Diageo
Ireland, 5%
 
Claiming to be Northern Ireland’s number one lager, Harp was the first lager I ever tried; mainly because it was what the kind bloke who went to the offie for an underage me brought back. The advertising slogan of ‘Harp stays sharp to the bottom of the glass’ made it sound cool to drink, and when I first tried that warm, frothy, alien beverage it was my holy baptism into manhood. Or so I thought. The best thing about Harp (other than that slogan created by advertising maestro Rod Allen) was when they brought Irish Harp out in 1997 – again, with genius advertising. You could do a silly dance as you asked for a pint, laughing smugly like you were the first person to do so while the serving wench called you a rude word under her breath. Harp was a Guinness company product, bearing a Brian Boru Harp as its famous emblem until Diageo changed all that in 2005 when it separated the brand from Guinness and the Guinness-owned harp. So Harp doesn’t even have a harp as a logo now. How rubbish is that? You have to go to Canada or USA to find a Harp lager with a harp on the side these days. They always ruin stuff. But not the taste… Harp has won six gold medals in the Monde Selection beer tasting competition, and is smooth, and, well… makes you want to drink more. And more. Which was my excuse the next day. SW