One question we get asked more than any other: "Beyond Guinness, what should I be drinking?" Eight names. Each pulled into the line-up because it represents a particular thing the Irish stout scene does well — the heritage, the craft, the hard-to-find, the easy-everyday. Listed alphabetically by brewery to remove any false ranking.
1. Beamish Irish Stout (Heineken Ireland, Cork)
4.1% ABV. The oldest stout brand on the Irish market — established 1792 in Cork by Beamish & Crawford. Now brewed at Heineken Ireland's Lady's Well brewery alongside Murphy's. A drier, quieter, more austere take on the Irish dry stout style than either of its Cork or Dublin competitors. The Cork drinker's stout.
2. Carlow Brewing Co. — O'Hara's Leann Folláin (Carlow)
6.0% ABV. Ireland's leading independently-owned craft Irish dry stout, launched 2013 by Carlow Brewing as a stronger sibling to their flagship O'Hara's Stout. Northdown and Fuggle hops, robust bitterness, dense chocolate-coffee profile. Side-by-side with Forged and Forged loses on every metric except ABV-for-session-fit.
3. Diageo / Guinness — Guinness Draught (St James's Gate, Dublin)
4.2% ABV. The reference. The 1759 brewery, the 1959 nitro invention, the visible benchmark every other Irish dry stout is implicitly compared to. Guinness Draught from a fresh widget can is genuinely good beer; from a poorly-poured pub line, it's not. Worth the trouble of finding a pub that pours it correctly.
4. Forged Irish Stout (Porterhouse, Dublin — under contract)
4.2% ABV. The 2023 entrant. Conor McGregor's brand, contract-brewed by Porterhouse, sold in 440ml widget cans at the same shelf price as Guinness Draught. A competent execution of the nitro Irish dry stout style with a particularly clean dry finish. As a beer it's solid; as "the world's creamiest stout" it's making a marketing claim it can't fully cash. Full review.
5. Heineken Ireland — Murphy's Irish Stout (Cork)
4.0% ABV. The 1856 Cork classic. Smoother and sweeter than Guinness, with a creamy toffee-coffee finish and almost no bitterness. The dessert stout of the Irish heritage trio. Heineken-owned since 1983 but the recipe and Cork-brewed character intact.
6. Porterhouse Brewing Co. — Plain Porter (Dublin)
5.0% ABV. The most-decorated Irish stout in international beer awards: continuous gold and silver medals at the Brewing Industry International Awards since the late 1990s. Same brewery that contract-brews Forged. Read the comparison for what the same brewhouse can do when it's brewing for itself.
7. Whiplash Beer — Slow Life Nitro Stout (Dublin)
~4.5% ABV (varies). Modern Dublin craft, can-only release schedule, sharp design. Slow Life is the Whiplash take on a proper nitro stout — pale, brown, aromatic and chocolate malts, with a dash of Columbus hops. Hard to find in supermarkets; find it in good Dublin off-licences and craft beer shops.
8. Wicklow Wolf Brewing Co. — Oatmeal Stout (Newtownmountkennedy)
~5.5% ABV. Flaked Irish oats give it a thicker body than nitro stouts can match; specialty chocolate and coffee malts give it a richer profile than Forged's restraint. Their Truffle Shuffle (a milk-chocolate-truffle stout collab with Butlers Chocolate) is a separate showstopper if you can find it. Read the Forged comparison.
How to taste them properly
- Don't drink stout too cold. Fridge temperature is fine; ice-cold suppresses the roast notes. Aim for 6–8°C.
- Pour into the right glass. A nonic pint or tulip is ideal. Avoid frosted glasses — they kill the head.
- Wait for nitro stouts to settle. 90 seconds minimum. Cracking the can and pouring straight loses the cascade benefit.
- Pace. Stouts reward attention. Two pints over an evening at a thoughtful pub will tell you more than four cans on a couch.
Read next
- Forged Irish Stout — full review
- Forged compared with the other seven on this list
- The complete Irish stout guide
- Breweries directory