How the pull Guinness in an Irish bar in Vienna airport

Trampas

I am just back from Vienna and they had an irish bar in the airport.

I was relaxing having a local beer when someone ordered a pint of guinness.

Next to my amazement i see the barman (Not irish) gets a pint glass. Places it under the tap (No angle at all). Leaves it to fill up. When it filled up to the brim, he then handed it over to the customer (not irish also).

The drinker didn't even let it settle before he took a mouthful.

The barman did this several times.

whiskeyman

Trampas wrote:

I am just back from Vienna and they had an irish bar in the airport.

I was relaxing having a local beer when someone ordered a pint of guinness.

Next to my amazement i see the barman (Not irish) gets a pint glass. Places it under the tap (No angle at all). Leaves it to fill up. When it filled up to the brim, he then handed it over to the customer (not irish also).

The drinker didn't even let it settle before he took a mouthful.

The barman did this several times.

Good God no...

I've seen it before abroad. Always get a laugh.
Mind you, there's so many pubs here that can't pull a proper pint... guinness or beer.
The worst offenders are those with dirty glasses and who put the spout into the pint as it's filling up.

Alun

They do it like that in Germany too, although they seem to manage to do it and still leave the correct height of head at the end of the pouring. The head is nearly always a lot 'coarser', i.e. bigger bubbles, than it is here, so maybe it's the way they adjust the tap and that allows them to pour more quickly, I don't know.

Blub2k4

Alun wrote:

They do it like that in Germany too, although they seem to manage to do it and still leave the correct height of head at the end of the pouring. The head is nearly always a lot 'coarser', i.e. bigger bubbles, than it is here, so maybe it's the way they adjust the tap and that allows them to pour more quickly, I don't know.

The main reason for the larger bubbles is that most German systems use their standard CO2(Kohlensaeure) systems and C02 has a large bubble.
When I worked there any place that had NO2 (stichstoff) considered that they had the "correct" kit for pouring guinness, it was a point of pride with some that they insisted it was genuine guinness, but it meant they paid more for the basic setup.

NO2 is a heavier gas and has a smaller denser bubble than CO2.

<edit> pretty sure that stichstoff is NO2, I know for definite that it is a nitrogen based gas, but have something in my head about NO2 being laughing gas so the exact gas may be different, principle remains the same though.

Alun

Blub2k4 wrote:

The main reason for the larger bubbles is that most German systems use their standard CO2(Kohlensaeure) systems and C02 has a large bubble.
When I worked there any place that had NO2 (stichstoff) considered that they had the "correct" kit for pouring guinness, it was a point of pride with some that they insisted it was genuine guinness, but it meant they paid more for the basic setup.

NO2 is a heavier gas and has a smaller denser bubble than CO2.

<edit> pretty sure that stichstoff is NO2, I know for definite that it is a nitrogen based gas, but have something in my head about NO2 being laughing gas so the exact gas may be different, principle remains the same though.

OK, that's interesting. Didn't know about the nitrogen / CO2 thing never having worked in a bar myself.

BTW, "Stickstoff" is German for nitrogen, 100% sure about that ... NO2 would be "Stickstoffdioxid".

Blub2k4

Alun wrote:

OK, that's interesting. Didn't know about the nitrogen / CO2 thing never having worked in a bar myself.

BTW, "Stickstoff" is German for nitrogen, 100% sure about that ... NO2 would be "Stickstoffdioxid".

Yeah I knew it was nitrogen but wasn't sure was it a compound of Nitrogen they were talking about, I think NO2 is laughing gas but am not arsed googling it.

p.pete

Worst pout I saw was in a bar in Budapest (Cat's Laugh or something similar, put thoughts of Kilkenny into my head anyway). Obviously someone ahead of me had changed their mind about a pint of guinness also, either that or it was customary to keep a half full pint behind the bar.

Again no angle on the glass so the guinness was being poured in directly, in addition they started pouring from the half-full glass into my glass. I was in shock but managed to pretend I ordered beer all along. I wasn't going to touch that pint with a barge poll.

The Sweeper

p.pete wrote:

I was in shock but managed to pretend I ordered beer all along.

heheheheheh great tactic.

"Guinness? Oh no no, I think you'll find I said Carlsburg."

Blub2k4

I remember when this was explained to me in a bar on Langeoog a few years back, he was so proud of his nitrogen system and I said well do you know how to do shamrocks? I showed him how to pull a proper pint, Irish style and then put a shamrock on top. He then proceeded to practise on pints with me being the only customer there, I also got to sample the test shamrock pints, haha, a pint there at the time was 8.50DM which was extremely expensive and would be 4.25 in todays money, ah those were the days:D.

steveland?

p.pete wrote:

Worst pout I saw was in a bar in Budapest (Cat's Laugh or something similar, put thoughts of Kilkenny into my head anyway). Obviously someone ahead of me had changed their mind about a pint of guinness also, either that or it was customary to keep a half full pint behind the bar.

