“If it’s not properly poured it’s not presented to you properly,”

March 16, 2017 7:03 PM

Vancouver Bar’s Poorly Poured Guinness Draws Ire [The Toronto Star] A Vancouver restaurant provoked the ire of the Irish after sharing a photo of a poorly poured pint of Guinness to promote their St. Patrick’s Day party. Railtown Café’s photo of an overflowing drink with foam oozing down the glass was meant to be artsy, said owner Dan Olson. But it “was a little too artsy and it really struck a chord with some of our Irish clientele out there,” admitted Olson, who woke up Tuesday morning to a barrage of emails and comments on the restaurant’s social media profiles. What they thought was an inoffensive photo had quickly caught the attention of Guinness connoisseurs from as far away as Ireland, the home of the beloved brew.
posted by Fizz (81 comments total)

Jaysus. I'm not even in the drinking game any more and that made me cringe. The head on a pint of Guinness is as much its logo as the harp.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:13 PM on March 16, 2017 [13 favorites]

"Beer snobs. How bad could it be?"

"Oh."
posted by leotrotsky at 7:14 PM on March 16, 2017 [53 favorites]

As a Canadian, I resent this particular cafe's poor pour. It is not representative of all Canadians. Beer is something many Canadians take seriously *tsk tsk* We know better. Try not to judge us too harshly.
posted by Fizz at 7:17 PM on March 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'll drink a poorly poured Guinness.
posted by glaucon at 7:17 PM on March 16, 2017 [14 favorites]

There is little as fascinating and enjoyable about having a pint of Guinness, as having a properly poured one placed in front of you (perhaps backlit by the bottle fridges or the sun) and watching the bubbles fall/rise/shift and change as the head settles. It looks like rising bubbles, then like they are falling and its such a pretty colour. Guinness is the most aesthetically pleasing pint of beer.

Guinness is great. Plus I've never understood why people say it is 'heavy'. I find it far lighter a drink than any of that fizzy stuff.
posted by Brockles at 7:20 PM on March 16, 2017 [30 favorites]

I'm sorry but I am so jaded that I just assume that this is just more social marketing drivel. Guinness with all their precious hype about temp and handling and weird little ceramic bits in bottles still tastes pretty unremarkable to me and I don't think the fact that it isn't slopping out of the glass is going to change that baseline mediocrity. So there.
posted by Pembquist at 7:23 PM on March 16, 2017 [22 favorites]

I can't tell if they've changed the formula for Guinness in the last couple of decades or if my beer palate has changed after years of craft beers but the last one I had seemed sad, watery and bland.
posted by octothorpe at 7:29 PM on March 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

My family isn't Irish, but my German grandmother certainly taught me proper beer-pouring techniques, and she'd be appalled by this: I can hear her now, "it's messy, and you've wasted half of it down the side of the glass!" (Grandmom considered wasting booze right up there as the 11th Commandment.)
posted by easily confused at 7:30 PM on March 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Grandmom considered wasting booze right up there as the 11th Commandment.

You sure she wasn't Irish?
posted by leotrotsky at 7:48 PM on March 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

I enjoy Guinness, but it's also not unfair to describe it as the Budweiser of stouts. On the other hand, I would drink windshield wiper fluid if you poured it from a nitro-tap, so maybe I am not the best judge.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:51 PM on March 16, 2017 [15 favorites]

A summer job I had nearly thirty years ago gifted me with one of my most bizarre talents: knowing how to pour beer (as per the Guinness video). Given that I'm teetotal, I don't have much opportunity for using it, but it comes in handy with soda pop...
posted by thomas j wise at 7:53 PM on March 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I do hope that I've not committed some strange hops-related sacrilege by mentioning beer in the same breath as soda pop.
posted by thomas j wise at 7:54 PM on March 16, 2017

Also: eponysterical.

And I could murder a pint, thanks.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:56 PM on March 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I enjoy Guinness, but it's also not unfair to describe it as the Budweiser of stouts.

Strange comparison. Guinness stout and Czech Budějovice pale lager are almost polar opposite styles.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:58 PM on March 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Just to muddy the waters a bit, Anheuser-Busch put out its own Guinness-style stout some years back, Bare Knuckle. (And when I say "Guinness-style", I mean that it was basically Guinness with the serial numbers barely filed off.) It didn't last long.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:01 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

At least it's not a fake Irish pub. Although they did hang old stuff on the walls.
posted by Kabanos at 8:02 PM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

uinness with all their precious hype about temp and handling and weird little ceramic bits in bottles still tastes pretty unremarkable to me and I don't think the fact that it isn't slopping out of the glass is going to change that baseline mediocrity. So there.

