Comment on Beer tastes somewhat like piss because it's processed through fish bladders.
humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
I once had an old timer in an Ireland pub tell me ‘the Guinness isn’t as good as it used be since they stopped using the fish guts.’ I can now imagine he was referencing this process? I wonder if Guinness stopped using this step as a cost reduction? Or maybe they still use it and he was just an old timer in an Irish pub. He probably doesn’t like people fact checking him on the internet so I’ll just let him have this one.
bryndos@fedia.io 1 week ago
I think many brewers use agar now which comes from seaweed or something. Prices in homebrew shops seem similar to isinglass. I'd guess the agar price in bulk may be more stable with less dependency on fish stocks.
I don't notice any difference in taste. The isinglass/agar is just for clarifying, it's not in the final product in more than trace amounts. But any type of clarifying can change taste based on what and how much flavour it removes.
I never noticed the difference personally. guiness has never been a very flavorful stout anyway though, it's more about the creaminess and that its available when there's nothing other than lager.
Lots of trendy modern ales go 'unfined' (cloudy) to preserve all flavours.