Sir, – I enjoyed Frank McNally’s Irishman’s Diary April 10th and the many letters from readers sharing their experiences and enlightening me on the creamy sediment that I remember from bottles years ago that I began to think I imagined. Bottles then always seemed to taste better, and had more “bite” and a deeper flavour compared to those of today; my Dad never permitted them served chilled.
There was an independent bottler in Belfast called Morton’s who were renowned for their pint bottles of “Red Heart” bottled Guinness.
There was always great debate that it tasted better than the Guinness offering; some folk would only ever order it.
Like many old brands, it disappeared years ago, as Guinness took control of the end-to-end process, so present-day evaluation is now impossible.
Your top stories on Friday: Warnings issued as Storm Bert set to batter Ireland; the false election promises being made to under-40s
Johnny Watterson: Conor Niland’s The Racket is a seminal book in the sports genre
Ballsbridge mews formerly home to Irish musician for €1.95m
‘I could have gone to California. At this rate, I probably would have raised about half a billion dollars’
As a Guinness drinker for well over 40 years, absolutely nothing comes close to it in my book. – Yours, etc,
CRAIG DOUGLAS,
Belfast.