I've become sort of a beer snob and can almost never drink any Light beers or even supposedly solid stuff like Sierra Nevada and such. The only time I will is when in the summer when I'm at a pool or outdoors and because it's so hot, I want something a little more watery. But otherwise, even though I want strong, rich beers, even Guiness is too pissy and frothy for me. I'm literally only drinking Dogfish or Flying Dog beers. The former's 90 minute is perfection imo.
Stout's are something maybe a little too heavy for me to drink consistently just yet. I'll have em but don't find drinking a six pack of them enjoyable and tasty like I do Dogfish.
Not to geek out too hard but this is sort of a sensitive issue for me.
I'm going to explain a few terms real quick.
Standard Gravity: Density of a liquid.
Water = 1 on the standard gravity scale.
When making beer you start with wort (pronounced wert) which is essentially sugar water (but not simple sugar like table sugar or corn sugar, malted barley produces
maltose, maltotriose and more complex maltodextrines). Because sugar dissolved in water makes the liquid more dense a brewer measures the "gravity" of their wort and calls that the Original Gravity (O.G). After introducing yeast to the wort the yeast consume some, but not all, of the sugars producing primarily ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Alcohol is less dense than water. Once the yeast have stopped consuming the sugars a brewer takes a Final Gravity (F.G.) measurement. The difference between the O.G. and F.G. is how alcohol content is calculated.
A higher F.G. number means that there are more residual sugars left in the beer. Depending on style you want a certain F.G. to help balance out the bitterness from the hops and to provide for body, head retention and mouthfeel.
So, let's get back to Guinness.
Yes Guinness is black. Yes Guinness uses some black malted barley that provides a roasted flavor.
But if you were to compare Guinness to say Bud Light by the numbers you'd see that those two beers were nearly identical to one another. They both start with an O.G. around 1.052 and both end with an F.G. around 1.006 and both have an ABV of 4.2%.
The way our perception of a beer is affected by color is pretty interesting. I read something on homebrewtalk.com about a guy who brought beer to a beer club meeting and had used basically a food coloring to turn half of it dark while not changing the flavor. The way people described the pale version vs the dark version was pretty funny and many of them were upset after they found out they had been tricked.
I know from experience that appearance is the primary means by which most people judge a beer. Every time someone has poured my beer for the first time the very first thing they do it hold it up to the light and look through it. One guy who was trying my Kristalweizen even proclaimed "I can't believe it's possible to make beer this good at home" before he even tasted the beer.
So, in summery, Guinness is basically a light beer with a bit of roasted flavor.
