As others have said the little ball is called a 'widget' and causes the large head via the use of nitrogen, much like the draught Guinness where a mixture of co2 and nitrogen is used to serve the beer, whereas in a normal keg beer only co2 is used.

Using nitrogen in this way actually seriously damages the beer and kills the flavour and mouthfeel. Guinness, especially when served in this way is no better than Budweiser etc.

Despite the common misconception that Guinness is 'heavy and strong', the beer actually has less alcohol in it than Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite or Natural Light.

The only versions of Guinness that I like are the Nigerian brewed Foreign Extra Stout and the Irish brewed Foreign Extra stout that is only sold in the Belgian market by John Martin.

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The widget (plastic thing) supposedly makes it draught. But draught on tap is different. I don't drink the stuff myself, but I'd say there's no comparison.

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"Níl saoirse gan saoirse lucht oibre."

yeah Guinness is something like 3.6 abv. My judgment on if people are drinkers are if they think Guinness is "thick" or something. If they do they arent drinkers lol. stuff like 150 calories a can or something. Nitro Stouts are smoother than hell if youre lookin for something dark that goes down like water, but remember, its C02 that gives you bite!

quote:

Originally posted by joeh As others have said the little ball is called a 'widget' and causes the large head via the use of nitrogen, much like the draught Guinness where a mixture of co2 and nitrogen is used to serve the beer, whereas in a normal keg beer only co2 is used. Using nitrogen in this way actually seriously damages the beer and kills the flavour and mouthfeel. Guinness, especially when served in this way is no better than Budweiser etc. Despite the common misconception that Guinness is 'heavy and strong', the beer actually has less alcohol in it than Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite or Natural Light. The only versions of Guinness that I like are the Nigerian brewed Foreign Extra Stout and the Irish brewed Foreign Extra stout that is only sold in the Belgian market by John Martin.

i read somewhere that those versions that you like are the original style brew of guinness and has like 8% abv or something. i'm not positive though.

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Originally posted by MERLIN i read somewhere that those versions that you like are the original style brew of guinness and has like 8% abv or something. i'm not positive though.

I'm not sure if that is totally correct but I suspect they have more in common with the original beer than this nitrogenated 'draught' stuff. It's worth nothing that a non nitrogen beer called 'original' is also produced.

Guinness FES is produced in Ireland and also at various other breweries around the world. The Nigerian one is brewed partially with a local plant called sorghum, a sort of cane-like tropical grass.

Guinness is not the only such beer though, foreign stouts, as they are known, are numerous in number and surprisingly popular in hot places like the Caribbean, Africa and South East Asia. Other similar products include Lion Stout (Sri Lanka) and Dragon Stout (Jamaica)

and yes, they are all about 8% ABV.

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Originally posted by Clovis86 Guinness tall cans = best invention known to man.

i knew you'd show up in here sooner or later...

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guinnes = overated


ps it tastes really awful lol

My favorite is the Guiness Extra Stout in the bottle. They don't have one of those widget things either. Just beer and its definitely much stronger than Budweiser.

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Kill the women. Eat the children.
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They made the extra stout so it could make it to Africa mainly, and other long distance trips. I remember 2 years ago thinking it was THICK STUFF, and just recently tried it and its just plain delicious and smooth now beer taste has matured greatly

best beer ever. plastic thing or not, that stuff is good. Straight from the tap is even better. ugh. +drools+

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Originally posted by Orbax They made the extra stout so it could make it to Africa mainly, and other long distance trips. I remember 2 years ago thinking it was THICK STUFF, and just recently tried it and its just plain delicious and smooth now beer taste has matured greatly

yea that's how i was last year. it just tastes good now. some people don't like it because of the roast though. too bitter for them.