widget can / Guinness experience

[Dan Stauft]

Jason Asked...

>can someone please explain all about a widgeted can or something relevant to
>that

The widget is an invention of the Guinness beer gods, its purpose is to make canned
beer act and taste like kegged beer. The widget V1.0, introduced in the early '90s I
think, was a little hockey puck shaped canister attached to the bottom of all Pub
Draught cans. When the can was popped, the widget released a charge of nitrogen and
CO2 gas (the gas mix Guinness uses in the kegs). Evidently, Guinness was not content
with V1.0, so widget V2.0 was released recently. This one has the same function,
though the gasses are contained in a floating ball. In theory, when the can is
popped, the gas is released, which propels the ball down through the beer, thoroughly
mixing the beer and the gas mixture. The relevance of all of this is that the white
Guinness head is a function of the nitrogen gas, no nitrogen, no rich foamy head. In
my experience the widgets work - I do prefer the cans to the bottles, though true
draft is far superior.

Dan