the beers of Fountain Inn: Guinness 200th anniversary export stout

I got this at the Publix on Fairview road in Simpsonville. It is the 200th anniversary export stout by Guinness, out of Dublin Ireland. The anniversary is in commemoration of the first time Guinness was imported to the United States, way back in 1817.
Guinness brewery was started by Arthur Guinness in Dublin Ireland in 1759 when he leased the old St James Gate brewery for 9000 years for a price of IR£46 per year. As entertaining as it was to have such an absurdly long lease, the brewery needed to expand beyond the 4 acres so they wound up buying the land outright some years later. At first brewing ales, Arthur would convert over to brewing the increasingly popular style Porter in 1799, a choice which would characterize the breweries products for the next two centuries. Guinness made it's first export in 1801 of it's West Indies Porter, the predecessor of the Foreign Extra (in my top 5 favorite beers) to London. In 1803 Arthur Guinness died, leaving his business to his son Arthur Guinness. Now this part next is important because it's why this beer even exists, on 16 October 1817 8 barrels of Porter were sold to John Heavy of my beloved home state of South Carolina. This Porter would also be the first beer exported with the new Black Patent Malt, which characterizes all of Guinness's Porters and Stouts. Tonight's Stout is made to replicate the Stout sent across the Atlantic, so much like the West Indies Porter but with a different malt . I'm going to leave the history off there, we will pick up whenever I review a different Guinness beer. There is Just so much history it takes forever to write about it.

I received this beer in an 11.2 oz stubby crimpcap bottle. The cap is cream colored and marked with the brewery seal. Embossed on the shoulder of the bottle is Arthur Guinness's signature. The label is oval with a red white and blue background. It says " 200 Years In America" "Guinness 200thy Anniversary Export Stout" "brewed with black patent malt" "the open gate brewery" "St. James's Gate, Dublin" and at the bottom features Arthur Guinness's signature over the waves. On the reverse it says "This year marks the 200th anniversary of the first guinness export from Ireland to the US. To commemorate this momentous occasion we brewed this beer, inspired by entries from our 1817 brewing logs. In 1817 Guinness was using black patent malt to give it's stouts their deep dark black color. This new brew is complex and smooth with balance of roast and sweet chocolate". The Guinness website says it uses Goldings hops. 6% ABV, I'll be using my HMLA-267 mug that I received as a ball gift. Lets pop the top.

Nose from the bottle is a dark malt coco scent. Pours an almost black dark ruby color with beige head, I'd give it a 25 on the SRM. Nose from the mug is the same as the bottle but with a potato bread and more of a milk chocolate. On first sip, it's rich with dark malt and dark chocolate, not really any hop character to speak of, good balance between the malt and chocolate flavors. Finishes like a hot coco, except cold and with a little bit of alcohol and dryness. It's a really smooth beer, basically no acidity and with just the right amount of carbonation. Solid full body, almost syrupy, not too astringent.

Listening to Kansas Bible Company. So I not only picked up the trailer I was talking about on my previous blog post, but also picked up my 180sx from Charleston! The trailer is great, needs a little work on the inside but I'm taking care of that. The 180 is currently inoperable because I broke one of the yokes off the driveshaft when I removed it so it could be towed. It's not a particularly expensive part, but it still sucks to not be able to use my car. I have to get a new piece for the center console, that didn't make it to America with the car. When they say nothing can be in the car, they mean it! It's still good to have it here. I can't wait to fix this drive shaft, it's going to be so nice. but in other news, my Uncle Mark and I are going to start building AR-15 upper receivers with all of those cool add-ons that people like to take out to a field and have fun with. I'm talking golf ball/tennis ball launchers, fuel filter adapters, chainsaw blades, flair launchers, "unconventional materials". All of that cool stuff you see online but almost never actually see in a store or at the gun show. We will have it already put together and ready to use, ammo and all.

Final thoughts. It's a good beer, I hope it's not just a special edition and this will be available for a while. I give this beer my blurry seal of approval.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness
 https://www.guinness.com/en-us/our-story/