2 Bass and 1/2 Guinnie. Owing to it's gravity, the Guinnie is poured first with little if any head and topped of with the Bass. If poured slowly and because of the difference in gravity of the Bass and Guinnie the two will remain separated, sort of. It's not such a bad drink but I'd not be caught dead ordering up such an adulteration in Ireland or, for that matter, in a bar in the states which is staffed with folks from the homeland. It just isn't done; it's almost on par with those who wear their 8 panel hats with the peak facing where they have been.

heh, yeah, i suspect it's a 'forn' thing. I' never heard of a car bomb either til i saw themm on a menu in Hong Kong.

 

[MisterCairo]

Anyone for a depth charge?

 

[ClothesHorse]

In your Black and Tan- The Guiness is on the top, not the bottom. But it is yummy. While the Black and Tan is not commonly served in Ireland, beers have often been mixed, not layered, in British Isles traditions. This process went out of favor about the turn of the century (19th/20th). When better malting and roasting processes allowed for cheaper, better, more consistant, and varied types of maltings.

All the best,

CH

 

[Boodles]

Smithwicks - Edward, may I ask...

heh, yeah, i suspect it's a 'forn' thing. I' never heard of a car bomb either til i saw themm on a menu in Hong Kong.

Recently we were called on our pronunciation of the brand name Smithwicks. This happened in one of the pseudo Irish bars in town, a nice place but just a few to many pompous barkeeps. The barkeep is saying we should pronounce Smithwicks as Smith icks, rather than Smith wicks. No W. On my last trip to Ireland no one called me on the pronunciation. Were the real Irish just being nice?

 

[Boodles]

Guinness on top...of course you are correct

In your Black and Tan- The Guiness is on the top, not the bottom. But it is yummy. While the Black and Tan is not commonly served in Ireland, beers have often been mixed, not layered, in British Isles traditions. This process went out of favor about the turn of the century (19th/20th). When better malting and roasting processes allowed for cheaper, better, more consistant, and varied types of maltings.

All the best,

CH

I have no idea what I was thinking when I said the opposite. The spoon, which hangs on the tap on a chain, is used to lessen the effects of the two layers mixing when the Guinness is poured on top of the Bass or whatever.

 

[MisterCairo]

Recently we were called on our pronunciation of the brand name Smithwicks. This happened in one of the pseudo Irish bars in town, a nice place but just a few to many pompous barkeeps. The barkeep is saying we should pronounce Smithwicks as Smith icks, rather than Smith wicks. No W. On my last trip to Ireland no one called me on the pronunciation. Were the real Irish just being nice?

I pronounce it "Smith - icks". No one ever told me that specifically, but generally, to my understanding, in Britain and Ireland the 'w' in certain words or names is either VERY softly pronounced, or, to most ears, not pronounced at all.

Other uses do see the w pronounced, like the Charles Dickens novel the Pickwick Papers (pick - wick).

My favourite pronunciation debate centres on "Worcestershire Sauce". Always a fun discussion!

 

[Subvet642]

My favourite pronunciation debate centres on "Worcestershire Sauce". Always a fun discussion!

Woosta-sheah! lol

 

["Skeet" McD]

le patois Bostonaise....

Woosta-sheah! lol

Wicked local. "Go Sawks!"

"Skeet"