G TO THE E!

Because wine, lager and trendy alcoholic beverages are cutting into parent company Diageo's sales of Guinness, the Guinness Brewery has produced a "mellower" Guinness called Brew 39, to be available in Dublin pubs for 6 months as part of their "Brewhouse Series". What will it taste like?

"Guinness has a burnt, chocolaty, slightly harsh quality," said Sheehy, at the St. James Gate headquarters of Guinness, near the River Liffey in Dublin. "We have given Brew 39 a smoother, clean taste . . . The new stout uses less roast unmalted barley, which gives Guinness its bitter taste and dry palette. Also, hops are added at the end of the process which also reduces bitterness on the tongue"

That was going to be my guess, that they'd alter the roasting process. I don't know, but it seems like every time they mess with Guinness, it usually fails. The public hasn't warmed up to their recent Guinness Extra Cold, and the last time I checked, they stopped making Guinness Gold, Guinness Light, and Guinness XXX Extra Strong Stout.

My question is: if they insist on making new versions of Guinness, why don't they just call it something else? Call it something trendy like "Black Bull", "Velvet Revolver" or "G to the E", and say it's brought to you by the Guinness Brewery. Why taint the Guinness name? This quote was spot on:

"The answer isn't to mess about with the product, but rather invest in marketing the traditional heritage of the product," said Gerard Rijk, a beverage analyst at ING Financial Markets in Amsterdam, who has a 'buy' rating on Diageo. "Versions with cherries aren't the answer."

Meh. As long as they still make "Guinness Classic", I'll be okay.