Best pint of Guinness Dublin city centre

Buckfast W

testaccount123 wrote: »

Yeah, no. This is all just silly pub talk from people who dont really know anything about beer.

But sure crack on.

Whats this magic secret to beer???? Or can you not tell us muggles

culline

Fallons, off St Patrick's Cathedral, D8. Fantastic pint

RebelButtMunch

Peist2007 wrote: »

Cassidy's on Camden Street. One of the biggest difference makers with Guinness is how far the taps are from the keg and where the keg is stored.

Id agree. I was dreading a night out recently in a bar which wouldn't make it anywhere near 'best pint in dublin'. Got to the bar and risked a guinness. It was the nicest pint I had in AGES. I commented to the barman and he said that they just had the pipes cleaned the day before, and the distance to the keg was short. Lot's more pints ensued.

Aongus Von Bismarck

Trond wrote: »

I agree on the whole marketing thing being so OTT. The barman concerned can drastically alter the standard of your pint even if the flow etc is bang on. Some barman simply pour better pints.

I find this very hard to believe. Surely they pick a suitably clean glass, tilt it at an angle, and fill the drink? It's hardly the type of activity that takes years of practice or a natural intuition? It's up there with the subway sandwich artist really

magicmoves

The long hall for me has a great pint of Guinness

RebelButtMunch

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I find this very hard to believe. Surely they pick a suitably clean glass, tilt it at an angle, and fill the drink? It's hardly the type of activity that takes years of practice or a natural intuition? It's up there with the subway sandwich artist really

Perhaps your right. I'd still rather a nice subway sambo over a sh!te one.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Buckfast W wrote: »

I know this has been done to death but haven't noticed a new thread about this in the last few years.

So best pint of Guinness around the city centre. I was thinking
Bowes
Mulligans
The Palace
Stags Head etc..........

Which city centre?

GLaDOS

Maddox Helpful Rawhide wrote: »

Which city centre?

psst, this is the Dublin City forum

4zn76tysfajdxp

GLaDOS wrote: »

psst, this is the Dublin City forum

Ha! Sorry, someone linked me the thread and I didn't check.

Brian?

15-20 years ago there were good Guinness pubs and bad ones. It was all to do with how regularly the lines were cleaned. These days pubs aren't allowed maintain their own lines or taps, they're cleaned every 2 weeks by the quality team.

A friend on mine who's family owned a pub when the quality team was pissed off because they cleaned their lines every Sunday morning religiously and had a roaring trade on a Sunday. The quality team meant the quality of pint in his pub actually went down a bit. It did mean that you can now drink a pint anywhere in Dublin and it'll be grand. The truly great Guinness pubs are no more.

They used to be The Bachelor Inn, Mulligans, The Seán O'Casey, The Duke, The Palace bar and Nearys( The Chatham lounge).

Louis Fitzgerald destroyed the Bachelor. I'd happily drink in the rest. Still decent boozers. But there was a time where you'd approach Guinness with a healthy slice of skepticism, I had many septic pints in the 90s around Dublin.

Ninap

I think the biggest factor is undoubtedly the cleanliness of the glass. Wine tasters frequently complain of detergent residue on glasses ruining the taste of wine; it's the same for Guinness. Some pubs just use hot water in their dishwashers (no detergent). Temperature also a factor. There's no way all pints of Guinness are identical. You could tell even by looking at a pint; a bad one will have a brownish, quickly dissolving head, instead of a thick creamy white one.

Ninap

Ps - the Clock on Thomas St used to have great pints, but that was many years ago

RebelButtMunch

Ninap wrote: »

I think the biggest factor is undoubtedly the cleanliness of the glass. Wine tasters frequently complain of detergent residue on glasses ruining the taste of wine; it's the same for Guinness. Some pubs just use hot water in their dishwashers (no detergent). Temperature also a factor. There's no way all pints of Guinness are identical. You could tell even by looking at a pint; a bad one will have a brownish, quickly dissolving head, instead of a thick creamy white one.

You're right. Recently I was at an event. Three Guinness drinkers. One tap. One of us said their pint tasted rotten. We did a blind taste test and were able to pick out the bad pint. Must have been a dirty glass.

Dr Crayfish

I find it varies, but not greatly. The best Guinness I know of is in suburban pubs, I'm not sure why though. I drink in Bowes and Toners regularly enough, Bowes is my favourite pub but the Guinness isn't great really. I don't know, I guess the creamier/milkier the Guinness, the more I like it. The pints that are gone in 3 gulps. 3 gulpers I call them. Yum, thinking about pints now...

lapua20grain

The best pint for me would be in Mulligans, there are various things that can affect the taste and creaminess of a pint. the cleanliness of the glass, some pubs don't change the water in their glass washers often enough or clean the glass washer period, or they use rinse aid which has always been known to leave a film on the glass that is why a lot of pubs just use hot water. Storage of the kegs also is a factor they cannot be stored in a warm area and in my experience need to spend 48 hours in the cold room with no agitation this is applicable to all beers not just stout. there is also pubs that recycle their slops and top up pints with the "Dana Tap". I worked in the industry for 15 years from barman to cellar-man to chef so i am basing my observations on experience

Dr Crayfish

lapua20grain wrote: »

there is also pubs that recycle their slops and top up pints with the "Dana Tap"

I have to call bullsh*t on that. Never in 20 years or so of drinking in pubs have I seen that for real, it's an urban myth. Maybe it was done in the 70s or something.
Interesting about the glasses thing though you were on about, my mate who was a barman preaches from the same book about having the glasses a certain way for the best pint.

