I don't know specifically about your symptoms, but one thing it could be is the carbonation.
All draught Guinness (including Guinness Draught cans) is not carbonated with just CO2, but with nitrogen and CO2 in a 70-30% (thereabouts) mix.
Additionally, when pouring a typically carbonated beer incorrectly (or not pouring it into a glass), a larger amount of CO2 remains in solution, leading to gastro bloat that can feel more uncomfortable than one would expect. You can experience bad pours even at bars, depending on who's behind the tap.
Lagers will have higher carbonation levels than most stouts, so that could be a factor.
Those hazy-style IPAs absolutely wreak havoc on my stomach. I think the unfiltered yeast that does it. I also do drink Guinness without issues. Mostly it's hoppy IPA type beers that dont agree with me. More filtered traditional beers are ok.
Everyone rants about how great guinness is, but the draught cans taste incredibly watered-down to me for some reason. Extra Stout and Foreign Stout are fine and I have to imagine that's what guiness tastes like for EU customers.
I had a roommate from Mongolia who disliked beer with carbonation. I never understood the full story of why but he said it was better flat. He would show up with a sixpack, dispense half each can into Gatorade bottles, then shake them and leave them out for a few hours to go completely flat.
The carbonation in Guinness is a blend of CO2 and Nitrogen which creates the different bubbles. Some beers are carbonated in different ways and have a different feeling.
The first time I tasted beer in college, I was surprised to discover it's carbonated. I wasn't aware, and wasn't expecting that. It's still kind of weird and annoying to me, and I prefer beer like Guiness where the carbonation is less pronounced.
Wheat beers are my favourite, but agree they cause gastro issues fast, particularly the Erdinger Alkoholfrei.
I've discovered that Schneider Weisse 0.5% and, to some degree, Rothaus Hefe Weizen 0.5% are less likely to provoke gastro issues while closely mirroring the taste of their alcoholic equivalents.
If you like lagers and don't drink alcohol, I've found those from Fee Damm (Estrella)[1] and Luckysaint[2] to not cause any issues either, particularly the 'Tostada Amber' from Free Damm and the larger from Luckysaint (Their Hazy IPA is great too!).
Guinness is an unfortunate component to this test. Whereas the other beers may have the same color, taste, and mouthfeel, Guinness would be distinguishable from those on any one of those 3 dimensions. Even if you couldn't distinguish based on taste or texture, the color alone would give it away.
In other words, you would probably guess that you're drinking a Guinness if you happen to see its color. I think that's a significant confounder here.
just feels like poison...even hoppy zero alcohol makes me feel shit.
though it doesnt taste that good - i cant drink more than 1x 2.5% or 3.5% beer without feeling like absolute crap. not to mention the gluggy feeling of the liquid itself...
If you're not in a bar, the Guinness can (rather than the bottle) is the best way to approximate the flavor and experience that is particular to the pub tap.
Guinness put 20 years of research into the can method.
The 16.9 ounce can (containing 14.9 ounces of beer) is fitted with a small plastic device (Guinness calls it a "smoothifier") which sits in the bottom of the can. This device has a pocket or cavity which is open to the atmosphere via a pin hole in its top. The can is evacuated of oxygen and filled with beer. Prior to sealing the can, a dose of liquid nitrogen is added to the beer. The can is closed and as the liquid nitrogen warms a pressure is created. The pressure forces about 1% of the beer and nitrogen into the plastic cavity.
When the can is opened, the pressure is released and the small amount of beer in the cavity is forced back through the pinhole quite violently. The agitation created by this "geyser" mixes the nitrogen with the beer in such a way as to reproduce the tap handle character.
Prior to serving, the beer must be chilled. Guinness suggests a two hour stint in a refrigerator, with a target serving temperature of 45-50 degrees (if opened while warm, the beer gushes with excess force). This is the one area where flavor will be variable since most American refrigerators hold their temperatures closer to 35-40 degrees.
The colder the beer, the less the flavors are perceptible. The entire contents should be emptied into a 16 ounce glass. The head which forms is exactly like that of the draught version. It should last to the bottom of the glass.
I do love a good pint of Guinness. There's something very satisfying about how it looks; the more pronounced flavor than other globally available macro beers, and how it seems easier to have a few more than it would be with other beers.
Unfortunately, Guinness is one of the most overrated beers in the entire world. While not a lager, it's essentially a light beer that uses a toasted malt to give off the perception that it is a "heavy" beer. It is also served on nitro to help give the beer a mouth feel that it doesn't truly have.
It’s weird that there’s a whole culture around all these craft beers that seems interesting to me but every time I drink anything labeled beer or ale or whatever it is, I feel hot and am basically overcome with a berserker rage (I don’t know how else to explain it, I get really agitated and feel like I’m in flight or fight and want to fight, and it’s like my brain is on fire) within minutes of drinking any sort of beer. The next day I’ll often have a sort of tremor for hours in the morning and minor neurological issues where I have a hard time lifting a glass of water to drink and sober up.
Ciders and liquors don’t cause this issue. I tried a gluten free beer at the insistence of coworkers and a similar thing happened. It just makes me hulk out.
Anyone have any idea why? I figure I’ve got to be allergic to something but I don’t really have any idea what that something might be.
Though some what off topic: Even though style may dictate a different carbonation level. Draft beer is typically carbonated to around 2.4 volumes so it pours on most draft systems at bars. If you carbonate beer to far above this amount of volumes, the beer won't pour well. That is one reason why certain styles may taste different in a bottle versus on draft.
I pretty much don't. Although I like to taste a glass of different types of beer when I go to a new region (here in Europe). I have noticed that it does trigger the IBS symptoms roughly 40% of the time. Thanks for the comment. I think I'll give up on the tasting because like the parent mentioned IBS is miserable.
All draught Guinness (including Guinness Draught cans) is not carbonated with just CO2, but with nitrogen and CO2 in a 70-30% (thereabouts) mix.
Additionally, when pouring a typically carbonated beer incorrectly (or not pouring it into a glass), a larger amount of CO2 remains in solution, leading to gastro bloat that can feel more uncomfortable than one would expect. You can experience bad pours even at bars, depending on who's behind the tap.
Lagers will have higher carbonation levels than most stouts, so that could be a factor.
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