Last time I was in Belfast, in 1995, I had the opportunity to compare 'local' Guinness ('local' as in UK, brewed in Liverpool) with 'imported' Guinness (brewed in Dublin). Some bars sold one or the other, while some bars sold both. Some chilled it and others didn't. I did much, much comparing!

I was told the English version had to be pasteurised due to UK health regulations, or perhaps it was because they had so much trouble selling it they had to pasteurise it to prevent it going off before someone bought it. No such treatment was given to the Dublin product.

Now, admittedly, I was given that information by Irish musicians who tend to have very fixed ideas about the subject of Guinness, and my own objectivity decreased as the glasses and session tunes increased, but the bottom line for me was that I prefer unchilled, Dublin-brewed Guinness in a straight pint glass.

That much I do remember.

Bruce