Again no angle on the glass so the guinness was being poured in directly, in addition they started pouring from the half-full glass into my glass. I was in shock but managed to pretend I ordered beer all along. I wasn't going to touch that pint with a barge poll.

I HATE when bars do that...

I was in Eamonn Dorans a while ago and was up at the bar waiting to be served. The guy beside me asked for a pint of Carlsberg. Having worked in a bar for ages I never order pints if I can't actually see it being poured...

So I had a gander at her pulling the pint, she pulled it into a half full generic glass that could've had ANY combination of lager in it and then she proceeded to ask the guy she was pulling the pint for for ID... he didn't have any so she put the pint down...

I was going to get a pint of Carlsberg myself but my hole was I gonna ask for a pint of Carlsberg after that...

Got a Corona or something...

Back on topic I used to love pouring pints of Guinness... took great pride in them and HATED when the gas had just been changed and the mixture wasn't right or something that'd cause bubbles to appear despite every care I took to angle the glass, ease the tap back up (one fluid motion upwards, make sure you never just tap the thing up cos it'll leave a little bubble or two sometimes) because it made me look like I took no care in the pints I poured...

ferdi

the lesson is, always drink local.

skibum

steveland? wrote:

Having worked in a bar for ages I never order pints if I can't actually see it being poured...

What bar was that in?

Gordon

I used to pour Guinness that way (but with a tilted glass) in a student bar in Scotland. It all changed when I worked in a bar in Dublin though!

Then again I did worse time saving tricks on pouring Cider and Lager when I was a student barman..

Civilian_Target

In the Irish pub in Skopje, I insisted on pulling the pint of Guinness I drank myself, as they poured it into tankards in a single, alarmingly swift movement before serving the bubbling froth to customers....

ntlbell

Trampas wrote:

I am just back from Vienna and they had an irish bar in the airport.

I was relaxing having a local beer when someone ordered a pint of guinness.

Next to my amazement i see the barman (Not irish) gets a pint glass. Places it under the tap (No angle at all). Leaves it to fill up. When it filled up to the brim, he then handed it over to the customer (not irish also).

The drinker didn't even let it settle before he took a mouthful.

The barman did this several times.

I've seen this alot, the funny thing is everytime i've seen it been done i was in an airport, even in the uk i've seen it!

coyote6

I've been trying to train the folks around here about the importance of a proper pint. They're hopeless unless I give 'em the evil eye. They are used to slamming glasses of Bud or Miller. They look at me like I'm a Martian.

SO I decided to make my own pub in my garage. Still trying to get the nitrogen system figured out. Thought about making my own stout but it'd be hard to improve on the black stuff.

the_syco

Gordon wrote:

Then again I did worse time saving tricks on pouring Cider and Lager when I was a student barman..

I said it once, and I'll say it again: a pint of cider, if properly poured, should have no head!

Hagar

Move to PI this is too serious for any other forum...

rubadub

When did the "2 step pour" become popular? I have asked them to pour it straight once or twice when I was in a rush, tasted fine, if done correctly you can get a good head, better than some of the crap I have been served up by some 2 steppers.
It is a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. And it is not laughing gas, thats nitrous oxide.
I have also drank it unsettled, and shock, horror the universe did not collapse. Its only a fooking beer

coyote6

Whale oil beef hooked!

the_syco

rubadub wrote:

Its only a fooking beer

Heh. Thats the thing. Its not a beer: its a stout.

rubadub

the_syco wrote:

Heh. Thats the thing. Its not a beer: its a stout.

Guinness is a beer smartass. Thats like saying a golf is not a car, its a volkswagen :rolleyes:

the_syco

rubadub wrote:

Guinness is a beer smartass. Thats like saying a golf is not a car, its a volkswagen :rolleyes:

So cider is also beer?

J.R.HARTLEY

rubadub wrote:

When did the "2 step pour" become popular? I have asked them to pour it straight once or twice when I was in a rush, tasted fine, if done correctly you can get a good head, better than some of the crap I have been served up by some 2 steppers.
It is a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. And it is not laughing gas, thats nitrous oxide.
I have also drank it unsettled, and shock, horror the universe did not collapse. Its only a fooking beer

rubadub it's come down to two part pour, back in the 50/60's they used to have three different taps, some systems had 4, all of which were hooked to different barrells at different stages of freshness, and then a sump at the bottom that collected all the spillage. now it is all about the one line system, supposedly less complicated.

rubadub

the_syco wrote:

So cider is also beer?

