Guinness

To put things into perspective, the ’far better in Ireland’ craic was entirely true until quite recently. It wasn’t that the Dublin product was brewed much differently to the now defunct Park Royal version and much of the Guinness supplied to the north of England and Scotland was always from Dublin anyway. The reason that the keg version tasted so much better over there was because the rapid turnover and huge market share allowed it remain unpasteurized until the late 90s. It was also bottle conditioned until well into the 90s (as it’s inclusion in the GBG confirmed). Having regularly travelled to Ireland up till the mid 90s, I can honestly say that the native Draught Guinness was better and considerably more reliable than many of the cask ales over here. However, it is entirely true that today’s product bares little resemblance to this once great beer. It used to be a safe fall back beer for me at clubs/hotels/weddings in the UK. Nowadays I avoid it, as the watery tasteless black mess that it has descended to under Diageo (of Watneys heritage) depresses me greatly. There are several obvious reasons why it scores so highly on our site, but the term ’plastic paddies’ will explain the ludicrously high number of perfect 5s that it has been credited with. The sad truth is that the beer now seems to be in terminal decline in in it’s own back yard. Lager now outsells it massively and I am sure that they have dummed it down to try and win converts and young drinkers back from the amber nectar. The flip side to this sad state of affairs is that there are now probably more stouts on the market than in any time in history and virtually all of them better than the beer that may have inspired them. Unfortunately only very small percentage of these are available in Ireland.

Originally posted by bobinlondon
To put things into perspective, the ’far better in Ireland’ craic was entirely true until quite recently. It wasn’t that the Dublin product was brewed much differently to the now defunct Park Royal version and much of the Guinness supplied to the north of England and Scotland was always from Dublin anyway. The reason that the keg version tasted so much better over there was because the rapid turnover and huge market share allowed it remain unpasteurized until the late 90s. It was also bottle conditioned until well into the 90s (as it’s inclusion in the GBG confirmed). Having regularly travelled to Ireland up till the mid 90s, I can honestly say that the native Draught Guinness was better and considerably more reliable than many of the cask ales over here. However, it is entirely true that today’s product bares little resemblance to this once great beer. It used to be a safe fall back beer for me at clubs/hotels/weddings in the UK. Nowadays I avoid it, as the watery tasteless black mess that it has descended to under Diageo (of Watneys heritage) depresses me greatly. There are several obvious reasons why it scores so highly on our site, but the term ’plastic paddies’ will explain the ludicrously high number of perfect 5s that it has been credited with. The sad truth is that the beer now seems to be in terminal decline in in it’s own back yard. Lager now outsells it massively and I am sure that they have dummed it down to try and win converts and young drinkers back from the amber nectar. The flip side to this sad state of affairs is that there are now probably more stouts on the market than in any time in history and virtually all of them better than the beer that may have inspired them. Unfortunately only very small percentage of these are available in Ireland.

Originally posted by MagicDave6

Originally posted by Gazza

Originally posted by dynamiteninja
It’s shockingly variable in the UK. There are few places I trust to keep it right.

WTF???
You can’t "keep" Guinness, it’s pasteurised and dead so won’t improve or, unless you put the keg in an oven, go bad. The only way you can fuck it up serving-wise is to keep the same keg on for months, never clean the lines (although you don’t need to that often with keg, it’s a bit of a myth) or over/under carbonate it.
So, for a laugh, tell us how a "properly kept" Guinness would be?

Originally posted by dynamiteninja
Wherever you go there, a Guinness is far superior.

No it isn’t. It tastes exactly the same as it does over here as it’s the same beer.

Originally posted by dynamiteninja
Asides from their novelty and scarcity factor, I’d favour Guinness over the Porterhouse and Maguire stouts, with the possible exception of Porterhouse Oyster Stout.

Now I’m convinced you are simply a troll.

No-one with any tastebuds could possibly, ever, think that tasteless crap is in any way comparable to Wrasslers or Maguires plain.

I’m out.

