I’ve only really ever had Guiness from the tap, so imagine my surprise when I get to the bottom of of my first can of it and there’s this foreign object inside. The widget, that gives it its droughtiness. I went online to check it out and there’s a little animated video of it. Cool.
http://www.guinness.com/us_en/beer/draughtcan/distraction.aspx
Welcome to the 1980s. 
Mukade
That was awe-inspiring!
Who would have thunk it?
It’s enough to make me want to take up drinking the stuff!
That may be the old widget. Guinness Canada has just launched more perfected widget and new design for their cans in Canada, which they say tastes more like the real thing! Guinness is the fastest growing beer brand in Canada, much like Toyota becoming the number automaker/seller in Canada.
MarkB
Widgets work pretty well for Guinness and Murphys from cans. For other non-draught beers I prefer ones that are bottle-conditioned. You can get some very nice beers in pint bottles now in the UK and they work out at about half the price you’d pay in a pub. 
Steve
I think the former version of Guinness, the “Export” version, probably held Guinness back for decades with its horrible rooty aftertaste. I’ve never been to Ireland, so I can’t say I’ve ever had the “real” stuff, but the new bottles and cans with the widgets in them are so completely different from the old “Export” version that its a completely different beer. There are a lot of excellent microbreweries making stout and porter based on chocolate or coffee, so I think perhaps its not so new for people to try Guinness now as its once may have been.
djm
Interesting video,I’ve often wondered how the widget worked.
Canned Guinness is all right in small doses but there is nothing that could ever compare with the real thing as served in the Pubs of Dublin.
It does not travel well at all, at all.
Sitting in the Victorian splendour of Ryans pub in Parkgate street with a pint of Guinness while looking out the window at the Brewery across the Liffey is a wonderful experience.If ye ever get to Dublin try it.
Satisfaction assured 
Slan,
D.
Something that kills all the major breweries’ products is that these are designed to have a shelf life of months. Nothing compares with fresh beer from just about any source, in my experience. Even Molson’s, whose breweries put out some of the worst pap brands here, tasted totally different when I went on a brewery tour and then got to sample it fresh. I don’t know which other breweries allow you to tour and sample, but if you get the opportunity I suggest you don’t miss it.
djm
Yeah, in Milwaukee you can tour Miller and have a tasting. And St. Loius you can do the same at A Busch. You can also visit the clydesdales. And the dog.
Years back when the MN Twins were playing the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, I saw a sign in the stands that read:
“hey St. Louis, the bud we drink today is your drinking water tomorrow”
… I haven’t had a Bud since.
Is the huge plastic thing in bottled guiness a larger version of the canned widget, or is it just a ploy to give you less beer for the same money?
Guinness draught:
Guinness drought:
We shall not speak of this again.
I knew it when I read it but I didn’t feel like editing it.
Beer Trivia: The reed-valve from the new can-widgets make excellent check-valves.
Out of a can??? In that case I’d stick to Guinness Original… but that’s better from a bottle. To be honest, I prefer that to yer standard draught Guinness.
So stone me. 
Talking of draught, Guinness Extra Cold is pure genius. I love it.
Yeah, yeah. Blasphemy, blah blah. So stone me harder.
The Guinness I had in the sky bar ontop of St. James’ was the best beer I’ve ever had in my life. More than partly caused by the most beautiful bartender I’ve ever seen in my life. 
BTW, Guinness tour is absolutely horrible, like a life-sized commercial. Skip it and spend the time in the gift store.
I don’t know if the Guinness Extra Cold is pure genius, but it’s marketing must be… (T-shirt at Celtic Fest: “Guinness” is how the Irish spell Genius)
I bought the Guinness draft once. When I got it home, I knew something was very wrong when I noticed the label said something like “serve cold”. Now, the reason American lagers are served ice cold is because if they’re not ice cold you can actually taste them and that is a mistake. Anyway, I had one of the draft and nearly cried because I had just spent about 8 bucks on the most wretched tasting crap I have ever had and there were still 5 bottles left. (Insert spewing emoticon here)
It was on sale, so maybe it had simply lost the bloom of youth. Still, I don’t think I’ll try the experiment again - bottled will do for home and draft when I can get it on tap.
Roger
Thank goodness someone said it!
Well, they had to do something to get the Irish to drink Guinness again, and I guess that’s not the worst thing they could’ve come up with. I prefer the Real Thing[tm], though, so as long as they sell both, I’m fine
I tried the canned draught last year. I didn’t like it. It had been so long since I’d had Guiness I didn’t know if it was me or not. I’ll have to try some bottled and compare.