Expert: Keith Patton - 2/20/2011

Question
Hi Keith. Is it a myth that Guinness is better in Ireland? I went there recently, and I thought it was, but then maybe being in Ireland had something to do with Guinness tasting good. But it wasn't just the taste; it was the mouth feel, the smell, the look...it sounds like an exaggeration, but - maybe freshness has something to do with it - can you get Guinness as good as in-Ireland Guinness outside of Ireland? Thank you.

Answer
Leonard:

Funny you should ask that, I'll tell you why in a second.

Guiness comes in different varieties.

1 Guinness draught stout, sold in kegs - 4.1 to 4.3 percent abv;

2 Extra Cold draught stout, sold in kegs and put through a super cooler - 4.1 to 4.3 percent abv;

3 Bottled Guinness draught, which includes a patented "rocket widget" to simulate the draught taste - 4.1 to 4.3 percent abv; (This is available in most grocieries in the US -KP)

4 Canned Guinness draught, which includes a similar but differently shaped widget - 4.1 to 4.3 percent abv; (Also available in the US-KP)

5 Guinness Original/Extra Stout, as near to Arthur Guinness' original porter as can be obtained today - 4.2 or 4.3 percent abv (England, Ireland), 5 percent abv (Canada, mainland Europe), and 6 percent abv (United States, Australia, Japan);

6 Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, sold in West Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia - 7.5 abv (Africa, the Caribbean) and 8 percent abv (Malaysia) ****Newly Available in the US in four pack bottles!!);

7 Guinness Special Export Stout, sold in Belgium - 8 percent abv;

8 Guinness Bitter, an English-style bitter beer - 4.4 percent abv;

9 Guinness Extra Smooth, a smoother stout sold in Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria - 6 percent abv;

10 Malta Guinness, a non-alcoholic sweet drink, sold in Africa.


Who new?  Right?  My guess is you might have had the Foreign Extra Stout.  I have been drinking Guiness for years. I started out drinking the bottled, No. 5 above as that was all there was available.  Then draught and the bottled and canned draught appeared in the US.  I had the Foreign Extra stout in Jamaica and like it better but it was not available in the US.  

The reason it is funny you should ask...I just recently saw some F. Extra Stout on the shelf at the market and picked up some along with the pub draught in the bottle to do a head to head tasting.  Now obviously the F Extra has almost twice the ABV than the PD.  But there is a big difference in taste.  The PD has a creamier and more sour finish.  Guiness adds a certain amount of sour beer that they hold in reserve, from batch to batch, to some of the finished beer styles.  Taste a PD and chew the beer, swish it around your whole mouth before you swallow, and you'll taste the subtle sourness.  

I did not detect that in the F Extra version.  It is more roasty, more like a strong porter, which is what Stout really is, or was, without the sourness.  It was a stout, or stronger Porter.  Beer change over time to suit tastes, it has happened over the years and continues to happen.  People who should know swear that beer they have been drinking for years, does not taste the same it did when they started.  I for one do not think the Anchor Steam tastes the same as it used to.  To my taste, it is weaker and less assertive than it used to be.  Brock Wagner owner of St. Arnolds Brewery in Houston, claims the same thing about a beer he started drinking years ago.  We know styles change.

They may not add the sour beer into the F Extra version as that would defeat the reason they brewed it the way they did, to increase preservation with more alcohol for shipment to the tropics.

In the case of Guiness, the beer for the foreign market may not have changed as much.  Guiness F Extra has stiff competition in Jamaica from Dragon Stout, a locally brewed beer.  It is 9-10% abv and tastes similar.  

I don't know if you know about the widget in the bottles and cans.  It is a venturi capsule.  It has a little reservoir in it with venturi jets.  They put it in the bottle and can prior to pressurising them.  The pressure in the can and bottles equalize in the capsule.  When you open the bottle or can, the pressure releases, but it cannot equalize in the widget as fast, so the pressure shoots out of the little aperatures, the venturis, creating a shear in the liquid, the widget spins and the shear which releases the nitrogen in the beer, it isn't as soluble in beer as CO2.  This creates the creamy foamy head.  The tiny aperature in the pointed draught tip they use for Guiness and Boddington's does the same thing, creates a shear in the liquid releasing dissolved Nitrogen.