St. Patty's Day Corned Beef

So you're looking for a great corned beef recipe that you can just throw into a crock pot so you can watch March Madness?  Great!  This is my Grandmother's Recipe (ish... funny how when you ask for pointers the generations ahead of us just tell us to put in whatever feels right.  Well, I am pretty sure she makes the best corned beef this side of the pond so I'll just go with it).

Ingredients
Corned Beef (at least two pounds with some good chunks of fat on the outside)
1 bottle Guinness (or heineken... if you wanna go Full Brawders)
1 cup water
1/2 tsp whole cloves
2 bay leaves
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 shallot, chopped

Directions

1. Take out your large crock pot 
2. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients with the exception of the beer, bay leaf and beef. Stir
3. Place the two bay leaves in the bottom of the crock pot.  Add the beef on top.  Pour both the beer and mixture over the meat and set on a low setting for 8 hours.
4. (OPTIONAL:  if you like cabbage, potatoes and carrots you may add them to the crock pot at the 5 hour mark and cook.  I usually just roast the carrots and bake the potatoes... and omit the cabbage all together)
5. Enjoy with your favorite green beer/wine/water/milk