Guinness is good for you.........re expanding wasteline! (Guinness)

Member Name: Ghumphrey

Product:	Guinness
Date:	05/08/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tatste great and has real health benefits

Disadvantages: Very easy to get a beer belly drinking this stuff

Guinness

Living in Ireland I have very early childhood memories of male relatives supping on pints of Guinness. I always thought it was funny when they ended up with the Guinness moustache after their first drink and I even remember getting a few a myself (although I didn't drink the stuff back then). I first dabbled with Guinness when I started working in a bar. It was a real mans bar and everyone drank Guinness in some shape or another. Back then to be honest I didn't really like the stuff. It was very heavy and was almost like a meal in a glass. I also found I got drunk very quickly on and it's not really practical to drink in busy clubs so I became more of a lager drinker. Over the years though as my tastes have developed I have acquired a great fondness for Guinness and now its one of the first drinks I opt for when in a pub.

What is Guinness?

Guinness is a dry stout beer that originated at St James Gate in Dublin. The brewery in Dublin is still there today and part of it has become a tourist attraction where visitors can pour their very own Guinness and receive a certificate for doing so. It also gives people a chance to learn about the brewing process of one of the worlds most famous drinks. Nowadays the drink is served in bars world wide. It's also brewed in a number of countries and you might be interested to know that the largest Guinness Brewery in the world is now located in Nigeria where locals are said to love the black stuff.

How to pour the perfect pint

There is an old saying that Guinness does not travel well and to certain extent that it true. I also believe that this has something to do with the bar staffs ability to serve the drink. For instance a pint of Guinness cannot be poured in one go. The glass should be held at the correct angle so that the drink just glides into the glass. It should be poured until it's about an inch or so from the top of the glass. Then the drink should be allowed to settle. In good bars it settles near the customer so that they get the full enjoyment of watching the pint settle. Once it turns from a light brown to a dark black the glass should then be topped up until it's full. This is done by not holding the glass at an angle and pushing the bar tap away from the bar person (opposite to the stage before). This gives a much slower flow into the pint. Despite what some people might think there is no need to put a shamrock into the head at this stage. Once full it should be allowed to settle once more before consuming.

My opinion

After acquiring a taste for this drink I quite simply can't get enough of it. I find it really easy to drink and when served well its one of the tastiest drinks in the pub. Guinness is proven to be good for you if drank in moderate amounts and I certainly feel better after six of seven pints lol. A pint in Belfast will set you back in the region of £3 and in many of the Belfast bars you will find some of the best Guinness pints in Ireland. A tip for looking for good Guinness is to go to bars that sell a lot of it and you will no doubt get a good pint.

The only problem I can now see with Guinness is that it's very easy to build up a beer belly on the stuff. The beer is just so heavy and so therefore might not be ideal to someone wanting to loose weight or they could like me just exercise a bit more. Overall I would really recommend this drink to anyone so long as it's served correctly.

Summary: Proud sponsors of drunk Irish people