Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout

[CRQuarto]

What did you think of it? I love Guinness, it is my absolute favorite beer, and a glass of it from a tap is like heaven to me. How would you compare the 250 to the regular?

 

[KeithS]

The one I had was refrigerated, and I did not want to wait to warm it up. I found it severely lacking in flavor, it was closer to a black lager. Maybe not so cold it would offer some more taste.

 

[tomthirtysix]

Compared to the regular, it sucked. I had it a while ago, wish I could be more specific for you, but all I remember was taking a few sips, and it being so bad, I pounded the rest back and got a regular Guinness.

Note - my lack of remembering wasn't because of drinking, I had it after work one night, so I was dead sober, and it was around 4:30am.

 

[The Black Cloud]

I'm sorry I can't speak of the 250th and this post might tread closely to a thread jack, but I must say that my views on Guinness have changed. Now, I still like Guinness and won't turn down a pint but after trying some other stouts (Stone RIS, Lagunitas Capuccino Stout, Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, Moylan's Dragoons, and a sixer of Victory Storm King I haven't broken into yet) I'm less impressed with Guinness. The way I see it, Guinness is nice as an introductory stout, but there are better stout representatives out there. Just my humble opinion.

 

[CRQuarto]

The one I had was refrigerated, and I did not want to wait to warm it up. I found it severely lacking in flavor, it was closer to a black lager. Maybe not so cold it would offer some more taste.

I'll be sure to let it warm up a little first, I agree that Guinness tastes a hell of a lot different when allowed to warm up a tad.

Compared to the regular, it sucked. I had it a while ago, wish I could be more specific for you, but all I remember was taking a few sips, and it being so bad, I pounded the rest back and got a regular Guinness.

Note - my lack of remembering wasn't because of drinking, I had it after work one night, so I was dead sober, and it was around 4:30am.

LOL, no worries, I doubt anyone here would judge you either way! :sign: That is a damn shame about the beer...I hope I like it, as I am still going to give it a try, but now my expectations are considerably lower...

I'm sorry I can't speak of the 250th and this post might tread closely to a thread jack, but I must say that my views on Guinness have changed. Now, I still like Guinness and won't turn down a pint but after trying some other stouts (Stone RIS, Lagunitas Capuccino Stout, Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, Moylan's Dragoons, and a sixer of Victory Storm King I haven't broken into yet) I'm less impressed with Guinness. The way I see it, Guinness is nice as an introductory stout, but there are better stout representatives out there. Just my humble opinion.

I agree that there are some amazing stouts out there, but for some reason Guinness just hits the spot every time for me. Especially when it is on tap! I like the Youngs Double though, I had it for the first time at the Yardhouse and it was damn good. I can't say that it was better than Guinness for me though, as like I said that beer just hits the spot! :love:

 

[denverdog]

I'm sorry I can't speak of the 250th and this post might tread closely to a thread jack, but I must say that my views on Guinness have changed. Now, I still like Guinness and won't turn down a pint but after trying some other stouts (Stone RIS, Lagunitas Capuccino Stout, Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, Moylan's Dragoons, and a sixer of Victory Storm King I haven't broken into yet) I'm less impressed with Guinness. The way I see it, Guinness is nice as an introductory stout, but there are better stout representatives out there. Just my humble opinion.

You make a good point about Guinness being a good beginner stout but the thing you have to remember is that it is a far different style than the other stouts you named. Irish Dry Stout is a light bodied beer meant to be highly drinkable while RIS's are huge full bodied sippers so its tough to fairly compare the two against each other. That being said if you handed me two glasses and I had to pick one style over the other I would choose RIS, haha.

 

[g-smoke]

What did you think of it? I love Guinness, it is my absolute favorite beer, and a glass of it from a tap is like heaven to me. How would you compare the 250 to the regular?

Funny you should bring this up. I recently saw a six pack of this at my corner store. Being a fairly typical Brooklyn bodega I was surprised to see a Guinness that I'd never heard of and was also not surprised to see that they wanted to charge me $2.25 a bottle for it (I'll let you do the math). In a daring mood I said what the heck and took the sixer home.

