Friday, March 13, 2015

I've been a wild rover for many a year, & I've spent all my money on whiskey & beer...

Okay guys, let's get down to business. Enough of the fluff and the pretty feminine posts about makeup or whatever. Let's do something serious. I want to talk about beer.

But not just any beer, one in particular. Not deliciously smooth Stella Artois, not aggressively crisp Heineken... no. I'm talking about the wonderfully bold beast...
You guessed it, the ever so dark and rich Guinness. And no, this isn't just about St. Patrick's Day coming up (Tuesday, March 17th, for anyone who may not remember), it's also because there are real benefits to drinking this glorious beer. Actually, there are. I've looked them up. Don't believe me? READ ON, MY FRIENDS, READ ON.

Let's start with a brief history of Guinness. In 1725, Arthur Guinness was born in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. His godfather was Rev. Arthur Price, who, in 1752, passed away and left Arthur Guinness £100 (which is under $200 CAD), and three years from that, he set up his business as a brewer a short distance outside of Dublin. In 1759, Arthur signed a 9,000-year lease on a disused, four acre brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin, which is where he began to brew porters and ales. In 1769 was when Guinness was finally exported for the first time to England. Due to the popularity of Guinness, in 1799 Arthur decided to focus solely on brewing porters, and discontinued brewing ales. In 1803, Arthur Guinness died, and that's when his son, Arthur Guinness II inherited the brewery. Though Guinness was shipped to many other countries before this time, in 1840 is when a shipment finally made it's way out to New York.

And there you have it. The rest is history (hah...). Now moving on...

Why on Earth would Guinness be good for you? Some may ask. Just simmer down, I've done my research, you have nothing to worry about from here on out.

I was at work one day, just having a chat with my boss, and the topic of how I'm low on iron came up and he said "Doctors told my mother, who was also low on iron, that she should drink a Guinness a day. It's especially good for women who are low on iron to drink a Guinness a day." Don't get me wrong, if I had more money, I wouldn't hesitate. It would happen.

But it got me to thinking, is this legitimate? Yes and no. In the 1920's, Guinness came out with a slogan that said "Guinness is good for you!", which was based on market research that found that people would just feel better after drinking a pint. Well obviously...
It was later discovered that another reason for the ad campaign was that Guinness contained iron. Apparently pregnant women were even encouraged to indulge in a pint occasionally. To actually reap the iron benefits of this porter, one would have to drink approximately 12 pints a day, and therefore the alcohol and calories (only 210 in a 20-ounce pint) in a pint would cause more harm before the iron had any effect. But like, I wouldn't complain....

The actual health benefit of Guinness is similar to that of red wine. It is high in antioxidant compounds called flavonoids, just like red wine, tea and chocolate. These can reduce the risk of blood clotting, which in turn reduces the risks of heart attacks. (I'm thinking though if you went with the 12 pints a day, it's not the heart attacks you'd have to worry about.)

FUN FACT: In 2003, researchers at the University of Wisconsin performed a laboratory test on dogs who had clogged arteries. They were comparing the effects of Guinness, a dark porter, and Heineken, a pale lager. (Both are great, though.) Only the dogs fed Guinness were found to be the ones with reduced clotting.

So ladies (and gentlemen, too), give the wondrous Guinness a stab. I promise you won't be disappointed. (Unless you already don't like it, in that case I don't get you.) And what better day to begin drinking it than St. Patrick's Day? This Tuesday. Do it. Drink Guinness.

Or bake with it! There are so many Guinness cakes and cookies and brownies that can be made, as well as Guinness stews (it is Irish, after all).


AND ALWAYS REMEMBER....



So like where did my research come from? I'll tell you:
History of Guinness - http://www.guinness.com/en-ca/thestory.html#
Health Benefits of Guinness - http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-guinness-really-good-for-you-54943899/?no-ist

1 comment:

  1. I was in Germany in December and I had the best beer of my life!!

    ReplyDelete