I’ve recently spent the past year and a half traveling the world to 9 different countries. Despite the fine amenities of the hotels I was staying in, I was unable to drink craft beer without making special trips to beer bars such as Kaiba in Shanghai and the Belgian Beer Cafe in Dubai. So I had to eschew my beer snobbery and work with what I was offered. Guinness Draught became my go-to beer during my travels because of it’s wide availability and predictably smooth taste that rarely had the offensive metallic or skunked flavors of Kronenbourg and Heineken. Additionally, I’m always mesmerized by the Guinness Cascade when the beer is freshly pulled. Guinness doesn’t have the bold roastiness that I prefer in stouts such as The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout (which isn’t yet available in my home state of California). However it does have a smooth, creamy texture and the dry bitter notes that makes it more interesting than my other wide-distributed beers available.
A few years back, I had the pleasure to attend one of Guinness’ tastings put on by their marketing group. You gotta love a presentation that starts with a Bodhran drum. It got me pumped to taste beer and I finally got to pour my first proper Black and Tan. I must say this marketing event was effective. I didn’t become a Guinness fanatic that night, but I did start to appreciate the smooth flavor and lower-than-average calorie count. When I have to make the tough decision to order a mass-produced beer, I’m reminded of that event and order a Guinness.
I'd like to thank Stan at Appellation Beer for inspiring this blog post by hosting the March 2011 installment of The Session, which asked beer bloggers to write about a "regular" beer.
Note: The photo above was taken by Daniele Faieta, http://www.flickr.com/photos/stormino/3884911660/in/photostream/
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