GUINNESS ORIGINAL
Diageo
Ireland, 4.2 ABV
There’s an old woman who sits with her dog in the snug of our local faux-Irish pub. She drinks Guinness, but swears blind that it tastes much better in Ireland. She also swears that her dog knows when it’s his birthday. In short, she’s bonkers. Nevertheless there remains a strong school of thought asserting that Guinness does indeed taste better in Ireland. Guinness itself has never put forward such notions. The official line is that, ‘in blind tests (with a bunch of highly cynical journalists) none of our sample could tell the difference between Irish-brewed Guinness and the locally produced variety’. (What are they going to say: ‘Yep – we keep all the best stuff for Ireland and flog off the rubbish to everyone else’?). Anyway, Guinness Original (and widget-fuelled Guinness Draught) comes in cans and bottles so, without the rigmarole involved in serving the draught variety, it should taste pretty much the same wherever you are in the world – and Guinness Original is a bottled delight. This is the stuff that is brewed to the original recipe which was first concocted by Arthur Guinness back in the 18th century when the ancestor of this beer was known as Guinness East and West India Porter. Think of it as the Guinness equivalent of a bottle of wine; strong tasting with a very distinctive roasted bitterness and an ideal accompaniment to a hearty meal – and, sod it, the ideal drink to actually make a meal with. It’s just the job in a casserole. RM
