Dark Zymurgy

[T-Mac]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/355521p-302982c.html

Stout touts great taste, less bitter

A grand Irish tradition is getting a makeover.

The brewers of Guinness stout, the 246-year-old beer brand whose tough-guy bitter taste helps sell 5 million pints a day worldwide, have come up with 10 milder versions of their best seller to win new customers.

The first mellow stout brand will hit Dublin bars on Wednesday. Every six months, a different flavor will take its place, until customers have had a chance to try them all.

In the past, tinkering with stout has been a lost cause, but wine and lager sales have cut Guinness' profits - as have smoking bans in Irish bars.

"It's a tradition in Ireland. [Changing the taste] puts people off Guinness, full stop," said Lindsay, 23, an Irish barkeep at Twins Public House near the Jacob Javits Center, who didn't want to give her last name.

But its brewers think smoother Guinness will appeal to a new audience. Some faithful fans, such as Twins' customer James Connelly, 32, of Derry, Northern Ireland, have said they are open to change.

"If it tastes better, if they can improve it, that's good," he said.

Cassandra Uretz

[DHJF]

I'll try 'em all. I love it when new beers are introduced.

[faba]

There is probably no beer that I will not try once at least- so I am in

[dickkotite]

stout me baby.... i like the good stuff, no bud light thank u very much

[T-Mac]

I just don't like them messing with a good thing. Many stouts have come and gone and none could compare to the standard. Now they want to lower the standard. Nothing's sacred anymore.

[DHJF]

I just don't like them messing with a good thing. Many stouts have come and gone and none could compare to the standard. Now they want to lower the standard. Nothing's sacred anymore.

I don't think they're going to stop making the original stout. That would just be stupid.

I think it's smart to offer additional products to reach a different demographic. If it fails, so what? You still have your die hard base of customers to fall back on.

[T-Mac]

I wouldn't have a problem w/ that as long as each one was named and labelled differently. Getting the watered down version without warning worries me to no end. There's no notice on the Guinness site, and the Daily News article wasn't clear on this.

[Panzer Division Marduk]

The first mellow stout brand will hit Dublin bars on Wednesday. Every six months, a different flavor will take its place, until customers have had a chance to try them all.

Hmm. Now you'd think Guiness would do a national ad campaign higlighting this.

But I haven't seen nor heard a thing about this. Guess a few Dubs are going to have a nice surprise.