What’s better than a St. Patrick’s Day party? A St. Patrick’s Day party with home brew!

Three home brews were on hand at the St. Patrick’s Day party we attended on Saturday, March 20.  Two of the beers were brewed by Grateful Ed in Arlington, Virginia, and the third was brewed by RAW Brewing in Washington, D.C. (my brother-in-law Rich).  No bottles for these guys – the home brews were all kegged.

The beers:

• Irish Stout, a roasty, dry stout brewed by Grateful Ed.
• Red Ale, a drinkable, traditional Irish red, also from Grateful Ed, which provided a nice counter to the Stout.
• Brownish Beamish, RAW Brewing’s first beer brewed in a keg!  The color was dark brown, as implied by the name, and with a recipe modeled after Beamish Irish Stout, it was bound to be good.  This was another delicious offering from Rich. The color of this stout is lighter than the original from the Beamish Brewery in Cork, Ireland due to the extra light malt extract added during the brew.  Weighing in at 5.7% ABV, this dry Irish stout packs more of a punch than the true Beamish, with mild roasted grain flavor and a sweeter, malty finish.

Beyond the home brews, we enjoyed the nice buffet and great company at the kid-friendly party, which was hosted by Rob and Therese. We appreciated the invite!

From Left to Right: Homebrewer Rich, Homebrewer Ed, Party Host Rob, and Boa Beer Blog

P.S. I have to note a couple of excellent beers that I had the day before at the Gordon Biersch in Rockville, Maryland. We celebrated the opening Friday of the NCAA basketball tourney with a lunch at Gordon Biersch. Although I like their house beers, I’ve had them a lot, so I’m always interested in the seasonal selections. This visit, we were treated to a thick and tasty Dunkelweizen and a strong Imperial Kolsch. We left with a growler of the Dunkel.