alcohol content of Guiness?
Angela Quealy
A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
in a home brewing book.)
Angela
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* Angela Quealy que...@lerc.nasa.gov *
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Gerry Mulvenna
>
>A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
>in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
>content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
>on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
>in a home brewing book.)
>
>Angela
This sounds like it should have been crossposted to alt.folklore.urban!
From my own experience I think it unlikely for the alcohol content of
anything to be higher in the states. I have heard, though, that Guinness
in Co Monaghan (for instance) has more alcohol (c5.0%) than say Guinness in
Co Armagh (c4.something%). This is one factor which explains why so many
people from Cullyhanna like to do their drinking in Castleblaney.
Gerry Mulvenna (osg...@v2.qub.ac.uk)
Belfast, Ireland
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Peter Berck
Could be true, here in The Netherlands the Guinness contains 5%, and
when I was in the UK and ireland, I was told the alcohol % was only
something like 3.5 to 4%. I thought it was because higher alcohol
percentages have higer tax-rates, but I am not sure...
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(format t "~&~{~<~%~1:;~a~>~^,~}.~%"
'(DoD#-337 cx-500 Sonic-Youth Lush Miranda-Sex-Garden
Dante-Alighieri Guinness The-Ex Sore-Throat))
Dennis Brake (PSI) X7767
>in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
>content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
>on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
>in a home brewing book.)
>
I just came back after 3 weeks :-) and was surprised to find many
people drinking Budweiser. They showed me the bottles and the Irish
beer is 4.2% and Bud is 6.3%
Dennis
ozzy
>in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
>content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
>on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
>in a home brewing book.)
>
>Angela
There is also the urban legend that Guiness made in Ireland has got blood in it.
I dont like the taste of it anyway, but it does taste slightly better in Ireland
oh well, closet vampire coming out.... :-)
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Gregory Owen
Gerry.M...@launchpad.unc.edu (Gerry Mulvenna) writes:
> fs...@kira.lerc.nasa.gov (Angela Quealy) writes:
> >
> >A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
> >in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
> >content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
> >on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
> >in a home brewing book.)
>
> alt.folklore.urban!
>
> From my own experience I think it unlikely for the alcohol content of
> anything to be higher in the states. I have heard, though, that Guinness
From "The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing" by Charlie
Papazian, which is considered the foremost homebrewing book around:
"[tax problems] can be seen most clearly in Ireland, where the
world-famous Guinness Stout is brewed. Without a doubt, the locally
available stuff is delicious, but upon investigation one discovers
that the alcoholic content does not exceed 3 percent. Over 60 percent
of the price of a pint of Guinness in Ireland is tax! The Guinness
Stout that is made for export is taxed at a lower rate; therefore, it
is higher in alcohol and a very, very different product"
--page 8, para 2.
Now, whether this fleshes out an urban myth or merely reveals
the source for one, I don't know. IF some kind soul in Ireland will
mail me a case of Guinness, I'll gladly do some testing.......... 8)
Greg Owen { go...@forte.cs.tufts.edu, go...@xis.xerox.com }
1.01 GCS/GO d++ p+ c++ l++ u++ e+ -m+ s++/- n- h !(f)? g+ -w+ t+ r-- y?
"These fragments I have shored against my ruins/Why then Ile fit you.
Hieronymo's mad againe./Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata."
Rob Limbert
|> in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
|> content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
|> on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
|> in a home brewing book.)
|>
|> Angela
It's true. The strength of Guinness is hard to pin down, because it's
produced in several different potencies. However, Guinness in Britain and
Ireland is typically in the 4% to 4.5% range, largely because tax laws
encourage brewers to keep the alcohol content moderate. In the U.S. and
the rest of Europe, Guinness is in the 5% range, and a stronger version
(around 7%) is available in some parts of the world.
This is not unique to Guinness; it's true of many Stouts from Britain
and Ireland. Mackeson, for example, is about 4% in Britain, and around 5%
in the U.S..
Rob
WADE D CORBETT
>in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
>content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
>on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
>in a home brewing book.)
