Guinness Draught Vs Invalid Stout

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Truman42

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Never really been a stout drinker before until I started to HB, but then again I didnt really drink any fancy beers until I started to HB. Now I cant drink anything that isnt at least $4.00 a stubbie and above.

So last night the wife and I go to the Baxter tavern for dinner and I order us a Guinness draught each. It had a nice creamy head followed by a very bland tasting watery beer that really lacked flavour. I was quite surprised as I expected more.
So then we tried an Abbotsford Invalid stout and this really blew me away. For a CUB mass produced beer this was very nice, and had a nice chocolaty toffee flavour. If it werent labelled I could easily think I was drinking a HB.
Im sure some of you will disagree but this is certainly my most enjoyable CUB offering
 
Never really been a stout drinker before until I started to HB, but then again I didnt really drink any fancy beers until I started to HB. Now I cant drink anything that isnt at least $4.00 a stubbie and above.

So last night the wife and I go to the Baxter tavern for dinner and I order us a Guinness draught each. It had a nice creamy head followed by a very bland tasting watery beer that really lacked flavour. I was quite surprised as I expected more.
So then we tried an Abbotsford Invalid stout and this really blew me away. For a CUB mass produced beer this was very nice, and had a nice chocolaty toffee flavour. If it werent labelled I could easily think I was drinking a HB.
Im sure some of you will disagree but this is certainly my most enjoyable CUB offering

I think Guiness/Murphys etc are good when you drink them after a lager or something more light bodied. I find guiness is pretty easy to smash down on a hot day, when a decently complicated/chewy stout is completely out of place in all but cold weather/after dark. I quite like the Invalid - it's been around for ages - perhaps from back when people had standards.
 
I always have a chuckle when people tout guinness as a 'meal in a glass'. A very unsatisfying, and certainly not filling, beer. The flavour profile is quite awful, too. It's better in the UK, for sure, but the version here is a kind of insipid sweetness combined with an ashy, coarse bitterness.

On the other hand, I really like Invalid. A very good beer, in my opinion. Guinness foreign extra is also pretty good, as is Southwark (debatable, but I like it).
 
Invalid Stout was my staple over winter before I was brewing. Pretty decent drop for the price.
 
Invalid Stout was my staple over winter before I was brewing. Pretty decent drop for the price.


The only time I ever drink Guiness nowdays is when a (food) recipe calls for it and there's leftovers.

Sometimes if I'm in Coles and in the mood, I might buy the Invalid, although I tend to reserve my stout purhcases to times when I go to Dan's. My favourite two are the Youngs Double Chocolate and the Mad Brewers Stout Noir. Both completely different, but oh so good.
 
Guiness is my go to beer when the pub is only serving megaswill, I had one a few weeks ago watching liverpool win the carling cup and it was fantastic.
 
Guiness is my go to beer when the pub is only serving megaswill, I had one a few weeks ago watching liverpool win the carling cup and it was fantastic.

The problem I find with stouts on tap at pubs is that they serve it at the same temperature as lagers! No thanks... I buy my stouts to taste them.
 
Whenever & Wherver you drink Guiness here it will not be good, ESPECIALLY on Tap. It is not even a close to the genuine article.

I'm from the UK and Guiness was my weapon of choice when living there and in Dublin. It's feckin outstanding.
 
Whenever & Wherver you drink Guiness here it will not be good, ESPECIALLY on Tap. It is not even a close to the genuine article.

I'm from the UK and Guiness was my weapon of choice when living there and in Dublin. It's feckin outstanding.

Actually this was in the can, (with those little balls inside) so I thought it might be better than on tap, but wasnt. Tasted like it had been watered down on tap though.
 
Actually this was in the can, (with those little balls inside) so I thought it might be better than on tap, but wasnt. Tasted like it had been watered down on tap though.

Some pubs use creamer taps for guiness, but still at lager temps. :(
 
I bought a six pack of Guiness for Paddys Day....With the free glass.. :beerbang:
Beer was terrible ..I would not buy the cans again... :icon_vomit:
Shared a couple with a friend..He said ....YUCKK......
PJ
 
Actually this was in the can, (with those little balls inside) so I thought it might be better than on tap, but wasnt. Tasted like it had been watered down on tap though.


I bought a six pack for St. Pat's day with free glass and was very underwhelmed came from Dublin too. Nothing like I remember from U.K. many years ago. The canned Murphys has much more flavour have not tried the Invalid stout but the Coopers stout is not bad.
 
Guinness is built for sessioning. It's light and watery so you can smash plenty down.
It's part of the reason this brewery has been so profitable over the years because people drink loads of it and can guzzle plenty in a go.

There's not much to a Guinness, it's really just a bunch of pale malt for the most part with a bit of flaked barley and roast barley over the top (along with that trademark sour - some say that's the brett yeast they add a little of, others suggest some sour malt when you're cloning). Take that dark grain away and you've got a pale ale really, and a very light one at that.

