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Two-part pour key to perfect pint of Guinness

By Melissa Nann Burke, York Daily Record, Pa., Source: MCT Business News

Mar. 12--The taps of Guinness at Harp & Fiddle Irish Pub & Restaurant in York flow continuously on St. Patrick's Day -- the day everyone wants to drink like an Irishman.

Like other pub bartenders schooled by a Guinness rep, Kassy Baugher knows from experience that a proper Guinness draft is as much about its serving as its production.

"Some people don't understand that a proper Guinness takes a minute to pour correctly," she said.

It starts below the bar. Downstairs, the pub maintains a special room for its Guinness carbonation system -- a mix of 75 percent nitrogen and 25 percent carbon dioxide.

The beer is dispensed under high pressure through the narrow Guinness faucets upstairs, causing the nitrogen to break out of solution, said John Monsees, the Guinness market manager for central Pennsylvania.

Thousands of tiny bubbles surge and cascade through the liquid to form a dense, creamy head on the surface.

"Nitrogen bubbles are much smaller than the carbon dioxide bubbles you see in other beers. That's what gives the appearance of a creamy head," Monsees said.

The key to the well-known Perfect Pour of Guinness is two parts: Holding the glass at a 45-degree angle as the beer flows in (you'll hear a constant hiss from the tap) and then giving the stout two minutes to settle before filling the glass to the brim, Baugher said.

If the Guinness is too cold or the pressure in the tap off its mark, the flavor will suffer, tasting metallic because gas is

still trapped in the beer, Monsees said.

"They say you drink Guinness with your eyes," he said. "If it forms the perfect, 1-inch head on the pint, not only does it look appealing but you know it's breaking out the gas right."

And the head should last, clinging to the sides of the glass and forming rings of creamy foam as the pint is drained -- a tell-tale sign of each sip.

"You'll have people who get very particular about their Guinness," Baugher said.

"One guy from Ireland would come in, tap the glass with a fork and wouldn't drink unless it had the right ping."

Representatives of Sheffer Beer Distributor, which supplies the pub's Irish beers, have trained bartenders at Harp & Fiddle on the Perfect Pour.

"It's doing great now everywhere sales-wise," said Sheffer sales supervisor Pete Bedrosian. "It's the taste and the presentation."

Sheffer boosts its Guinness inventory by a third in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day each year, Bedrosian said.

Harp & Fiddle, which will double its number of Guinness taps to four this weekend, went through 14 kegs of Guinness last year between the York St. Patrick's Day Parade and the holiday itself, said general manager Damian McGarvey. There are 90 pints in a keg.

"This is our biggest season, our biggest month," Monsees said. "This is our Christmas."

As they say in Dublin, Slainte!

771-2024; mburke@ydr.com

ON THE WEB

     Guinness, www2.guinness.com
Diageo, www.diageo.com

THE PERFECT POUR

Master brewer Fergal Murray of St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin describes the process of pouring the "perfect" Guinness pint. The pour should take 119.5 seconds.

     1. The Glass
     Firmly grasp a clean, dry pint glass.
     2. The 45-degree Angle
     Hold the glass at a 45-degree angle. Grab hold of the tap.
     3. The Pour

Pull the tap handle toward you in a smooth flow until fully open. Let the beer flow into the glass.

You'll hear a constant hiss from the tap. When three-quarters full, straighten up the glass and slowly and smoothly stop the tap.

4. The Surge and Settle

Set the glass down and allow the beer to settle.

Behold the cascading surge of bubbles as the nitrogen, lying dormant in the beer, come out of solution and forms a creamy head.

5. The Top Up

Once the liquid has settled, take the glass and, holding it straight, push the tap away from you slightly. Take the creamy head to the brim and build a crown just over the top.

6. The Presentation & Savor (or, How to Drink a Perfect Pint of Guinness)

Look to the horizon. Elbow up. Savor every sip.

Source: www2.guinness.com

251 YEARS AGO

Arthur Guinness started brewing stout at the St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland, in 1759, having purchased a dormant brewery with money left to him in his godfather's will.

About a century later, the Guinness brewery was the world's largest, and Arthur Guinness and Sons was floated on the London Stock Exchange.

Guinness is now owned by the company Diageo. The United States is Guinness' fourth largest market, behind Britain, Nigeria and Ireland, in that order.

The Guinness Storehouse gift shop at St. James's Gate brewery opened in 2000 and is now Ireland's leading tourist site, welcoming more than 750,000 visitors a year.

Source: Guinness, Diageo

FAQs

Why is Guinness black? It's not. According to the company, it's a dark ruby red. The reason is the way its ingredients are prepared (the recipe is secret).

Some of the barley is roasted (in a similar way to coffee beans) to give the stout its dark color and characteristic malty, caramel taste.

What are the main ingredients? Roasted, malted barley (Irish-grown), hops, yeast and water. Despite the myths, the water doesn't come from the River Liffey in Dublin.

Why is the head of a draft of Guinness creamy white?

The creamy white head is created from the "initiation" and "surging" of bubbles of nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas as the beer is poured. It's actually the nitrogen that causes the dense, white creamy head.

What is the alcohol content and caloric count of Guinness?

Guinness is 4 percent alcohol and has 125 calories per 12 ounces.

How much Guinness is sold worldwide?

More than 10 million glasses of Guinness stout are sold each day worldwide. That's about 1.8 billion pints a year.

Source: Guinness, Diageo, John Monsees

OFFICIAL HOLIDAY?

In 2008, Guinness started Proposition 3-17 -- a campaign to make St. Patrick's Day an official holiday in the United States.

You may sign the petition at www.proposition317.com.

To see more of the York Daily Record, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ydr.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, York Daily Record, Pa.