You can certainly get more pungent, more high-octane stouts from any number of craft breweries. But I do wonder if you've ever had a proper one. It's prone to going manky and many bars don't pour them correctly --- the head should be double-cream thick. Try one the next time you're in Ireland. Preferably poured by an old man in a quiet pub who started giving you side eye when he heard your accent. You may find a pint of plain is your only man.
posted by Diablevert at 8:05 PM on March 16, 2017 [17 favorites]

So this pub is a long-time Vancouver establishment, but in name only. It was recently bought by the Donnelly Group, the business that runs most of the terrible boring cookie-cutter venues in town. The fact that they're getting dragged for this is a better refreshment than anything they'd ever serve.
posted by smasuch at 8:09 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was visiting a cousin in Ireland and they took me to their tiny country pub and said 'now mojo, what'll you be havin to drink' and I said 'hm, that local lager looks really interesting and I had a really good welsh one a couple of days back I'd like to compare it to so that, thanks!' and they said, 'no, what'll you be havin to drink' and i said '...' and they said '...' and I said '... Guinness?' and they clapped me on the back and said 'good man'.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:09 PM on March 16, 2017 [41 favorites]

My mistake, I was thinking of the Railway Club, not Railtown Cafe.
posted by smasuch at 8:11 PM on March 16, 2017

I once had to leave my Favorite Bar in Newport, Celtica, on St, Paddy's as I quipped to this one skinny little guy wearing an orange t-shirt with the Bass logo on about the irony. Then he wanted to fight me, and I was, at this point in my life, a 350lb exercise freak. I completely understood the political trap I had fallen into, and settled up and skedaddled. I wound up in a decidedly non-irish establishment, all black-lights and velevet drapes. The bartender was my HS crush, which was a surprise, and she had no idea at all on how to mix a gin martini. There was more vermouth than ice or Gin. I fell out of love with her on the spot, but I listened as she tried to sell me on her cleaning service.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:12 PM on March 16, 2017 [21 favorites]

Guinness isn't essentially a bad beer, but I do find it pretty thin, and without the flavor of most good stouts. It's a solid gateway beer, though, in that it has enough brand cache that people who only ever drink macro lager might give it a try once in a while, and maybe find out that there's a whole world of interesting beer out there, where the goal is "taste good" rather than "taste nonoffensive enough."

It's highly likely I'll end up at a place serving Guinness today, and I'll probably have one, unless that bar is serving Kilkenny, which is a genuinely tasty beer, and even more fun than Guinness to watch being poured. The cascade effect as a glass of Kilkenny settles is one of my favorite moments of sudden, unexpected quiet anticipation the world occasionally throws at you.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:16 PM on March 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

Brockles: "Guinness is great. Plus I've never understood why people say it is 'heavy'. I find it far lighter a drink than any of that fizzy stuff."

My anecdotal experience is that people/countries who drink mostly lagers find *all* stouts as "heavier" in terms of flavor, not necessarily in terms of alcohol content
posted by andycyca at 8:18 PM on March 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

There are better Irish stouts, even, like Beamish and Murphy's (my personal fave). I suspect that Guinness-for-export is not as good as domestic Guinness, too. It's not uncommon for export beers to be made in different locations, which will affect the final result in all kinds of small ways.

However, I think we can all agree that the pour shown is a bloody fucking disgrace, "artistic" or not.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:23 PM on March 16, 2017 [9 favorites]

I like Guinness just fine, particularly at an establshment that pours it properly and not too cold. Murphy's on tap...well, that's just grand.

The great thing about the Guinness widget cans, though, is if you're somewhere where refrigerating beer isn't an option, and you've got a pint glass on hand, and you really want beer? Your prayers have been answered.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:36 PM on March 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

Speaking of poory-poured Guinness: First Mike Pence says 'top of the morning', then Paul Ryan holds up this appalling pint, grave missteps by the US [tweet w/ picture]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 8:58 PM on March 16, 2017 [10 favorites]

(Poorly-poured, even. "He's holding it like it is a women's health issue.")
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:15 PM on March 16, 2017 [20 favorites]

I thought saying "the Budweiser of stouts" was more akin to saying "the Cadillac of pencils" than it was a comment about similar styles of beer. I think it is apt because they're both brewed to appeal to massive numbers of consumers which they do very well. I'll enjoy a Guinness on occasion. Sometimes it is the best thing on tap. (or tapp, if you please.)
posted by firemouth at 9:27 PM on March 16, 2017 [5 favorites]

I know this is a thread about beer pours, but what are those deep fried things next to the beer!?

