Guinness Is Good For You: My Inaugural Post

Hello everybody! Glad to see you!

For my first post on our blog I thought I would tell you about my dinner last night. Specifically how the drink was and how it paired with the food. (I have to admit I intentionally thought about what drink I was was going to get and I tasted it with a critical tongue)

Yes that drink was Guinness Stout. Ireland's baby for what is coming up on 250 years. Perusing the alcohol menu I was still undecided as to whether I should have beer or wine. After all I didn't know what would be better for my first post and what would contrast any previous post that Joe made. But Gina, my girlfriend, suggested that I get a beer.



Now this left me in the unclear position of deciding what my meal should be. I didn't think that Guinness would have been good with pasta and Gina was ordering a pizza so I didn't want to copy her as I usually don't want to at restaurants, so backed into a corner by Gina having already ordered and our waitress hovering over me with her notepad, I blurted out, "I'll have the fish."

WHAT!?! Did I really just do that? Did I just order something that wasn't a big steak or burger or something else that I ordinarily thought should have gone with Guinness? Well yeah, I did. And then I had to wait.

When my meal finally came, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the almost sweet aftertaste of the Guinness coupled with its creaminess, in my opinion, complemented the lightness of the fish flesh and the tanginess of the lemon juice and the arugula and tomatoes topping it.

What I had failed to consider when ordering was that the opposing qualities of the food and drink would complement each other quite well. Up until last night I usually drank white wine with fish. Not that I won't do that in the future but now I will be open to experimenting different combinations of food and drink in the time to come.

A word on Guinness by itself:

I realized accidentally that it would be appropriate for me to write about Guinness for my first post because it was the "first" beer I ever had. On my twenty-first birthday, some friends and family took me out for some drinks and karaoke (which is pronounced exactly the way it is spelled, contrary to current colloquialisms) and Guinness was one of the beers I had. I also had Strongbow and Old Speckled Hen that night which are from the UK as well. More on them in the future. Unfortunately though, after belting out and flinging beads of sweat during my air guitar solo on "Free Bird", I came back to my table and spilled half of that beautiful, black beverage. Other than that it was a fun night. :)

Guinness is a stout. Obviously it is an Irish stout, or if you prefer, a dry stout. Stouts are from a family of beers made from roasted malt and roasted barley, and is known for its dark color and and toasty flavor. You can really tell that its ingredients are roasted. Some have an almost coffee like flavor. And like I mentioned before, Guinness has the slightest hint of sweetness lingering long after you set the glass back down. It is extremely foamy and it must be poured delicately in order to ensure a proper head. Cans of Guinness have a little ball inside to aid in this process. When the head starts to solidify while drinking it, I like to swirl it around in the glass (in the same way you would aerate a glass of wine) which loosens it back up and lets you control your foam intake more easily. Plus it leaves less foam at the bottom of the glass so you get more value for your money!

Something I discovered while doing my research for this post was that the process for its brewing includes the use of isinglass. Isinglass is found in fish and it basically cleans out bits of debris from the brewing vat. It is possible for trace amounts to remain in the final product, which has made some vegetarians wary. Fortunately for me, though I am a vegetarian, I am a pesca vegetarian (hence my spontaneous decision to have fish for dinner). Could this be why my rainbow trout went so well my Guinness? Or was it the mashed potatoes?

I am not going to include a recipe for an Irish Car Bomb, because I feel that it is a gross misuse and a shameful waste of both Guinness and Bailey's Irish Cream. And it violates both Joe's and my principle that alcohol should be "chugged". Please take the time to savor Guinness. Invite it into your mouth and let it subtly tickle your taste buds. My goodness.