Here's a bar bet you're almost guaranteed to win: The next time you stop somewhere for a cold one after work, make it a Guinness. Then bet the person next to you that he or she can't correctly identify the color of your drink. They'll almost certainly say the brew is black or brown.
Next, hold your glass up to the light – which might take some work, since bars aren't usually well-lit – and marvel at the true color of Guinness: red. According to the iconic brewery, the "ruby-red" hue comes from roasted barley.
The famous Irish stout producer likes its customers to know all about its product, so not only should you know about the color, but you also should know how to pour the perfect pint. The glass should be tilted at 45 degrees, with the side of the glass with the logo closest to the floor. Open the tap and fill three-quarters of your glass. Now wait 119.53 seconds before finishing the pour. This two-part process should mean that the beautiful red brew will have an equally lovely white head on top when you're done.
More Guinness surprises:
- Every pint of Guinness contains 300,000 tiny carbon dioxide and nitrogen bubbles, which give the stout its smoothness.
- In the 1760s, brewery founder Arthur Guinness set out to craft an ale, but he switched to stout because of its growing popularity in London.
- Arthur Guinness originally signed a 9,000-year lease for his St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin; his success allowed him to buy the four-acre property and expand.