Perhaps this is a St. Patrick's day treat that I'm unfamiliar with, but if they're croquettes(?) or something similar, they look at least as unappetizing as the beer.

The slice-of-a-tree-trunk tray is a nice piece of flair, though! Don't mind me I'm staying in tomorrow night.
posted by cosmologinaut at 9:29 PM on March 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

this appalling pint

I had an exceedingly polite coworker visit from Ireland ~20 years ago, and we thought it would be a good idea(!?!) to bring him to our local "real Irish" pub. Guinnesses were ordered and delivered. Coworker accepted beer graciously, but after the waitress had gotten out of earshot he said, sotto voce: "...this wouldn't get served in Ireland."

"Really?" we exclaimed. "Whyever not?" (Its condition wasn't nearly as sad as Ryan's.)

He pointed to the ~1/16" sliver of daylight between the top of the foam and the rim of the glass. "If that was served in our pub, the customer would say--" and he then hollered at the top of his lungs, "DID I ASK FOR *HALF* A PINT!?!"
posted by rodeoclown at 10:36 PM on March 16, 2017 [71 favorites]

Has Guinness changed, though? I remember having my first one as an 18 year old at a party 30 years ago, and finding it quite challenging on the palate.

I grew up drinking middle of the road consumer grade import beer in a family setting—Moosehead, Molsons mostly I guess. I found that first Guinness to be almost unbearably concentrated and bitter. I assumed correctly that my palatte would adapt; and I have had the occasional GS ever since in addition to a wide variety of other ales lagers stouts belgians porters doppelbocks etc including some I've made myself to perfectly decent effect.

But if I sip one that (atypically) happens to be in the fridge right now, and try to get myself back there in memory, I can't shake the feeling that the two are not much alike at all. Understanding that tap != bottle, I wouldn't mind a sanity check here.

I remember once about fifteen years ago back in Philly, I made my local bartender drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream in my guiness. A ghastly mess on the outside of the glass, and utter heresy, but it was delicious.
posted by maniabug at 10:45 PM on March 16, 2017

DID I ASK FOR HALF A PINT

- Now, barman, do you think you could get a whisky in there for me?

- I'm sure I could.

- Well, why don't you fill it up with fuckin' beer, then?
posted by Segundus at 10:52 PM on March 16, 2017 [40 favorites]

what are those deep fried things next to the beer!?

The cafe's St. Patrick's Day page featuring the "new, improved" pour suggests these are "Cottage Pie Croquettes with Guinness Cheddar Dip".

But also -- wait, WHAT--

Beverages
Guinness Cans $6

--they don't even have it on draft anyway?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:18 PM on March 16, 2017 [7 favorites]

There was nothing artsy when once, many years ago, I had rubbed my index finger along my nose and dipped it in a friend's Guinness in an effort to ease its drinkability through the dissipation of the beer's head. Like I had done before with untamable sodas poured at home, when the need for a cold beverage was emergent during the first bites of consumption of a Hot Pocket.

"Look," I'd said, "it's like magic."

There was only regret, and a thin, floating layer of something akin to the beautiful, immiscible rainbow of oil on freshly rained upon pavement.
Only without the rainbow. And with nose grease.
posted by herrdoktor at 11:37 PM on March 16, 2017 [8 favorites]

what are those deep fried things next to the beer!?

I'm still trying to get my head around the presentation. It's a tiny dutch oven, and they have the lid next to it, but the croquettes are overflowing the pot. WTF?
posted by mikelieman at 12:02 AM on March 17, 2017 [7 favorites]

Oh. Oh my. That's not artsy, that's just appalling.