CUB Invalid Stout is as the name suggests - it was designed in part for invalids and the infirm to strengthen them up and as a result has a lot of sugar/ or lactose? added for energy and is a Milk Stout in style. You'll find it way sweeter than a Coopers Stout or other commercial examples.

They both have their place in the food chain/drink chain I find. :) Quite like them both. Tend to grab an Invalid Stout when I can't find the Coopers.

Hopper.
 
I guess due to the fact that I don't generally drink more than a couple of stouts in one sitting, I'm not particularly concerned about the lack of cheap mega-brewery stouts out there. I'm happy to pay the same for half as many craft stouts.

I also agree with the statement above concerning Guiness being for session drinking. You can't smash down a six pack of coopers stout on a cold day, but Guiness is good for it even on a hot day (assuming you've got the palate for it).
 
Never really been a stout drinker before until I started to HB, but then again I didnt really drink any fancy beers until I started to HB. Now I cant drink anything that isnt at least $4.00 a stubbie and above.

So last night the wife and I go to the Baxter tavern for dinner and I order us a Guinness draught each. It had a nice creamy head followed by a very bland tasting watery beer that really lacked flavour. I was quite surprised as I expected more.
So then we tried an Abbotsford Invalid stout and this really blew me away. For a CUB mass produced beer this was very nice, and had a nice chocolaty toffee flavour. If it werent labelled I could easily think I was drinking a HB.
Im sure some of you will disagree but this is certainly my most enjoyable CUB offering
Hey keep in mind that Guinness Draught is only 4.2% hence why it's so watery and smashable.
The Guinness Extra (BUL by fosters?) which you get in stubbies is 6% and definitely not watery.
 
I guess due to the fact that I don't generally drink more than a couple of stouts in one sitting, I'm not particularly concerned about the lack of cheap mega-brewery stouts out there. I'm happy to pay the same for half as many craft stouts.

I also agree with the statement above concerning Guiness being for session drinking. You can't smash down a six pack of coopers stout on a cold day, but Guiness is good for it even on a hot day (assuming you've got the palate for it).
Agree. When you have guinness in ireland it's pretty awesome. Here, it's nothing to write home about. And yes you can smash them.
If anyone knows where to get Invalid stout in Sydney, please post.
Love Coopers Best Extra and the odd Sheaf Stout goes down well.
 
Irish keg Guinness and Australian are two different beasts. The Irish is made on brown malt and the Guinness "syrup" is added prior to fermentation. Then it's fermented for around 60 hours and allowed to rise to 25C, rested for a day or so, then packaged.

The Australian keg version is made on local malts. I'm not sure if the Guinness extract/syrup is shipped here, but either way it's brewed on a lager yeast so is a very different end result.

Here and in Ireland it's served on Nitrogen/CO2 mix which you are quite able to do yourself (Ross has a nitro setup at Bacchus) hence the creamy head.

All information available in Bill Yenne's book "Guinness, the 250 year quest for the perfect pint"

All Credit to CUB they brew some excellent FES style stouts locally such as Sheaf, Invalid and Guinness Extra 6% ABV. I always get hammered on Sheaf at least once while I'm in Sydney :beerbang:

Edit: also of possible interest, due to the long and complex argy bargy between the UK and Ireland, Guinness progressively sourced more and more of its raw materials from the USA and Europe to supplement Irish Barley (not a lot grown there) so the hops AFAIK are American as well as most of the barley for the malt. So it's a distinctly Irish brew with little or nothing in common with UK styles. They had a brewery in London from the 1930s but it closed down several years ago when Guinness moved to a greenfields site outside Dublin and took it all back into Ireland.
 
Interesting info Bribie G. I guess nitrogen allows higher serving pressure? You can get pretty decent results from a creamer tap without nitrogen though, but it does mean one tap is always unsuitable for all other styles.
 
ahh, guinness.

Memories of Northern Ireland: old castles, green hills, potatoes seved 5 different ways with EVERY meal, amazing coastline and the inability to actually buy a pint......


.....cos the locals were just so damn impressed we'd flown all that way to be in their little beachside hamlet, they kept refusing to let me buy a round! :beer:

Oh, and the guinness is so completely different over there I just don't buy the aussie stuff anymore. Local is best!
 
ahh, guinness.

Memories of Northern Ireland: old castles, green hills, potatoes seved 5 different ways with EVERY meal, amazing coastline and the inability to actually buy a pint......


.....cos the locals were just so damn impressed we'd flown all that way to be in their little beachside hamlet, they kept refusing to let me buy a round! :beer:

Oh, and the guinness is so completely different over there I just don't buy the aussie stuff anymore. Local is best!

Sigh. I'm of Irish origins, but have never had the good fortune of visiting the homeland. Perhaps one day if my family is up for it I will get a chance to enjoy Guiness the way it should be.
 
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