Diagio spent several million a couple of years ago teaching bar staff how to pull a pint of the black stuff.It has to be pulled with the glass slightly tillted and filled about two thirds full and left to stand for maybe 2 to 3 minutes untill the head has completly settled. It is then filled slowly until full and again best left to stand for a few seconds. A good friend of mine works at guiness and he would just walk into a pub and by looking at the empty glasses that had guiness in them he could tell if they were serving a good pint. The method is that you should be able to count the number of sups a person has taken to drink the pint. The white froth should gather where the beer has stood in the glass. When the next sup is taken, a rim of the froth would stay in position. Thus allowing you to count the number of sups the drinker has taken

the whole mystique of pouring guinness is overblown marketing hype that is long past its prime. diagio has changed the 'traditional' way to pour guinness anyway so any idea of 'tradition' here is misplaced.

i don't know the sales figures but at least here in london guinness 'extra cold' seems to have just about replaced regular guinness in pubs (perhaps an exaggeration but it's heading that way). 'extra cold' is less about the temp and more about the fact that it can be poured like a regular beer (i.e. in a single go with no 'ritual'/fuss).

guinness *was* a master at marketing but they let their brand seriously slip....death in the fickle and trendy alcohol market (and don't think guinness is above this). 'extra cold' is marketed to give young people a cooler and more contemporary choice but all this has done is confused the brand as the strategy was not well executed.

sales of guinness are falling hard. it's certainly not the drink of youth (at least in europe) and i don't see 'extra cold' changing that. guinness is just not cool any more and this means very hard times for the brand. events like the recent 'arthur day' was well attended by young people (at least in dublin when i was there) but these kind of very expensive marketing events are not going to make enough of a difference in building the brand back up. guinness is a confused and dying brand unless the marketers can work magic to turn it around.

I wouldn't go into any Irish pub in Paris or a city other than Ireland and expecting it to be like the experience you'd have in Ireland. There are certainly bars in Paris as well as many cities run by Irish people and where Irish ex-pats hang out, however.

There was an Irish pub just a block or so away on the same street where I rented an apt. a few years ago -- Connolly's Corner on rue de Mirbel near Censier metro (Latin Qtr near rue Mouffetard). They have live music in there at times, but I couldn't tell you the schedule. It's nothing fancy.

here's an article on the supposed best Irish pubs in Paris, it is mentioned, good descriptions
http://www.internationalliving.com/P.../theeuropean14

Carr's, on Mont Thabor in the 1st, is OK. A fun, late night place after a decent dinner somewhere else.

Guiness is just lager with a sun tan. It's shit.

Walkinabout. I bow to your knowledge. You are a font of undoubted genius. You obviously know more about the pouring technique than all the barmen in Ireland, who dont have your wonderful insight into the market. Because you have visited Dublin you are an expert on all things Guinness. When i order my pint this evening from the barman who has served me for several years i will tell him not to tilt the Glass, not to let it settle and not to double pull it. He will look at me in a strange sort of way. But i will reasure him that its OK to pull it that way because someone on a travel forum told me so. I will also tell him that you have been to Dublin

eyelids, don't forget to tell the barman to rinse the glass first, and not dry it.

Yeah, but what about C-W's slur??? Admittedly, Guinness in London doesn't taste like Guinness in Dublin, but still...

i'm confused eyelids. where did i say anything about how a guinness should be poured? all i said was that guinness 'extra cold' is poured in one go...like all beer. i'm not saying that's how it should be poured, i'm saying that's how it IS poured. it's not pulled...it's dispensed from a pressurised tap.

as for saying that the 'mystique' around how to pour a guinness is marketing...crikey they made a series of commercials on it!!! so it's hard to argue that it has nothing to do with marketing.

and i was referring to being in dublin during aurthur day guinness event as i was commenting on the age of the crowd. i don't think i was giving my credentials as 'having been to dublin once'. i've been there probably 50 times (not that it really matters).

nice try though.

i don't think CW's comment is all that unusual. many people who drink real beer don't like guinness. and most irish people i know under about 40 don't touch it...they don't like it as a beer but more importantly, they don't like the idea of it...it's just not cool.

Coming back to look at this 'Irish Pub Scene' I have to admit I threw my Guiness down the plughole after trying to persuade myself it's not too bad! Now, having said that, I have had Guiness mixed with Champagne and that was tolerable ( don't say it was a waste of good champagne!!) I also think Guiness is excellent added to steak pie ingredients and cooked long and slowly.

I just long to hear a little Irish band of three or so instruments being played live! As I said....back to Ireland it is!

Guinness is shit. People who drink it are fools.

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Men who don't like stout can't be trusted.

I've been in Irish pubs in Paris with only Irish employees who couldn't even speak French. They certainly knew how to draw a pint of Guinness, for those who like it.

I would say that clientele of such places is basically 75% British Isles & assimilated Commonwealth, and 25% French renegades. You would not believe how many French people have a passion for all things Irish. It is almost as impressive as the passion of their disdain for all things British.

I don't agree with CW on some things, like Scotch Eggs, but I totally agree that Guinness is liquid crap. I get the feeling it was discovered when some Irish brewer with the black plague fell into a vat of beer when he died, and the brewmaster was too cheap to dump the stuff.

:-(

Well, it does give a new meaning to the word "acquired taste" but I have heard so many people claim the same thing about pastis that I will not contest what other people think is good.

Men who don't like stout are evil.
Honestly, I doubt that they are men after all.
If you don't like Guinness you can still drink Murphys or Beamish.

Stout is shite; drunk by nobbers in rugby shirts with the collars turned up.

It should be called "bell ends" as that's who drinks it. The big wendies.

CW - If Guiness is just a Lager with a suntan & think its shite, does that mean you don't drink lager either? If so,please tell us what DO you like when ordering a pint?

Kerouac - Are you serious? Irish? (Spring starts on 1st Feb....)

I like proper beer. The brown stuff.

The rest is cobblers. Guinness is cobblers on toast.