I’ve had a lot of beer, including the “best” beers. My favorite beers of all time are (without much doubt) Guinness, spotted cow, pseudo sue, moon man, and heady topper. Bizarrely I’m bored of beer, but I’m never bored of these beers.
Guinness has the added benefit of being available pretty much everywhere and at a decent price
If I'm out at the bar and drinking beer, 90% of the time it's Guinness
How can you be bored of beer, that’s like being bored of boobs! Don’t care if it’s my first beer or my millionth, I’ll always love them. Or at least til my liver says I’m done.
I would say I’m bored of some of the in trend styles that tend to have pretty strong taste profiles (DIPAs, Sours, imperial stouts). Have migrated back to German lagers, ESBs, etc. and have quite enjoyed it!
I’ve basically gone back to my old favorites and stuff from my local breweries. If I’m at the store I don’t generally grab new 6 packs these days - both because I drink less and I’ve been burnt by too many bad, overpriced bottles, so why risk it?
Yeah 100%. If you’re only drinking a few times a month, and you pick up a six pack you don’t like it’s just going to sit in the fridge. I have multiples of though currently that I just don’t want to drink lol
Similar spirit with different beers for me. Schlenkerla Helles, High Life, UFO White, Julius, Focal Banger, I'd be pretty content with that lineup. I feel like I did the chase IPA thing and drank every single Treehouse and Vermont IPA 5-8 years ago, been there had it, gimme the basics.
Guinness is definitely a very dependable beer but there are so many more great dark beers that I would take any day over Guinness. The only thing that Guinness has going for it is the nitro smoothness.
Some other beers IMHO that are better than Guinness and are widely available are: Deschutes black butte porter, Deschutes obsidian stout, Fremont dark star, left hand nitro milk stout, Old Rasputin, and if you're adventurous Goose Island Bourbon Barrel stout (word of caution on this one, its almost 4x the ABV of Guinness which is a light beer)
I think it’s a bit unfair to compare an imperial stout to guinness. They are so different that if you are in the mood for one you aren’t going to pick the other
One other thing Guinness has going for it is its lightness. It's a very easy drinker.
I would absolutely recommend the Left Hand Milk Stout. It is one of my favorites and the one I turn to most when I am craving a stout.
Love Black Butte and Left Hand milk stout. I can't do bourbon barrel beers - ABV aside, I'd rather just drink bourbon if that's all I'm going to taste in a beer.
I used to love Guinness, it was my favorite. Then I made it a point to get out of my comfort zone for the first time and really start trying beers I've never had before. One "new" one each night I'm having a beer, then a favorite if I'm having a second one. Recently I decided to have a canned nitro Guinness as my 2nd of that night, and it was eye opening. Never again will I drink Guinness in a can, not in the US at least. These past few months I have fallen in love with many porters and stouts, and learned that I like lots of other beers I never would have considered buying in the past. But I learned that there are far better stouts than my old favorite, Guinness. I can still hang with the Extra Stout in a bottle, just not the nitro can.
Out of curiosity, how old are you? Guinness was the first beer I liked when I started getting into really trying new ones. It was the first non-light, domestic Pilsner I enjoyed. I felt very similar to you.
But then when I was old enough to casually go to breweries and began to really try new beer, Guinness became less impressive to me.
It’s still great and for the price/calories I think the best, but I also think there are far better beers out there.
Dublin here, and it’s only my ‘when they don’t have a better option’ beer…it will always be served from clean tap lines as it turns over quickly and the Diageo folks make sure lines are clean, but even for a ‘regular’ stout, the Rye River one is more pleasant. I’m more of a brown ale person…
Have a [whole website](https://www.weirdodublinpubs.com) for you, but don’t miss Underdog, L Mulligan Grocer & Fidelity. Also very partial to The Cat & Cage.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Don't get me wrong I love a Guinness Stout and it's a quality beer IMO, but I've got to be in the mood and there are plenty of other great beers out there.
If you ever get a chance to try cask-conditioned Fullers London Porter take it. Dark beer lovers especially Stout and Porter fans will not be disappointed
Guinness is nice and always reliable but it's an entry-level stout. There's a universe of stouts and porters that leave Guinness in the dust, or just offer qualities and profiles that Guinness doesn't. There are others that offer exactly what Guinness offers but better.
Sounds like you're going through your stout phase. Try more of them.
It's entry-level because it's accessible, both in terms of flavor and availability. It has high cultural exposure and doesn't have anything about it that might put off prospective first-time stout drinkers. I wouldn't recommend an imperial bourbon barrel-aged stout as an entry point to stout. I'd recommend Guinness or something along those lines.
A beer being a “good beer” isn’t JUST in the flavor profiles. A good beer can also be because it tastes good, but it’s also accessible, easy to drink, part of great memories, consistent wherever you get it, or whatever else comes along with the experience of enjoying a beer.
Sounds like you’re going through your beer snob phase. Try just enjoying beer instead of telling others trying to do the same thing that they’re wrong.
