[Tennessee Jedi]

Is Strum some kind of beer taster or something ?
I mean the kind that get paid to drink ?

[ThePilgrim]

I've heard of people using Oxygen in their draft systems, instead of Carbon Dioxide or Nitrogen. This usually leads to headaches.

Sam Adams Boston Lager all the way.

[Mr.Charlie]

This topic made me think of something kind of off-topic. This great shirt an old girlfriend of mine used to wear...it read "Draft Beer...Not People". I always got a kick out of that.

[weirimpressed]

for beers

about to go on my lunch break, and all this talk has got me hungry...

[strumminsix]

Sadly, TJ, no I do not get paid to drink beer. It's sadly quite the opposite... I spend all my pay on beer!

The hint of a story above is that back in 2001 I "won" a trip to Ireland from Guinness. Was there for a week, 5 star hotel, all the Guinness you could drink, plant tours, etc. It was wild.

So the info I gave above was straight from the sources.

However, temperature has a huge impact on beer flavor. stouts do most definately taste best around cellar temp. In Ireland most taverns serve at that temp. In the US everything gets served ice cold.

[gr8fulbluz]

. . . It was wild. . .

I have tried to win that and with the amount of Guinness I drink it should be any time now. Seriously, in the US if the place sells enough to keep the beer fresh It keeps me happy. just pour my stout properly, leave me alone and bring another one before I finish.
I drink way too much stout

[oconnors_35]

In Ireland they pretty much deliver beer on a daily basis to the pub and the person that delivers the beer also cleans out the tap lines. Here in the states it's up to the bar to clean them.

Some beer that is unfiltered (such as homebrew) still has sediment which is mostly dead yeast cells, I've been told that although it is good for you (Vitamin B) it can give you a nasty head ache.

SeanO

Well duh yer in the middle of Wyoming !

All the beer tastes good over there.Even the Heineken.They love beer.The biggest friggin glasses of beer I ever saw or even attempted to drink.
They could out drink me ,but they couldnt out smoke me !

[oconnors_35]

Very True!
I'm a bit of a beer connoisseur and I hate when bars serve Guinness ice cold! Most micro brews (ales, porters, stouts) shouldn't really be ice cold either except for lagers, they are cold fermented and taste good cold.

SeanO

However, temperature has a huge impact on beer flavor. stouts do most definately taste best around cellar temp. In Ireland most taverns serve at that temp. In the US everything gets served ice cold.

[AugustWest]

Lagers, Pilsners, Hefeweisen's can all be served Ice cold, but in my opinion NOTHING ELSE! The worst is when you order a english strong ale or a IPA and the class hurts your hand it's so cold.

[Mick]

Couple of things: There is no difference in how Guiness, or any other European beer, is brewed for domestic consumption or export to the US. HOWEVER, almost no European brewers pasturize their beers. The US will not allow unpasturized beers to be imported, so the Europeans take their regular beer and pasturize it, which in my opinion, ruins it. When you drink a Heineken, and get that nasty-little-bit-skunky aftertaste, that is a result of the pasturization process. I have relatives in Holland and when I go there, I drink Heineken almost exclusively. It is cheap there (relatively speaking, beer is expensive there, but Heinies are their equivalent of a Bud or something), but MUCH better tasting than what we get here.

It is true that Guiness is a Nitrogen based system as the "carbonation" in the beer is not CO2 like it is in a lager but is Nitrogen as well. Regular American beers are CO2 based. If you try to make a "black and tan" with two CO2 based beers, you will find that it doesn't work, they mix with each other quite quickly. Black and Tan in Europe always uses a Nitrogen based dark beer and a CO2 based lighter beer.

Drinking the sediment in homebrew will not hurt you. But the folks in my neighborhood that brew beer every Tuesday night report that doing so will give you one wicked case of gas, so be careful there.

Mold in the lines? I suppose that is possible. Seems like the lack of air in a properly running system would keep that down, but maybe I am wrong there.

[Tennessee Jedi]

Mick Dude
When I was in the south Netherlands there was a local beer that was great.The locals mixed 2 local brews together that was awesome.
Both kind of light beers but good combo !
Cant wait till I can afford to go back.

[mttourpro]

As soon as I read the initial post, I thought it has to be dirty lines. There was a near infamous GD bar in Pittsburgh I've played at over 100 times called Thirsty's. You could literally drink 2 big drafts and be MAIMED the next day. I suffered many a morning due to drinking that "free" schwag beer.

When the beer sits overnight or longer in those unrefrigerated tap lines, it does get moldy or in some way very funky.That's one reason newer systems have everything refrigerated and typically in one place, like the basement. It also doesn't help that some places, like Thirsty's don't clean their lines well enough or often enough. In the world of beer, cleanliness is next to Godliness for sure.

as for this statement:

"Now the main diff is that Guinness has 2 varieties: stout & extra stout"

They also sell Guiness Foriegn Export Stout. It is 7% and very strong in taste and effect. It is not available to my knowledge in the states, but I've had many of them while in St Thomas.
Guiness draft here is 3.6% or something around there and the Extra stout (in bottles) is 4.4% I love that the bottle cap of the Foriegn Export Stout actually says "Guiness It's Good For You".
That would definitely not fly in the USA.

I'm frequently amused when someone speaks about how strong Guiness is. It's less strong than even a Budweiser, let alone any US brewed IPA.

As for what they sell(draft) in Ireland, I'm not sure if it's actually different than what's sold here. I do believe that they ship weaker beer to the US because the taxation is directly related to the strength of the beer. My guess is they sell the Foriegn Export Stout in St Thomas and other places because taxes are so much less. It might cost $70 a case to sell that strength in the US.

[oconnors_35]

Ahh, I hate those skunky tasting Heineken's! never knew why, every time I've had one in Canada or Ireland they tasted great!

Another thing I enjoyed about Ireland, beer prices were pretty much the same price everywhere I went, unlike here where you could pay 3 bucks for a beer at one bar and pay 5 bucks for the same beer at another bar, plus no tipping!

SeanO

When you drink a Heineken, and get that nasty-little-bit-skunky aftertaste, that is a result of the pasturization process.

[mttourpro]

Surprisingly, I just discovered the Foreign Export is actually 8%. And, it's actually called Special Export stout.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/209/10848

Heinekens are also stronger in St Thomas as well.Maybe not getting the same beer here does have to do with pasturization??

[strumminsix]

as for this statement:

"Now the main diff is that Guinness has 2 varieties: stout & extra stout"

They also sell Guiness Foriegn Export Stout. It is 7% and very strong in taste and effect. It is not available to my knowledge in the states, but I've had many of them while in St Thomas.
Guiness draft here is 3.6% or something around there and the Extra stout (in bottles) is 4.4% I love that the bottle cap of the Foriegn Export Stout actually says "Guiness It's Good For You".
That would definitely not fly in the USA.

Well I did say "main" not only

I believe Export Stout is sent to Texas who has legislation requiring a higher alcohol content in order to be called a stout.