Does nobody involved in the making of that ... do none of them drink beer? Multiple people signed off on that abomination. How did that happen? WHY?
posted by louche mustachio at 12:16 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

I feel like this is the thread where I should out-of-nowhere mention that we're visiting friends in Ireland come easter. *wheee*
posted by Harald74 at 12:19 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

I haven't had Beamish in forever. I shall change that today!
posted by persona au gratin at 12:43 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

If you think Guinness is watery try Guinness Export. Sticks to the ribs.
posted by dinoworx at 12:58 AM on March 17, 2017 [6 favorites]

Guinness hasn't been brewed in Dublin in some time. I grew up with it. I was very underweight at various points in my teens, despite a ravenous appetite and I got to have it at home on weekends once all my homework was done. I always liked it. Now I'd far rather have Modelo Negro. Tastes better than the currently available Guiness, it's cheaper besides.
Crno Sarajevsko is pretty damn good too, but haven't had it in years. I haven't seen it outside of Sarajevo and even then only at the brewery. It was thinner than Guinness or Modelo Negro but has a very nice flavor.
I'm one up automatically on most beer snobs because of that.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 1:05 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

But also -- wait, WHAT--

Beverages
Guinness Cans $6

--they don't even have it on draft anyway?

railtowncafe@tweetcarrie we did our best with the tools (err can) at hand, but we're working on getting a Guinness tap installed as we speak!

Sad!
posted by standardasparagus at 1:42 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can't stand any kind of stout. I do love hearing about a good pour though and Roddy Doyle is a master of making it sound alluring. Track down Jimmy Rabbitte Sr talking to his mates at the pub in the 'Barrytown' trilogy (The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van) and you'll see what I mean. Here's one example from The Van: "The outside of the glass was clean; the whole thing looking like an ad. Jimmy Sr tilted the glass a little bit but the head stayed the way it was. They admired it." No wonder the Irish are up in arms about this terrible picture!
posted by h00py at 1:48 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

Ha ha Irish love to drink lol and get mad if the drink isn't perfect. Goes with all the fake Irish accents and Irish for a day shit. Tip o the blarney.
posted by spitbull at 2:38 AM on March 17, 2017 [6 favorites]

My supervisor in a job I had 15 years ago spent some time in Ireland when she was young; I remember her telling me a story about how she almost got fired during her first shift at a bar because her Guinness pouring skills were not up to the locals' standards.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:12 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I don't like Guinness and I think people get unnecessarily het up about it all, so I was all set to come in and pour a thick pint of snark, but then I looked at the picture.
Yeah, that's absolutely terrible.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:36 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

Guinness in the nitro cans is a watery abomination. I can only hang with Guinness Export which is hard to find in the States.
posted by porn in the woods at 4:42 AM on March 17, 2017

This thread has convinced me that I should go to my local for lunch and have a proper pint.
posted by mikelieman at 4:56 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Guinness is great. Plus I've never understood why people say it is 'heavy'. I find it far lighter a drink than any of that fizzy stuff.

It's the comparatively thick consistency. I for one can't drink it (or any other nitro keg beer) anything like as quickly as I can lager without it coming back up, seemingly before it's even made it as far as my stomach.
posted by Dysk at 5:13 AM on March 17, 2017

I'm sorry but I am so jaded that I just assume that this is just more social marketing drivel.

I'm not so sure. I've had one trip to Ireland, and they had some pretty strict unspoken rules about proper drinking etiquette. Not just with Guinness, but with bar behavior in general.

Or at least, in the small towns in the Gaeltachtaí they did.
posted by kanewai at 5:24 AM on March 17, 2017

--they don't even have it on draft anyway?

Not saying this place deserves to get wrecked by a pack of hooligans today... but I wouldn't donate to the GoFundMe for their repairs if they did.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:39 AM on March 17, 2017

Alright, there are still directions on doing a proper Guinness Can Pour.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:50 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

i am also in this thread
posted by beerperson at 6:17 AM on March 17, 2017 [16 favorites]

A pint of Murphy's and a Paddy's (whiskey) were my sovereign remedy to whatever may befall on the Cork ferry weather wise. As good a reason as any...
posted by TwelveNoteRow at 6:30 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

He pointed to the ~1/16" sliver of daylight between the top of the foam and the rim of the glass. "If that was served in our pub, the customer would say--" and he then hollered at the top of his lungs, "DID I ASK FOR *HALF* A PINT!?!"

In England all the customers in a bar do is push the pint back at the bartender and say "Can you top that up for me" and the bartender does it without a blink.

As someone with an essential tremor the full to the brim pint glasses made it a really awkward sticky mess when it was my turn to get the round.
posted by srboisvert at 6:35 AM on March 17, 2017

Guinness tastes like coffee, which is another beverage where I don't understand all the fuss.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 6:36 AM on March 17, 2017

I -- I've never had a Guinness.

