GUINNESS - THE FORD OF STOUTS (Guinness)

Member Name: lotboy15011980

Product:	Guinness
Date:	30/09/02 (1508 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: silky,smooth, reliable, all that nutrition

Disadvantages: not the best stout out there

Ahhh Guinness takes me back....not only back to the pub toilets quite frequently but also back to my late teenage years..

PRICE (obvioulsy dependent on pub) £2 a pint
(sometimes next to nothing if you know where to go on St.Patrick's Day)

I used to be an avid consumer of Guinness. You couldn't get me off the stuff. None of my mates ever had to ask what I'd be drinking when their round came up. There was just no question.

Now, in my early twenties I find I'm drinking it less and less. Why? Because it's a bad beer, certainly not.
It's not bad at all, but student life has taught me a few things which I will now relate.

First off, let's deal with basics. The nutritional lowdown on Guinness:

1 pint of draught Guinness has 210 calories

For beer that really isn't a lot.

1 pint of semi-skimmed milk has 260 calories.
1 pint of OJ has 220 calories.

So I would like to dispel the myth of the fat-boy Guinness drinker right now.

In terms of alcohol percentage the draught Guinness has 4.1% which is probably averagish for a pint (depends if you normally knock back special brew!)

There are also many many 'old-wives-tales' about how good for you Guinness really is, and it's true that it used to be prescribed as a tonic in hospitals. In fact it's still made available to blood-donors in Ireland because of it's high iron content! It's probably got the most minerals in it out of any beer you'll see, as has stout in general.

Now on to the stuff that most beer-drinkers really care about. How does it taste.

In one word, Good.

Not great, not amazing, just good.

I would say Guinness is the Ford of the stout world.

It's reliable. The number of 'off' pints I've had over the course of my many many pub visits is very few, and usually these are due to bad cleaning of the taps
by the pub in question!

The taste is smooth and satisfying althugh drinking more than a few pints makes some people feel rather bloated, and I actually prefer the new extra-cold variety (and yes the only difference is the temperature) especially in those hot summer months!

The sad truth is however that there are many stouts out there that are far better, in my opinion with a much more intersting flavour. Most of these are produced by smaller breweries and found in local pubs, so if you're down your local Wetherspoons I'd say Guinness is the choice to plump for (it beats Beamish into the ground and stamps on it's head repeatedly!). But if you have access to a good local then don't be afraid to try out the local brews, many of which have great fruity flavours. If the landlord is amiable you could always ask for a taste. In my experience most landlords don't mind so long as you buy a pint of SOMETHING afterwads, you might just find yourself a ferrari, and probably at a cheaper price.

Having said all that however, there is one place in the world where I would recommend Guinness above nearly everything else, and that's in it's homeland of Ireland. Yes, people, it genuinely does taste better there, and if you haven't tried it I heartily recommend it!


Just to clarify this op has been talking about normal
Draught Guinness (in the pub) rather than the many other varieties that can be obtained. Watch this space for more info on these others. I would just say that whilst draught Guinness out of a can is still good, it doesn't really measure up to pub standards. being a little too 'thin' and watery for my liking.

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