Guinness Draught

Brewed by St. James’s Gate (Diageo)
Style: Dry Stout
Dublin, Ireland

Serve in English pint

The first beer I ever had was a Guinness. I started off with perhaps the finest beer in all of the world. There is nothing quite like a Guinness on tap at the local pub. Smooth, creamy, nicely carbonated, sweet and malty with flavors of coffee and hints of cocoa/dark chocolate. Guinness always hits the spot. To Arthur Guinness, thank you for your master work. Guinness is a winner.

Ah Guinness. Gotta be honest - I’ve got a soft spot for Guinness. Once upon a time I used to drink nothing but the typical macro swill that was available - Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light, etc. In college I graduated to "exotic" beer like Heineken, Fosters, and Grolsch. Then a friend of mine introduced me to Guinness. I had no idea that beer could tasty - my first drink was almost like drinking chocolate milk. From there I graduated to Samuel Smiths, especially their Taddy Porter, and I’ve branched out quite a bit since then. I’ve had countless craft beers, but you always remember your first. Stouts for summer. Why not? While lots of folks are reaching for a pilsner or pale ale, I figured I’d go the opposite direction, drinking some stouts, which I usually prefer to have in the dead of winter. 12 ounce nitro widget bottle. Pours a dark charcoal black with a ful 1/2 head with incredible retention due to the injection of nitrogen. The head just will not go down, and cascades down the side of the glass as you go on. Smells of roasted malt and bittersweet chocolate with that unique Guinness smell that I assume is a byproduct of the nitrogen. One thing that has always amazed me with Guinness is just how quaffable it is - everyone assumes that dark beers are challenging to finish. That’s not the case with this beer. It’s easy to drink which is probably why I got into it in the first place. The taste gives you lots of roasted and chocolate malt in the background, and the nitrogen lends the beer a nice creaminess. Chocolate milk isn’t necessarily the best description - Guinness isn’t a milk stout - but perhaps something like Yoo-Hoo is more appropriate. There are some hops there, though they are quite earthy and muted. Fuggles perhaps? The hops lend a nice and lightly bitter finish to the entire affair. Overall Guinness remains an Irish classic and one of the best stouts on the market today.

One of the worlds greatest beers if you can get it fresh and on tap, otherwise don’t bother. The canned and bottled stuff is just disappointing. Very dark and and almost roasted coffee flavor. Also it is so smooth it’s like drinking skim milk.

(Bottle 0,33l) Roasted malt, light coffee aroma. Black color. Huge all time light brown creamy head. Very light sweet. Light, smooth body. Dry bitter finish. Very good looking beer, but very flat in taste.

It pour out a deep black color with a think persistent head. It went great with the ribs that I had and can also be a great meal replacement beer, not that I would ever do that….but anyways…drinking it is an experience in and of itself. It has a nice thick and creamy body. The carbonation is extremely mild. It’s not a beer that’ll make you burp repeatedly, it goes down smooths and stays down. The aroma is of roasted malt, but more of the roast than the malt. Amazing aroma I should say. The flavor starts out sort of sweet with hints of molasses. It goes down creamy and full with a great refreshing hoppiness at the end to seal the deal.

Poured into a pint glass. This was one of the darker beers that I have had, so far. It poured a nice thick head that left fairly decent lace. Color was near pitch black. Smell and taste was of all malts. Not many hops at all. Very roasty and rich.Some chocolate in there. Moutfeel was smooth and creamy. Decent amount of carbonation. Probably one of the better aspects to this beer. Overall, not to bad for something that is a beer that people talk about all the time. (or at least what my college buddies say to be one of the biggest beers of all time). Decent drinkability if it’s your thing. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 08-12-2008 06:16:04

Can. Pours nice black with thin white foam. Aroma of coffee bean, vanilla and malt. Flavor to match. Nice. Hard to believe it’s only 5%, drinks much fuller.

It’s hard to believe this has 10% roast malt in it because it has a very clean and light malt aroma, not the roasty character you’d expect. Fact is that as far as stout goes Guinness is on the lighter end of the scale. It’s a session stout. Easy drinking, creamy from the nitro can, but not overly flavourful or all that interesting.