Dude, there's a widget in my beer

[FJohnSharp]

I've only really ever had Guiness from the tap, so imagine my surprise when I get to the bottom of of my first can of it and there's this foreign object inside. The widget, that gives it its droughtiness. I went online to check it out and there's a little animated video of it. Cool.

http://www.guinness.com/us_en/beer/drau ... ction.aspx

[mukade]

Welcome to the 1980s.

Mukade

[Lambchop]

That was awe-inspiring!

Who would have thunk it?

It's enough to make me want to take up drinking the stuff!

[MarkB]

That may be the old widget. Guinness Canada has just launched more perfected widget and new design for their cans in Canada, which they say tastes more like the real thing! Guinness is the fastest growing beer brand in Canada, much like Toyota becoming the number automaker/seller in Canada.

MarkB

[SteveShaw]

I've only really ever had Guiness from the tap, so imagine my surprise when I get to the bottom of of my first can of it and there's this foreign object inside. The widget, that gives it its droughtiness. I went online to check it out and there's a little animated video of it. Cool.

http://www.guinness.com/us_en/beer/drau ... ction.aspx

Widgets work pretty well for Guinness and Murphys from cans. For other non-draught beers I prefer ones that are bottle-conditioned. You can get some very nice beers in pint bottles now in the UK and they work out at about half the price you'd pay in a pub.

Steve

[djm]

I think the former version of Guinness, the "Export" version, probably held Guinness back for decades with its horrible rooty aftertaste. I've never been to Ireland, so I can't say I've ever had the "real" stuff, but the new bottles and cans with the widgets in them are so completely different from the old "Export" version that its a completely different beer. There are a lot of excellent microbreweries making stout and porter based on chocolate or coffee, so I think perhaps its not so new for people to try Guinness now as its once may have been.

djm

[dubhlinn]

Interesting video,I've often wondered how the widget worked.
Canned Guinness is all right in small doses but there is nothing that could ever compare with the real thing as served in the Pubs of Dublin.
It does not travel well at all, at all.

Sitting in the Victorian splendour of Ryans pub in Parkgate street with a pint of Guinness while looking out the window at the Brewery across the Liffey is a wonderful experience.If ye ever get to Dublin try it.

Satisfaction assured

Slan,
D.

[djm]

Something that kills all the major breweries' products is that these are designed to have a shelf life of months. Nothing compares with fresh beer from just about any source, in my experience. Even Molson's, whose breweries put out some of the worst pap brands here, tasted totally different when I went on a brewery tour and then got to sample it fresh. I don't know which other breweries allow you to tour and sample, but if you get the opportunity I suggest you don't miss it.

djm

[FJohnSharp]

Yeah, in Milwaukee you can tour Miller and have a tasting. And St. Loius you can do the same at A Busch. You can also visit the clydesdales. And the dog.

[Joseph E. Smith]

And St. Loius you can do the same at A Busch.

Years back when the MN Twins were playing the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, I saw a sign in the stands that read:

"hey St. Louis, the bud we drink today is your drinking water tomorrow"

.... I haven't had a Bud since.

[dapolishunicyclist]

Is the huge plastic thing in bottled guiness a larger version of the canned widget, or is it just a ploy to give you less beer for the same money?

[scottielvr]

The widget, that gives it its droughtiness....

Guinness draught:


Guinness drought:


We shall not speak of this again.

[FJohnSharp]

I knew it when I read it but I didn't feel like editing it.

[Chiffed]

Beer Trivia: The reed-valve from the new can-widgets make excellent check-valves.

[buddhu]

Out of a can??? In that case I'd stick to Guinness Original... but that's better from a bottle. To be honest, I prefer that to yer standard draught Guinness.

So stone me.

Talking of draught, Guinness Extra Cold is pure genius. I love it.

Yeah, yeah. Blasphemy, blah blah. So stone me harder.