Lets talk stouts!

[Dude]

wierd. haven't seen the guinness draught bottles around here for a couple of years.... check the Best Before date
Was generally regarded as a failure to try entice more women to drink Guinness - along the lines of the alcopop market....

We have the Draught bottles (and cans) all over the place here. I haven't looked on the bottle to see where its brewed though....I'll do that tonight.
Whatever Guinness is doing with this recipe and having all of these "versions", remains a mystery to me.....

 

[kenmc]

Yeah we have cans a-plenty, although I don't normally drink them. I think all the different versions and stuff are attempts to claim back market share. At least over here Guinness has taken a bit of a battering amongst younger drinkers, with the alcopops, bottles of heineken et al and lager sales climbing. Girls also tend to go for wine or spirits ahead of pints, so the bottles were trying to aim at them as far as I know. Pity the bottles are not so common here cos I think that beer tastes a lot better from a bottle than a can. Must look in the offie next time I'm in to see if they have bottles of G

EDIT: Just back from the supermarket, here's what we have Guinness wise in my local anyway:
Bottles:
330 ml and 500 ml of Guinness Stout (4.2%).
330 ml Guinness Foreign Stout (7.5%)

Cans:
330ml and 500ml of Guinness Draught Stout (4.2%)
330ml and 500ml of Guinnes Stout (4.2%)
(i think the % are all correct).
No sign of draught bottles.... will make a point of keeping an eye out though....

 

[NM68657]

I was in Ireland this past Summer and I think the Guiness in the states is a bit watery tasting compared to the GUiness in Ireland. I'd also say,most bartenders here do not know how to properly pour a Guiness and some of the bars serve Guiness before the bubbles settle and fill the glass again...which results in a 3/4 pint. Overall, I like the dry taste of Guiness...Brilliant!!

I'm also one of those who enjoy mixing beers like Guiness with Bass or Guiness with Harp. This is not looked upon so kindly in Ireland...I downright confused some bartenders. ONe told me it was a f.....n waste of Guiness to do that (mix beers)!

Primary: Easy Wheat
Secondary: Irish Stout
Bottled: IPA

 

[olllllo]

I was in Ireland this past Summer and I think the Guiness in the states is a bit watery tasting compared to the GUiness in Ireland.

I was in Ireland this fall.
Did you get to taste Toucan Brew or Northstar?
Beginning about 18 months ago Guinness began releasing variations on its recipes called the Guinness Brewhouse series. There are to be 12 of these released every 6 months.

The first was Bew 39 which I did not get to taste.
The second was Toucan Brew, which I did sample. It was different, but It was hard for me to characterize.
The third was Northstar which completely eliminated the bitter finish and had the sensation of drinking chocolate milk.

These were not popular with everyone I talked to. I enjoyed them but I was not looking to get attached to a beer that in a few months would forvever disappear off the face of the earth.

Here are my observations about Guinness in Ireland from someone who previously only had them in the US (and it's one of my faves):

1. I believe that the Guinness was different in that it was consistently always good as opposed to the US where you can get some bad ones. By bad I mean gritty tasting, poor temperature, lack of finish.
2. My understanding is that this beer is best enjoyed if drank within 10 days of leaving the brewery. Turnover, then would be essential. In the morning you can see trucks are equipped with an arm that pulls 4 kegs off the truck at a time. This kind of volume occurs even at a corner pub.
3. My wife, who does not like Guinness in the least because it tastes like coffee (her words), can drink Guinness without a problem in Ireland, which to me implies that the beer is less roasty bitter there.
4. Given the tourist dollar there is a certain pride about pouring and serving that doesn't always happen in the States (but it does happen depending on the pub here).
5. Given the marketing and recent experimentation with the Brewhouse series, we can imply that there might be a strategy in keeping the recipe slightly different depending on the destination. This is the anti-McDonalds strategy.

BTW the best stout I had was at the Porterhouse in Dublin. The Wrasslers 4X Stout:

Alcohol by volume: 5%
Grain: Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Wheat Malt, Flaked Barley, Roast Barley, Roast Malt.
Hops: Galena, Nugget, East Kent Goldings.
Made to a recipe originally brewed by Deasy's at West Cork in the early 1900's. This was Michael Collins' favourite tipple - a stout like your grandfather used to drink. A fine fullsome stout, full in every way, a pungent aroma of kettle hops. A generous quantity of roast grain for flavour, bitter with flaked barley producing that body.

It was Hoppy like an IPA and dry and creamy like a Guinness.

 

[disaffected]

My favorite stout is Young's Double Chocolate Stout. It is the finest tasting stout I've ever had; certainly the best I can get here in Texas. I've never been to Ireland or England, so my experience is fairly limited.

I never drink any stout or other beer or ale that has a nitrogen widget in it anymore. It was a novelty at first, but I no longer care for the affect it has on the beer.

As for Guinness, the Extra Stout in bottles is the only one I drink. Correction: Used to drink. It's my second favorite stout. Correction: Was my second favorite stout. Honestly, there was a time when it was my top favorite. That all changed, though, when the taste of the stout went south. Or "North", as it were. Canada, in fact. I used to be able to get Guinness Extra Stout (or was it just Guinness Stout?) that was imported from Ireland, but that's been a few years. What we get here in Texas now is brewed in Canada by Labatt's. As far as I'm concerned, it isn't really Guinness Extra Stout. It certainly doesn't taste like what I remember from the past. It is weak and thin lacks the richness of the Guinness of my youth.

 

[Chris_K]

All this talk of Guinness, I had to stop and get some on the way home today. Although it tastes decent (I've got the Pint+6oz bottle of Extra Stout) it lists it's country of origin as Toronto, Canada; and I was hoping for something more (it has been a while since I've had Guinness). I might stick to Young's until I can find some Guinness from Ireland, even if that means a trip there.

 

[Buford]

A bar I used to go to years ago had an English bartender who had been pouring beers for over 15 years. He KNEW how to pour a Guinness, with the two stage pour, and he would even use the liquid flow to draw a shamrock on the head.

Occasionally I'd ask for a Guinness and black (black currant syrup added), but in general I stuck to Beamish Stout when they had it. It didn't turn over nearly as quickly, however, so they eventually did away with it.

Best stout I've had recently is an imperial stout, North Coast Brewery's Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. It has a really good flavor that just kicks you in the face. That stuff can also lay you out if you don't watch it due to the high ABV.