Science brings the pub home.

December 6, 2001 2:21 PM

Science brings the pub home. Have any Guinness faithful tried it yet? Verdict?
posted by Hugh2d2 (39 comments total)

It's pretty good, but Guinness from the tap is still the best, no matter where you are.
posted by starvingartist at 2:31 PM on December 6, 2001

...no matter where you are

But any Dubliner will tell you that it tastes better the closer you are to St. James Gate.
posted by gazingus at 2:35 PM on December 6, 2001

How does it compare to the can? As a fan of Guinness though not a connoisseur, I've been wondering myself.
posted by sudama at 2:37 PM on December 6, 2001

But any Dubliner will tell you that it tastes better the closer you are to St. James Gate.

And any American that's had smuggled Guinness from Dublin will tell you the American canned variety tastes like ass compared to the Irish version. I'm going to have to try out this new bottled version, I have high hopes for it.
posted by mathowie at 2:38 PM on December 6, 2001

The can is not as good as the tap. The bottle is not as good as the can. Bud Light is not as good as the bottle. It's all about the options...
posted by spilon at 2:39 PM on December 6, 2001

"Designed to be served extra cold". No thanks! Real ale isn't designed to be served "extra cold", but then real ale isn't nitrogenated.
posted by phatboy at 2:39 PM on December 6, 2001

Techno-stout! Judging by the music, this is aimed at the red-bull-and-vodka market.
posted by liam at 2:59 PM on December 6, 2001

As a HEARTY Guinness drinker, gotta put in my $.02. The bottle is much better than the can - no "canny" taste. Not as good as the real thing (draught) but significantly better than the can.
posted by skechada at 3:23 PM on December 6, 2001

You get a little farther from St. James Gate and you'll end up here.
posted by hellinskira at 3:24 PM on December 6, 2001

As you take the tourist bus around Dublin, the driver, who also comments on everything going by, suddenly becomes serious and says "We are now arriving in Mecca" (St James Gate). 'Nuff said. It's hard to explain that we aren't being assholes about Guinness - telling barmen that they can serve you a pint when they're over thirty, going down a flight of stairs because it just doesn't travel, looking at the beauty of the thing before drinking (see Colm Meaney in The Snapper). What is true is that (draught) Guinness in Dublin is not pasteurized, but it has to be to be exported and many think this is what goes wrong when you move further away from Mecca.
Jameson hellinskira is in the same league. Did you know that John Jameson's grandson was Marconi, the bloke that invented the radio?
posted by Zootoon at 3:46 PM on December 6, 2001

I agree it's much better than the can.

Uncanny!
posted by Kafkaesque at 4:03 PM on December 6, 2001

Uncanny!
ouch.
posted by juv3nal at 4:24 PM on December 6, 2001

Phatboy... English ales may be served room temperature but Guinness is always served very cold in Ireland.

I had the new bottled version recently, it wasn't half bad.

Best pints of Guinness are served down the country (in Ireland, natch). Dublin pints are usually pulled too hastily. A ten minute wait it should be. Then let it settle.

Also very good: Irish Budweiser, believe it or not. Yes, brewed in Ireland.
posted by prolific at 4:24 PM on December 6, 2001

Not too far, hellenskira; I believe Jameson is now owned by Guinness. As for moving away from Dublin, my favorite beers are generally the ones brewed in the area, and I like to sample local beers when I travel, and they are, more often than not, good. Perhaps all beer gets sad when it moves from its home?
posted by transient at 4:27 PM on December 6, 2001

All I know is that the Jameson Distillery is about a fifteen minute drunken stumble from the Guiness Brewery. Note to anyone who visits, be sure to volunteer quick to be the whiskey taster at the end of the Distillery tour.
posted by hellinskira at 4:43 PM on December 6, 2001

Loading...please wait

For once it feels right. Dublin pubs who get it right: Mulligan's and, funnily enough, Doheny and Nesbitt's. Also the Shelbourne Hotel Bar. They do wait at least five minutes. But prolific is right - the purer the water, the better the Guinness. The further South you go, the better it gets - as if it could!
My father used to tell us, when we were leprechauns, Guinness was the only alcohol served in hospitals. When I found out it wasn't true it broke my 35-year old heart.

Jameson's, Tullamore Dew, Power's, Midleton and Paddy's are all made in Midleton, in the world's biggest and most modern distillery. Bushmill's is made in Northern Ireland, still part of the UK, in the world's oldest registered distillery.They all belong to United Irish Distillers, which belongs to Pernod Ricard.

