I chose to try the St. Patricjs Irish Stout as my first homebrew in 15 years or so. Man have extract kits come a long way. Thanks to Mr. Beer. I fermented for 3 weeks. Carbonated for 2 weeks in 16oz bottles with the suggested 1 teaspoon of table sugar per bottle. I added one shot of hot brewed dark roast coffee to half of the bottles too. Conditioned for 1 week at room temperature. Refrigerated for 3 days. The Stout alone was fantastic and the bottles with coffee had a great added dark coffee taste. If you like dark coffee. I plan to do a couple more kits and move to partial mash possibly full mash. Dark Chocolate Coconut American Porter is up next. Mr. Beer has changed the game.

(For the record we ALWAYS need Guinness) BUT this is a great alternative! Really enjoyed this. Follow the 3 week fermentation/4 week conditioned method. Refrigerate for at least three days. This poured a solid black with a tan foamy head. Hints of chocolate barley a little dark fruit/raisin. I usually use slightly less table sugar than Mr. Beer recommends when bottling and yet this still came out a little too carbonated for an irish stout. Next time I'll try using even less sugar. That said it's still really enjoyable -- just closer to a dark ale than a stout imo the way I brewed it. Otherwise this is very similar to the Winter Dark Ale so in other words - excellent!