Back when I started drinking, I heard that Guinness was better the closer you got to Dublin, so I promised myself that I would have my first one there. And now, twenty+ years later, I still haven't had one, and a trip to Dublin isn't looking likely anytime soon.

At the time, I thought this was a Solid Plan. I mentioned this to an Irish friend one time, and he thought it was exactly the wrong thing to do -- after I had had the best one first, there would be nowhere to go but down. And perhaps he was right. But now I'm stuck, as I'm horrible at keeping promises to myself, and this is the one promise I've actually managed to keep.

Now this thread has me rethinking this all again. But today is no day to go out and have a first Guinness, I know that much...
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:49 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

If this post was about any other ethnic group we'd decry the stereotyping of that group as universally composed of short-tempered addicts.
posted by spitbull at 6:56 AM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Goddamn hipsters.
posted by tully_monster at 6:56 AM on March 17, 2017

I worked in hospitality for nearly ten years. I've poured and drunk pints of Guinness for twenty.

the *frankly* bullshit that gets spouted about "you gotta pour it at 45 degrees, and the head needs to be...blah blah blah" annoys the hell outta me. It's corporate branding drivel and it has very little to do with quality. The fact that Guinness, and latterly Diageo have managed to convince the public that it's necessary only feeds into the ritualistic tribal nature of human beings.

Pour a pint of Guinness like you pour any other pint and it'll do fine. That pint in the picture though? What the actual fuck is going on there? That's offensive to beer in general, never mind Guinness.

I've been a bit sweary here. As you might guess, this is a bee i've had in my bonnet for a while. Apologies for any offence. (i'm not sorry enough to change it though)
posted by trif at 7:24 AM on March 17, 2017 [9 favorites]

As a long time vancouverite this doesn't surprise me in the least as this city continues its inexorable march to becoming nothing but a marketing concept. And Railtown? We have seen neighbourhoods, mainly on the east side of the city, be given new, generic names that sound like a marketing group came up up with them.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 7:28 AM on March 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

If this post was about any other ethnic group we'd decry the stereotyping of that group as universally composed of short-tempered addicts.

what is the ethnic group under discussion here
posted by beerperson at 7:30 AM on March 17, 2017

Budweiser of stouts

Oddly enough, Budweiser in Ireland is brewed by Guinness.
Interestingly, this is a 300 ml bottle. The US product size is typically 355 ml at 5% ABV=17.75 ml ethanol. This Irish product is 300ml at 4.3% ABV = 12.9 ml ethanol. US bottles of Bud have 37.6% more booze.
posted by exogenous at 7:30 AM on March 17, 2017

Oh God.

This is giving me flashbacks to Paddy's day in America. One of my least favourite memories (as an Englishman) of living there. The annual low-level torture of having to sit at the bar in my local and have everyone make the same 'look out it's the enemy! hahahahaha' joke against a constant backdrop of the Pogues.

I'd normally tolerate it until about 1AM, by which point it'd be just the regulars left and I'd be drunk enough to do some variation of the following:

'HANDS UP IF YOU'RE IRISH!'

*80% of bar raises hands*

'KEEP 'EM UP IF YOUR PARENTS ARE ACTUALLY IRISH!'

*Everyone apart from me puts their hands down*

'CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE ALL AMERICANS!'

To be fair it was nearly always good natured, and we'd all laugh about it,* but I did always find it a bit over the top. I mean yeah, as far as I'm concerned everyone has the right to whatever identity they feel comfortable with regardless of genetics. But if you're going to do so then at least know a bit more about that culture than whatever you've managed to pick up from the back of a box of Lucky Charms and/or that one episode of Columbo that talks about the IRA.

_{*The exception being people who would loudly try to order 'car bombs.' Pro-tip: Don't do it around a Londoner}
posted by garius at 7:31 AM on March 17, 2017 [8 favorites]

what is the ethnic group under discussion here

People who like stout craft beers?
posted by Fizz at 7:36 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

....against a constant backdrop of the Pogues

I'm not sure what the problem is here.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 7:40 AM on March 17, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm not sure what the problem is here.

Because I could have written a simple computer program that would have replaced every third trip to the jukebox:

10 GOTO jukebox
20 PLAY 'Fairytale of New York'
30 GOTO 10

Almost enough to make a man beg for a rendition of Danny Boy, just for a bit of variety.

