{"id":5003,"date":"2022-03-16T16:45:58","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T16:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/?p=5003"},"modified":"2022-03-24T19:57:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T19:57:41","slug":"the-official-eatmcr-guinness-guide-for-st-patricks-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eatmcr.co.uk\/guides\/the-official-eatmcr-guinness-guide-for-st-patricks-day\/","title":{"rendered":"The Official EATMCR Guinness Guide For St.Patrick’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night \u2013
A pint of plain is your only man.<\/em><\/p>– ‘Workman’s Friend’, Brian O’Nolan<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The delicate thunk that emanates from the base of a tulip glass gently connecting with walnut echoes beautifully throughout an empty pub, with only the barmaid and the horse racing on TV for company. Nitrogen bubbles cascade southwards through a swirling storm of chocolate brown, eventually settling into a shade of black darker than a pair of priest’s socks. A millimetre or so above the iconic golden harp sits the silk soft cream, resting tranquilly atop the impenetrable depth of stout. You’ve waited patiently, now you slowly, triumphantly hoist the pint towards your lips and within a nanosecond are beguiled by the serenity of the whole experience. Whatever catastrophe and chaos lies on the other side of the door can wait, because you’ve got all you need right here.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guinness is fucking brilliant, isn’t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Stuff from St.James’ Gate has been easing anxieties and fuelling festivities since 1759 and will be in full flow across Manchester this Thursday to mark the annual St.Patrick’s Day celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that even a tepid St.Pat’s can resemble scenes akin to Ireland completing the World Cup and Eurovision double, it’s nigh on impossible to contemplate what a first non-lockdown effort since 2019, which also coincides with the Cheltenham Festival, will entail. Imagine the delirium of Stephenson Square during the latter stages of Euro 2020, only crammed into every single pub in Manchester for an entire day with an emerald green colour scheme, and you’re probably along the right track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which makes the need for the ideal locations in which to enjoy a perfectly poured Guinness all the more pressing. Let’s face it, what good is a decent pint if you can’t take a single uninterrupted sip without being knocked arse over elbow by some giddy knobhead on their one non-Christmas related pub visit of the year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following on from 2021’s groundbreaking, critically acclaimed, trailblazing EATMCR Chip Safari<\/a>, we took it upon ourselves to deliver another tour, this time as a public service. We wanted to ensure our readers were only frequenting the top tier establishments this St.Patrick’s Day, while on the lookout for the finest Irish import to hit the city not named Roy Keane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon piecing the plan together, one of the fundamental aims was to avoid over-earnest Guinness snobbery. We’ve all had a good laugh at the Shit London Guinness account on instagram, of course, but the desire of many very online bores to dissect every pint they come across is an exercise so fucking exhausting it almost ruins Dublin’s finest for you forever. Then again, we were also not going to suffer any gimmicky nonsense like serving the Black Stuff out of a fucking Toby jug or anything similarly fucking absurd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The philosophical mantra that resonated with us most ahead of mapping out our route came courtesy of everyone’s favourite Vada Pav merchants, Bundobust who, responding to a tweet of ours looking for recommendations, exclaimed ever so profoundly that “the best Guinness is in your head”<\/em> and, not to get too bus stop shaman on everyone, but we can fuck with Guinness being a state of mind over it being a merciless ‘Pineapple has no place on a pizza’ discussion for personality vacuums on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The best Guinness is in your head + all the pubs that @FullFatIngham<\/a> said.<\/p>— Bundobust Brewery (@bundobrewery) March 4, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>