No. Beer is a drink made from fermented grains. So pilsner, stout, bock, lager etc are types of beer, they can all be called beers.

Cider is made from fermented apple juice, so it could be described as a type of wine. Other types of wine would be champagne etc, but they are first and foremost wine.

rubadub

J.R.HARTLEY wrote:

some systems had 4,

very interesting, wouldnt have wanted to be thirsty back then!

Gordon

the_syco wrote:

I said it once, and I'll say it again: a pint of cider, if properly poured, should have no head!

Indeed. In the student bar I worked in it was so busy we pulled the Cider as fast as possible, so naturally we would have head/foam on it. In case you don't understand what pulling a pint of Cider -fast- is like: you leave the pint glass under the tap and walk away from it doing other stuff.

Civilian_Target

Apparantly the stuff Guinness export to most pubs outside Ireland is designed so that it will still settle and taste fine in one pour. It's not the same stuff you get here...

_blank_

In a bar in Darling Harbour in Sydney, the guinness was more expensive than in other bars around the city, so I saw some lads drinking it, and asked them what it was like. Said it was ok, so I was about to ask the barman for one, until I heard, and witnessed how they pour it.

Remove a can from the fridge. Pour the "Guinness" into the glass. It is FLAT Guinness. Then they placed the glass onto some form of what can only be described as a Soda-Stream machine. :eek:

rubadub

seansouth wrote:

Remove a can from the fridge. Pour the "Guinness" into the glass. It is FLAT Guinness. Then they placed the glass onto some form of what can only be described as a Soda-Stream machine. :eek:

I pronounce a national day of anger. I am off to firebomb the australian embassy, that truely is sacrilege

Idgeitman

Id be curious, if you went abroad and gave them a propper pint, Would they say their was something rong with it and hand it back, because they are so used to the tripe they're served?

Unpossible

In one pub over here (in the next town over) the barmaids dont bother with putting the glass at an angle when they pour. Then when the whole thing "froths" up they look at it, sigh, then they get a spoon and scoop out most of it. They repeat this several times making frustrated sighs, looking at me and saying "I dont know why it keeps doing this".
I tried explaining what was going wrong, but they didnt give a ****. I was told by another Irish guy who lives in that town that he spent 30min explaining it to them one day, no difference.
What seems to f**k up the barmen over here is that they use automatic pourers for regular drinks (cider, beer), they just put the glass in the tray & press the button. As a result they seem stumped when they have to pour a proper pint. This is also the reason why you have to watch the trays under the taps before ordering (beer can be left there for a long time).

Still Ive had some fantastic pints over here (guys did the shamrock and everything).

Imposter

Idgeitman wrote:

Id be curious, if you went abroad and gave them a propper pint, Would they say their was something rong with it and hand it back, because they are so used to the tripe they're served?

An irishman drinking a guinness abroad is a bit like a foreigner (german, belgian, austrian, czech etc) drinking lager in Ireland.

The guinness in Europe is the same guinness as in ireland. The only difference is that that guinness has to travel further and also that the line cleaners and general line care is different in different countries. Obviously when in an irish bar not ran by irish the pouring 'technique' may be a little 'unusual' too!

rubadub

Imposter wrote:

The only difference is that that guinness has to travel further and also that the line cleaners and general line care is different in different countries.

The gas may be different too. I have heard there used to be different grades of guinness. I know kegged beer is far more "active" than canned or bottled, i.e. goes under far less pastuerisation processes or whatever they do. This is since a keg will be drank within weeks of production. I wonder if exported kegs get more treatment.

I hate getting beers abroad due to the huge heads they put on them, robbing you of precious drink. Some have the glasses with head room and a pint line but many don't

Imposter

rubadub wrote:

I hate getting beers abroad due to the huge heads they put on them, robbing you of precious drink. Some have the glasses with head room and a pint line but many don't

Here in Austria almost all have a 500ml line. The beer goes to this line. If you think of a beer in a pint glass with an irish head it's about the same amount of beer.

ninja 101

the true art partaining to the pint of guiness is when you can skillfully rob the 4/5 of the guiness while its settling on the bar without the bar man catching on

The Sweeper

And the true art pertaining to being a n00b on a bulletin board is to behave yourself and try not bring threads off topic and into the realms of poor taste mmmkay?

Megatron

Imposter wrote:

The guinness in Europe is the same guinness as in ireland. The only difference is that that guinness has to travel further and also that the line cleaners and general line care is different in different countries. Obviously when in an irish bar not ran by irish the pouring 'technique' may be a little 'unusual' too!

Well , The GUinness in Europe Doesn't come from Ireland at all. St. James gate looks after Ireland ( about 3 - 4 million pints brewed a day).

The rest mostly come from Africa or some from a brewery in Europe ( think it's from Germany , can remember now).

