Guinness Extra Stout

Alright, the real (or better) deal.

Guinness Extra Stout (bottled, brewed in Canada by Labatt), 6.0% ABV, 12oz

Color: When poured, the stout forms a nice, creamy, coffee-colored head. The liquid is pitch-black, so dark that you can see your own reflection on the glass.

Tasting Notes: Waves of thick and smoky (less chocolate-y) roasted malt pleasingly inundates the palate, while the full body envelopes the tongue. The crispness is not sacrificed for flavor here, as subtle hop flavor (not too bitter, not too tame) and carbonation ensure the “dry” is not missing from this helluva oomph-packing Irish Dry Stout. With this available, I can’t see why people would still be attracted to the bottled Draught. This extra stout makes it drink like a pale imitation, yet is still slightly inferior to the product on tap.

Comment: My fondest memories of Guinness lie with the New Year’s Eve party of my freshman year – that is, 2004. On this fateful all-night-long party (which happens to be my first as well), I had a Guinness Extra Stout (9% ABV) from the tap at a now-closed Irish Bar called The Shannon in Taipei – it was heavenly stuff which forever changed my perception of beer. The pint was HUGE, with a perfectly adorably creamy head, poured the RIGHT way (which I still have no clue today). It was smooth, malty and oh so sublime, but I couldn’t finish it. So halfway down I poured a shot of Baileys in and transformed it into a dwarfed Irish Carbomb. Which was also infernally tasty. In retrospect, and presently as someone more learned in the world of beers, I would never drink Guinness as an ICB again. First, the name is quite insulting and politically incorrect – it exhibits a rather Anglo-centric view in terms of its naming – and second, I can appreciate the hop bitterness now. An amusing fact is that my liking for hops has come after peat (in scotch whisky), which is a taste supposedly harder to acquire. Therefore I feel quite comfortable in the realm of barley/grain based liquors – whatever wacky out-of-the-world taste, bring it on! (I may show infinitudes of regret for this statement later.)

Guinness Draught

Back with brews. This time with a displaced classic, or a simulacrum of its former self!

Brewery: Guinness, St. James Gate, Dublin, Ireland (cough, somewhere in Canada)

Guinness Draught (bottled, with nitrogen rocket), 4.2% ABV, 12oz

Color: Ebony, but actual color is closer to a hue of dark coffee/green/blue.

Tasting Notes: The stout forms a thin head (I might not be pouring it properly, though. The nose is quite tempting, with roasted malt and fragrant grains, some leather. Sadly, the palate doesn’t quite fulfill the nose’s potential: first thing one detects is a thin body, lacking roundness. Notes of thick roasted malt stop right before hitting the jackpot, and nitrogen renders the punch even weaker. A lack of carbonation makes the thinness of body and off-metallic bitterness emerge in contrast, ack! There is little to the finish, as the flavors, already skeletal, vanish without a trace. This cleanliness is almost ethereal, ghostly and haunting for those who’ve had a better Guinness elsewhere.

Comment: One could either call Guinness Draught a shadow of its true self (what I refer to the representative Guinness is the Extra Stout from the tap: delicious, delicious stuff) or another victim of globalization. For the latter, not simply counting the over-production implemented to increase global sales, I’m pretty sure the drink on my table is NOT produced in their St. James Gate brewery. Guinness CO. has many subsidiary breweries in Africa, which provide a bulk of their production. But again, this is just speculation. Nevertheless, I can’t picture myself getting another six-pack of this caricature. If there’s any other stout or porter lying around, be my guest.