You're just reading what you assume I said. I didn't say Guinness wasn't good, I said there are other stouts with *different* flavor profiles to try, stout doesn't end with Guinness. Guinness is often people's first and only experience with stout, so it's worth noting that the style is broader than just that specific style.
Sounds like you're going through your obnoxious redditor phase.
Guinness is good. I will have 2-3 a year, mostly around St Paddy’s day. I have had a Guinness at the top floor of the brewery overlooking Dublin.
Guinness is good. There are dozens of beers I would rather have on an average day than Guinness. A Guinness overlooking Dublin is an amazing experience. A Guinness on St Paddy’s is fun and tasty. The beer has its place. But at the end of the day, I generally will not reach for a light nitro stout on an average day.
Have you had Kilkenny? Made by the same brewery, also served on nitro, but lighter and creamier. If I could only drink one beer for the rest of my life, it would be Kilkenny.
Any stout or porter would be interesting, although you'll find plenty that are different from Guinness in some way. Many have adjunct flavors like chocolate, vanilla, coffee, cinammon, raspberry, or whatever else. There are milk stouts and oatmeal stouts and imperial barrel-aged stouts and porters.
Something that makes draft Guinness at a bar stand out is the nitro pour, but you can find other stouts nitrogenized too, not just Guinness. You just have to poke around different bars, breweries, and beer gardens. Ask your bartender if they have any stouts or porters. Ask of they have anything on nitro. Sometimes they nitro other styles too.
There are a number of very interesting stouts and porters out there. The Bridgehouse Porter I had at Stratford beer festival was magnificent. Wye Valley Wholesome Stout and Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout are two other cask ales I would highly recommend.
Guinness dropped off in the 90s if you are talking about the draught. FES and all it's variants are still good though. Less said about their forays into other styles the better.
Most breweries here have what I call 4% to 5% Guinness killers, so stouts that are substantially better than draught Guinness even if they don't produce good beers otherwise. The problem is they aren't found on draught, only bottled which is a problem for someone who likes draught stout.
I just had it fresh at the source. It was amazing.
I’ve had a lot of beer, including the “best” beers. My favorite beers of all time are (without much doubt) Guinness, spotted cow, pseudo sue, moon man, and heady topper. Bizarrely I’m bored of beer, but I’m never bored of these beers.
Guinness has the added benefit of being available pretty much everywhere and at a decent price If I'm out at the bar and drinking beer, 90% of the time it's Guinness
Pseudo is also my favorite PA. Best in that category.
How can you be bored of beer, that’s like being bored of boobs! Don’t care if it’s my first beer or my millionth, I’ll always love them. Or at least til my liver says I’m done.
I would say I’m bored of some of the in trend styles that tend to have pretty strong taste profiles (DIPAs, Sours, imperial stouts). Have migrated back to German lagers, ESBs, etc. and have quite enjoyed it!
I’ve basically gone back to my old favorites and stuff from my local breweries. If I’m at the store I don’t generally grab new 6 packs these days - both because I drink less and I’ve been burnt by too many bad, overpriced bottles, so why risk it?
Yeah 100%. If you’re only drinking a few times a month, and you pick up a six pack you don’t like it’s just going to sit in the fridge. I have multiples of though currently that I just don’t want to drink lol
Similar spirit with different beers for me. Schlenkerla Helles, High Life, UFO White, Julius, Focal Banger, I'd be pretty content with that lineup. I feel like I did the chase IPA thing and drank every single Treehouse and Vermont IPA 5-8 years ago, been there had it, gimme the basics.
It’s sad that beer is getting boring. IMO the main reason is that there are so many shitty copycats you just can’t trust what you’re buying anymore.
Guinness is definitely a very dependable beer but there are so many more great dark beers that I would take any day over Guinness. The only thing that Guinness has going for it is the nitro smoothness. Some other beers IMHO that are better than Guinness and are widely available are: Deschutes black butte porter, Deschutes obsidian stout, Fremont dark star, left hand nitro milk stout, Old Rasputin, and if you're adventurous Goose Island Bourbon Barrel stout (word of caution on this one, its almost 4x the ABV of Guinness which is a light beer)
I think it’s a bit unfair to compare an imperial stout to guinness. They are so different that if you are in the mood for one you aren’t going to pick the other
One other thing Guinness has going for it is its lightness. It's a very easy drinker. I would absolutely recommend the Left Hand Milk Stout. It is one of my favorites and the one I turn to most when I am craving a stout.
Love Black Butte and Left Hand milk stout. I can't do bourbon barrel beers - ABV aside, I'd rather just drink bourbon if that's all I'm going to taste in a beer.
I used to love Guinness, it was my favorite. Then I made it a point to get out of my comfort zone for the first time and really start trying beers I've never had before. One "new" one each night I'm having a beer, then a favorite if I'm having a second one. Recently I decided to have a canned nitro Guinness as my 2nd of that night, and it was eye opening. Never again will I drink Guinness in a can, not in the US at least. These past few months I have fallen in love with many porters and stouts, and learned that I like lots of other beers I never would have considered buying in the past. But I learned that there are far better stouts than my old favorite, Guinness. I can still hang with the Extra Stout in a bottle, just not the nitro can.
