A pint of Guinness. Strong opinions.

BeerNut

donaghs wrote: »

Is it just the nature of the beer that it can more inconsistant on tap than a lager?

The opposite, I'd have thought. The roasted barley and lactic acid in Guinness should cover up a lot more off flavours than a light beer made from pale malt and flavourless adjunct grains.

aDeener

BeerNut wrote: »

There are are many others. Guinness is the worst of the lot, IMO.

by saying it is the worst implies that it is a horrible drink. i simply cannot agree there whatsoever, yes i do rank beamish ahead of guinness but the latter still is delicious imo

BeerNut

aDeener wrote: »

by saying it is the worst implies that it is a horrible drink.

Well that wasn't the intended implication. Guinness isn't horrible, it's just really really bland. Beamish is the same. Murphy's, Mizen, Belfast Black, Wrassler's XXXX, Porterhouse Plain, Porterhouse Oyster, MM Plain, Shandon Stout and Molly's Chocolate Stout are all better Irish stouts than Guinness or Beamish, IMO. That's all.

eoghan.geraghty

Like many posters on here I've noticed a real change for the worse in guinness over the past 3 to 4 years.
Somebody pimped the gravediggers, I've always found them to be hit and miss, although I was the only one in the group.
I gave my old favourite one last chance on 24/9 in Downeys in Ballyfermot, my local, and always a good pint. The first tasted good but lacked something, the 2nd and last reverted to guinness flavoured water, much like every other pint over the last 3/4 years.

My thinking is that the guinness hasn't changed, rather we have been introduced to superior beers more and more over the past few years so when we go back to the pub after a break, that same pint of guinness no longer has that same bite and fullness of old.

Thankfully I rarely drink in pubs, preferring a friends house or my own.

From now on it's the rheinheitsgebot or nothing for me! Spaten being my personal favourite.

furiousox

After 20 odd years of drinking lager l'm starting to acquire a taste for Guinness (much to the amusement of my OH)
To me (speaking as a novice) l do like it when its cold or extra cold, that first mouthful that turns into a gulp....beautiful!

l find l like it less if it gets anyway warm and the head goes a bit 'yellowy'
This thread has got me curious about the bottled version though.
Would the bottle not be 'warm' as its stored on the shelf and not in the fridge?
Does this not make it less palatable?
ls a chilled bottle nicer than draught?
Are there noticeable taste differences between bottle and draught?

All replies received before 7.30pm Saturday night greatly appreciated!

mayordenis

furiousox wrote: »

After 20 odd years of drinking lager l'm starting to acquire a taste for Guinness (much to the amusement of my OH)
To me (speaking as a novice) l do like it when its cold or extra cold, that first mouthful that turns into a gulp....beautiful!

l find l like it less if it gets anyway warm and the head goes a bit 'yellowy'
This thread has got me curious about the bottled version though.
Would the bottle not be 'warm' as its stored on the shelf and not in the fridge?
Does this not make it less palatable?
ls a chilled bottle nicer than draught?
Are there noticeable taste differences between bottle and draught?

All replies received before 7.30pm Saturday night greatly appreciated!

Don't wanna sound like a prick (but I am, so I will :P) basically you sound like you like the texture as opposed to the taste, the colder in is the less your mouth can taste it.
Cold basically numbs the taste buds, the thing about the bottled is it generally tastes nicer (to me anyway) it has more flavour, but doesn't have that same creamy look which is probably another thing alot of people like about it, alot of bars will have it in there fridges anyway.

furiousox

mayordenis wrote: »

Don't wanna sound like a prick (but I am, so I will :P) basically you sound like you like the texture as opposed to the taste, the colder in is the less your mouth can taste it.
Cold basically numbs the taste buds, the thing about the bottled is it generally tastes nicer (to me anyway) it has more flavour, but doesn't have that same creamy look which is probably another thing alot of people like about it, alot of bars will have it in there fridges anyway.

Hmm....texture eh?
On reflection, you might be right!
Doesn't bother you if its warm?

the beer revolu

I feel a pint bottle should be drunk at "cellar" temperature. This would be somewhere between the fridge and off the shelf.
If the temp in a pub is quite cool, then I'll have it off the shelf, otherwise I'll have it from the cooler (it will always warm up). In some pubs, it comes out of the cooler at just the right temp anyway.

In answer to furio:

The taste is completely different to draught.
I find it a lot nicer than the draught (whether it's chilled or not).
While I would not drink a room temp pint of draught, I would drink a room temp bottle - just prefer it a bit cooler.

BeerNut

furiousox wrote: »

Doesn't bother you if its warm?

When it's room temperature (or, preferably, cellar temperature) you can taste the roasted barley and the dark malt, plus a little bit of bitterness from the hopping and the extra jolt of lactic acid it gets to add sourness. When it's cold you can't taste any of that.

Beer pre-dates refrigeration technology by, oh, at least a couple of years.

Also, the bottled version is carbonated, and the fizz pushes all of the flavour up into your senses (your nose, mostly, which is where flavour happens). The draught version is pumped full of nitrogen, which means most of the flavour chemicals stay in the beer and you don't get the benefit of them.

cavedave

There is an article on blind tasting stouts here. Guinness was the most popular.

bazwaldo

eoghan.geraghty wrote: »

Like many posters on here I've noticed a real change for the worse in guinness over the past 3 to 4 years.

I'm delighted to announce that I had a pint (and many many more after it) of Guinness that was the best I've had in 10 years. The initial taste was great and the head kept white till the bottom of the glass. Not only for the first, but the second, third, fourth.... The hangover was the same as always though.

