Beer Review: Guinness Draught

Most people forget the name Guinness refers to a beer and not a brewery, and there is more than one version of Guinness.  St. James Gate Brewery founded in 1759 is by no means the biggest brewer in the world, but without a doubt brews the most iconic beer.  Almost anywhere in the world you can find Guinness, and the brewery has pioneered many techniques that make brewing what it is today.  For most of us, Guinness is our first dark beer.  Of course for the non-beer drinkers there is always the Guinness Book of World Records which was created in the 1950's to settle disputes in pubs regarding records and facts.  Either way Guinness is a recognizable name.

Tasting Notes:

When poured from a can with a nitrogen cartridge into a tulip pint Guinness Draught creates a creamy head atop black liquid.  Light aromas reminding the drinker of roasted malts.  Flavors of malt and cream cling to the tongue as it passes over leaving a slightly dry finish.  A drinkable beer to be sure, but not the same power as one would expect from an American craft brewed stout.

Guinness Stout vs. Lager

Black Lager

In Chicago and possibly a few other markets Guinness did a test run of a black lager under the Guinness name.  Guinness is an iconic brand and one that does not seem to have the negative connotations of Miller, Bud etc. in the craft brew community.  In fact, I think that many of us in a bar without a craft selection, would likely default to Guinness.  Guinness is so iconic you likely think only of the Irish Dry Stout, and probably forget the brewery name is St. James Gate.  I checked beeradvocate's list of beers bearing Guinness and found a Bitter Draft, and an Irish Red.  These are the only other times the Guinness name has been placed on a label that was not a stout.

Given that these are both dark beers and Guinness is on the label I thought it would be fun to compare stout to lager.  I know this is almost like apples and oranges, but they put the name on it.  Special thanks to Bro for helping compare the two.

Stout on Left Lager on Right