Day 5 (file under beer)

Well, it's getting to be Guinness season again. How happy am I?!?! I love Guinness, although Sam Adams Cream Stout is similar and very nice. Also, there are a few chocolate stouts that are quite good and actually have a nice chocolate flavor (I just misspelled about half the words I've written so far and was going to leave it that way as a joke but I was afraid no one would get it. You know, writing about beer, drinking beer, forgetting how to spell, stumbling around in the living room, etc).

Guinness goes with everything. Gruyere cheese (I'm having some now), chocolate, cheese, cheese (did I mention I'm having some now?), and chocolate. Yum. Guinness is so thick and rich and yummy, and here's an interesting fact, the bubbles go down instead of up. That's enough reason to drink Guinness. Drink Guinness and watch the bubbles. You WILL have fun. Here are some more interesting facts about my favorite fall beer.....


The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.

A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.
Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.

Guinness was told to stop using this slogan decades ago - and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.
The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease.
They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.
Clotting is important for patients who are at risk of a heart attack because they have hardened arteries.
A heart attack is triggered when a clot lodges in one of these arteries supplying the heart.
Many patients are prescribed low-dose aspirin as this cuts the ability of the blood to form these dangerous clots.
The researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, that the most benefit they saw was from 24 fluid ounces of Guinness - just over a pint - taken at mealtimes.
They believe that "antioxidant compounds" in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for the health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.
The original campaign in the 1920s stemmed from market research - when people told the company that they felt good after their pint, the slogan was born.
In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, based on the belief that it was high in iron.
Pregnant women and nursing mothers were at one stage advised to drink Guinness - the present advice is against this."


And another point I'd like to make is this....

Is GUINNESS® fattening? How many calories does it contain?

GUINNESS® ? Fattening? It’s an urban myth. GUINNESS® is no more fattening or calorific than any other beer of similar alcohol strength. Similarly, GUINNESS® contains no fat, but it does contain protein, sugar, carbohydrates and alcohol. The alcohol accounts for 65-75% of the calorific content irrespective of the beer in question.

* GUINNESS® DRAUGHT - 196 CALORIES PER PINT
* Semi-skimmed milk - 260 CALORIES PER PINT
* Orange juice - 220 CALORIES PER PINT

Pint-for-pint, GUINNESS® Draught actually has fewer calories than most other premium beers and lagers. So now you know.


Hooray!!! Hooray!!!

And, added bonus, there's a rocket widget inside the Guinness draught (just writing that sentence felt cool).


In the late 1980s Guinness pioneered the original spherical widget that is used in cans. A ball combining nitrogen and carbon dioxide is pressurized in the can. When the can is opened, the gas is released. Once the Guinness is poured, it assumes its characteristic half-inch head.

For the bottled version of the product, the widget is shaped like a rocket to keep it oriented correctly. The gas is released from the bottom of the widget. The majority of the gas is released when the bottle is first opened, then smaller amounts give the head a boost every time the bottle is tilted. The theory is that a head remains on the beer, inside the bottle, right down to the last sip.

"The new widget looks like a rocket," says Joe Bergin of Guinness Technical Support and Innovation, the division responsible for R&D, based in Dublin, Ireland. "It even has fins, for safety, to make sure the widget stays in the bottle." While the canned draught Guinness uses liquid nitrogen to create its head, the bottle uses gaseous nitrogen. The widget revolution reflects the pains Guinness will take to ensure product consistency, but many Guinness drinkers are fanatics.

Fanatics!? Pleeeease.