Well, tomorrow is the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in Rochester, and once again our Irish band, the Sisters of Murphy, will be playing at High Fidelity, on East Avenue along the parade route. If you like Flogging Molly and Pogues-style pub rock, and you like Irish heritage, and you like to act like a drunken moron in public, you’ll fit right in so come on down. We’re on all freakin’ day.

If you’re actually Irish, you should probably stay home. How much fun can it be, watching your culture get stereotyped and dragged through the booze-sodden gutter by every ignoramus who owns a green shirt? Isn’t that what the Irish do all day? Drink, fight, and quip some witty James Joyce quote? Of course, we’ll be abetting the process by playing every cliched “Irish” tune you’ve ever heard, from “Whiskey in the Jar” to “Beer Beer Beer” to “Streams of Whiskey” to, oh hell, you get the idea.

Of course, the beer will be Guinness, although I’d prefer Beamish or Magic Hat Irish Stout, both of which I Think are superior to the Ubiquitous black beer in flavor and body, if not in presentation. This year, even the Belgian Brewery Ommegang threw its hat in the stout ring with O’mmegang. I tried it at the Old Toad last night, and found it way too…sour? . They should stick to the Belgian beers.

The O’mmegang starts out phenolic and dry with an astringent yet sour finish. And not sour in a good way.  No one bats .1000 all the time, and this is Brewery Ommegang’s first real strikeout. It’s enough to leave Bruce wondering “Where’s Randy?”

Brewers and Uber beer geeks will get that reference.

-Mark