Guiness - Made in Canada?

Subject: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 08:45 PM

Last night I bought a sixpack of guiness for the first time in years. (I usually get it on tap at my favorite Pub) Anyway I noticed it was made in CANADA.....I was shocked --when did this happen? What do you guys think of the Canadiann versus the old real IRISH brew....don't you all think ythis is appalling???????? I'l never play Celtic Music Again!

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 08:55 PM

Well I'm pleased they make it in Canada as well. So long as it's made the right way.

Irish Guinness seems to taste better than it does in England (where it's normally made in the English Guinness brewery. That could be as much to do with the pubs knowing how to look after it and serve it right - and also the rate of turnover of barrels.

But clearly this is something that needs to be monitored by dedicated Guinness drinkers in Canada. There should be a few of them around here...

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,khandu
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 09:03 PM

BLASPHEMY!!! SACRILEGE!!

Other than Guinness (best on draft at Finian's Pub!), I am a non-drinker.

Good stuff where ever it's made!

khandu

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Liam's Brother
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 09:09 PM

Guinness has been brewed under license in Canada for years! I first had it there was about 1968. I recall it as being fairly good if not the same one might get in Ireland. It was, however, better than what you would get in bottles in the USA that had actually been brewed in Dublin. You may be interested to hear that Guinness used to be bottled by various agents around Ireland. That is it was shipped in barrels and poured into individual bottles and capped regionally.

It is also brewed in England, the Orient (Hong Kong, I recall) and in Africa (Kenya, perhaps). Other places too, I believe.

But where did you get this Canadian Guinness? It used only to be sold in Canada. Is it now being exported?

All the best,
Dan Milner

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: little john cameron
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 09:10 PM

RUBBISH,RUBBISH,RUBBISH.
ONLY BUY THE CANS WI THE WIDGET,The ither stuff is PUTRID!!!! ljc

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Liam's Brother
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 09:24 PM

Now, now, Little John. I was just giving a little history on situation.

All the best,
Dan

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 09:26 PM

I've only tried the English and the Dublin brewed versions. I have heard that Guinness claim that there is no difference between the 2 brews but I think there is, the Dublin version being smoother and creamier but there again, maybe that is just the effects of the Dublin atmosphere...

Jon

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: paddymac
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 11:07 PM

If I recall correctly, St James Gate is no longer the world largest brewery. The current title holder, I think, is the Guiness brewery in Lagos, Nigeria. I also remember a news piece from last spring reporting that Guiness sales had actually slipped a bit for the first time in the company's history. It might be a bit difficult for mere mortals to separate fact and fiction in this area, however.

I believe that all of the "premium brands" and "exotic micro-brews" (whether they actually are or are not) have been riding a wave of up-scale diversification in the US market, but have now pushed the retail price so high that consumers are beginning to back off. Let's face it, $8.50 for a six-pack of Guiness Extra Stout, or $7.50 for a four-pack of canned "draft" is a bit much. Even the publican's cost for a keg of Guiness has climbed nearly 20% in the last 2 years, at least in my local market.

Murphy's and Beamish have made feeble efforts to penetrate the local market, but the seem to lack the necessary marketing support staff. The opportunity seems there for somebody to step in.

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Big Mick
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 11:43 PM

I don't know about the north of the border version, but after leaving the FSGW Getaway I had a day to kill before I went to West Chester for the Mudcat Worldwide broadcast...:->).....I wandered around the old neighborhoods of Baltimore. I stopped in a neighborhood pub in the Locust Point area around Ft. McHenry called J. Patricks. They pulled the best pint of the vile, black stuff I have had in the States. The lovely young woman really worked that jar and pulled a perfect proper. I was positively aroused by the time I lifted it to me lips. It was a wonderful, creamy pint and I just had to stick around for one more. A great joint, that place and if I weren't a happily married man I would pursue that fair, young cailín. Women with talent like that are hard to find.

