This beer should have a definite sour, fruity, cheery-like flavor, balanced with malt; reddish hue; good carbonation. It's a wonderful beer, and shouldn't be balsamic-like. But it is something of an acquired taste. Perhaps the bottle was bad...perhaps the style isn't to your liking. But I, personally, would certainly recommend this beer to someone who wants to experience a Belgian (Flemish) red ale.
yep. i haven't had it in over a decade, but i always remember it as one of my favorites. i seem to recall how much better it was after your tongue had adjusted.
Got nothing for you on the light front. I'm just here to post that I just picked up 6 bottles of Bourbon County Coffee Stout! Going to crack the first one open during the Super Bowl
It's not really light beer, but lighter than the usual 'speacial' beers in the US. Go with German/Czech/Austrian (style) Lager/Pilsener.
Arguably the best (widely available) light beer in existence for those of us who don't live in places where cast conditioned mild ale is available.
Not to me. Atmospherically, being in some great old Dublin pub beats the hell out of some faux Irish chain pub in the States. And atmosphere can certainly affect one's enjoyment of beer. But a lot of places in the US pour a damned good pint of Guinness, IMHO.
I've yet to travel to Ireland (possible trip this spring) so I can't make the comparison, but I will say that I've had many a pint in England and Scotland that were really good and a few that weren't so great. And yes, more and more places here in the U.S. now pour a really good pint of Guinness. The most important thing is to find a place that serves a lot of it and is really meticulous about cleaning their taps and lines.
I would say yes. I have had good pints in America as well as some bad ones but the ones I had over there were all great.
Atmosphere or mythical Irishness aside, what Guinness (to a lesser extent than beers brewed in the UK) has going for it is a world-wide distribution network, supplemented by numerous contract breweries. A stout will travel better than, say, a traditional English bitter (which travels like shit), but neither were really meant to be shlepped over long distances; and ales in general are meant to be drunk young (within weeks of brewing). I'm guessing here, but I assume that Guinness has a capacity to get fresh product to the pub in the States in a way that the vast majority of English breweries simply do not. Still, it has to travel some distance to get here, and it doesn't take much to muck up a keg of ale in transit. Couple that with problems that may exist in house once the beer arrives in a US pub, and it's a wonder that you can get a decent pint of Guinness here at all. Real ale, on the other hand...
Agreed, especially with the bolded part. I really like Well's Bombardier and Fuller's ESB, but I've found that there are even wilder swings in guality when getting a draft pint of either of those at most pubs that serve them over here in the States.
if a pub here in the US sells a lot of Guinness then the quality of the pint goes up. I had a pint recently that arrived with no head on it. A disaster of a pint. I'm currently passing away the evening with Rock Art IPA.
Rock Art IPA...will have to check it out. Had 21st Amendment Allies Win the War and Brew Free or Die IPA recently. Not bad, on both counts.
Let me tell you a story. I was married in 1998 in St. Louis. We honeymooned in Vermont and stayed at Smuggler's Notch. I hit all of the microbrewers in the area. I spent about 2 hours looking for Rock Art brewery. I kept going by what should have been the address in Johnson, but I never saw a brewery. So I called. A guy, Matt maybe?, says I'll meet you out front. I drive down the road and here's a guy waving me down and brings me to his house. Now mind you, it was 4:30ish on Halloween. Here is a guy trying to get his kids ready to go Trick-r-Treating and he takes the time to give me a tour. He opens his shed and shows me his huge boiler. Then into the basement and shows me his barrels he got from Bass. Great guy. At the time, he was only doing growlers and selling them to convenient stores locally. How is the brewery doing now. I assume it's gotten bigger? What is distribution like? Thanks for triggering the memories.