Guinness 101: How Ireland's best-known beer sets itself apart

0:00And I was about to come in with an Irish accent and thank your lucky stars. I didn't. I have been told by reliable sources that when I try it, it sounds like a terrible Jamaican accent for some reason. So thankfully, I stopped myself before it was too late. We are sticking to the Irish theme, of course, today, as it is the St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Montreal today, starting at noon. Normally our next guest, John Tricone, talks about wine, but I said to him, John, we got to talk about beer, specifically Guinness. Good morning to you, John. I almost had top of the morning. I stopped myself as well. Good morning. As I see in Ireland, throw some shrimp on the barbie, right? Right. Even worse, even worse for you, John. OK, we're going to speak specifically about beer, but specifically about Guinness. And there's a big change for Guinness. So first of all, this is the day for beer, yes? Today's, yes, sure. Well, some people would say every day for beer, and then Guinness drinker is a Guinness drinker.

1:02You can't, they won't drink anything else. And it's a really, really an interesting product, and although I don't even really drink beer, I think it's really a cool thing. You know, what's interesting about Guinness is that it always sets itself apart from the other beers. It sets itself apart by the color. And I think there's a lot of sort of maybe misgivings about it. People will look at the color and say, no, it's too dark. It's too heavy. What makes the sort of flavor of Guinness so particular? Well, so basically, it's a type of beer called a stout. So it would be dark. And what they do is they roast the barley before the process happens. And at least, like, you know, rich chocolatey creamy sensation that people would think it's super heavy and thick. But it's actually the opposite. And the alcohol content is different if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, it's lower alcohol. It's actually really low calorie, which is also very interesting. But yeah, it's the opposite of what people think. And what's really cool about Guinness is that the whole alcohol industry isn't peril.

2:04But Guinness is kind of in crush, but. OK, let's talk about that. Because this is interesting, the younger generation, especially, right, this Gen Z, they're drinking less, they're going out less, they're dating less. They're doing a lot of less of what we would call the fun vices we had in the old days, right? Paint the portrait of the industry and how Guinness sets itself apart. Or if everything is down, in terms of wine, I'm finding it interesting where people are drinking much less, but drinking a bit better, and being a bit more health conscious, and kind of like, you know, if you look at how the industry was before the pandemic, like, you know, we would drink was, you know, kind of not healthy. But everything's gone down, but Guinness has kind of gone up, but also because it's a part of people drinking more moderation. And it's been really cool. Like Guinness, there's no gimmicks. It's consistent. It's been the same since, well, not the same. It's the same company since 1700, where the guy who started it signed a 9,000 year lease. Like that, like, talk about, like confidence. And, you know, it's been growing up,

3:05because first of all, it's low calorie. People don't drink a lot of it. And it's really the only, what are the only alcohol products that is not like tech right now? I said, but, you know, you mentioned that it's low calorie and low alcohol. So then the women, I guess, start getting interested in it. Was that a surprise for the industry that women are buying more Guinness? Yeah, and actually their marketing has been really geared towards that. And Guinness has become like a top choice amongst women, which is really cool. Because they're seeing like while it kind of tastes, it might feel thick. But I don't think it's necessarily like just like a low calorie and low sugar thing. I really think it's because, you know, it's a sign of our moderate times. Interesting. So one of the big things about Guinness, in particular, for having been to Ireland quite a few times, it's all about the poor, right? It can go wrong. It can go sideways. What is the perfect poor? Well, I've always been scared to poor Guinness when I would, because when you're pouring it for someone, it's like there are 4,000 times of Guinness in their life.

4:06And you know that they're automatically judging it. So it's done in two steps. You pour like just like very simply put about two thirds of it. Then you let it settle for about a minute and then you top it off. And that's basically it. But also just watch out. There's a legal amount of head you're supposed to leave. It's like really, really like very, very particular. Okay, so it's a multi-layered process is what you're saying. You can't just go at all at once. Yeah, but it's kind of cool on your bartending and people are looking at you and they're wondering like why are you doing that? Like why are you pouring all the whole end? You kind of get into explain it. It's really like kind of a tradition. And it's like, you know, pretty cool. But it is quite surprising. I do have to say it's so interesting that you're saying that the industry is shifting away from, because you're not saying away from wine in particular. It's just that people are drinking, I guess with more intention and that's where the Guinness beer comes into it. I mean, I don't know if we have the numbers for this but I don't know that there's a sudden rise and like corona or anything. It's very particular to Guinness.

5:06And I wonder if it's. Yeah, well it's also like how other things that are terrible are going down, like you know those celtzer cans and all that. Like these are pretty bad for you. And so yeah, that's going down. And people are realizing, wait a minute, we need to go back to something that's a bit more real. I think this is a great thing. And it's interesting because I'm guessing, correct me if I'm wrong, in the same way that there are some aliases and there are wine experts like yourself, the same applies for beer. And when you're kind of serve beer, you know it. Yeah, exactly. But there are like beer specialists, but like this is the opposite of that. You know, this isn't 20 different types of paleo. This is Guinness. This is we're going back to what, you know, people used to drink when I started the industry. And now that we know how to do the perfect poor, we're very happy about that. John, remind everyone where they can find you. Not at the parade this morning. No. I will be there. Come say hello. Oh, OK. So not at the parade, but they can find you at your restaurant. I had my restaurant on the square. We had a lovely event last night.

6:07And it was really, really cool. And you know, I'd probably empty out my Instagram or you could catch by, as you say, many adventures and misadventures. All right, John. Thank you so much for taking the time and for explaining about the perfect poor. Have a great Sunday. And I won't see you at the parade. I guess have a great one. Take care. The newest tracks. Let's go. New music and the next big thing. Always on the new music first. Your first place to hear it all. Because you don't like it, love it. Won't you play it twice? Play now. High-hard new music. Your digital station for brand-new drop fresh vines and tomorrow's bangers. I think we need something new. Discover high-hard new music. Always fresh. Always first. Stream now on the free IHR radio app.