Beer for the coffee lover in you

[Beanie]

Hmmm.... wonder if it's good? Even looks like it could be an espresso, couldn't it?

http://www.mcauslan.com/en/products/stastout.html

As Joey mentioned in another topic somewhere, I'm hoping to open my own shop one day - which is why I'm here in Vienna: observing, training my taste buds, practising skills, blah blah blah. Anyway, I'm on the search for product offerings and came across this.

Anyone ever tried it or something like it? If you've tried something similar, would you kindly tell me what brand & where to get it? IS it something you would try/might like?

Thanks in advance
Marcy

[wang]

It's stout, a type of beer with burnt hops to give it a characteristic black colour. Guiness is a really famous example of it, you can get it in pretty much any bar.

[Beanie]

Hi wang,

So, are you inferring then, that all stouts taste the similar? Can't be, right? Cause although you can get Guiness in nearly every country, they're not exactly the same as the ones sold in Ireland - slightly different ingredients I've been told.

Seeing as you're in Ireland, have you noticed the difference or was someone just pulling my leg?

M

[wang]

Stouts are just a type of beer and they vary the same way as beers vary - some lighter some heavier tasting. I haven't developed a taste for it but I guess they'd taste same-ish unless you started drinking and comparing side by side! And once you've had enough you can't really taste it anyway

[phil]

(TMC's resident pedant intervenes)

Just one thing wang - you mean darkly roasted malt, not burnt hops.

[Beanie]

Thanks guys for the info I guess I'll have some testing/tasting to do... aahhhh variety

[midnight_storm]

I am told by a former engineer, that part of the difference in the flavour is down to the pour speed, the UK pubs will not wait the time it takes in the Irish ones and insist of a faster flow. Could be the Dublin pigeons which used to roost right over the open tanks in the brewery - works with cats and coffee - so why not?

[wang]

Yeah, guinness is poured slower than any other drink and then left to sit for a small while before serving it to you in the pubs. In a normal pub you'd have it 3/4 filled at about a 45 degree angle, let it settle for between 60 and 90 seconds and then topped it up to the brim. Dunno about it in the UK or anywhere else. If you don't get a two-part pour at a 45 degree angle then most people would get quite annoyed in a traditional pub, in clubs though maybe not!

[jumper]

we have some irish pubs where i live and they pour it that way 2.
of course all the barkeepers are irish but stil i think they serve guinness the same way everywhere.
tastes great if you drink guinness all day you never get hungry.

[zix]

Anyone ever tried it or something like it? If you've tried something similar, would you kindly tell me what brand & where to get it? IS it something you would try/might like?

Yo Marcy. I like most stouts, porters, bitters and ale. Some stouts or porters might do well together with coffee, not that I tried it though. But Guiness is so well known that you might need at least another dark one for the customers that want to appear to be in-the-know.

To me, it´s mostly an "either or" thing, either I want to drink coffee or I would like a beer. Also, I would not expect to find both good coffee and good beer at the same place. Culturally motivated, that - perhaps. If you started a place like that in Sweden, you´d probably be first. (Call it "Bönor & Bärs", do the interiors in a sleek, white nordic design with some heavy dark wooden details as contrast (heavy chairs/benches or something, I´d suggest thick straight wall-mounted "tables"), focus exclusively on espresso and dark beer and you´d probably be successful within 3-6 months in Stockholm, relying only on mouth-to-mouth advertising.)

[AlanP]

Guinness 'Latte' Art

Try this with your microfoam

[quink]

I'm told that the guinness in Ireland tastes different because it does contain slightly different ingredients than the UK brewed version. The guy I got this from was working in a pub on the docks in Bristol, and they had an arangment with a boat that went back and forth to Ireland, to pick up and drop off a couple of kegs for them. He also said that some the ingredients in question wern't allowed as food addatives in the UK but were allowed in Ireland. I'm not sure how much to believe him, being the one trying to sell me the stuff in the first place, different breweries with the same equipment and ingredients still produce beers that taste slightly different.

[wang]

I was told there's only two guinness breweries in the world, although this is from my loungeboy days. One in dublin (which you can literally smell from the city center, and even more strongly from the area around alans' flat!) and one in some godforsaken place. Rumour or fact I'm not sure, I'd be interested in finding out if someone wants to do some googling homework!

[phil]

The godforsaken place is Park Royal, London. London Guinness always tastes worse than Dublin Guinness. From my brewing days I believe it to be the water that is the main reason for this.

PJ

[Raf]

From my drinking days, I can't remember ever having a Guinnes. Must try that some day.