Guinness Mid-Strength

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

On nitro at the Guiness Store House. Opaque black with creamy nitro head. Aroma is sweeter roast, fruit nuttiness, a little milky. Flavor is sweet roast, a little bit more watery, coffee, tobacco and ashy Guiness flavor. Watery, light body. Not as good as actual guiness, but fresh and nice.

[2194-20090523] Tap. Mild roast grains aroma. Black body with a thick very long-lasting creamy mocha head and some lacing. More coffee up front in the flavour with bitter roasted grains and nice toast notes. Medium-full body is a tad watery. Nice, a little more bitter than the regular.
(@ St. James’ Gate; Dublin, Ireland)

2009-05-23. Ruby tinged black body, creamy tan head and lace. (4+) Dry roasty aroma like a bowl of roast barley and coffee beans. Muted touches of mocha. (6+) Flavour is similar to Guinness, seems a touch more dilute overall, but almost a touch more dry roast to it at times. Less mocha than the regular? (6+) Smooth average palate. About what you would expect a light version of Guinness to taste like. Okay. On tap at Guinness Storehouse, Dublin

Sample at Guinness store house. Looks similar to a regular guinness, but much thinner and lighter. Incredibly watery flavor with lots of roast. Almost a sourness to it. Not particularly good.

Draught at Guinness Storehouse. Dark almost black coloured beer with a medium creamy head. Roasted malty sweet aroma. Medium roasted palate. Finish is malty roasted, begins light but ends very bitter, with strong roasted bitter touches. Some stronger touches and at the same time less strong than the regular Guinness.

Had an opportunity to test this on the tour of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. The look is very similar to a regular pint of Guinness but definitely thinner and a touch more watery. Flavor was a bit of a letdown as well, lacks the grainy, toasted characters of the origional. Watery and slightly bitter on the palate. I don’t really get the phenomenon of low alcohol beers, but I guess if for some reason you HAD to have less alcohol this might be a nice alternative. Otherwise, I can’t imagine a set of circumstances in which this would ever touch my lips again.

At 2.8 per cent proof, the mid-strength product is lower in alcohol than Guinness Light was (3.6 per cent). The crucial difference is that mid-strength Guinness is designed to look and taste as close as possible to the regular 4.2 per cent brew. Pours identical to regular Guinness, aroma a little lighter. Has a lighter taste than regular Guinness however is certainly very good. I would not choose it over regular Guinness however it may appeal to people who are driving or cutting back on alcohol but still want to enjoy a pint of Guinness. Nice enough.