>
I don't have the exact % in front of me, but I do know that the alcohol
content is rather low, in the neighborhood of 4%. Roasted unmalted barley
contributes much to the specific gravity, and it is unfermentable.
Guiness is quite dry (with low residual sugars) which implies a low
alcohol content. [High alcohol beers are generally sweeter because
the yeast is killed by the high alcohol, leaving unfermented residual
sugars.] It is for this reason that many fans of Guiness drink their
brew at room temperature - to accentuate the sweetness of the malt.
I, for one, can not drink such a dry stout at cold temperatures. For
those folks who have tried Guiness, but didn't like the bitter brew,
please try it at room temperature. You'll quickly discover why
Guiness is a world-class beer!
.
--
__o BURN FAT
_ \<,_ -
(_)/ (_) NOT GAS!
Brendan E. Molloy
approx. 4% Alcohol by Volume.
There are two types of bottled Guinness:
Guinness Original (or Extra) Stout, OG 1042, ABV 4.5% approx.
Guinness Export Stout, OG 1048, ABV 5.1%
It is possible that the above figures will vary slightly from brewery to
brewery around the world. Guinness bound for New York used to be brewed on
board ship while crossing the Atlantic from Dublin. Sadly the brewery ship
is being withdrawn.
DANIEL F COHEN
>> fs...@kira.lerc.nasa.gov (Angela Quealy) writes:
>>
>>A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
>>in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
>>content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
>>on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
>>in a home brewing book.)
>
>
>From my own experience I think it unlikely for the alcohol content of
I can't settle the issue, but I can tell you what Angela's friend was
talking about. It's from page 8 of the new edition of Papazian, where
he's talking about the taxation of beer:
So, naturally the more alcohol in the beer the more it is
taxed, and the more it costs not only the brewery but the
beer drinker himself. The situation can be seen most
clearly in Ireland, where the world-famous Guinness
Stout is brewed. Without a doubt, the locally available
stuff is delicious, but upon investigation one discovers
that the alcoholic content does not exceed 3 percent.
Over 60 percent of the price of a pint of Guinness in
Ireland is tax! The Guinness Stout that is made for export
is taxed at a lower rate; therefore, it is higher in alcohol
and a very, very different product.
(The above is exactly, character for character, how the passage appears.
The solecisms and errors in punctuation are Papazian's.)
Does anyone among our Irish contingent have the facts of the matter?
Is the alcohol content referred to by Papazian by weight or by volume?
(If I remember correctly, 3% by volume is about 4% by weight. That would
bring Papazian's estimate rather close to Gerry's.)
--dc
--
Fred Hoare
>A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
>in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
>content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
>on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
>in a home brewing book.)
The local South African brew of Guiness has 7.5 percent alcohol,
which I have been told is higher than that in Ireland.
Fred
--
Frederick Hoare email: fr...@dip1.ee.uct.ac.za
Image Processing Laboratory
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Cape Town, South Africa
Charlie Gow
Nope, it's not a restriction on alcohol content. It's just Ireland's friendly
tax man demanding his due based on the alcoholic content of beer sold "in
country."
Chris Walker
> In article <275b9g$a...@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> fs...@kira.lerc.nasa.gov (Angela Quealy) writes:
> >
> >A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
> >in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
> >content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
> >on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
> >in a home brewing book.)
I saw this in a hoembrewing book, Charlie Papazian's Joy of Homebrewing.
According to Papazian, the reason for the lower alcohol is the outragious tax
on alcohol in Ireland. Less alcohol per pint, less tax per pint, therefore a
lower price per pint.
> >
>
>
> I just came back after 3 weeks :-) and was surprised to find many
> people drinking Budweiser. They showed me the bottles and the Irish
> beer is 4.2% and Bud is 6.3%
>
> Dennis
_______________________________________________________________________
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dr white timothy rey
: A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
: in the US vs. in Ireland. Seems he read something about the alcohol
: content in the US being higher than that in Ireland, due to restrictions
: on alcohol content in Ireland. What's the scoop? (I think he saw this
: in a home brewing book.)