The Guinness company, for years now, goes under the ridiculous name of Diageo. Apart from that, it's immaculate. Rocket widget indeed!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:21 PM on December 6, 2001

Right again Miguel, Mulligan's is generally regarded as the best Guinness in Dublin, and has been since Joyce's time. Guinness was always recommended by doctors in Ireland until recently (when they decided to go PC) because of the iron. A Spanish friend of mine was shocked to see small sips of it being given to a few month old baby but this was fairly normal years ago. Some said it's for the iron, others to give you a early taste for the stuff. These things are being lost. It's still popular for having half the calories of pils type beers and not giving you a hangover, no matter how much you drink (try it). I wish there were some of the old Guinness ads on Adcritic. The best consisted of a black screen for 30 seconds followed by a deep voice saying "These 30 seconds of darkness have been brought to you by Guinness".
posted by Zootoon at 5:40 PM on December 6, 2001

Zootoon-
Marconi did not invent the radio. Tesla had already invented it, Marconi just STOLE it, and claimed it was his.

One quote I read that I liked was, "A man had commented to Tesla that Marconi had got the jump on him, regarding the radio. Tesla's response was, 'Yes, he's using seventeen of my patents.'"
posted by stoneegg21 at 5:54 PM on December 6, 2001

In seattle, you'll find the best Guinness pint at conor byrne's in olde ballard
posted by vito90 at 6:43 PM on December 6, 2001

My great grandmother insisted that my Mom drink a pint of strong stout at least once a week while breastfeeding-- B vitamins and brewer's yeast was her reasoning, I believe.
posted by IPLawyer at 6:52 PM on December 6, 2001

My ma, who's from Dublin, used to tell me that pregnant mothers used to get Guiness on prescription in Ireland. Tell me it's so..
posted by jiroczech at 7:11 PM on December 6, 2001

as for the bottle vs. can question, i think the can widget does a much better job of nitrogenating the stuff than the new bottle's rocket. then again, i do make a habit of pouring canned Guinness into a[n imperial] pint glass but i drank straight from the bottle like the label recommended.

i had my first pint on my 16th birthday when my family vacationed in ireland. its funny—i hated it then but won't drink much else now. Guinness is proof that God exists and likes the Irish most of all. discounting the potato famine, years of political unrest, inhospitable landscape and general crappy weather, of course. ;)

and vito, i would make the argument that the best pint in seattle can be found at the lock and keel (also in ballard), but i haven't been back to seatown in ages and don't even know if it's still there. FWIW.
posted by brigita at 8:08 PM on December 6, 2001

Techno-stout! Judging by the music, this is aimed at the red-bull-and-vodka market.

Must... resist... marketing... demographic...

I love the 3D computer guy taking a pull. It's like watching Automan from the 1970's virtual-reality crimefighting series start down a long and dangerous road of alcoholism:

"I loooke greaatt. Yoo mahde meh perfecht, Walter."

"Well now, no alcoholic computer is perfect, Automan."

"Yesh, I ahm. See, yoou programmed meh too observe the peoples and do everything as well as teh peoplessh. Have you ever sheen John Travolta drink? Then you sheen meh."
posted by Dane at 8:26 PM on December 6, 2001

If I examine my own soul and look deep into its simple core I have to confess, having only been seven or eight times in Ireland, that the best pints of Guinness are probably the crappiest and most unfashionable on God's earth: the one I drink at Lisbon airport, before I board, and the one waiting for me, three hours later, at the plastic pub in Dublin airport.
I just wish - and I'm talking about a doomed campaign I've been waging for more than twenty years in the Portagee press - that people all over the world who love this stoutest of stouts, whether they're talking about the silly Records book or the actual drink, would do themselves the courtesy of spelling it with two Ns.
Even this thread, powered by well-meaning "cognoscenti" as it is, has fallen victim to the "Guiness" virus. It's Guinness. It deserves that extra little bit of respect, young people of Ireland and the United States of America.

Surely it does, now...!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:32 PM on December 6, 2001

Am I dreaming...a Guinness thread? I think the 'lil bottles don't have enough inside to them. While it has been great to see the amount of places where you can get it on tap grow in the last few years, I just noticed that the Harp sold where I live is 'imported' from Canada.
posted by chrismc at 8:54 PM on December 6, 2001

Why do the bubbles in a pint of Guinness float down? Fluent knows why.
posted by shinybeast at 9:32 PM on December 6, 2001

mmm, 7 pints last night and now a mefi thread :)

i think the bottle looks like more of a marketing ploy than anything...
posted by sawks at 9:34 PM on December 6, 2001

MiguelCardoso - I was always told the story that Guinness was served to pregnant women in Ireland because it was so nourishing. I believe they drink it anyway, cause they're Irish women.

