good vs. evil

[waider]

Although I am a somewhat seasoned Guinness drinker, I still occasionally find myself astounded by the chasm-like gap between a good pint and a bad pint. Hell, even between a good pint and a not quite as good pint. I am somewhat curséd in this respect, since my local serves only the former, and the nearest watering hole to the office serves at best the latter.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Can you expand on that? What are the qualities of a good pint? I assume you're not merely speaking of beer that's past its serving time.

[waider.livejournal.com]

You come visit, and I'll give you one of each, and you can decide for yourself.

[dr-strych9.livejournal.com]

Here's a hint: there is only one place in the United States where a "not quite as good" pint can be acquired, and it's currently three timezones away from you. The reason its as good as it is: they air-freight the unpasteurized local kegs direct from the brewery in Ireland twice a week. The best you can get in California is still brewed in Canada, by people who have never been to Ireland long enough to get laid there. If you find a place that will serve it on tap (not hard), you will almost assuredly get a pint that's almost as good as the worst in the U.K., unless you are really lucky and you stumble into a place where the proprietor has been exposed to the quality of a standard good pint. If you somehow find one of these places— I can advise you if you need help finding one— then ask the bartender about the exceedingly rigorous procedure for pouring a decent pint of Guinness.

It will involve nitrogen and a special thermostat, at a minimum. The rest of it I never remember— mainly because I've not had the patience to listen all the way through to the end of the typical Guinness magician's patter. Too busy drinking the beer and ordering another pint.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Not to disagree with you overmuch, but there are a few pubs in Boston which do a passable job, and a nice girl from Galway served me quite a drinkable pint at Cannery Jacks (which I understand has since burned down or something) I don't even know that the unpasteurised comment applies any more - they went all-pasteurised on the bottled product back in 1992 or so, and a good thirty seconds of googling suggests that the Real Ale people look down on guinness on account of both its being pasteurised and tainted with that nasty nitrogen stuff.

The short version of "The Pour", as recently described on a series of beermats: fill the glass at an angle, so the beer runs down the inside of the glass. Stop somewhere around the two-thirds full mark, and put it aside to settle. Settling should take in the order of two and a half minutes, after which you top off the pint by pushing the tap rather than pulling it (I'm not clear on what this does, aside from providing a slower flow which doesn't disturb the pint. When complete, there should be approximately one centimetre (half an inch) of a head. Anything larger, referred to colloquially as a Bishop's Collar, is grounds for asking for your pint to be "topped off". A good barman won't even need to be asked. Also, a good barman will fill the glass to the point of surface tension without allowing it to spill over the sides, and some more tourist-oriented places will finish the pint by moving the glass under the tap so as to produce a shamrock design on the head.

[waidesworld.livejournal.com]

If anyone is interested in getting an excellent pint this side of the pond there are quite a few establishments in the Boston area that rival a Dublin pint. That being said, it wasn't always the case. When I first landed on these shores 11 years ago, some of the crap served was more passable as donkey piss than Guinness.

My local (www.thenog.com) currently is serving an excellent pint. There are a number of factors involved. The rings on the glass is typically a sign of the cleanliness of the glass as opposed to the goodness of the pint.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Two good indicators: Firtsly, if you shake the glass slightly, the head should be more like jello than, I dunno, milk - it shouldn't slop around; it should hold together. Secondly, as you drink the pint, the head should leave a ring around the inside of the glass indicating your progress down the pint. These are obviously indicators rather than descriptions of the actual taste difference, but I'm crap at describing tastes.

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of your exchange with the barmaid in Lancaster when she held the glass vertical while pulling the pint...

Is it an example of irony?

[(Anonymous)]

Is it an example of irony that the nearest hostelry toyour work place serves a best a "not quite as good" a pint -- you work with the brewery on three sides?

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Further to my earlier comment, this is why i almost never drink Guinness in the UK. I know what the good stuff tastes like, and it's almost impossible to find over here.