Mick

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: sophocleese
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 11:51 PM

Well I can't compare Irish Guiness with Canadian as I have only tried Canadian. I only get it on draft in a bar, I don't like canned beer. I do surf the local liquor store now and again as they often like to bring in small loads of new imported beers and its fun to try them. I don't like most large brewery stuff and I don't drink a lot so the price isn't prohibitive. Saturday the guy at the till in the store told me hes' been trying to get some Monty Python Holy Grail Ale and will let me know when it comes in. Anybody tried that?

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Big Mick
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 11:56 PM

Soph, I understand about canned beer. But Guinness is a notable exception. If you canna get a draft, try the cans. It is the only libation that I know of that tastes better out of the can. It is because of the widget that shoots the Nitrogen through the dark stuff.

Mick

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: sophocleese
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 11:59 PM

Mick, thanks, I did try the cans once, ages ago and can't remember much else about that night. Maybe its time to give it another go.

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: kimmers
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 12:17 AM

I first encountered the canned Guinness with the widget on vacation in Canada and was amused. But it really does give it a smoother, creamier texture; sort of like a stout that has been barrelled under nitro. I'll be darned if I know how it does that, though, as the widget appears to be a little plastic marble.

We had only widget-less Guinness here in Oregon upon my return from that trip, though I've since noticed that the widget-containing variety is available here now.

I personally prefer a locally brewed beer from the McMenamin Brothers chain of breweries, known as Terminator. Rich, creamy stout that's to die for. But you can't buy it anywhere but fresh out of the tap at a McMenamin's pub.

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Jimmy C
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 01:22 AM

Guinness has been in Canada for a long time. Back in the 1960's it was bottled by John Labatts in London Ontario, it tasted like medicine, so I stopped drinking it and tried Canadian beer instead, Very good all of them. I was delighted when draft Guinness became available in the pubs though I still have the odd beer. I have a four pack of draft Guinness at my feet while I am typing this, this stuff was brewed in Ireland, it may be canned in Canada, I don't know, so long as its sold in Canada keeps me happy. It is also true that Guinness used to send the kegs to agents for bottling. The very best bottle of Guinness I ever had in Belfast was Morton's Red Heart Guinness, I always got it in Kelly's Cellars in Bank Street. It was sheer delight. I agree that it is getting a bit pricey, I will always buy it, maybe just cut down on the consumption a little,

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Jock Morris
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 05:18 AM

Technical stuff:

The widget is filled with liquid nitrogen and popped in just before they seal the can. It warms up and turns to gas, but can't escape from the widget because of the pressure inside the can. When you open the can the nitrogen escapes and creates the creamy head. Clever stuff!

Scott

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Steve Latimer
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 08:00 AM

Guest,

I believe that you were drinking bottled Guinness which I think is still made under license here in Canada. The canned Guinness Pub Draft is still imported from Ireland. There is a huge difference in the two, but I also heard that there was quite a difference in the Irish bottled version and the Draught you would get at a pub in Ireland.

The actual Pub Draught can is quite an invention and has allowed other wonderful Draughts to taste like they were just pulled in a pub. Kilkenny, Newcastle Brown and Boddingtons are all now available here in these cans.

They are kind of pricy and I rarely treat myself to Guinness. But it's the best brew I've ever had.

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Liam's Brother
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 08:34 AM

I was the beneficiary of Big Mick's kindness at the FSGW Getaway and downed a few cans of his Guinness on the last night. There is no question that the nitrogen infusion is successful science but I wish he'd warned me about the widgets because one cut my tongue on the way going down and it stills feels like I haven't passed them yet. They keep rattling around my lower regions like a pocket full of marbles.

I've been drinking Murphy's in Ireland and London since 1970 (the pre-Heineken days). I find it similar to Guinness with the exception that the characteristic "planned bitterness" of Guinness is missing.

