Still drink Guinness?

I still love it. It has lower calories, a great taste, and a better mouthfeel than beers available in most gas stations and grocery stores.

 

According to the Guinness site beer finder, this isn't in the USA. Also, a quick search of Total Wine and BevMo's sites turned up a record of it but none currently available.

Earlier in the thread, a poster said he had recently bought some on closeout.

I am guessing this all ads up to the beer being pulled from the US market for some reason.

 

I have a couple Guinness Draughts that have been in the beer fridge a long time. Sooo many better options.

 

Binny's, here in Northern Illinois, has it on shelves all over the place.

 

When I am at a chain restaurant, and the only other options are macros, I will select regular Guinness. My rationale goes like this... it really was a beer I liked BEFORE I got into craft beer. Second, since it's a nitro-tap, I'm 99.99% sure nothing else has ever been poured out of it.

The only real variables are whether or not the line has been cleaned properly to avoid unwanted flavors (which I can send it back if so) or if the bartender doesn't have a clue how to pour it properly (again, I can send it back if I want to).

It's a decent bet when in a pinch because there is less to worry about and should be a fairly consistent experience.

 

Been buying some Guinness Draught lately. A four pack is relatively inexpensive so it helps with the monthly beer budget, and it fits the bill on a weekend night when I’m several beers in and feeling nostalgic. Sure, it’s been passed by many other stouts in terms of flavor, but I wasn’t drinking those stouts 20 years ago.

 

yes of course

 

It is my father in law's beer of choice, so I have it often. Solid beer.

 

Typed in my zip code and 5 hits came up within 5 miles. (Not that I would ever trust one of those brewery websites' beerfinder pages ).

The fact that the US Guinness website still has a page for Foreign Extra Stout (below):
http://www.guinness.com/en-us/thebeer-fes.html (<on Guinness brand websites the second part of the URL is the language and the country - thus "en-us" means English - United States).

To me, that means it is still available in the US- but that does not necessarily mean every US Diageo distributor stocks it nor that many stores carry it. There no doubt that it was not a very big seller for Diageo (despite decades of demand by a vocal minority - probably lots of "one and done" purchasers, like me) and I could certain see many retailers with no understanding of the many Guinness beers thinking,

"What!? Another Guinness stout? And $10 for only 4 bottles. Why do we need to carry this?" ​

 

I noticed the other day that importer Diageo-Guinness USA got TTB COLAs for Irish-brewed Guinness Extra Stout back in March, '15 - which has long come from Canadian breweries (Labatt or Moosehead) brewed under license for the US market. Last time I recall Irish ES was sometimes in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Looks like they're bringing in both 11.2 and 22 oz. bottles, as well (last time I recall the bombers being Irish, while Canadian-brewed ES was in the 11.2's).


So, we can expect some "Does Irish Guinness Extra Stout taste better than Canadian GES in the US?" threads soon.

 

I tried to look it up in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago on the Guinness site and nothing came up. I zoomed out to the entire map of the US and nothing populated. Maybe I didn't wait long enough...

 

I don't think the freshness issue is nearly as important with Guinness as you claim. First, whether in Ireland or North America, Guinness, Ltd. is very big on quality control during shipping and storage. Given proper handling, a modern sealed and pressurized keg will remain "fresh" for considerable time. If a seriously old keg of Guinness actually did lose a bit of it's flavor, it would be very difficult to detect it due to the effect of the nitro-dispense, which mutes and renders bland all flavor characteristics, good as well as bad. A shoddy pub in Ireland, of which there are many, would likely have dirty lines and other factors which would lesson the quality of fresh Guinness as much or more than properly handled but nominally older Guinness available here.

I've travelled extensively in Ireland and was frequently forced to drink Guinness for lack of a better alternative. I purposely tried to detect any differences from what I was familiar with in the US and could not. I occasionally had some that wasn't up to par which I assumed was due to conditions at the pub. It's a recognized myth that it's better over there regardless of the few who insist otherwise. It's simply in their heads - likely a combination of being bewitched by the atmosphere in an Irish pub and a self-fullfilling expectation. They've repeatedly heard it's better, want to believe it, so think it is, and return here to repeat the silly myth to others. An endless cycle of rubbish. BA's should be more objective.

 

Was in an airport bar yesterday and this summarizes my feelings when I ordered one.

 

I'll occasionally get one when I'm at the bar. Some bars don't have much of a selection, so Guinness ends up being one of the best options.

 

yup as being in many airports where this one was the best option, many a time....

 

You didn't really think you could slip this past me, did you? Everyone except the English know that porters are part of the ale family, so the obvious reason he brought in a porter brewer was because he realized he couldn't brew ales well and needed outside expertise if he was ever going to succeed with that family of beers.

 

No... it just doesn't cut it. It doesn't have the flavor I've grown accustomed to having from a stout, and honestly, I'm actually not that big of a fan of nitro'd beers in most cases.

 

Yep when in Rome type deal.

 

Try the Extra or Foreign Extra Stout. I will drop good money that they have a flavor you can warm up to.

 

Last time I ordered Guinness, it was after asking for four other beers which they said they were out of. So I guess I still see it as a backup option.