Previously only available in Ireland and the UK, Guinness is bringing these two porters stateside for the first time and offering American beer lovers a chance to experience how Guinness might have tasted more than two hundred years ago. Further capturing the essence of the historical recipes, each brew also features a stylized label modeled after the original bottle designs. DUBLIN, Ire. – Since opening its gates, Guinness has been brewing up some of the best beers in the world for more than 250 years. For the first time in the U.S., the talented group of Guinness brewers is giving beer lovers a chance to taste a bit of the brewery’s history with Guinness™ Dublin Porter and Guinness™ West Indies Porter – two beers based on recipes found in Guinness brewing books from more than 200 years ago. The Guinness™ Dublin Porter and West Indies Porter were developed by The Brewers Project, a small group of talented Guinness brewers in Dublin charged with exploring and creating new recipes, reinterpreting old ones, and bringing exciting new beers to life. As the tale goes, Sir Hugh Beaver, Managing Director of the Guinness brewery at the time, went out on a hunting trip with his buddies. While out shooting animals, he got into an argument with his friends about the fastest game bird. Without reaching a conclusion, Sir Beaver returned to the brewery, grabbed a few interns, and told them to figure it out along with a bunch of other facts and figures.

So in 1951 they hired Michael Ash, a scientist and mathematician. “Everyone is pouring out of one steel keg now, we know this is where the industry is going, so we need to figure out how to recreate what we’ve already been doing, but out of one keg,” says Wagner. As Guinness approached their bicentennial anniversary, they were the biggest brewery in the world, they successfully released a book, and perhaps even more remarkable; they were still family-owned. Other great achievements were yet to come, and some of them were already in development. Guinness in the 1960sWith a robust lineage and so many rich stories, it’s easy to see why this cherished beer has left its own trademark on history, cultivating a cult-like following over the years. According to Hayden, those bottles are still turning up on beaches to this day. “It’s like the longest advertising campaign,” says Hayden. “I always wanted a complete one that wasn’t opened.” He finally got one. “It’s something I cherish,” says Hayden, who has yet to open the bottle and says he never will. Overwhelmingly within the brewery, “Extra Stout is [considered] the quintessential stout,” says Wagner. “If you talk to most people who work at Guinness, the beer we keep in our fridge most often is Extra Stout.”

Medium to high maltiness with a balance of roasty sweetness. Notes of chocolate or coffee possible. Medium to high esters possible. Low diacetyl or hoppiness. Sweet finish. At this time the term “stout” was still being used strictly as a descriptor for a higher gravity porter. Guinness’s West Indies Porter would have been considered a “stout porter.” It was brewed to a higher gravity and made use of more hops in hopes of better preserving the beer on its journey across the ocean. I often joke if you’re drinking Guinness Draught in Boston that keg of beer traveled 3,500 miles to get to that pub, but the most important part of that journey is the last thirty feet from the keg to the glass because that’s where we don’t have nearly as much impact or direct influence,” says Wagner.

Normally, brewers carbonate beer with carbon dioxide (CO2). The bubbles for this gas are large and attract other CO2 bubbles. They’re agitated very easily and can break through the surface tension of whatever liquid they’re in, “which is why if you shake a bottle of soda and open it…it’s going everywhere,” says Wagner. First and foremost, that two-part ritual is iconically and uniquely Guinness. Plus, the beer just looks so much different than most other beers. “If you’re sitting at a bar and someone has a pint of Guinness Draught Stout in front of them, you normally know it like that,” says Wagner, as he snaps his fingers.

Local folks loved the beer enough that by 1799 Arthur Guinness II, the son of Arthur Guinness, stopped brewing ales altogether to hone in on his stout recipe. Guinness was never too concerned about Colonial Stout encroaching in their market since they believed that these beers catered to a less discerning stout drinker. Additionally, their focus was on their most important market for Foreign Extra Stout at that time; the United States of America. Guinness in the Twentieth Century Rich meats, scallops, oysters, spicy foods, smooth and creamy cheeses, chocolate desserts, strawberry tart. After revolutionizing the two-part pour, Guinness asked: How can we recreate Guinness Draught Stout to drink at home? Debuting in 1989, the widget was Guinness’ ingenious answer.Just like the Sweet Stout, a simple infusion mash is all you need for the Tropical Stout. Look for a saccharification temperature around 152°F and hold it there for 60 minutes or until starch conversion is complete. Then raise the temperature to 168°F for mash out. Sparge with 170°F water, collecting your pre-boil volume. Boil: No one has been clear with me whether that means he was a good harp player or a bad harp player,” jokes Wagner.

Also, hop usage dropped slightly from the imported counterpart because they no longer had to make the long ocean journey. These changes were the first musings that would ultimately bring about the Tropical stout style. What Makes A Tropical Stout Different From A Foreign Extra Stout? If you’d like to try your hand at brewing a tropical stout recipe at home, we would recommend reading over the tips below. Grain Bill: For years and years, bars and pubs served Guinness beer in one of two ways. Either the brewery sent beer to the bars and they would bottle it themselves, or the brewery would send each pub two casks of Guinness beer. These two beers dominated Guinness’ world for a long time—all through the nineteenth century, in fact.Nigeria is the brewery’s second largest sales market in the entire world, and Guinness has fourteen breweries on the continent of Africa alone. If you’re going to use a lager yeast, you’ll want to look for one that can perform cleanly above normal lager fermentation temperatures. You also want to find one able to contribute to the fruity notes common to the style. Try to steer clear of any strain that produce a lot of sulfur or diacetyl during fermentation. If you do use a high sulfur producing strain, just remember sulfur will decrease with aging. Lager Yeasts to Consider Lastly, when it first came to the U.S. in 1965, an incredibly big and passionate Irish American community immediately took to it. Here, we find one of the main differences between Tropical Stout and Foreign Extra Stout; lager yeast. Bottle or keg as you would any other beer. Shoot for a carbonation of 2.5 volumes and enjoy your labor!