In McDaids just off Grafton St. Highly recommended . Unfortunately it'll be 10 years before I'm let out again

cavedave

McDaids just off Grafton St. al;so do Murphy's and Beamish so it is a good pub in dublin to do a comparison. O'Neill's Suffolk Street also has O'Hara's

Where else can you try the stouts to compare them?

mossfort

there is an auld lad that comes into our local who is the only one who ever orders pint bottles of guinness now i see why.
he fills half a pint first and drinks it then fills the other half.

Timistry

rubadub wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0907/breaking3.htm


I'm surprised guinness is so low down. Seeing as guinness is the stout and bulmers is the cider in most pubs I would have thought both would be higher up. I know very few bud drinkers and with the wider selection of lagers or "non-stout" beers that bud would be a lower seller than guinness.

Though it does say shopping baskets, and bud & heineken are both often "€1 bottle" beers now, while it is rare to get a good deal on guinness or bulmers from the offie.

only a a matter of the deluded publics opinion! i would not pay more than €1 for bud cos its complete crap. its about time that the drinks industry copped on and stopped ripping us off:mad: I lived in the UK last year and the drink there was half price in comparison to here. I got 8 pint bottles of Bulmers (yes, the english one.....) for £8 or bottles of smirnoff, SoCo, famous grouse etc for £10.. Its a joke! And student pubs..... dbl vodbull £3.30, pints £1 and one club on thurdays all drinks 90p...

Also the government should lower the excise duty. Its counter-productive at its current rate as it is driving people up north

BeerNut

Timistry wrote: »

Also the government should lower the excise duty. Its counter-productive at its current rate as it is driving people up north

So you'd rather publicans made higher profits instead of your beer money going towards public services?

There's not a chance in hell the publicans would pass on a tax cut to the punters.

Red Sleeping Beauty

BeerNut wrote: »

There's not a chance in hell the publicans would pass on a tax cut to the punters.

To-bloody-ché!!

tba

I will say that when you end up in a pub with budweiser, carlsberg, heineken etc. on tap then Guinness is the best of a bad crop. I say that because I still think they use very little additives in it and it negates the morning over chemical head, but I had an alright draught of Macardles there on friday, so things are looking up for the local.

BeerNut

tba wrote: »

I say that because I still think they use very little additives in it

Based on?

tba

Based on extensive field testing, and meticulous note taking on the effects in the morning.

Or based on the gut feeling that even small amounts of most generic draughts ruin my head in the morning, where as a similar amount of Guinness would have no effect.

furiousox

tba wrote: »

Based on extensive field testing, and meticulous note taking on the effects in the morning.

Or based on the gut feeling that even small amounts of most generic draughts ruin my head in the morning, where as a similar amount of Guinness would have no effect.

+1 to that
I had about 12 pints of guinness the night of the ireland vs france (home) game and I was fine the next day.

12 pints of heineken etc would leave me feeling close to death the following day!:o

BeerNut

You seem to be under the impression that additives cause hangovers. They don't. Alcohol causes hangovers.

furiousox

BeerNut wrote: »

You seem to be under the impression that additives cause hangovers. They don't. Alcohol causes hangovers.

Well yeah, but with respect there's alcohol in guinness too!
l maintain that a lager hangover is worse than a guinness hangover.

What's the abv of guinness compared to heineken?

BeerNut

furiousox wrote: »

l maintain that a lager hangover is worse than a guinness hangover.

I don't think this claim can be backed up without proper testing.

furiousox wrote: »

What's the abv of guinness compared to heineken?

Roughly the same: 4.2% vs 4.3%.

With the additives-give-you-a-hangover rationale, you could pick a beer where you know all the ingredients, where you know there are no additives -- anything German, say -- and it won't give you a hangover. But it will.

wobzilla

For some reason I always feel worse in the morning after drinking pale beers like Indian pale ales and american pale ales. I can drink loads of stouts or porters and be fine. I know that hangovers are caused by methanol left from the alcohol being broken down but it's usually just a sick stomach I get. Gin on the other hand leaves my head in bits the next morning which is unfortunate as I love the stuff

BaZmO*

wobzilla wrote: »

For some reason I always feel worse in the morning after drinking pale beers like Indian pale ales and american pale ales. I can drink loads of stouts or porters and be fine.

But aren't IPA's & APA's generally stronger than Stouts and Porters?

guildofevil

I have heard people claim that Weissbier gives them bad hangovers, even the additive free Reinheitsgebot ones. I think different people metabolise the various chemicals in beer (chemicals occur naturally too) differently and so they notice different affects.

While I am all in favour of additive free beer and feel that alcoholic beverages should have to list their ingredients, just like soft drinks, for instance, blaming your hangover on "chemicals" is incorrect.

BaZmO*

Just out of interest, when people talk about additives & chemicals being added to beer, what exactly are they talking about?

guildofevil

Preservatives, foaming agents, clarifying agents, stabilisers, etc.

BeerNut

Well, there's polyvinylpyrrolidone which is used to help head retention. I would assume it's in any beer that doesn't list its ingredients. Guinness I know gets a shot of food-grade lactic acid to substitute for the souring effect that wood-aging used to create. I'm sure there are lots more.

BaZmO*

Jeez, I didn't know there were so many. Tbh, I just thought it was a bit of a myth when people complained about additives/chemicals in beer.

I know Irish Moss is used a lot (I even use it myself) but it's a natural ingredient so it's not exactly what you'd consider a "bad" additive.

Why aren't all these additives/chemicals listed on the label?