Guinness: The Most Famous Stout
Dublin's Beer is Ireland's Biggest Export & Brewed in 50 Countries
Is Guinness the best stout in the world, or is it just hype? Read on to get a balanced view and in depth description of just what makes this beer so interesting.
The Guinness Brewery began life around 250 years ago in Dublin. Nowadays, not only is their beer Ireland's largest export, it's also the largest brewery in the world. It's also brewed in a further 50 countries and has to be one of the best known beers in the world.
Stout consists of many sub-styles such as Oatmeal, Sweet, Imperial and Chocolate. Guinness is best described as a dry stout. usually, dry stouts are relatively low in alcohol (4.2%-4.7%), but heavy bodied with a low hop profile but lots of bitterness coming from dark and heavily roasted malt. They're generally black as pitch and smooth as a baby's whatnot.
They can also be quite acidic and apparently, Guinness utilise a small amount of sour beer in the production to attain a certain tartness.
Guinness pours an opaque, licorice black colour (try as you might, you won't see through this beer). The treacle like pint is topped by almost a full inch of robust, tan coloured head of sticky, creamy foam which lasts all the way to the very end and coats the glass with copious amounts of sticky, intricate lace patterns.
The aroma has hints of roasted coffee and dark chocolate with traces of bitter licorice darkness. There are some grainy notes and a touch of smokiness. Altogether a heady mix of the brewer's art.
It's full-bodied and has a soft and smooth mouth feel, almost creamy. There's a lot going on in the flavour department too - hints of bitter dark chocolate, roasted barley, a suggestion of coffee and a faint, slightly sweet, caramel feel. It's a little acidic up front with a citric sharpness but a dominating earthiness quickly comes thundering through. There's not a lot of hop profile, just enough to provide a bit of balance and not enough to interfere with the malt effect. It finishes very bitter with an increasingly dry and slightly burnt aftertaste.
At 4.2% ABV, Guinness feels and tastes much stronger than it actually is. It's very easy to drink and considering it's such a full bodied beer, it doesn't seem to bag you up too much. A very satisfying beer.
It makes a good session ale as its drinkability and relatively low alcohol content mean it's possible to sink a few of these without 'overdoing it'.
As if that's not enough, Guinness is a wonderful beer to use in cooking. A liberal dose of the black stuff will enrich and enliven the dullest beef stew...but always remember to leave some by to drink with said stew!