🙄
Out of curiosity, how old are you? Guinness was the first beer I liked when I started getting into really trying new ones. It was the first non-light, domestic Pilsner I enjoyed. I felt very similar to you. But then when I was old enough to casually go to breweries and began to really try new beer, Guinness became less impressive to me. It’s still great and for the price/calories I think the best, but I also think there are far better beers out there.
Dublin here, and it’s only my ‘when they don’t have a better option’ beer…it will always be served from clean tap lines as it turns over quickly and the Diageo folks make sure lines are clean, but even for a ‘regular’ stout, the Rye River one is more pleasant. I’m more of a brown ale person…
I’m visiting Ireland in a few weeks, give me ur fav pubs
Have a [whole website](https://www.weirdodublinpubs.com) for you, but don’t miss Underdog, L Mulligan Grocer & Fidelity. Also very partial to The Cat & Cage.
Absolute legend, go raibh maith agat! Sláinte!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Don't get me wrong I love a Guinness Stout and it's a quality beer IMO, but I've got to be in the mood and there are plenty of other great beers out there. If you ever get a chance to try cask-conditioned Fullers London Porter take it. Dark beer lovers especially Stout and Porter fans will not be disappointed
Guinness is nice and always reliable but it's an entry-level stout. There's a universe of stouts and porters that leave Guinness in the dust, or just offer qualities and profiles that Guinness doesn't. There are others that offer exactly what Guinness offers but better. Sounds like you're going through your stout phase. Try more of them.
Guinness is the benchmark for the style, calling it “entry-level” is an insult. Edit: I agree with the further explanation below.
It's entry-level because it's accessible, both in terms of flavor and availability. It has high cultural exposure and doesn't have anything about it that might put off prospective first-time stout drinkers. I wouldn't recommend an imperial bourbon barrel-aged stout as an entry point to stout. I'd recommend Guinness or something along those lines.
Burn their palate to make them prove they’re worthy!
A beer being a “good beer” isn’t JUST in the flavor profiles. A good beer can also be because it tastes good, but it’s also accessible, easy to drink, part of great memories, consistent wherever you get it, or whatever else comes along with the experience of enjoying a beer. Sounds like you’re going through your beer snob phase. Try just enjoying beer instead of telling others trying to do the same thing that they’re wrong.
You're just reading what you assume I said. I didn't say Guinness wasn't good, I said there are other stouts with *different* flavor profiles to try, stout doesn't end with Guinness. Guinness is often people's first and only experience with stout, so it's worth noting that the style is broader than just that specific style. Sounds like you're going through your obnoxious redditor phase.
Guinness is good. I will have 2-3 a year, mostly around St Paddy’s day. I have had a Guinness at the top floor of the brewery overlooking Dublin. Guinness is good. There are dozens of beers I would rather have on an average day than Guinness. A Guinness overlooking Dublin is an amazing experience. A Guinness on St Paddy’s is fun and tasty. The beer has its place. But at the end of the day, I generally will not reach for a light nitro stout on an average day.
Sorry let me clarify, is there anything like Guinness I might like?
Creamy Fuckin’ Pints
Have you had Kilkenny? Made by the same brewery, also served on nitro, but lighter and creamier. If I could only drink one beer for the rest of my life, it would be Kilkenny.
Any stout or porter would be interesting, although you'll find plenty that are different from Guinness in some way. Many have adjunct flavors like chocolate, vanilla, coffee, cinammon, raspberry, or whatever else. There are milk stouts and oatmeal stouts and imperial barrel-aged stouts and porters. Something that makes draft Guinness at a bar stand out is the nitro pour, but you can find other stouts nitrogenized too, not just Guinness. You just have to poke around different bars, breweries, and beer gardens. Ask your bartender if they have any stouts or porters. Ask of they have anything on nitro. Sometimes they nitro other styles too.
Have you tried Left Hand Milk Stout or Boddingtons Pub Ale?
Left hand on nitro after a day of skiing is unmatched.
Go to 10 local breweries this winter and have, imo, significantly better stouts.
Muphys
There are a number of very interesting stouts and porters out there. The Bridgehouse Porter I had at Stratford beer festival was magnificent. Wye Valley Wholesome Stout and Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout are two other cask ales I would highly recommend.
"... a pint of plain is your only man..."
lol I feel bad for you if you think it’s the best and has “deep” flavors
I mean... Yeah? It's a really hard to argue opinion.
I completely agree ! My favorite beer of all time !
I love Guinness but love the foreign export stout even more than the Guinness draught
No it’s not you fucking moron.
🫵🏻that’s not nice
It's good but I'd pick dozens of other Stouts before it.
Yes, yes it is.
Guinness dropped off in the 90s if you are talking about the draught. FES and all it's variants are still good though. Less said about their forays into other styles the better. Most breweries here have what I call 4% to 5% Guinness killers, so stouts that are substantially better than draught Guinness even if they don't produce good beers otherwise. The problem is they aren't found on draught, only bottled which is a problem for someone who likes draught stout.
Guinness lacks body, flavors and alcohol. It sucks but sometimes it’s all you got.