Two pints of plain - Variety is the stout of life

“EAT and drink local produce” is one of the mantras of the age and it would be a pity if yesterday’s announcement, that Beamish & Crawford’s parent Scottish & Newcastle will be taken over by Heineken and Carlsberg, brought the future of Murphy’s or Beamish stout into question.

We are all aware of the dangers of excessive drinking but these drinks have lubricated social intercourse, sporting occasions and very often the fruitful romances of the south of Ireland for generation upon generation.

Beamish & Crawford established in Cork in 1792. The brewery itself dates back to 1602 — just as the gun smoke was lifting from the battle field at Kinsale.

These beers are significant parts of the heritage of the region and have been central characters of so much of southern Irish life for so long that it would greatly diminish the richness and variety of our lives if either went the way of so many other regional drinks.

It would be doubly ironic if this happened at a time when such tremendous efforts are being made in other parts of the world to re-establish local beers lost to the relentless march of globalisation.

It would also spike the guns of many a proud Corkman who, with tongue in cheek, has used the great variety of pleasures available in the southern capital to goad those from less fortunate parts of Ireland. “Shure, we’ve three kinds of porter and if we’re beaten in the football there’s always the hurling...”