_{Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. But you would essentially get the same three or four tracks with name recognition on constant repeat. A shame because the Pogues have done some great stuff.}
posted by garius at 7:54 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: universally composed of short-tempered addicts.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:07 AM on March 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

No matter how it's poured, I'll only have one today. Cheers, all!
posted by Thorzdad at 8:32 AM on March 17, 2017

Alright, there are still directions on doing a proper Guinness Can Pour.

Oooh, thanks for that. I've never actually known you're supposed to let the can sit after cracking open, I thought you were supposed to pour it right in.
posted by dnash at 8:47 AM on March 17, 2017

The power of the Internet. What was meant as a local marketing effort has been amplified into an international incident. It's enough to almost get me feeling bad about snarking on how badly poured that pint is...

But, Jesus H. F. Christ, that's an abomination.

/prays his foibles continue to be unremarkable and obscure
posted by Fezboy! at 8:48 AM on March 17, 2017

That photo is what happens when a manager fancies themselves a food stylist.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

As noted above, this "pub" is part of the Donnelly Group, an incredibly soulless and characterless pub-from-a-catalogue company who have bought up a ton of Vancouver bars.

I used to have the same hate the Donnelly Group as any other local with taste until I realized they are providing an amazing service, they are corralling all the type of people I don't want to be around into bars I would never go to, I am not joking, the caliber of clientele at non-Donnelly Group bars in Vancouver shoots up with each bar they roll out.

I am frankly stunned that anyone in a Donnelly Group pub would give a shit or even notice a poorly poured beer.
posted by Cosine at 9:03 AM on March 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

I find it far lighter a drink than any of that fizzy stuff.

Yeah it is thin for a stout, these days, but that makes it a good refreshment beer with a bit more to it than actual Budweiser.
posted by atoxyl at 10:06 AM on March 17, 2017

I was travelling through Athlone a few years back, it being July the 4th I naturally washed down dinner with a Budweiser. The fact that it was Guinness-made and somewhat tastier kinda ruined the effect.
posted by whuppy at 1:26 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Preferably poured by an old man in a quiet pub who started giving you side eye when he heard your accent

Indeed. A few years back I was in Ireland for work, somewhere out near Galway, I forget exactly where. I turned up on Sunday night very late and headed to the hotel bar for a Guinness before turning in. It was empty except for the old guy behind the bar, who did indeed give me the side-eye when he heard my London accent, but left off polishing his glass long enough to point at the two taps and enquire "Plain or extra cold?"

My answer of "who ever heard of extra cold stout?" seemed to be the right thing to say, and we got on famously after that.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 6:00 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

an incredibly soulless and characterless...

I have less than no love for the Donnelly group and wish this social media faux pas was theirs, but that's the former Railway Club. Railtown Cafe is actually a pretty nice little lunch spot, not a pub at all. I'd recommend it for a sandwich or salad and a cup of coffee, I think the beer selling is pretty incidental to their business. But anyway, if you're in that area and you want a good beer, go to the Alibi Room a couple of blocks away.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:33 PM on March 17, 2017

Today. In North Dartmouth, MA, I went into the liquor store, and went to the counter with a four pack of Murphy's. The owner and proprietor of the shop was behind the counter at the register and he was from someplace in India, darkly complected and dignified in his age and success.

He said, as I planted the Murphy's 4-pack on his counter, "You realize this is Saint Patricks, sir? Guiness is on sale, sir!"

"Yeah, but this is better for St. Pats, Go URI!"

He smiled broadly and did the side-to-side nod head shake. I gave him a fist bump he initiated, and now I am out of Murphy's. Woe is me. Wait, the Rams won???? YAY!
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:45 PM on March 17, 2017

Guinness hasn't been brewed in Dublin in some time.

Sorry? Guinness is brewed in exactly the same place it has been brewed for 250 years: St. James's Gate, Dublin.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:59 AM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

The stuff they send over to the states probably isn't. St James' Gate supplies all the Guinness for the UK and Ireland.
posted by Dysk at 5:42 AM on March 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Guinness Draught is brewed in Ireland. The Extra Stout and other varieties are brewed all over the place, including Montreal and Lagos.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:52 PM on March 19, 2017

Yes, but St James's Gate is not the only brewery in Ireland producing Guinness.
posted by Dysk at 4:48 AM on March 20, 2017 [1 favorite]