it's ALL better than Budweiser - not so. Real Budweiser is a splendid beer. I don't mean the stuff they make under that name in America and on franchise in other places, but the Czech original, now marketed as Budweiser Budvar.

The other Irish stout is Beamish, also from Cork, like Murphys, and that's not bad either. I'd rank them Murphys, Guinness, Beamish. Don't ever let anyone tell you Murphys is a second best. The only thing is, the head is a bit yellower than the one on Guiness, so it doesn't doesn't look so much like a penguin or an Ursuline Nun, which maybe takes a way from the dramatic appearance.

And there's a great song by Flann O'Brian, "A pint of plain is your only man", and we've had a thread aboutr that, and I'll put in a link before I post this, if I can find it. Mind that song is technically about a variety of Guiness with a little less body to it, which they stopped producing a few years back, not about any of the versions they make today.