I once had an English "mild" (rather than "bitter") draft beer in the Amsterdam brew pub in Toronto that was of gigantic proportion. The brewer was Flower's, an old Stratford-upon-Avon company that probably belongs to Hilton Hotels or Mercedes-Benz by now. It was a great beer. Has anyone ever had that?

All the best,
Dan

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 08:53 AM

Flowers bitterv is a nice beer, but I've never come across a mild from them

But Newkie Brown in a can? That's a shame - part of the pleasure is that lovely bottle it comes in, and pouring it little by little into a small glass, so it's always fresh from the bottle, even if you're nursing tye last drink of the evening.

I've had a notion of one of those bottles being drilled in the right places to make an ocarina, but I've no idea how you'd find out where the right places would be.

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Big Mick
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 09:47 AM

Yes, I guess you could say we downed "a few" of the Guinness that night. Perhaps that explains why you, Finn and I were doing the Funky Chicken and singing Doo Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Doo (on key of course!)on the choruses of The Great Storm Is Over at the Sunday night/Monday morning singaraound.............

Mick

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 10:39 AM

Twenty or so years ago, while fishing in Ontario, I was delighted to find Guiness being sold in bottles. I bought a bunch of it and headed for a small island in the middle of Lake of the Woods, base camp for the next week. Imagine my surprise when I opened the first bottle only to discover that it wasn't even a close copy of the Guiness I'd come to cherish. In astonishment, I read the label and discovered it was brewed and bottled by Molson or LaBatt, I forget which, under license. I felt betrayed. Real Guiness is evidently not made in Canada.

Good though. <g>

Strangely, this is the only deficiency I have ever detected in Canada or Canadians.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Liam's Brother
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 12:32 PM

How was the fishing, Mark?

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 12:52 PM

I bought a six pack of "Guiness" brewed under Licence about 20 years ago,when I first came to Ontario, I still have 4 of them left in the basement somewhere. Anyone interested? :) Widgets Rule, I discovered the Guiness Widgets in England in 1990 and brought a dozen cans with me, strange looks customs people can give you at times. I was really happy when they arrived in Canada, bordering on excstatic when Boddingtons arrived with the widgets too. JohnB

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Big Mick
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 03:32 PM

Yes, Mark, a report on the fishing please? Next year at the Getaway I am going to talk himself Dan Milner into going to the Susquehanna to fish a bit. I went to Port Deposit while I was wandering around and watched a young man bring in several fish. Looked good to me.

Mick

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: little john cameron
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 08:36 PM

McGrath auld man,ye can mak a braw hash pipe oot o the bottle. ljc

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 10:11 PM

GUEST,JohnB: Thanks but I'll pass.

GUEST,Liam's Brother & GUEST,Big Mick (why are you guys guests anyway?): The fishing on Lake of the Woods was great. It was late May, opening of the Walleye season, but the water had already started to warm. We actually went swimming once (for a short time). Caught walleye, crapie, northern pike, rock bass, a few black bass (not large). We fed 10 guys on fish all week and had a bunch shipped home. We were especially proud because we had all built our rods from blanks and parts and had tied all our jigs by hand as well.

We spent our time on Whitefish bay, Sabaskong (sp?), Turtle and like that. Our group was hosted by Bill Kreja and his father Alfred. Alfred Bay is named for Bill's dad. They really knew their way around the area. I don't think camping on the islands is permitted any longer.

Go, you'll have a great time.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Guiness - Made in Canada?
From: GUEST,Liam's Brother
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 11:21 PM

Hi Mark!

We're Guests because Max likes us (Bert too); after all we behave ourselves and always police up the area afterwards... no loose Guinness widgets when we're finished.

Thanks for the fishing info. I took my nephew to (very) northern Minnesota once. By historical statistics, it was the worst week of summer for fishing. We got a couple of pike one day and a couple of walleyes the next but that was it. We did hear wolves howling in the distance and see bald eagles close-up, something we don't get to do everyday here in Greenwich Village.

All the best,
Dan