GUINNESS BREWERS PROJECT: FOREIGN EXTRA STOUT – EXTRA INDEED.
GUINNESS FOREIGN EXTRA STOUT Abv 7.5
Guinness fans in the US have long had a choice between two versions of the classic stout. Order at an Irish bar and you’ll get Draught Guinness; buy a four-pack in a store and you’ll have Guinness Extra Stout. The bottled version is stronger, 5.5 v 4.2 and fuller, but not the session quencher with the nitro head. Guinness launched the canned widget version of Draught to allow us to have something approaching the bar version at home.
If you wanted to have the high test version available to most of the rest of the world, however, you had to travel, or have a friend who did. We did both and were able to track down an Ethiopian and a Nigerian version of the Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. For the last five years or so, if you knew a good beer store it was much simpler to obtain.
Like most big breweries, Guinness doesn’t talk much about its recipes. Most sources agree, however, that the Foreign Extra Stout is produced by blending “Guinness Flavor Extract” or GFE with local beer to make the FES, Foreign Export Stout. We don’t know if Guinness uses GFE at St. James Gate, but our notes show a strong similarity between the Nigerian version we found at a festival in Germany and the Foreign Extra that came with the Brewers Project Package.
Tasting notes: Big rich and complex. Has a creamy heavy feel with rich dark malts and hints of cocoa. The big hops show early with spice and fruit and finish with herbs and a bit more fruit. As it drinks and warms, it takes on a figgy pudding characteristic that echoed the figs and prunes we found in the Nigerian version.
Pairings: It can complement good chocolate and almost stand as a dessert on its own. The richness would hold up well to steaks or ribs.
Rating: **** Value: ***** 20170202
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