Will you be celebrating St Patrick’s Day (17 March) with a couple of pints of stout and a hearty bowl of Irish stew? A couple of hundred years ago, Beamish was by far the biggest brewery in Ireland and brewed the best-selling porter as it then was. Only later was it overtaken by Guinness as Ireland’s biggest brewer, and the rest is history.

Latterly Beamish was passed, as with so many iconic brews from multinational to global. I can remember for a while when I first started drinking, Beamish Stout was available in Scottish and Newcastle pubs, which then owned the brand. Now both Beamish and Murphy’s are both part of Heineken and are very difficult to find on draught outside of Ireland. Meanwhile, Guinness has become almost synonymous with stout and now accounts for more than 10 per cent of all draught beer sales in the UK, but there are other stouts available!

I’m indebted to What’s Brewing contributors Laura Hadland and Matthew Curtis for alerting me to Anspach & Hobday's London Black, which is a real beauty of a beer, but my choice for today’s recipe is Titanic brewery’s Stout. Now, purists will tell you Irish stew doesn’t have beer in the recipe, but being a chef, I will tell you it takes the flavour of the gravy to the next level, the richness and roasted malt complementing the smoky bacon. Titanic’s Stout has plenty of flavour but is not too heavy which makes it ideal to cook with. However, my real secret in making the perfect Irish stew is using two types of potato to help thicken the finished dish. You can make your own lamb stock if the butcher will give you the bones, but a good quality cube is fine.

Irish stew with Titanic Stout

1kg lamb neck (ask your butcher to dice it for you)

200g smoked streaky bacon, cut into strips

650g floury potatoes such as King Edwards, peeled and cubed

650g waxy potatoes such as Desirée, peeled and cubed

3 large onions, peeled and chopped

700g carrots, peeled and chopped

100g pearl barley

1 bottle of Titanic Stout

2 lamb stock cubes

50ml vegetable oil

1 large piece of rosemary

2 bay leaves

Handful fresh parsley, washed and finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat your oven to 325F/160C/gas mark 3. Gently heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole and cook the bacon until crisp. Carefully remove with a slotted spoon and start to cook the lamb in batches until seared and brown on all sides. Remove the lamb and then soften the onions and carrots, cooking slowly for around 15 minutes.

Add the pearl barley and stir before returning the bacon and lamb to the pan. Add the herbs and stock cubes, then pour in the beer. Add sufficient freshly boiled water to generously cover the contents then bring to a simmer.

Spoon the potato chunks onto the top of the stew, cover, then place in the oven for around 90 minutes until the potatoes are soft and the meat is tender. Stir the stew with a wooden spoon so that the floury potatoes start to break down and thicken the dish. Season and serve.