Ireland v USA - Round Four - Beer!

The vast majority of my readers are Irish-American and a question that often pops up over email is 'So what's it like living in Ireland?'. Well, I am here to serve you, and having spent time in both Ireland and the States I feel qualified to play the two off each other in a series of pieces on exactly where is it better to live, Ireland or the States.

Round four, beer - Let's chop it up.


According to Tripadvisor, these are the three top Beer destinations in the world!

Greatest Beer Destinations
  • Munich, Germany
  • Brussels, Belgium
  • Dublin, Ireland

That's right folks, third place, worldwide. Couple of points here that completely separate beer in Ireland to beer in the States. Basically, choice, quality and venue of consumption of. I'll come right out and say it before I even get into debating it, Ireland is light years ahead of the USA when it comes to beer.

Right off the bat, there's the unbelievably disparity of choice in beer. There's your bog-standard Irish beers, like Guinness, Beamish, Murphys, Harp and Smithwicks. Everyone loves those. Then there's the incredible selection of tasty European beers to pick from, unavailable in the States.


As for quality, well, matching up Irish beer and beer from the States is like the New England Patriots taking on a division three college team. That, ladies and gents, is a mismatch. Come on, someone has to be brave enough to say it, American beer is absolute pig-swill. It's all in the science. Did you know that in Europe there is an actual law preventing beer manufacturers from putting any chemicals whatsoever in their beers? I am not kidding. An actual law.

The fact that US companies have no such issues flooding their 'beers' with chemicals is why so many Americans suffer horrendous hangovers. Those nasty chemicals lead directly to horrific hangovers. It's simple science. Try four German beers against four American 'beers'. The morning after the German beers you would be slightly groggy. The morning after the American beers you would feel like Lindsay Lohan was having a loud tantrum in your head, like, actually inside your skull.

That's evil chemicals for you.

Finally, and this is something you will come to realise if/when you end up in Ireland at some stage in your existence, Irish bars rock. There is a great mix of old and new, particularly in places like Dublin and Galway too. Sure, sure, US bars are fine. Generally, I have no problem with them. I have even had fun in a few. The thing is, Irish bars posses a super atmosphere, something you just can't replicate elsewhere.

You might be sipping a 2% Coors Lite and shaking your head muttering 'USA! USA! USA!' - but once you have tried Irish beer and bars, you'll reluctantly agree.

This is a total mismatch.

Running scoreline; Ireland 3 USA 1

Previous head-to-heads


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Comments

Anonymous said…
When was the last time you were in the States? You can get many different types of good beers these days - the microbrewery craze has officially been kicked in for several years now. Not to mention many of the European brands that you can get here.

But Guinness is my favorite anyways....

And be glad to know that because of reading this website every once in a while this baseball season, I bought the very last copy Amazon had of The Emerald Diamond - Limited Edition Collector's DVD a few days ago.
Anonymous said…
You are so right on the beer thing: it reminds me of a old Monty Python joke...."what does making love in a canoe and American Beer have in common......F#@*ing close to water".. And the hang over factor is next to nothing in Ireland. I remember a night in Cobh, I should have had the hangover of all hangovers, the next day just a slight brain fog. UP the Irish and their BEER !!!!! GOOOOOOO SOX
Anonymous said…
I was nodding my head as I read this. And I realzed all the bars I hang out in here in Boston are Irish bars. Can't wait to get back to Ireland. And GO RED SOX!!!
Ming Sino said…
I can't think of the last time I've paid for a product made by AB, Coors, or Miller and I'm a raging alcoholic.

Hey, when you do the installments on women and cooking, I hope you have some experience outside the northeast. Both get exponentially better the further you get away from the area. I'll put a texas-style slowly smoked steak over any cow-based product in the world.