Gazza is 100% correct here. Guinness is 100% a shit product, note its not a beer, just a means to get drunk like an alocopop, Your beig led into this Diagio driven market of Guinness tastes better in Ireland or whereever they sell 70 off 22’s pf the stuff a week. Fuck off its absolutly shite beer, fuckin terrible stuff and I actually in terms of flavour profile prefer stella over it.

Originally posted by dynamiteninja

Obviously a beer’s score on this site is either never accurate or only accurate if you decree it as being so.

Why did you delete your reply to Gazza?

Originally posted by dynamiteninja

Originally posted by MagicDave6

Originally posted by Gazza

Originally posted by dynamiteninja
It’s shockingly variable in the UK. There are few places I trust to keep it right.

WTF???
You can’t "keep" Guinness, it’s pasteurised and dead so won’t improve or, unless you put the keg in an oven, go bad. The only way you can fuck it up serving-wise is to keep the same keg on for months, never clean the lines (although you don’t need to that often with keg, it’s a bit of a myth) or over/under carbonate it.
So, for a laugh, tell us how a "properly kept" Guinness would be?

Originally posted by dynamiteninja
Wherever you go there, a Guinness is far superior.

No it isn’t. It tastes exactly the same as it does over here as it’s the same beer.

Originally posted by dynamiteninja
Asides from their novelty and scarcity factor, I’d favour Guinness over the Porterhouse and Maguire stouts, with the possible exception of Porterhouse Oyster Stout.

Now I’m convinced you are simply a troll.

No-one with any tastebuds could possibly, ever, think that tasteless crap is in any way comparable to Wrasslers or Maguires plain.

I’m out.

Gazza is 100% correct here. Guinness is 100% a shit product, note its not a beer, just a means to get drunk like an alocopop, Your beig led into this Diagio driven market of Guinness tastes better in Ireland or whereever they sell 70 off 22’s pf the stuff a week. Fuck off its absolutly shite beer, fuckin terrible stuff and I actually in terms of flavour profile prefer stella over it.

If this is genuinely what you think, and not another of your pathetic attempts to be funny/different then you are less considered than I previously gave you credit for.

Originally posted by bobinlondon
To put things into perspective, the ’far better in Ireland’ craic was entirely true until quite recently.

Perhaps this has already been mentioned here- but what about the effects of familiarity- drawing comfort or good memories from a certain beer based on past experiences.

The mind is a powerful thing- it can convince of many things based not always on solid empirical data or other grounding besides our experiences and opinions.

Newcastle was one of the first beers I loved- I can’t hardly drink the stuff now- but when I rated in on this site when I first joined, I rated it based not on the beer in front of me- but the beer in the back of my mind.

For many people, they grad one of these beers- see Budweiser in America, and it conjures up good memories of good times more often then it conjures up presently good taste. After all, if we realized we were drinking terrible beer, would that cheapen our memories?

Hell’s bells, Guinness in Minnesconsin and Orygun in the early 90’s was a much different beer than it is today. An interesting comparison in the mid 90’s was Full Sail’s dry Irish stout next to Guinness (and Murphy’s too, for a while...I think...) at the Full Sail Pils[e]ner Room. I wouldn’t waste my liver on such a comparison nowadays though.

Clogheaded bastards!

(Present company excepted.)

I avoided Guinness for years, bit decided to do it for the tick (and then a dozen or so rerates) in Ireland a couple of years ago. Luckily we managed to even find some pubs that had all three big-name stouts, and I believe I gave myself every opportunity to slag it off. Yet I couldn’t. Whilst it was the worst of the 7 stouts I had in Ireland (3 biggies, 3 regulars @Porterhouse, and the Porterhouse bottled special), it still wasn’t actually bad. It had a clear connection to beer ingredients, and none of the things I consider brewing flaws. Slight blandness was its only crime.

Guinness the company, however, I could easily slag off - after receiving my ’free’ pint at the top of the Storehouse museum (cost of entry ~14e), I was served the most metallic rank crap that has ever had the had the harp emblazened upon it.

Hmm, perhaps I should adjust my rating to reflect that pint rather than the vastly better ones that I had, as I always like to rate the beer as the brewer intended it. };-)