As they say in Dublin: 'It's aytin' and drinkin' at the same time.'

Re: 'Mulligans', would you believe I've been to Dublin over 35 times in the last decade, but still haven't had the pleasure of a pint in that place?

... I was in Dublin less than a week ago. Wish I was still there.
posted by prolific at 12:10 AM on December 7, 2001

Guinness isn't the only stout brewed in Dublin, there are a few micro breweries appearing these days.
Last time I was there I went to the Porter House and had several pints of Oyster stout (yes, made with oysters. No, doesn't taste fishy) from a selection of about eight different stouts, all made on the premises.
posted by Markb at 2:40 AM on December 7, 2001

This stuff isn't exactly new, it's been around for a year or so I think. Basically part of Guinness' campaign to win over lager drinkers - see also Guinness Extra Cold, which has now replaced normal Guinness in a worrying number of London pubs. My advice - stick to the can.
posted by Mocata at 2:45 AM on December 7, 2001

i agree with Mocata there. It's now winter time. I don't want my Guinness extra f*cking cold.
posted by Frasermoo at 5:15 AM on December 7, 2001

Stout is one of those things, like Twiglets, beef jerkey, root beer, Kendal mint cake and liquorice, that I don't understand why rational adults would want to put in their mouths.
posted by Summer at 5:19 AM on December 7, 2001

Well, that's renewed the thread!

Guinness is an acquired taste. Meaning you have to force yourself at least three times before you're addicted to that bitter, nutty, palate-cleansing, stomach-lining, metabolism-balancing, spirit-lifting and warmly refreshing, utterly Beckettian taste.

(Btw, there's a beautiful photograph of Beckett drinking a pint of Guinness in the Dublin departure lounge pub which I've never seen elsewhere. I keep meaning to steal it, but never do - is it still there?)

So, following Summer's hitlist, I abhor - in the sense of dying rather than trying - snails, Turkish Delight, cinammon chewing gum, Advokaat, Babycham, Tizer, any Orange Squash, rabbit stew, jellied eels, pork scratchings, tofu, Southern Comfort, fava beans, malt loaf, eggnogs, Bovril, the Australian Vegemite, cumin bread, mushy Macdonalds hamburgers, slurpies and, yes, above all, liquorice all sorts.

Well, that's put me right off my lunch. Though this thread did prompt me to add a dozen cans of Guinness to our Friday shopping list. My wife, Maria João, enquired why and I showed her this thread. She said "It's a pity your beloved MetaFilter never mentions Harpic, Champagne, loo paper, Maltesers and Skip, as you've forgotten, once again, to list them!"

(She's not a fan...).

Kendal mint cake, funnily enough, does make sense if consumed in Kendal, climbing in the freezing cold with like-minded fools.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:49 AM on December 7, 2001

I have yet to find a food or drink for which I could not acquire a taste, given a little time and patience. It has consistently been worth the effort, without fail.
posted by walrus at 7:05 AM on December 7, 2001

My mother was offered a choice of a bottle of Guinness or Mackeson (a milk stout - sweeter and less bitter than Guinness) every day that she was in the Maternity Hospital in England in 1959 and 1962. It was paid for by the National Health Service. Guinness is good for you was their advertising slogan for years

posted by donkeylasher at 9:44 AM on December 7, 2001

first off, i love Guinness dearly (having quaffed three just last night). that said, and risking blasphemy in this thread, i prefer Murphy's in the bottle (w/ widget) over Guinness in the can. perhaps the new bottle will win me back.

"It's a lovely day for a Guinness!"
posted by modge at 10:59 AM on December 7, 2001

posted by modge at 11:10 AM on December 7, 2001

Miguel, you have to try Turkish Delight. It is quite simply one of my favorite dessert items. Firm jelly covered in powdered sugar. Man is it good! Make sure you don't get the ersatz chocolate-covered candy bar version....get the real stuff!

And besides, how else will you ever get to ride in the Snow Queen's sleigh?
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:19 PM on December 7, 2001

If you're ever in Cashmere, Washington drop by the Liberty Orchards factory and get some Applets and Cotlets. They're YUMMMMMY and not like anything other candy I've ever had.
posted by otherchaz at 3:55 PM on December 24, 2001