What happed to Guinness?

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Indyking

Indyking

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In the spirit of the upcoming St Patricks day, I just had a Guinness on tap. I used to absolutely love it and it had been a long time since I had one. Bad choice! Did I just fine tuned my palate since I start home brewing or the Guinness had gone downhill compared to what it was in the past? I found it watery with no smell, very faint malt character, and even the color seemed lighter! Am I not making justice here?
 
that sounds about what i have always known it to be - AFTER i started drinking good beer...i think you've just arrived ;-)
 
Yup, welcome to knowing what good beer is. However, killkenney is made by guinness and I can;t find that stuff anywhere in the states and it is 10 times the beer guinness is.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
I'm going to coin the term now: BMCG
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man...i dont know if i'd go THAT far...

While Guinness on draft might not be as big and tasty as the stouts some of ya'll might make at home, it is a pretty classic example of a dry stout and great to drink by the pint when the bar doesn't have a craft beer selection.
 
I've had some of the best beers and worst beers, both labeled as 'Guinness Draught,' you probably just got a bad one. Don't give up on 'Ole Faithful yet.
 
a few years ago labatt's took over brewing guiness in canada. many people feel the quality of guiness died then, me included
 
Indyking said:
In the spirit of the upcoming St Patricks day, I just had a Guinness on tap. I used to absolutely love it and it had been a long time since I had one. Bad choice! Did I just fine tuned my palate since I start home brewing or the Guinness had gone downhill compared to what it was in the past? I found it watery with no smell, very faint malt character, and even the color seemed lighter! Am I not making justice here?
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Well, if you're used to guiness extra stout in a bottle (not sure that's what u were drinking before or not), then guinness draught is definitely going to taste different. I noticed this when i first started drinking guiness (why does the bottle taste good and this pint taste like water?) If you go back to the extra stout in a bottle, you may get back some of your nostalgia, but on tap it's crap. I don't even know why they make guinness draught bottles, (here's the same crappy taste you get in a bar, now you can have it at home too!) And yes, it is really watery. I think your palette has surpassed guinness. It's more of what i like to call a "starter beer", it got you started on the road to better beer by giving you enough flavor to make you think it's really good, but not too harsh to turn you away. then from there, you probably just developed into better beers.

I'll usually order a guiness when i need to stay hydrated, maybe before backpacking through the desert. i'll bring a sixer with me, gotta get that H20 when it's hot; i'm pretty sure Bear Grylls does this ("i'd never 'ave made it off of that glassi-ure without my guiness for hydration")
 
The FES is good and also an outstanding example of a commercial beer with tons of diacetyl if you are interested in learning to recognize that.
 
I came to a similar realization a few months ago. Guinness isn't terrible by any means but I was disappointed that it tasted kind of watered down. A little malty flavor but not much else in there.

Thinking about brewing a Java Stout in a week or so. I think I'll begin my recipe search... :)
 
remilard said:
The FES is good and also an outstanding example of a commercial beer with tons of diacetyl if you are interested in learning to recognize that.
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So that's what diacetyl is? Interesting. A buddy of mine and I picked up a 4-pack and were trying to figure out what the taste was. Definitely not something we expected. Thanks. My ability to describe flavors in beer has gone up now :)
 
McMalty said:
Well, if you're used to guiness extra stout in a bottle (not sure that's what u were drinking before or not), then guinness draught is definitely going to taste different. I noticed this when i first started drinking guiness (why does the bottle taste good and this pint taste like water?) If you go back to the extra stout in a bottle, you may get back some of your nostalgia, but on tap it's crap. I don't even know why they make guinness draught bottles, (here's the same crappy taste you get in a bar, now you can have it at home too!) And yes, it is really watery. I think your palette has surpassed guinness. It's more of what i like to call a "starter beer", it got you started on the road to better beer by giving you enough flavor to make you think it's really good, but not too harsh to turn you away. then from there, you probably just developed into better beers.

I'll usually order a guiness when i need to stay hydrated, maybe before backpacking through the desert. i'll bring a sixer with me, gotta get that H20 when it's hot; i'm pretty sure Bear Grylls does this ("i'd never 'ave made it off of that glassi-ure without my guiness for hydration")
Click to expand...

Well, I'm talking about Guinness draught on tap only. I used to drink it all the time 5-6 years ago with friends when I lived in Texas and found it to be superb compared to the other options available where we used to go. OK, admittedly, the other options were BMCs or Mexican lagers, but still, I really had the impression of a far superior beer.

