Is Guinness Nitrosurge Just More Marketing Hoopla?

Isthisthingon?

I was given the nitro surge pack as a gift last year. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone out of my way to buy it. I would have only drunk Guinness at a pub.

I've used it on / off for a few months now, and I think it can be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes the pints are nice and form perfectly, other times there is stout left in the can. I read there are reasons for this; temperature of the can, if the device doesn't ' kick in' on time etc. I seem to find that the first poured can is always a little off, then successive ones are better. That can be annoying. At least the ordinary draft cans were consistent, you just need to master the pour.

Is it a gimmick? absolutely , but to be fair we are talking about the company who probably created ( or at least marketed) the greatest alcoholic gimmick of all time. Does it give a nice pint - yeah most of the time.

Ken Tucky

They are selling 10 Nitro surge cans for €20 in Tesco. You need to have a clubcard to avail of the €20 price.

And I have to echo with the above who say that they are better chilled for a day. Much much better.

Also if you want to bother bringing the cans back you get €2.50 back...if the machine works and if it reads all the barcodes. But lets no go there🤬

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949043#Comment_121949043

Tesco actually charge you €22.50 for the 10 cans for sale at €20 club card price... so they are advertising the net price once you return all 10 empty cans.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948810#Comment_121948810

I don't know what you mean by "regular". Is it the carbonated form sold as "Guinness Original Extra Stout" and "Guinness XX"? This is the same fluid but the carbonation makes its sensory qualities different from the nitrogenated version. The extra carbonic acid means it's drier and sharper, but the propulsion effect you get from carbonation means the dark grain flavour and tangy lactic sourness are more pronounced.

The product sold as "Draught Guinness", whether from a widget can, a Nitrosurge can or on tap in a bar, any bar, does all taste the same to me. The heads might look different when first poured, but that's not a factor that interests me. It has the same slightly bitter toasty roast and sour tang as you get from the carbonated version, but less of it because nitrogen doesn't propel flavour compounds the way carbon dioxide does. The finish is also longer because those flavour compounds will hang around in the mouth longer, they don't get scrubbed off by the fizz.

By Irish stout standards, Guinness is a pretty bland one. It doesn't contain chocolate malt so there isn't the same balancing sweetness that you get from, say, Murphy's or O'Hara's (yes I've checked this blind). That's why I'm particularly interested when commenters say Guinness varies; there isn't much in it to vary, especially in the nitrogenated formats. Maybe they're only judging the appearance, though I've never seen someone claim that that's the only important factor when assessing a pint.

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949174#Comment_121949174

You know exactly what I mean by regular.

You’re trying to look smart with you long posts that I can’t be bothered reading.

BeerNut

Another failed attempt by me at getting an informed opinion from a Guinness drinker 🙁 Maybe the next one will have some substance behind the assertions.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949174#Comment_121949174

That's why I'm particularly interested when commenters say Guinness varies

I'd put this down to the taps/pumps/coolers not being set correctly, or not cleaned?

People always say Guinness doesn't travel well.. but 99% of it is probably down to improper setup of the taps.. I've had some fine pints of Guinness abroad..

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949373#Comment_121949373

Plenty of substance, just can’t be bothered with people being dicks for sport.

BeerNut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949423#Comment_121949423

But what is it that you're putting down to that? What has changed? If the cooler settings are wrong, there'll be something wrong with the temperature of the beer. If the lines aren't cleaned you'll get a bacterial vinegary twang and/or wild yeast funkiness, but you won't get them consistently: that goes away once the lines have been cleaned. And neither is relevant to the comparison of widget can vs. Nitrosurge can vs. draught tap, but we are not permitted to ask any further questions about that particular issue. Like a perfect pint, it's settled.

Ken Tucky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949158#Comment_121949158

Ah ffs..just when I think I couldn't despise this BS anymore than I do already now the actual prices are being hidden in the small print.

jiltloop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948547#Comment_121948547

I suppose that would be completely down to personal perferences and tastes and therefore very subjective. For me personally, it's not just the taste, it's the texture and for how much of the drinking of the pint the texture I like is maintained. What I'm always looking for is a silky/velvety head that maintains for much of the pint and clings to the side of the glass giving the rings effect throughout the pint glass as it's drank. Generally I would agree with you about the taste being consistent regardless of which of the 3 methods have been used, obviously there are exceptions to that though and you can always get a bad pint but I think that's relatively rare.

Of course I fully expect others to disagree with my opinion on it and some may not care about the texture and have strong opinions about a wide variance in tastes. I wouldn't object to anyone's opinion on it, it's all personal tastes at the end of the day.

BeerNut

I can't square "you can always get a bad pint" and "it's all personal tastes". Both of those can't be true. Quality assurance is a real thing and there are objective standards. The lad in the Guinness van isn't going round checking that the pints are to his personal taste.

jiltloop

You don't think there can be a consensus on what constitutes a bad pint? I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make to be honest.

