Guinness Nitro IPA?

Don't equate Nitro with Cask. Well, do as you like.
Hard to imagine, but with 50 states and 300 million people, we too are familiar with cask beer. Yes, we are living in a land where great traditional British beer is alive and well. German, Belgian and everything else too. You have heard, no? Cask, it's just not that popular. Any of us can get it this afternoon if we wanted (but the flyover states are going to drive a bit). I could tell you why cask is not that popular, but is a matter of opinion.

Cask is not Nitro. One thing I personally have never heard in an American bar "this beer would be better if it were on cask."
Cheers.

 

Nitro was specifically designed to emulate cask by Guinness. They had kept cask Guinness in Ireland long after it had been replaced by the keg product in other markets.This perhaps is the source of the "Guinness is better in Ireland" myth.It was once true.
There is cask and there is cask. At its best it is a revelation as to what beer can be. All too often it is not , and I've read many posts from the US regarding the lack of proper handling.Not to say that there aren't places which do a good job but these comments seem to be quite common.It does require techniques which, though not rocket science , involve particular skills.It also requires time and relatively quick turnover.

 

I will add, that all to often cask in the US is just adding a bunch of flavorings and adjuncts like vanilla, coffee, chocolate, peppers or anything else to stouts/porters. Fruit juice/actual fruit, even peppers to IPA's. Which, if it is a quality beer, all kind of ruins a great conditioned offering and is really the opposite of what I want.

 

"from the era"? Do you actually think cask-conditioned real ales are a thing of the past in Britain?

All British cask ale fans will resoundingly disagree with your claim. Nitro is never "appropriate" for any classic British style. Since all of them originated as cask styles and continue to be available as such, why would anyone think a nitro version would be either appropriate or an improvement?

 

It's not as if they haven't previously used the Guinness brand on other style beers.
US ad circa 1989:

 

Well there you have it.

THE authority has spoken. And thus HE hath proclaimed in the written text Nitro to be an abomination. Further, thou that disagree truly does not maintain membership within the club of All British Cask Ale Fans.

Do you even read what you write? This is the country that put fish bladder and oyster in a beer. Tradition and all that good fellow. But Nitrogen gas? The horror my good man! This will not stand! Spoken like a zealot. GIUA.

But it is fun to see the cask ale crowd get uppity at the mere suggestion that nitro beer is even just ok.

Cheers.

 

Poorly I might add.

And cask is still not nitro. As much as you dislike beer on nitro, you will be disappointed to learn that much of the world doesn't really care for cask, but is OK with nitro. Live with that. Makes the world more interesting. We know cask fans must dislike nitro, and it does show us you know something of tradition. Thank you.
Cheers.

edit- for any that might be wondering, this disagreement has been going on between a few of us for a long while... and it is still fun.

 

Never said that. Seems like you have created a position to argue with.

That said how is nitro beer that much different than cask other than if you don't use a breather on the cask, it pulls room air and spoils quickly. ? That and they are primed carbonate to a low level. Many pubs use nitrogen breathers on casks making the difference scientifically almost non existent.

We served the same beers on nitro and casks when I was brewing for John Harvards in the late nineties. The only difference I detected was cask beer went stake in a few days.

 

If you use a breather then the whole point is lost because it's the ingress of small amounts of air which transforms the beer.That's why too often the best pint is the last one from the cask ! Enjoy a pint today, tomorrow's it will be different ; if the cellarman knows his stuff it will be better.The beer reaches a peak after a few days, then goes dull and before long it's cardboardy , eventually has an appleish taste and ends up vinegary.The secret is to sell out a cask in about four days.

 

Selin's Grove Brewing Company most times has at least one cask ale available, generally two. It's always a treat to sample side-by-side on the occasions where they have the "same" beer available keg and cask. I usually prefer the less-carbonated cask versions (although there's a premium price attached to the experience).

 

And Stout is Porter with additional roasted barley, black patent and the brewmaster's spit. Beer is beer.

 

Guinness Nitro IPA was garbage. I can't really say it any other way.

 

I think this is the lowest rating I have given a beer. It tasted old, which it couldn't have been because it had just come out. Not sure if something happened to it in the distribution chain

 

I finally got to try the Guinness Nitro IPA, and have to agree that it was pretty unremarkable both as an IPA and as an ale in general. To be clear, I'm not at all adverse to the 'nitro' idea (whether in package or draught pour) and to be honest, think it would be interesting to taste a truly good IPA (American or traditional) without the overcarbonation common to American examples. Americans fuss over the hop levels both in bitterness and flavor/aroma (ie., freshness) but then carbonate the stuff to the levels of soda pop and serve it at frozen temperatures...both things which are ultimately to the detriment of the hop character.
But like all things, I suppose that's just a matter of personal taste and opinion (along with the almost opaque murkiness of some examples).