I bought a 18 pack of Guinness beers from Costco this weekend. 6 each of Guinness Original, Dublin Porter, and West Indies Porter. I was impressed with the Dublin Porter. Very flavorful and full-bodied for a 3.8% abv beer.
The West Indies Porter was good, too. Nice molasses flavor. But a little on the sweet side for my taste.
I was able to grab a pack.
The Dublin porter represents what I’d like to see more of from craft breweries: real session beers. Flavorful, under 4%, sad that it’s only bottled and not in a cask.
The original is good too, falls very much in line with what I look for in a dry stout. Haven’t tried the West Indies porter yet.
Only complaint so far is my usual one regarding CO2 bottled Guinness beers (especially Guinness Extra Stout, my personal favorite): it’s way overcarbed. Pour really hard and let it settle out and it’s excellent though.
Didn’t Guinness stop making Porter in the 1970s? Great news that they’ve started again–but maybe this is old news? Anybody know more about this?
I think it’s just a sort of “seasonal”, especially when considering that St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner.
I do hope Guinness continues to bring back some of their historic recipes. This sampler pack has been way better than any of their other recent beers.
I’m not sure it is a St. Pats seasonal, as when we toured the St. James Gate facility back in October on our trip to Dublin, all of those beers were for sale there, albeit in bottles. I didn’t drink any at the time, for why would you drink bottled beer at the Guinness brewery?
I think these beers represent another tempered step by Guinness to compete in the craft beer market. These beers are certainly much better than their Nitro IPA and Black Lager, which are wretched (IMHO).
The Torpedo and, in specialist stores, Hop Hunter, are showing up here in the UK now. HH definitely the better of the two for me. Nice aroma and resin. I’m not a fan of the usual SNPA, but I guess it was an early runner in the style.
The porters and the Foreign Extra Guinness have been widely available over here for a while now. Improvements on the usual dross, but far better choices around.