Beers I really miss, part 1: bottle-conditioned Guinness

When you've been drinking as long as I have, there are inevitably favourite beers that have fallen by the way. In this series, I'll be documenting the ones whose loss is particularly affecting.

Where else could I start, other than with bottle-conditioned Guinness? Perhaps, the keenest loss of all. Because it was such a wonderful beer.

In the UK in 1970s, only a handful of beers were still bottle-conditioned. Guinness, one of the biggest-selling bottled beers, was amongst their number. Which, on the face of it, you wouldn't have expected.

There was a reason Guinness had stuck with bottle-conditioning. In Ireland, they didn't bottle mostly of their Stout themselves. Much of it was performed by publicans or retailers. Tiny operations with primitive equipment. May were effectively hand-bottling. They just weren't able to filter or force-carbonate. Once most bottling was taken in-house, the days of bottle-conditioning were numbered.

Getting to the beer, it was such wonderful stuff. Roasty, without being harsh. With a lovely fine-beaded head. And, lurking in the background, a subtle, bur perceptible, lactic twang. The origin ow which was a big secret. Rumour was that Guinness deliberately soured some beer, pasteurised it and then blended it into the main wort. Presumably to mimic the effect of ageing.

It was a classic. One of the best beers in the world. And then it was gone.

Will it ever return? I doubt it. Though I'm sure Guinness are perfectly capable of doing so. There's just no incentive for them to.