My next St. Patrick’s Week tasting is another offering from Guinness, Harp Lager. I told an Irish friend of mine my line up for the week and he said “ Don’t bother with Harp. It’s crap. That’s the beer that they gave to the prisoners on the boats when they sent them to Australia.” I was fascinated by this bit of Irish Brewing history. Imagine convicts being served beer on their 6 month voyage from the UK to Australia. Between 1788 and 1868, 608 convict ships transported more than 162,000 convicts to Australia. It is estimated that as many as 20% of Australia’s population has convict heritage. And they call us Canadians seal bashers!
I was now more curious than ever regarding the history of Harp Lager, and what I found was the first batch of Harp Lager was brewed in 1960. Perhaps my Irish friend was incorrect, or prone to exaggeration, or both. So from my research I have deduced that in fact there was no beer on the convict ships, these were not cruise ships with buffets and bars.
Interesting that Harp is widely exported but rarely available in the Republic of Ireland.
So how does it taste? Well it is OK I guess. A plain old lager, not exceptional, not bad. Not Guinness’ best effort that’s for sure. Cold refreshing beer, so nothing to carp about but no need for a pen and paper, because there is nothing to write home about either.
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