I am ashamed of you for derriding the LBW with the Guinness label. Yes it costs more but think of the image you get with the Guinness label. You state in your description of cheap whistles, “unless you are a collector”. Do you actually know anyone who plays the whistle who is not a collector? Do you think I have a point here? Besides I actually think the one with the Guinness label plays better, especially after having a couple of Guinness. How un-Irish of you. I bet you are still a communist too! My advise, spend the extra four bucks and be proud to support Guinness! Now I must leave to my local Irish pub and have a Guinness.
I noticed in a previous thread tuning problems with this whistle. Mine is a little touchy but I have another method. There is a lot of philosophy around an act and the perception of the act. If your Guinness whistle is a little off it can usually be tweaked by having a Guinness and making sure everyone listening has one. In extreme cases this might require four or more. After a point though no-one will complain of it being off key. I call this the “Pub Tuning Method” or PTM.
“Supporting Guinness?” When I was last living in England the Guinness family were one of the major backers of the Conservative party. So the money the Irish workingman spent on his “Irish” beer was going to consolidate the grip on power of the Iron Lady, whom he most likely hated.
Plus the Guinness family sold the company a few years back, to the same company that owns Taco Bell and Burger King. If you want to support Ireland, drink Murphy’s stout. It’s still Irish-owned.
Yes, unfortunately it’s true. Not only that but the Guinness sold here in America isn’t even brewed in Ireland. Still the little Guinness harp logo on the whistle is kewl. And after a few I sound better. I must also admit that recently I have been drinking more Pilsner Urquell than Guinness. But then Celtic people originally settled Bohemia so it’s still kosher in a wierd way.
Taco bell is owned by PepsiCo
Guinness is owned by Diageo (created by the merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness), who also owns United Distillers & Vintners. The Guinness folks also brew Harp, Red Stripe, Kilkenny Irish beer, Smithwick’s ale, and Dragon stout. They brew about 11 million cases of guinness a year, which seems like it’d be hard to do in one brewery. Diageo recently bought a portion of Seagram’s drinks division. You can learn more about Diageo and the drink brands they are affiliated with here: http://www.diageo.com/ad/company/our_brand_port.html?131
I don’t see pepsi on that list, but they evidently do own burger king. 
On 2002-04-28 17:08, blackhawk wrote:
Plus the Guinness family sold the company a few years back, to the same company that owns Taco Bell and Burger King. If you want to support Ireland, drink Murphy’s stout. It’s still Irish-owned.
[ This Message was edited by: Wandering_Whistler on 2002-04-29 00:06 ]
They also brew Budweiser (by license) in their Dublin St. James Gate brewery (the younger generation supposedly prefers it to Guinness). And they have breweries all over the world (but none in America that I know of). I heard about the Burger King and Taco Bell connection while on a tour of the St. James Gate brewery two years ago.
I knew my information was probably a decade out of date - thanks for the corporate merger news everyone. I rarely drank the stuff before, but I certainly won’t now. Fortunately we have a microbrewery in Montreal that makes an oatmeal stout that is far superior. And the owners have a history of sponsoring local Irish-music events and projects…