Guinness and health benefits

Guinness is the famous Irish dry stout that comes from Arthur Guinness’ brewery which is located in Dublin. It is based on London’s own porter style which was introduced in the 18th century and is currently one of the most successful commercial beer brands in the world.

Guinness is popular because of its distinctive, burnt flavor which comes from the roasted barley, while the lactic note in the flavor comes from the secret aging process. The thick cream at the head comes from the nitrogen which gets mixed with the beer during the pouring. Guinness is the best selling alcoholic drink in many countries around the world. The Guinness company has been in London since 1932, and together with Grand Metropolitan it has been turned into a conglomerate called Diageo since then.

The ingredients of the Guinness are hops, water, barley and brewer’s yeast. It gets treated with isinglass finings which come from air bladders of certain types of fish, but the company claims that no amounts of this material end up in the final product.

Roasted barley is responsible for the recognizable taste and dark color. After all these treatments the beer gets filtered and then pasteurized. Contrary to the popular belief is that it actually contains less calories than milk, orange juice or other brands of beer. Up until the late 1950s, the beer was racked into wooden casks, but those got replaced by aluminum kegs.

Guinness is sold in draft and canned form, beside their bottled counterpart. In both forms it contains nitrogen alongside the more usual carbon dioxide. Nitrogen allows to beer to be under higher amounts of pressure without being fizzy. The pressure forms tiny bubbles and causes the beer to have that characteristic surge. The bubbles and the significantly lower level of carbon dioxide that provides that feeling of smoothness that Guinness is famous for. There is also an “Original Extra Stout” which does not contain nitrogen and as a consequence it has a slightly more acidic taste. The modern Guinness is significantly weaker than the original one from the 19th century. Many people think that Guinness is black but it is actually an extremely dark shade of ruby.

Guinness can provide certain health benefits. Those address the benefits to the heart, various antioxidant properties and a slower cholesterol deposit on the artery walls. Vegetarians may avoid Guinness because its production uses certain fish products. Some small amounts of these ingredients may be carried over into the final product.