Nobody asked about this, but I think it's interesting anyway...the Guiness
brewed and sold in Malaysia is 8% alcohol, as is the (excellent, imo)
stout made by Carlsberg (in Malaysia), Royal Danish.
--
Dr. Timothy R. White
Dept. of English Lang & Lit, Natl Univ of Singapore
10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 0511
phone (65) 772-3936 fax (65) 773-2981 e-mail ell...@leonis.nus.sg
Robert Edwards
: Draft Guinness from St. James Gate, Dublin has an OG of 1038 and thus has
: approx. 4% Alcohol by Volume.
: There are two types of bottled Guinness:
: Guinness Original (or Extra) Stout, OG 1042, ABV 4.5% approx.
: Guinness Export Stout, OG 1048, ABV 5.1%
etc.
Bottled Guiness Special Export at ABV 8.0% which is brewed for the Belgian
export market is also available in the UK.
BHNK000
>In <1993Sep15....@linus.mitre.org> dbr...@cyclone.mitre.org writes:
>> In article <275b9g$a...@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> fs...@kira.lerc.nasa.gov (Angela Quealy) writes:
>> >A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
>> I just came back after 3 weeks :-) and was surprised to find many
>> people drinking Budweiser. They showed me the bottles and the Irish
>> beer is 4.2% and Bud is 6.3%
>> Dennis
>.
In response to the note about Budwieser, I used to live in
Colorado where they had (still have?) 3.2% alcohol beer for sale as
well as the regular stuff. The 3.2 was for sale in regular stores and
whereas "real beer" was available in the liquor stores. The drinking
age for the 3.2% was only 18 vs 21 for anything else. Most major brews
were availablein 3.2%, including Bud.
This bud was labelled "not more than 3.2% alcohol" and the
regular was "not more than 6.0% alcohol". The reality was that they
both seemed simlar and there was little difference in the amount it took
to get any particular effect - this is because, as it was suggested to
me by potentialy unreliable sources, that they really only contained
about 3.0 and 3.8% alcohol respectively. I tend to believe this was
indeed the case. Either way, you cannot always tell from reading
the label, at least not when it says "not more than 6.0%" since all that
really means is that the product is still leagaly a beer vs. a malt
liquor (at least in some places...)
Anyone know the facts on this one?
Binkey
Alison Scott
never sold cask or bottle conditioned) all over the world. However, the
Belgians won't drink stuff that is brewed locally under license (leading to
things like Gordon Scotch Ale, which is brewed in Edinburgh, not marketed in
the UK, exported to Belgium, and then reimported to the UK by specialist
beer shops), so a version of bottle-conditioned Guinness at 8% ABV is brewed
in Ireland for the Belgian market. It's -er- very nice, absolutely my
favourite implementation of Guinness, but it doesn't taste much like stout.
--
Alison Scott [Ali...@moose.demon.co.uk]
Chester, England
Confabulation is the 1995 British National SF convention (Eastercon).
Location: Docklands, London. For details Email Con...@moose.demon.co.uk
lenahan,grant f
> In article <1993Sep19....@ualr.edu> CDWA...@acs.harding.edu (Chris Walker) writes:
> >In <1993Sep15....@linus.mitre.org> dbr...@cyclone.mitre.org writes:
> >> In article <275b9g$a...@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> fs...@kira.lerc.nasa.gov (Angela Quealy) writes:
> >> >A friend of mind was wondering about the alcohol content of Guiness
> >> >in the US vs. in Ireland etc.
> >> I just came back after 3 weeks :-) and was surprised to find many
> >> people drinking Budweiser. They showed me the bottles and the Irish
> >> beer is 4.2% and Bud is 6.3%
In Ireland, Kegged Guinness is 3.0%, because the taxes on
beer go up after 3.0%. The exported and contract brewed versions
are slightly higher (~4.0%). Budweiser in the US is 5.0% -
and will shortly begin labelling it as such.
I have no idea about the bottled Guinness in ireland
noted above - never saw it!
Grant