How do you explain Nitro Beers to n00bs?

In the 1950's, a Dublin publican had a particular way to dispense cask Guinness using compressed air, and it resulted in a soft, enjoyable beverage (all draught Guinness, the bottled too, was unfiltered at that time). Air has a lot of nitrogen and it was felt some of the character of the beer derived from the blend of this and CO2 in the beer. Guinness engineers devised the modern nitrogen dispense system to emulate this soft character. Initially the beer was unpasteurized (but probably filtered) but finally all nitro Guinness and other nitro beers in the U.K. and Ireland were pasteurized, like Caffrey, Murphy, etc.

When the craft thing started here, some brewers wanted to emulate, wrongly IMO, the nitro dispense of Guinness, probably because many thought this was the classic way to serve draft Guinnness (in fact it debuted in about 1962 and before that draft Guinness was a naturally-conditioned beer). So some unpasteurized, craft beer has always been offered that way in North America. And later some was bottled with the widget, a mini-nitro-dispense gizmo for bottles and cans, and finally some without the widget, e.g. Left Hand's.

Personally, I don't like nitro, I think it gives a fake taste and texture to beer and deadens the hop quality as well. It's a "mistake" (in my opinion), just as serving cask beer cloudy is, but is too well accepted now to be changed.

 

Old Chub Nitro pales in comparison to the regular, and so ended my nitro interest.

 

People always say Nitro=creamy but I always find nitro=watery

 

A lot of nitro haters in this thread. Usually I don't have to explain nitro beers to my customers but, since the establishment I work for regularly has cask beer on, I do have to explain cask which is a bit more complex. I once heard someone say that nitro is trying to accomplish what cask does naturally, so I start there when I'm talking to someone who already knows what nitro is. Then I get into the secondary fermentation in the cask, what the widget does and so on and so forth. I feel like half the time people nod and say "okay" without actually getting it, especially since the first several times it was explained to me I didn't get it.

Me personally, I love nitro for stouts and basically most dark ales but think that an IPA is ruined once it's on nitro. Oh and one time I had DuPont Avec Les Bons Vieux on nitro, skeptical as I was, and it was amazing! On the other hand, cask somehow manages to be great for most styles I've found, even IPAs.

 

one important fact that i don't think has been mentioned is that CO2 actually has a flavor. CO2 is a bit aciddic and adds something of a metallic bite to the beer. nitrogen does not have really any flavor characteristic. if the CO2 is removed it will lose a characteristic that we associate with beer. the nitrogen bubbles are pretty, and many people like the effect a whole lot (the BA audience is different after all). after the nitrogen dissipates, which is quite quick given that it is almost insoluble in liquid, there is not a lot of CO2 there. the dissolved concentration of CO2 in most nitro stouts is very low. something like 1.8 if i recall.

it is always sad to see the same people crying about the good old days of cask ale, how the world was a better place, how nitro beer is the work of the devil. wow it never gets old for some. it's just beer. cask ain't that great anyway.
Cheers.

 

give them a taste!

 

...I just like watching the bubbles go DOWN...freaky.

 

I usually say something to the following effect:

"My experience with nitro-ed beers is that the nitrogen makes for a creamier head and perhaps some improvements to mouthfeel, but comes at the expense expense of 'washing out' some of the beer's aroma and flavor profile."


On a side note, my experience with nitro-ed beers also makes me think that the nitrogen somehow accentuates some of the sweeter flavors - the beer just seems to taste sweeter on nitro than a non-nitro version. I noticed this with YDCS, Left Hand Milk Stout, Old Chub Nitro, etc. But maybe it's just me...

 

Cask isn't a sort of beer it's a way of getting it to the drinker. It's unique in that it can dramatically improve the drinking quality of the brew, far beyond how it left the brewery.It doesn't make poor beer into great but it does show it to its best advantage.Which can't be said for nitro. The only advantage people claim for nitro is mouthfeel (fine if you like drinking shaving cream) but it's fairly well accepted that it dumbs down flavours, particularly hops. The only advantage is the reduction in carbonation which can, in keg beer, give an acid, metallic tang to beer.
All beer is "just beer" but there are people who will go to ridiculous lengths to acquire particular brews.I just have to wander round to the nearest pub. Or the one after that. Or after that.

 

It's like a filet vs rib eye.

Rib eye has more flavor like C02. Filet has a better mouthfeel/texture like nitro.

A lot of people like filets because they would trade taste for tenderness. Just like people will trade taste for the creamy texture of nitro.

 

On top of that, I don't see why I should give particular obeisance to a dispense method invented in the early 60's by engineers or scientists which alters a key characteristic of beer. CO2 is produced naturally by fermentation, sometimes assisted by krausening but it's still fermentation, not pumping nitrogen gas into the beer. Pumping CO2 is less acceptable than CO2 generated naturally but it's still CO2, not a different element which isn't produced in the brewing or conditioning process.

I never particularly liked pasteurization, fine filtration, pellets vs. blossoms, and other industrial innovations, but we have to accept some of them as a practical matter. Nitro is one I see no reason to accept, speaking for myself of course. If people enjoy it, that's fine for them. The only way I like it is with IPA actually, since the nitro tends to reduce the aggressive character of the typical IPA hopping, or rounds it out in some way. I like the odd Murphy Stout too, say, if very fresh. It's not the end of the world to be sure, but I do feel the nitro thing is overrated and often not well-understood.

 

Jack's Abby Smoke & Dagger is really good on nitro.

 

Use a sandpaper analogy instead? 320 grit vs 80 grit?

 

Nice one. You may be on to something there.

 

I am generally not a fan of nitro beers but Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro is an excellent beer.

There is no doubt in my mind that some beers (a minority of beers) benefit from nitro.

Cheers!