The stew had a good flavor. I added 2 cans of beef broth and left out the cornstarch because it didn't need it. It did however need a bit of salt.

Since we always have large quantities of venison on hand I used the tenderloins in this recipe. Found it took a little more flour than called for to coat the meat cubes and that I did not need the cornstarch and water at the end. Overall, absolutely perfect! Made a batch of Diane's Colcannon and placed a small mound in the bottom of individual large shallow bowls, then ladled this stew around the Colcannon. Very Irish and it made for a delicious and traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner!

Good stew and easy to make. You may want to add some salt and pepper. I also added two Bay Leaves. Was very good.

Great stew! I left out the mushrooms to save on cash and scaled down the potatoes since I paired this with Diane's Colcannon (also from this site) for the perfect Irish St. Patty's Day dinner. Didn't even need the cornstarch; it thickened nicely on its own. Will definitely make again -- thanks!

Made this without the beer, so I could serve it to my children. Instead I sub'ed beef broth and a beef bullion cube. Overall, an excellent stew. Next time, I will add a bay leaf or two. My only real complaint... the directions don't tell you when to use the garlic! I assume you saute it with the onions.

I added celery and less carrots. Also extra beef broth and I served it over noodles. Very yummy!

I didn't have Irish beer so used reg. beer, forgot the garlic, had to sub tomatoe sauce for the paste, and chicken broth for the beer. I also added 16 oz of peas. In spite of the changes-stew was delicious. Would definately make again.

This was delicious! After I browned the meat I put everything in the crockpot and cooked it on low for 4 hours. Then I added the corn starch solution and cooked another hour on low in the crockpot.

Next time I'll use less carrots and saute them a little with the mushrooms and onions.

I really like the taste of this stew. It has a different flavor than the stews most of us are used to so this may not taste good to everyone. For me it was nice to taste something different, especially when it tastes good. I did take heed to other reviewers comments and added and subtracted some things to make the taste more "palatable", but nothing that would turn it into a different recipe. It still has that "special" taste which comes from the beer. NOTE: I doubled the recipe. I used 9 cloves of garlic 3 large potatoes, almost 4 lbs of stew meat, 3/4 of a 2lb bag of baby carrots (cause I didn't want to cut carrots), 2 small onions, 2 12oz bottles of Guinness, as much oil and flour as needed to brown the meat, 2 6oz cans of tomato paste, 3 cups of Mushrooms and 4 cups of beef broth. ADDED: My additions were a result of reading the reviews. I added twice the meat and more potatoes than carrots. I added sea salt and pepper to the flour that I used to brown the meat. I have found in my limited cooking experience that seasoning meat before it is cooked is never a bad idea. I also added a little sea salt to the stew. To bring in a familiar taste, a little thyme, a little basil and a couple of bay leaves. To curb the bitterness of the Guinness, two teaspoons of brown sugar. SUBTRACTED: Corn starch and water as I had planned to cook it all day and others mentioned that the sauce would reduce/thicken over time.