Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout

Brewed by St. James’s Gate (Diageo)
Style: Dry Stout
Dublin, Ireland

Very slight cocoa, malt, and roast...perhaps a little burnt...bitter, thin, and not very good.

Black pour with a thick foamy tan head. Aroma is sweet caramel and roast malt. Taste is plain with a slight chalkiness from the fizzy carbonation maybe. Not very rich like the other Guinness beers.

Pours black with a moderate tan head. Aroma is strong with roasted malts. Flavor is coffee and roasted chocolate malt. Mouthfeel is thinner and more carbonated than traditional Guinness. All in all, it’s a prety run-of-the-mill stout.

Tasted 6/1/09. 12oz bottle. Pours dark and opaque. Ring of cream colored head. Smells like a mix of Guinness and a lager. Dark roasted malts and cereal grains. Bready and toffee. Medium bodied with a crisp effervescence. Lighter in body than the original. Still has a trace amount of bitterness. Tingles on the tongue, mixed with an astringency that makes for a interesting drink. Dark roasted malts, but not as overt. Super dry finish. Why mess with a good thing...

More flavor than guinness, more body than guinness, but the same basic flavors of a guinness. Watery palate, smell of day old vomit (not as bad as it sounds) with an extremely creamy flavor with a little metallic tingle. I’m glad I bought a whole case, I can’t see myself getting bored of it anytime soon.

Draft at the Local in Minneapolis. Dark black pour similar to regular Guinness, not much of an aroma to speak of (I guess no aroma is better than a bad aroma). Flavor was effervescent and creamy, like a much thinner version of the regular Guinness. Ok, but I probably won’t buy again.

on tap @ Coles Buffalo NY. Darker brown pour with khaki head. Aromas of raosted malts, light chocolate. Taste is carbonated, roasty, cola. Somewhat sweet. Too fizzy IMO. Not Bad

A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces an almost four-finger thick, nicely browned, tan colored head. The beer is a dark, chocolate brown color that shows a clear, deep ruby hue when held up to the light. The aroma is a mix of leading fruit notes followed by some dark, roast notes. The roast character is fairly light for a Stout and is almost more nutty than roast in character. The up front fruit is pretty big and reminds me of a mix of watered down raisins and perhaps a touch of sweet plum.

Fizzy and fairly light bodied, the beer does have some sweetness to it as well as a light bitterness to it in the finish. Some of the bitterness comes from some light, almost flinty, bitter roast barley. The sweetness accentuates a touch of non-specific dried fruit notes. This is quite quaffable, and I do believe that it has a touch more character than the draft Guinness. There is a touch of toasted nuttiness and perhaps some dark, unsweetened chocolate notes round out the flavor.

Not bad, it is even better than the ubiquitous bland version, but it would have been really fantastic if they had released one of there big Foreign Export Stouts for this anniversary.