FWIW I think people talk about bad and good pints of Guinness far more than any other drink and a lot of it is BS and subjective, I'm not sure if that's what you are trying to get at or not? I'd say there are far less bad pints out there than good pints and I know a lot of Guinness drinkers who have a constant rhetoric around good and bad pints which make a point of paying no heed to. I know what I like in a pint of Guinness and I know my favourite places to find it consistently.

BeerNut

You don't think there can be a consensus on what constitutes a bad pint?

The opposite! Nobody who identifies "bad pints" provides any information on what was wrong with it. There is absolutely a consensus way of doing this — here's one set of agreed and standardised terms — but what you get instead is people saying it's insufficiently "creamy", it's "watery", it made them sick at one end or other of their digestive tract, none of which matches the list of things that actually go wrong with beers when they're bad.

And yes, the fact that it's not only a homogenised, pasteurised, thoroughly QA'd beer that gets singled out for being uniquely variable, but a dark one too, suggests that something might not be right. But I don't know. It needs somebody who knows how to do an objective sensory analysis of beer to apply it to a bad pint.

But nobody who can analyse beer objectively ever seems to get a bad pint of Guinness, and nobody who has experienced a bad pint of Guinness seems able to describe its flaws in objective sensory terms. There has to be a solution to this mystery! I genuinely don't know what it is, though.

jiltloop

I think the main variable is man. Guinness is almost certainly more consistent than human beings and their frivolous nature.

ablelocks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121950104#Comment_121950104

now that's a title for a research masters in philosophy for someone….and get Guinness to sponsor!

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121950060#Comment_121950060

Man, that is soooooo boring. You'd suck the enthusiasm out of any good pint with the "scientific boredom guru " analysis.

Have you tried a few pints in real life? In a pub? In a few different pubs? Ease up and enjoy the beer

irish_goat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121951714#Comment_121951714

Mod: This forum is for the discussion of all things alcohol related. Feel free to disagree with the content of anyone's post, but please keep it civil.

Ohmeha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058338930/is-guinness-nitrosurge-just-more-marketing-hoopla

I find Nitrosurge Guinness to be a definite improvement over regular Guinness cans but they are still not quite matching the quality of a regular pint on draught from your pub, overall I think they are a decent effort by Guinness to try recreate a draught pint to drink at home so I don't think they are entirely a marketing gimmick

I consider the price point to pay no more than €2 for a Nitrosurge can, Lidl and Tesco have had packs of either 6 or 10 Nitrosurge on sale lately at that price point per can obviously now the additional Re-turn charge is on top of that, otherwise I would just buy a pack of regular cans at €1.66 MUP per can price point and try the previously mentioned 'pin trick' though it's an effort to do that with precision and results can be hit/miss from experience

I also disagree with tips to leave the Nitrosurge cans in a fridge for a day/days I wouldn't even leave them in a fridge for 3 hours, you will get likely have a minimal head and in my opinion too much chill kills off much of the taste and smoothness you get out of the Nitrosurge pour. I put the cans in a fridge for 60-90 minutes max and rinse both the device and pint glass before every use, ideally rinse with warm water but cold water is still fine if warm is not practical. Like with Guinness in general not all Nitrosurge cans are consistent and a couple of times I have had entire packs that tasted off

Anaki r2d2

It's funny how we are all different. I really don't like the cans that are chilled for only a few hours. I seem to enjoy cans more that are chilled for days in the fridge.

Agree that some cans are a bit off. Off as in a bit dead/flat. Dead with thin head, flat like a pub pint that has been sitting around too long.

Madd002

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986456#Comment_121986456

Husband sometimes buys a 4 pk on a Friday evening & we regularly get one dud can as you said a bit dead /flat. I finally emailed them after 3 wks in a row of this happening and had to send pics & bottom of can showing batch number etc & receipt of where I bought them. They fobbed me off with the usual they take their quality of their product very seriously & sent me €15 in vouchers as a goodwill gesture, but it keeps on happening.

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854967#Comment_121854967

This.

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986536#Comment_121986536

Yes! That picture exactly. The left can is the dead/flat that I have experienced. No reason for it on my end. S

Some "expert" will no doubt tell you that your opinion is wrong and the thick head has no effect on the taste/enjoyment.....but it does.

Madd002

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986556#Comment_121986556

Husband pours straight down sink says there's no bite to it & as you said it's like it was left on bar all night.

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986536#Comment_121986536

Have you noticed with the "bad" ones that the widget doesn't go off/release when you crack open the can?

Madd002

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986580#Comment_121986580

He opens the cans, next time i'll get him to listen each time he opens see if there's a difference in good/bad one.

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121986593#Comment_121986593

Sorry, I just looked at the pints, did not notice the cans were regular draft cans.

I was yapping about the nitro surge cans with the the nitro device Puck.

But point remains the same. No rhyme or reason that one is good and the other goes down the sink