I got this info from a tour of St. james's a few months back.

The Majority of the UK guiness used to be brewed in London , but they stoped that as the quilty was to erratic .

While i do accept the cleaning of Lines and all that jazz does play an important factor in the quality of the pint , Any Guiness no Bought in Ireland just isn't the same anywhere else becuase it isn't brewed here.

I used to live in Turki in Finland , and they poured the black stuff like they did any other beer , In my local i was allowed to pour my own Guinness once i proved to the owner that it tasted better ( a regular drank guiness and much prefered the pint i poured over the other).

Then at the Irish bar again they did it the larger way , So i Taught the the error's of thier ways. But if people weren't used to it they would either start drinking the 3/4 pint or complaine they where getting ripped off , once it was eplained to them most though it was hog wash till they tasted the pint

Mind you i live in Glasgow now , and my local just don't pour it right , hence i stick to my larger for now.

JazzyJ

Imposter wrote:

The guinness in Europe is the same guinness as in ireland. The only difference is that that guinness has to travel further and also that the line cleaners and general line care is different in different countries.

Not quite - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness#Varieties

I want some of the Belgian Guinness Special Export Stout - 8% :eek:

JIZZLORD

i was in the pub with the father on saturday, it wasnt my regular pub so i foolishly asked for guinness, the barmaid poured it in one !!!!!
and this was an "old man pub"......
may god have mercy on us all

noby

JazzyJ wrote:

Not quite - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness#Varieties

I want some of the Belgian Guinness Special Export Stout - 8% :eek:

Guinness foreign extra is readily available in off-licences in Ireland, at 7.5%. One to be savoured.

Sleepy

I've never been one to order a Guiness abroad since a disasterous sampling of one in Melbourne. I was amazed recently enough in London when a friend coaxed me into trying the Guiness and the barmaid triple-poured a pint for me! It was actually quite drinkable, not up to the standards you'd get in my pubs of choice in Galway but on a par with your average Dublin bar. :eek:

amp

JazzyJ wrote:

Not quite - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness#Varieties

I want some of the Belgian Guinness Special Export Stout - 8% :eek:

Gotta lot of respect for them Belgians.

scojones

Lads, it's like this. If you get a ****e pint of guinness, and you see the reason for it (not poured right, wrong glass, hot glass... etc) hand it back and say it's not a proper pint. If you were a guinness rep the guinness would be taken off them and not sold to them again until they got their act together. I've been given many a bad pint of guinness, but I've refused to drink it / not paid until I made sure it was a good pint everytime I've had a guinness. I recommend you do the same.

Two memories stand out in my head, I was once given a guinness in a HARP glass, you know the frosted glasses with that thing in the bottom of them. Of course the guinness never settled, I laughed and handed it back.

Another memory is when I asked for a pint of guinness at my local (which has lovely guinness everytime) and it was a russian guy's first day. He never lifted the glass, poured it in one, 1/3 of the glass was head. I showed him how to pour a proper pint of guinness (it was my local afterall) and it was happy days after that. Seriously, if you don't tell them or show them (if they let you show them) they will never learn.

The nicest pint of guinness I ever had was in the Aran Islands back in August '05, it was on Inishmore, in some house that was converted to a bar and was in one of those really old plain glasses - you know the ones. When I saw it coming I thought oh **** this is going to be bad, to my surprise it was the nicest pint of guinness I ever had

Guinness is an artform lads, give it the respect it deserves

rubadub

Foreign extra is in tescos.
An african shop in moore street sells the non-alcoholic guinness malt drink.

kittex

ntlbell wrote:

I've seen this alot, the funny thing is everytime i've seen it been done i was in an airport, even in the uk i've seen it!

I worked in a bar in Glasgow and until I arrived they thought the correct way to pour Guinnes and Caffreys was just straight in, no settling or anything. I blame the whole 'storm brewing' camapign.

I told the manager and he disagreed with me - staunchly.
Until we went down to the cellar and he read the instructions on the keg. Then I was asked to show everyone else how to do it. :rolleyes:

Padjo1981

Trampas wrote:

I am just back from Vienna and they had an irish bar in the airport.

I was relaxing having a local beer when someone ordered a pint of guinness.

Next to my amazement i see the barman (Not irish) gets a pint glass. Places it under the tap (No angle at all). Leaves it to fill up. When it filled up to the brim, he then handed it over to the customer (not irish also).

The drinker didn't even let it settle before he took a mouthful.

The barman did this several times.

I lived in Vienna for 3 years and the Irish bars are normaly OK with Pints, but when I was working in Switzerland, the first Pint of Guinness I pulled I left it to settle on the bar and when I turned back to it, the guy who ordered it was gulping it down, 3\4 full and still setteling. And I have seen worse