Read more: Help us find the best pint of Guinness stout in the U.S.
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Thousands of bars worldwide claim they serve the best pint of Guinness in the world, but the majority of beer drinkers agree that Guinness simply tastes better in Ireland. Now there is scientific proof.
Scientists at the Institute of Food Technologists carried out a taste survey in 33 cities in 14 countries. The majority of their testers said they enjoyed the pints of the black stuff better in Ireland than any other country.
The study claims to scientifically prove that Guinness does not travel well.
The group used 103 non-expert testers from different countries and brought them to 71 different pubs. Factors such as pub ambiance, Guinness appearance, flavor and aftertaste were all considered.
They marked each pint of Guinness on a Visual Analogue Scale of one to 100. Ireland received an average of 74, while the other countries marks averaged at just 57.
A celebrated beer author, Pete Brown, told the “Daily Mail” the idea that Guinness is better in Ireland could simply be all in our heads. He said, "Drinking Guinness in Ireland is always going to be more enjoyable than in London or Paris, or anywhere else.
"There is a feeling of authenticity that you associate with drinking a beer in its true home, so the ambiance you feel in an Irish pub would be like no other.
"People will go to Dublin with the intention of ordering a pint of the black stuff, so you're already gearing yourself up for that satisfaction before it's passed your lips.
"It marks the end of a pilgrimage for real Guinness lovers for sure.”
However, he did say that having a “proper” Guinness would heighten the drinker’s enjoyment, and therefore it is probably better to drink it locally.
Brown said, "In Irish pubs you can order a Guinness knowing that the tap has been flowing all day, so you'll never get a pint which has sat in the pipes for an hour. Whereas in London, it could have been there all day.
“The locals also tend to know their own beer inside out, so you'll get it at the right temperature, in the right glass and with the right head. That's really important.”
Do you agree with the scientists? Where did you have your best pint of Guinness?
Read more: Help us find the best pint of Guinness stout in the U.S.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.abhainn | May 27, 2011, 06:18 PM EDT
I have drunk stout — Beamish, Guinness, or Murphy's — outside of Ireland and it was usually excellent. Once I had a sour pint in Dieppe: that was the only bad experience. It's enjoyable to drink stout anywhere.
maryjeandc | Mar 14, 2011, 06:53 PM EDT
The only people who don't know this...are those that never tasted Guinness in Ireland!
ballyhip | Mar 10, 2011, 05:39 PM EST
AitkenDrum has it correct as the highest alcohol content is Nigerian Guinness. As a onetime home brewer I admire the consistency of Guinness in Ireland but it is really the pour that sets it apart from the US. Can you imagine a US bar taking 3 minutes to pour a Guinness? As for the best from a 1st gen American who has lived and worked there and visited so many times I can't remember, it is the last one of the night at Shoot the Crows in Sligo with Ronan thumping out his world music from his CD collection. And if your funds are running low you could try to find a pub that serves Beamish for a few cents less.
Dunromin | Mar 10, 2011, 05:20 PM EST
Best pint of Guinness? Why The Small Bridge in Dingle.
gorman55 | Mar 10, 2011, 04:42 PM EST
I was fortunate enough to visit the Gravity Bar twice in 4 months---but my second place vote goes to the Danny Mann Pub in Killarney. But just as important is who you are drinking with!
grnd10ka | Mar 10, 2011, 03:42 PM EST
My personal record is 5 small pints plus one or two big pints of guinness per one night in Wexford town I think:-) (I am 48 kg of weight...small woman) After this I felt a bit dizzy but next day I felt ok without feeling sick. There is one irish pub in my town in Slovakia, but the guinness definitelly doesnt taste so great like in Irelad. I must go back, I miss my pint:-)
mayoman | Mar 10, 2011, 02:14 PM EST
Well, we all know that the best pint is to be had in Mayo.
KillarneyLass | Mar 10, 2011, 10:56 AM EST
No doubt, Guinness is better in Ireland..but you can get a decent pint in the US too. I had my last pint on Saturday in O'Neill's on 3rd Avenue, NYC -- it was only ok, but it definitely satisfied the urge. Mind you, Irish bartenders and on both pints I had to ask them retop...they should recognize their Irish customers, and do better.
mthazel | Mar 10, 2011, 07:19 AM EST
Completely agree with ClanDalton about Ruanes, Castleblakeney. The perfect pint is there!!
veryluckyone | Mar 10, 2011, 01:16 AM EST
I have to agree that Guiness (and a lot of other things as well) are better in Ireland.
AitkenDrum | Mar 09, 2011, 10:29 PM EST
Not that many years back all the Guiness came from Dublin, London and Nigeria. Nowadays you don't know where it comes from. In Australia, it's made by Fosters for Diageo and is 6% rather than 4.5% alcohol. Part of it is the water used, but my suspicion is that much of today's Guiness uses local ingredients and the actual recipes may vary since different countries have different alcohol content. Variation from brewery to brewery is true of all beers that have noticable flavor. Sam Adams draft Boston Lager is miles better than bottled. The draft is brewed in Boston. The bottled is brewed in Cincinnati.
ellenfromcork | Mar 09, 2011, 07:43 PM EST
Sirpeter,you are 200% correct about Murphys Stout !!!
cajuntom | Mar 09, 2011, 05:31 PM EST
I remember working in a warehouse in Dublin about fifty years ago, and when there was a delivery to St. James' Gate, there'd be murder trying to get on the lorry as a helper. That free pint was like gold. (and I was only fifteen years old)I never had a drink of any kind here in the U S of A that made me feel like that.
cajuntom | Mar 09, 2011, 05:21 PM EST
Do you mind........you're making me homesick!
