I thought so too...I had quite the debate about this with a Canadian "Irish" guy the other day (i think his grandfather came to Canada when he was a child - you know the type) he was quite shocked when I told him that in a lot of pubs in the UK and Ireland have two Guniness pumps side by side, one normally chilled Guinness, the other extra cold......he thought I was making it up!! Mind you he was the type of Irish guy that thought the IRA were some sort of folk heros!?!?!

Regular Guiness is chilled/cold - and that's the way I've drunk it in Dublin! Never drunk the "Extra Cold" stuff in the UK. Too damn cold, tastes of nothing.

Because a decent pint of Guinness takes a while to pour, busy bars will often pour a line of them so that they can serve customers quickly instead of waiting for the pint to settle properly. It's cold at the beginning of the process, but not so well chilled by the time the pint is ready for a customer - though it's certainly still well below room temperature if the staff know their customer throughput well enough. I've encountered this in, I think, London, Liverpool, Dublin and Montreal - haven't come across a bar in this part of the world that gets through enough Guinness to make it worth while. Guinness Extra Cold is an abomination.

I do like a decent ale. I'm put off a lot of local microbrewery output because of the current trend for throwing half a ton of hops in a mash tun, completely overpowering the flavour of the beer in some sort of hipster-masochist IPA-frenzy. However, there are a handful of good local brews I've enjoyed. Just down the road from my office is the Old Credit brewery which makes a passable Amber Ale, one of the closest to a small batch real ale that I've had hereabouts (it's brewed slowly and preservative-free, so has the same sort of limited shelf life as a cask ale, too).

My OH acquired a few cans of Great Lakes Brewing's "Pompous Ass" English Ale - apparently she thought the name was appropriate as a gift for me, for some reason. That's also a decent pint, and has regular fridge-space in my house. Quaffable in quantity, as well as a midweek evening tipple.

Speaking of session beers, Sleeman's Railside is a palatable and more widely available option to accompany a night in or out. Although it's by no means remarkable in terms of flavour, it's not too hoppy, not too strong, not too fizzy, and eminently quaffable if the alternative is domestic swill. Yes, I know Sleeman is now a sub-brand of Sapporo, so hardly differentiated from the other multinational brands, but I quite enjoy their Cream Ale as well.

To clarify, I'm familiar with the process of lining up half poured pints of guiness for topping up when needed. IME its still chilled/cool by the time ones drinks it. If it were room temp it wouldn't be acceptable.

My earlier point entirely.

Worst beer: Corona, possibly? Or is it American Bud? Something like that.

One for the oldies

Cinquante.

Bristol, quick get out, I think you're trapped in a nostalgia vortex !!

Hey, them's fighting words.

If I'm in Gatineau at a taverne that serves Labatt's/Molsons etc only that is my lowest common denominator beer.

Worst beer I've ever had..hmm.

Molson Golden, Old Vienna, Labatts Blue, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Hamm's, Blatz, Molson Dry, Corona, Bud, Bud Light Lime, Bud Lime-o-rita or whatever its called, Kestrel Lager, Carling Black Label are all pretty bland, fizzy and generally lagerish and would all vie for the title of worst swill.

Castlemaine XXXX

UK - Carling
Canada/US - Coors light

Nasty stuff

My memory must be playing tricks on me and, as it is so long since I last had a non-almost freezing Guinness, maybe I am wrong here.

I remember that in the UK, larger was sold chilled and all stout, IPA, Caffreys etc was not. I accept that it was cooler than room temperature.

When I first ordered a Guinness here and it was as cold as I recall larger was in the UK, I baulked somewhat but then realised that that was the way it was and that I had to get used to it.

Nowadays, the only "decent" Guinness I get is part of the Irish pack that comes along every 6 months or so at Costco liquor store.

The beer I've been drinking lately is Slovakian, Urpiner. It doesn't taste very good but it's 7%

I cant stand Stella Artois

Corona is as beer flavoured water .

I dont understand why people drink Budweiser when the original is so much better.