Life changed, new friends, new state, new bars, and I haven't had a Guinness draught ever since until I gave it a try yesterday. I guess my disappointment was a combination of a somewhat better palate acquired from home brewing and lower quality of the American Guinness on tap. The one I had in the bar yesterday was a very poor example of a good dry stout at best.
 
Its just typical American taste. We love to take things from other countrys and jazz them up to extreme levels. 120 IPA and pizza are perfect examples. Ever had pizza in Italy? Its definately no the same thing.

Theres nothing wrong with Guinness. It smooth and has a nice creamy. It is what it is. Just because you have become accustomed to something else does not make Guinness bad. I bet it tastes different poured in Ireland too.
 
Draught bottles are lower in ABV than most people think. IIRC they are in the 3.5% range. i went to a party a little while back with some college buddies. i brought a 12 of Guinness and they were drinking BMC. played drinking games with them all evening and didn't seem like i was drinking beer at all. very watery, and very different from what i remember my first tasting
 
Yeah, I remember when I was a BMC drinker and someone would be drinking a Guinness and we were all like "Wow... that heavy dark stuff isn't for me!" and now it tastes like tap water to me.
 
drkaeppel said:
I came to a similar realization a few months ago. Guinness isn't terrible by any means but I was disappointed that it tasted kind of watered down. A little malty flavor but not much else in there.
QUOTE]

This was my observation as well. I remember drinking Guiness in college thinking it was the heaviest beer ever. I had Guiness in a can last St. Patty's Day and ended up pounding it and ordering something else.

My how homebrew has changed my palate...
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DeadNutsBrewing said:
I agree. The draught bottles dont even have the little wicket in them anymore
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I just bought a few cases of Guinness (cans, for 3/17), and they all have widgets. Extra Stout and the new Foreign Guinness don't have widgets, they are totally different beers and don't utilize the nitrous.

As for the taste, Guinness still works for me. I think its a great stout to have with meals. It has that nice creamy head, a nice flavor, and given that its a stout, it isn't as heavy as it looks.
 
I checked beer advocate reviews for Guinness draught and many reviewers support the notion that it used to be much better in the US.
 
I never even cared for it BEFORE I started drinking craft beer. It's actually tough for me to finish one.
 
Indyking said:
I checked beer advocate reviews for Guinness draught and many reviewers support the notion that it used to be much better in the US.
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The only think I find noteworthy about Guinness Draught these days is it's viability as a decent lite beer. Well, maybe not lite, as in Miller or Bud, but as in a low-calorie beer. 120-ish caloires is DEFINITELY dietable.

Still, if I drink anything that says Guinness these days, it also says Extra Stout on the bottle.
 
Guinness was my break out beer never like beer before then because all there was (or so I thought at the time) was bmc and they tasted like pointless crap. But I don't drink it anymore can't seem to finish one before I get bored of it.
 
I've never noticed a problem with Guinness on tap. But the draught bottles have always seemed to be lacking. So I don't usually waiver from the Extra Stout....of course now we've got the Foreign Extra Stout in these parts, being brewed in Ireland it's everything I wished the Extra Was. lol

Once I finally get around to trying out the cans, I'm hoping it's going to be nitrogenated like Bodington's.
 
flabyboy said:
Its just typical American taste. We love to take things from other countrys and jazz them up to extreme levels. 120 IPA and pizza are perfect examples. Ever had pizza in Italy? Its definately no the same thing.

Theres nothing wrong with Guinness. It smooth and has a nice creamy. It is what it is. Just because you have become accustomed to something else does not make Guinness bad. I bet it tastes different poured in Ireland too.
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Not disagreeing with u about the pizza for the most part, but that's not entirely true. There are many GREAT pizza joints in NJ, NY, and CT. They're authentic. Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizza place in america in NY in the early 1900s. Lombardi learned how to make pizza in Napoli. Lombardi's is still there and still makes great pies. As does Totonnos, DiFara, Sally's, Frank Pepe's and a hundred other ones i can't think of right now. I have been to Italy and had the pizza there. While i still maintain that the best pizza i've had is in Italy, the authentic places here aren't far off if not dead even. If you're speaking of Domino's, pizza hut, papa johns, that's not pizza, that's an abomination IMHO, so i agree if you are only including those places.

Sorry for the rant, didn't mean for it to sound so preachy

and you are correct, the guinness tastes different in Dublin.
 

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