Hey-anyone know what it is??We are at thanksgiving dinner at our house and the conversation turned 
It isn’t excessive. Somewhere around 4.0% to 4.3%. Just nice for a long drink. Doom Bar bitter, my favourite English brew, is similar. Some of my fellow sessioneers drink Abbot’s Ale, which is over 5%. That’s too much for me over a long evening’s partaking of the jorum.
There are something like twenty or so different variations of Guinness made world-wide, and they taste different from each other as well as differ in their alcohol content; anywhere from 3-8%.
djm
Guinness Export Extra is available here in Hong Kong, and at 7.5% it demands caution…
b
At one microbrewery in Scotland they make “historic” ales, including one called Fraoch, in which the flavouring agent is heather flowers rather than hops. Its alcohol content is about 5%.
Another one they make, which is a recipie brought by the vikings to the northern and western isles, is a pine ale. It’s called “Alba” and has an alcohol content of 7.5%.
Both are very good and I reccomend anyone (that’s not pregnant or nursing) to try them.
(For the record, Guinness is great.)
“alcoholic content of Guinness”
Well… I suppose you’d have to count the bodies in the vat.
One important point to note: Are you asking about content by volume or by weight.
Here in Utah, there is a 3.2% cap on beer when measured by weight - However, when measured by volume it is actually 4%. An average beer outside the state may run approx. 6% by volume. To my knowledge, Utah is the only state that likes to do things backwards like this and go by weight. However, there may well be other states/countries who do it this way.
Be interesting to note how these measures of Uncle Arthur’s medicine compare when using the same yardstick.
What the Vikings brought? Sounds like mead, am I wrong? I suck at viking history though, but I think mead is what they drank predominantly.
BTW, I have a friend of mine who was very fond of brewing his own mead. The first few tries were horrible, but after a while he started to get the hang of it. One of my favourites was when he used honey to flavour it, very strange at first but when you got used to it it quickly became addictive (the taste, not alcohol related of course)
I was under the impression thjat the whole US of A liked to do everything backwards 
No, Alba is not mead. My local “Tree House” does a presentation pack of three bottles of ale: One Fraoch, one Alba and one Kelpie - the last being made using seaweed. They are all very agreeable, but Fraoch is probably the most agreeable. The Tree House also sells mead, in various guises, including Metheglyn.
During the First World War when resources were scarce, Norwegians (I think it was) started making ale from lichen. So it’s no great jump to imagine Scandinavians making ale from heather.
The cans of guinness I was drinking last night had 4.1% ABV stamped on them.
During the First World War when resources were scarce, Norwegians (I think it was) started making ale from lichen.
Here we go again with the lichen…
Honey to flavor it? Mead is honey..essentially, honey, water, and yeast plus any little knicks and knacks you want to add to flavor it. But only little knicks and knacks..add too much (grape juice, apple juice, fruit, etc) it becomes a melomel, cyser, pyment, metheglin, hippocrass or braggot, and it isn’t really a mead any more at all.
I’ve been brewing my own mead now for about 16 years 
Booze and lichen just seem to go together in my mind…
Right you are wanderer. I’m no expert at these things
hmmmm… cooks and brews… your significant other is quite lucky…
Homemade mead factored prominantly the first time I seduced her
Home-made Rhubarb Wine factored prominently in the similar event twixt me husband and I, but it was mine and he chugged it! The wretch! I married him anyway. 
I must credit him with preparing some exquisite Chicken Picata over that campfire though… mmmmm…
Yeah, Guinness is generally not quite as potent as many might think…
The first time I got properly drunk in college was at a post-Oktoberfest party hosted by an older friend in the German club who had loads of this amazing Swiss beer that was 13% ABV…I’ve been trying to find that stuff again ever since…
The “Fraoch” ale is quite good; appropriately heathery. I haven’t had the pleasure of trying “Alba” but the same brewery also does “Orkney Skull Splitter” which is quite nice as well…At last, a beer company with some truth in advertising…
Guinness is what we drink in Belgium when we try to get sober.
One man’s Mede is another man’s Persian… 
With best regards,
Steve Mack