ClanDalton | Mar 09, 2011, 05:18 PM EST
Guinness is always the best tasting beer, but it tastes best at Christy Ruane's in Glentane, Castleblakeney, Galway. Guinness is only fit to drink in Ireland...
1661996usmc | Mar 09, 2011, 04:26 PM EST
I'LL BE HAPPY TO TOAST MY GUINNESS IN THE US TO THE FACT THAT IT CERTAINLY TASTES BETTER IN IRELAND. I HAVE TO GET BACK TO DOUBLE CHECK BY FEELING.
modemo44 | Mar 09, 2011, 04:20 PM EST
It's been a long time since I had a Guinness, but there is no doubt that it tastes better in Ireland BTW, my daughter applied for a job in an Irish-American Diner. She was asked what a drink was called made up of Guinness and Lager. She replied" that depends if you are Catholic or Protestant." She was hired immediately
ffwcsec | Mar 09, 2011, 03:02 PM EST
All the pints of Guinness I've drunk in Ireland were wonderful, but the ones that stand out in my mind were pulled by Seamus Hayes at Hayes Pub in Portumna, Co Galway.
sirpeter | Mar 09, 2011, 03:01 PM EST
Murphys Stout in Cork is a way nicer then Guinness,a way smoother pint of the black..If you are ever in Cork have a Murphy's..You'll never go back to Guinness.
carrickcourt | Mar 09, 2011, 02:12 PM EST
Say it isn't so. While I understand how any beverage is hard to keep fresh like the original in Ireland I still like my pint can of Guinness here in the USA. I must agree I did find the Guinness in Ireland to be fresher when I was in the Old Sod last October.
mutuallou | Mar 09, 2011, 12:44 PM EST
absolutely agree. Worst yet is the stuff they try to pass off in the states in bottles!
Searlit | Mar 09, 2011, 12:25 PM EST
It's been so long since I was in Ireland, I can't compare the taste of the Irish Guinness to the Black Stuff in New England. All I can tell you is the Guinness tastes better, here, than any of the other beers available, especially, at McGann's.
luckysusan | Mar 09, 2011, 12:24 PM EST
Well...I've never had a bad pint of Guinness in Ireland, but some just stand out: with my husband and son in the tiny pub in Brandon village one bright mid-September day a few years ago, the cheery pint and good conversation in Hanafin's Annascaul last September. There's a lot goes into a perfect pint, and being there is a big part of it!
Cuanmara | Mar 09, 2011, 11:36 AM EST
Well now, In Ireland I had a run of six pints in a row during a certain party and downed them all with grins of satisfaction for the taste and for the blessing of being able to stay upright with hardly a lean. Now here in the states, I have my quota at two and I get dizzy in the head--plus the taste is just not the same. Could be my Irish genes really kick in while I travel the auld sod.
nosoupforU | Mar 09, 2011, 11:32 AM EST
I always thought it was because of the pasturizing in the states.
Murph46 | Mar 09, 2011, 11:17 AM EST
Who the "ell didn't know that? They mess with the tap system in the US with the mixture of Nitrogen.
concannon | Mar 09, 2011, 11:02 AM EST
I can hardly stomach a pint in my local "Irish" bar, even after they put a cute shamrock on the head, though just recently they've been allowing it to sit for 5 minutes to build, so maybe it will improve. It is so much creamier and smoother in Ireland, however, and I have a great deal of respect for the many teen-age bartenders who do such a great job of gettng the head just right for this tourista. Non-expert tasters taken to 71 pubs for free pints!? If there is a follow-up study to verify the results of this one...I humbly volunteer!
rjbeattie | Mar 09, 2011, 10:47 AM EST
I'd have to say it's a toss up between Ellen's Pub in County Sligo, a pub on Botanic Street in Belfast, and of course the Guinness Storehouse, St. James Gate, Dublin.
Liamkeyes | Mar 09, 2011, 10:26 AM EST
There's no doubt about it. Guinness as they say is "just like an American Tourist"...it does'nt travel well. All one has to do is visit a pub in the vicinity of the Brewery, i.e. The Brazen Head is the oldest pub in Dublin, it goes back to the Tenth Century and is only three blocks down from Guinness' on the banks of the River Liffey so conceivably you are getting a Pint straight from the Brewery to the consumer. "AHHHH, DELICIOUS! Slainte!!!"
woodmontwoman | Mar 09, 2011, 10:09 AM EST
Our family quaffed our pints of Guinness at the Gravity Bar in dublin, and all we coud talk about was how much better it tasted than back in the states. Now we know why! (And we thought it was all in our heads!)
KrazyKate | Mar 09, 2011, 09:55 AM EST
I have to agree with this statement...I have been to Ireland seveal times before & the taste of the Guinness here in the USA cannot even compare to what you can savor in Ireland!!!
DLW12183 | Mar 09, 2011, 09:42 AM EST
It's the water from Ireland that makes it taste good. Compare Irish Spring water in a bottle to any other place in the world and you won't drink any other again.
Steeler1946 | Mar 09, 2011, 09:30 AM EST
I enjoy Guinness here in the states, but there's no comparison - Guinness in Ireland can't be beaten! Two trips to Ireland confirmed that fact, at least to me.
sirpeter | Mar 09, 2011, 08:16 AM EST
While all this might be true.They left out the main factor of beer.Water..The quality of water is everything when it comes to beer. One thing I noticed alot around England and on the continent..The water doesn't flow from a tap,it slithers.It tastes awful. It's recycled to much. They say in London it's recycled ten times before been left go, and the lime scale is disgusting. You can't get a good taste brewing beer from water like that. Plenty rain coming in from the Atlantic,can't get purer then that. Course with all the rain,it would drive ya to the beer.