NickNickleby

I definitely agree that the taste varies. Clontarf Castle bar (the old bar) has beautiful Guinness. My local serves such crap Guinness, that I sometimes use a taxi to get to Clontarf. When I drink in the local , I drink Smithwicks. This despite having spoken to a member of the quality team who regularly cleans the pipes in my local. But here's something. Gaffney's in Fairview - who serve good Guinness - have a policy about washing glasses. Nothing but glasses is allowed in the washer. ESPECIALLY tea/coffee cups. Apparently its something to do with milk residue. I do not agree that the pouring affects the taste. One time I walked into a pub in Manchester and ordered a pint of Guinness. She put the empty glass under the tap and pressed a button. When the tap stopped pouring, she placed the pint on the counter and walked off. I watched it settle, and then waited for her to top it off. Eventually she came over and asked me what was wrong. Somewhat embarrassed I explained about topping off the pint, whereupon she showed me the pint mark on the side of the glass and assured me I had received the prescribed volume. Whoops, and to make it worse, it tasted fine!!

So, there's no doubting that all pints leave the brewery tasting the same, but its what happens after delivery to the pub that affects the taste.

Zipppy

All my life I tried to get to like Guinness...I was told it was an acquired taste...a taste I failed to aquire..rounds on nights out frm work were 12 guinness and one heino..mine..
until in my 40s I tried a guinness at the gravediggers....black gold...I now love guinness...but am fussy about where I buy it...hedigans brian boru is also fab as is dice bar...won't beat gravediggers tho...

lapua20grain

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

I have to call bullsh*t on that. Never in 20 years or so of drinking in pubs have I seen that for real, it's an urban myth. Maybe it was done in the 70s or something.
Interesting about the glasses thing though you were on about, my mate who was a barman preaches from the same book about having the glasses a certain way for the best pint.

you may call bovine scatterings on that but i have witnessed it and been told that i would lose my job if i did not use this tap. you as a customer would never see it as it has to be done so as not attention to the fact that the barman is doing it.

D0NNELLY

20+ years ago we were fixing a few lights in a bar in town.
There was about 25 pint glasses all between a quarter and a half full, grouped by brand with their brand names facing out under the bar.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

BeerNut

lapua20grain wrote: »

there is also pubs that recycle their slops and top up pints with the "Dana Tap". I worked in the industry for 15 years from barman to cellar-man to chef so i am basing my observations on experience

Where and when did you last see this? Give us a year and a county.

iambrazil

Brian? wrote: »

15-20 years ago there were good Guinness pubs and bad ones. It was all to do with how regularly the lines were cleaned. These days pubs aren't allowed maintain their own lines or taps, they're cleaned every 2 weeks by the quality team.

Is it definitely every 2 weeks these days? I used to work closely with Guinness and some of the quality team guys. As far as I remember, it was around every two weeks but then they started to stretch it out and it may have gone as far as 3 weeks. That was in 2010/11 though.

I used to find the whole "good Guinness" thing hilarious and still do to an extent. Diageo were very big on trying to stop pubs mixing anything with dairy into the glasswashers because of how it affected the glasses and pint. As for the skill of pulling a pint, the first pint of Guinness I ever pulled I did blindfolded whilst being guided by a colleague at a Diageo training session to show how easy it was. I can accept dirty glasses affecting flavour on some level but not how a pint is poured.

peckdunn

Mulligans, Poolbeg St for me. The place as well as the pint.

subpar

Best Pint

---

Gravity Bar in the Guinness Storhouse

dazberry

I drank Guinness for a number of years in the 90s and found quite a variance from pub to pub (nicest pints I ever had then were upstairs at a "function" in the Merchantile one Sunday evening). I'm back drinking Guinness 6 months now and have found it a lot more consistent across the pubs I currently frequent. But perhaps there is less variance in the pubs I frequent these days

D.

uch

SackVille Lounge have a Savage Pint of Plain

Brian?

iambrazil wrote: »

Is it definitely every 2 weeks these days? I used to work closely with Guinness and some of the quality team guys. As far as I remember, it was around every two weeks but then they started to stretch it out and it may have gone as far as 3 weeks. That was in 2010/11 though.

I used to find the whole "good Guinness" thing hilarious and still do to an extent. Diageo were very big on trying to stop pubs mixing anything with dairy into the glasswashers because of how it affected the glasses and pint. As for the skill of pulling a pint, the first pint of Guinness I ever pulled I did blindfolded whilst being guided by a colleague at a Diageo training session to show how easy it was. I can accept dirty glasses affecting flavour on some level but not how a pint is poured.

I'm not sure it's every 2 weeks still. Could well be 3.

I've straight poured a pint by way of experiment, no different.

Cienciano

Aongus Von Bismarck wrote: »

I find this very hard to believe. Surely they pick a suitably clean glass, tilt it at an angle, and fill the drink? It's hardly the type of activity that takes years of practice or a natural intuition? It's up there with the subway sandwich artist really

This is complete bollocks. It's far harder to make a subway sandwich than it is to pull a pint of Guinness. Way more variables in the subway sandwich and so much more to get wrong. :pac:

As far as I can tell, the purpose of the 2 pour is to make the head look better. Nothing to do with taste. Anyone know when it came in, or if it was always a thing?

Lovely Bloke

Used to be Guinness would be poured from two different barrels, one fresh the other gone slightly sour. Nowadays the souring is done on site in James' Gate.

When Nitro came in in the 1950s they just needed to maintain the "two part pour" so people would think it was the same thing.