I'm down to my last bottle and I can say without hesitation that I thought the stout sucked. The regular line of Guinness is much more flavorful and enjoyable. I will let the last bottle I have sit out and warm up a bit to see if that does improve the taste.

Your mileage may vary but I was unimpressed with how Guinness chose to celebrate its anniversary.

 

[MAS_Puros]

Wow ... I am gonna have to disagree. I think that the regular Guinness is way watered down, don't get me wrong I still love me a Guinness, but the 250 had much more malt flavor then the regular Guinness, to me at least.

 

[souldog]

I wasn't too impressed with the 250th either, as I drank some at the Padron event a few weels ago. I only drank one out of a pack of six, and quickly moved on. I'd choose regular Guinness anyday.

 

[thevalkrye]

I agree that there are some amazing stouts out there, but for some reason Guinness just hits the spot every time for me. Especially when it is on tap!

Guinness is also served off of a nitrogen/C02 mix. That's what gives it its cascading effect when poured and the nice light creamy mouth feel.

Style wise i would think Guinness is considered the benchmark for dry irish stout.

 

[MAS_Puros]

I agree that there are some amazing stouts out there, but for some reason Guinness just hits the spot every time for me. Especially when it is on tap!

Guinness is also served off of a nitrogen/C02 mix. That's what gives it its cascading effect when poured and the nice light creamy mouth feel.

Style wise i would think Guinness is considered the benchmark for dry irish stout.

IMHO there is a better Irish Dry Stout then Guinness, one of my favs ... North Coast has a great Irish Dry Stout called Old #38, I love this much more then Guinness ... if you like Guinness you should give this puppy a try.

 

[puroman]

I liked it. Only complaint, too small of a bottle.

 

[suprchunk]

I agree that there are some amazing stouts out there, but for some reason Guinness just hits the spot every time for me. Especially when it is on tap!

Guinness is also served off of a nitrogen/C02 mix. That's what gives it its cascading effect when poured and the nice light creamy mouth feel.

Style wise i would think Guinness is considered the benchmark for dry irish stout.

IMHO there is a better Irish Dry Stout then Guinness, one of my favs ... North Coast has a great Irish Dry Stout called Old #38, I love this much more then Guinness ... if you like Guinness you should give this puppy a try.

That is a good beer mentioned. But to say it is a better Irish Dry Stout than Guinness is kinda weird, and akin to comparing apples and oranges. Especially when one is made in California. Now stateside Guinness is a totally different beast so it is to be expected to not be up to snuff, as it is made for the tastes of this region. And it is meant as a session beer of sorts anyway, hence the low alcohol. Foreign Extra Stout and Special Export Stout are the Guinness' you would want to try to get as close to original style as possible.

 

[CRQuarto]

There are great replies in this thread, thank you all for them! There are also a lot of recommendations on beers that compare, or surpass, Guinness (in one's opinion, of course). So, I think I will be doing some hunting for new beers to try!

I actually tried the 250 over this last weekend, and I would agree with those that say it was not that great. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad by any stretch, but it was not what I was hoping for. I'd take a glass of regular Guinness over it any day of the week. It did have a lot more of a malty taste as some described, lots of roasted coffee bean flavor. It also had a pretty acrid finish to it, which turned me off a bit. Meh. Oh well, that is what trying new things is all about, the adventure of finding the next favorite beer!

Again, thank you VERY much to everyone who participated in this thread, it makes me love these forums that much more!

 

[JHolmes763]

LOL... Just got a spam saying I won £1M out of £250M as a part of this 250th anniversary.

 

[Tilden]

Just got back from Ireland last week. The Guinness was very good.

 

[Johnny-O!]

The bottle is the same shape as the Foreign Extra Stout that I get in the islands. What was inside was pretty watery like the local version. If you are ever in the Caribbean you will like the Guiness Foreign Extra Stout, totally different flavor and 7.5%. As long as the marketing geniuses of Madison Avenue want to promote "light" products you will only get watered down versions of Guiness in the US. John