The point of my earlier post was that it was prescribed for anaemia because it was thought to contain iron. In fact it doesn't contain any more iron than any other beer ie. very little. But why did they think that? Maybe it was the flavour from highly roasted malts.
When my mother was admitted to the QE Hospital in Birmingham for the birth of me and my twin brother (we each weighed over 7 lbs) she was given a bottle of Guinness every day.
There is Guiness Extra and Guinness Foreign Extra, I like both but prefer the GFE . All I know about the difference is the GFE is stronger.
Just having a pint of my (well, Rob's Recipes) Twisted Stout and it made me think of your post. It's much improved since last I supped it and the "metallic" taste rounded out in the conditioning. While I've never tasted Stringer's Dry, I must say this is a lovely pint- all praise to Rob, I didn't design it, only brewed it. I will say that it's very disappointing until it's properly conditioned, and then it's a revelation. If you want to give it a go and can't find the recipe, it's here:
I've never drunk it in Malaysia, but I recall that Guinness in Malaysia was widely advertised as a woman's drink. I once pinched an advertising poster of an extremely dishy girl (Malay, I think) holding a glass of Guinness; I think I've still got it somewhere. Women seem to have different taste appreciations from men, so I wonder if the Guinness on sale there could have been a special brew designed for and aimed specifically at women.
As I mentioned, in Indonesia the women drank Guinness (imported from Ireland) I think they were of the belief that it was also full of iron and good for them, (they were women of the night) They frown on drinking by women in the Muslim countries.
Have you tries the Guinness Foreign Extra Stout brewed under licence in Nigeria? A very interesting pint brewed with sorghum, I believe, and weighing in at 7.5% abv. It used to be available in Tesco looking just like ordinary Guiness with a tiny red "imported" tag on the label.
I know, that's why I mentioned it and that I think she (the model) was Malay. She looked more Malay than Indian/Sri Lankan or Chinese. It struck me as somewhat improbable at first, but granted that she was a professional model and someone was willing to pay her a professional modelling fee, why not? - maybe she was at the forefront of a liberation movement.
Malay and Indonesia are pretty much the same, same religious beliefs,language, culture. When I was last in Malaysia it was one of the dearest places to go into a bar, the government taxed alcohol and cigarettes highly, but go into a supermarket and it was as cheap as. Guinness and all the other stouts are known as bir hitam (black beer) the ladies of the night probably thought, well I am sinning against Allah with my work, in for a penny in for a pound may as well enjoy a drink, probably a few ciggies as well.
