Guinness is good for you



Okay, a day late for Saint Pat's Day, but loved this article where scientists have proved that in some beers the bubbles do indeed flow downwards. It had been thought this may be an optical illusion, especially given the fact the people who reported observing this bizarre phenomena were all utterly pissed at the time. In some groundbreaking research the cause of scientific knowledge was furthered once more as state-of-the-art digital camera technology found that the bubbles did flow down as well as up and the effect was most marked in heavy ales, stouts and, naturally Guinness.



I recall introducing my dear friend from Michigan, Jan, to Guinness (and Caley 80 shilling and many other fine ales). I told her to watch the waves of bubbles undulating sensously in the Guinness as it slowly settled and told her in a couple of minutes it would magically settle into clear-cut jet-black and white pint. She was most impressed by this Celtic alchemy and more impressed by the beer itself and sought it out on a later visit to Dublin (that's my girl, she was well-trained). My non-beer drinking chum Stephanie in Florida however had to have the concept of Guinness explained to her. When the World Cup was on in the US a few years back one of the Eire games was in Orlando. Steph noticed some of her local pubs had put up lots of green like Saint Pat's Day and were now serving some 'weird beer and this shit was like, black!'. Naturally I used my cosmopolitan knowledge to explain to her what she had just seen.