What is in Guinness?

Known popularly as the ‘black stuff’ many people are surprised when they hear that Guinness is not actually black at all but more a ruby red color. This is because of the method used to prepare the ingredients. The barley is roasted in much the same way as coffee beans are roasted and this is what gives it that unique hue.

Guinness is made from water, barley, hops and brewer’s yeast. Some of the barley undergoes a process called flaking in which it is steamed and rolled and this gives Guinness it’s distinctive black colour. It is then pasteurised and filtered. A pint of the black stuff is that not that bad for the hips either, it contains just less than two hundred kcal which is in fact less than a equivalent measure of skimmed milk or orange juice.

Drought and canned Guinness contains nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Nitrogen allows the beer to be put under high pressure without making it fizzy. High pressure is necessary to enable the formation of tiny bubbles by forcing the drought beer through very fine holes in a plate in the tap which causes the characteristic surge, the widget in the cans and bottles achieves the same effect. The smoothness of Guinness is due to the low level of carbon dioxide and the creamy head is a result of fine bubbles caused by the nitrogen and the dispensing method.

The reason that “Original Extra Stout has a bubbly head and has a more fizzy constitution is due the fact that it does not contain nitrogen. There a number of different variants of the Guinness brand, including Guinness Drought, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and Guinness Extra Stout.

By: Russell Shortt

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