House Speaker Paul Ryan has come in for a torrent of abuse after celebrating St Patrick’s Day with a pint of Guinness which left purists shaking their heads in disgust.
As any Guinness drinker will tell you, the famous Irish stout doesn’t age terribly well. When freshly poured it will proudly boast a thick creamy white head, however, as time passes, that quickly sours and turns into a sickly yellow foam.
During the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon in Washington, DC on Thursday, Ryan made a speech in which he paid tribute to his Irish roots and toasted Ireland’s national holiday.
“Ireland may be a small island, but look at all she has given us. Her light floods the world,” the prominent Republican said. “To America, she is, as General Washington himself said, 'friend of my country in my country's most friendless day.’”
However, Ryan’s words were largely forgotten as people were transfixed by just how shockingly bad his pint of Guinness looked. The tipple looked well past its peak, as if it had been sitting out, waiting for the photo-op, for a long, long time.
“First Mike Pence says 'top of the morning', then Paul Ryan holds up this appalling pint, grave missteps by the US,” Irish journalist Naomi O'Leary commented on Twitter.
In typical partisan fashion, many commentators drew comparisons between Ryan’s tired pint and the freshly poured pint then-President Barack Obama enjoyed on a trip to Ireland in 2011.
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The St Patrick’s Day faux pas weren’t limited to Ryan’s sad pint though – festivities in the White House saw President Trump cite a line by a Nigerian poet as his favorite “Irish proverb”.