The honest comparison most marketing copy avoids. Forged is a 4.2% nitro Irish dry stout with a celebrity brand. Leann Folláin (Irish for "wholesome ale") is the 6.0% flagship craft Irish stout from Carlow Brewing Company, the only one of the four heritage Irish stout-producing companies still independently Irish-owned. They are not in the same weight class, and that's exactly why the comparison matters.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Forged Irish Stout | O'Hara's Leann Folláin |
|---|---|---|
| ABV | 4.2% | 6.0% |
| Style | Nitro Irish dry stout | Stronger Irish dry stout (extra stout) |
| Brewery | Porterhouse, Dublin (under contract) | Carlow Brewing Co., Bagenalstown, Carlow |
| Brewery founded | 1996 (Porterhouse) · 2020 (Forged brand) | 1996 (Carlow Brewing) · Leann Folláin launched 2013 |
| Owner | Conor McGregor / Forged Dublin Brewery | O'Hara family (independent, family-owned) |
| Hops | Restrained / unspecified | Northdown and Fuggle hops (English varieties) |
How they taste
Forged is the smooth, low-bitterness session option. Leann Folláin is something else entirely — a complex, layered, robustly bitter Irish dry stout that announces itself the moment it hits the glass. The chocolate notes are darker; the coffee character is fuller; the hop bitterness is genuinely present (a rarity in modern Irish dry stouts); and the 6% ABV gives it a body and warmth Forged simply doesn't have access to at 4.2%.
Drinking them in sequence is instructive. Forged drinks like a session stout brewed to fit the nitro-Guinness template. Leann Folláin drinks like a stout brewed by people who care about stout for its own sake. The difference is not subtle.
The verdict
Forged vs O'Hara's Leann Folláin
Different weight classes — Leann Folláin wins on every metric except availability
If we're scoring purely on the beer in the glass, Leann Folláin is in a different league: more flavour, more layers, more honest brewer-led identity. Forged's only structural advantages are its lower ABV (genuinely useful for some occasions) and its broader supermarket distribution. If you've never had Leann Folláin, treat the next twelve months of stout-buying as your chance to fix that. Carlow Brewing has been the standard-bearer for Irish craft stout for thirty years, and Leann Folláin is the best contemporary expression of the Irish dry-stout tradition you can put on your kitchen table.
Pick Forged if…
- You want a session-strength stout (4.2% lets you have two; 6% really doesn't)
- You can't find O'Hara's locally — Forged is much more widely distributed at supermarket level
- You're a McGregor fan
Pick O'Hara's Leann Folláin if…
- You care about flavour intensity
- You want to support an independent Irish family brewery
- You want to drink the stout that actually represents what contemporary Irish brewing can do
- You're cooking — Leann Folláin is genuinely useful in beef stews, chocolate puddings, and Irish stew braises
Read next
- The full Forged Irish Stout review
- Forged vs Porterhouse Plain Porter
- Forged vs Wicklow Wolf Stout
- All comparisons