It's In The Can! - Guinness Draught vs Connor's Draught taste test

It's always the way. You wait around for ages for a draught stout to be available in cans, and then two turn up at once! 

So, we thought we'd stack the newly relaunched Guinness Draught In Cans up against it's only real rival, the not much older, Connor's Draught In Cans. 

Both of these beers have, of course, been around in the bars of Malaysia for some time being favourites in Heineken (Guinness) and Carlsberg (Connor's) stocked bars. But to have them available on the shelves of our stores to be enjoyed in the comfort of our own home is a new experience. (Apart from a brief promo campaign for Guinness Draught in 2017). 

Having being available on the market for a year now, Connor's is much easier to find, available across the country in convenience stores and supermarkets. Guinness is slightly more difficult to find, having only been relaunched in the last couple of weeks, however you should be able to find it in many 7Elevens across the Klang Valley and a growing number of Jaya Grocer supermarkets. The plan is for it to be available as widely as other Heineken products as soon as possible. 

Price wise, there's a slight difference between the two beers. I'll ignore 7Eleven for now as they tend to be a bit more expensive as a late night convenience store. In Jaya Grocer you can currently buy the 500ml cans of Connor's for RM12.50 per can. Other stores do tend to retail it at closer to RM15, so best to shop around. You can also get it in 4 packs and 24 packs, which should be cheaper per can. And it can be found in single, 4 and 24 can packs at 330ml too.

Guinness is currently retailing in Jaya Grocer for RM14.50 for A 440ml can. Whether this is an introductory promo price, it's difficult to know. I would like to see it closer to RM12.50 per can, which was the price point of the promo back in 2017, but the extra cost is understandable as it's an imported beer.

Unlike Connor's, which is brewed locally by Carlsberg Malaysia, Guinness Draught in Cans is brewed in Ireland. (Although the kegged draught you find in bars is brewed locally by Heineken Malaysia). The truth is, wherever you may find a can of draught Guinness in this big old world, it will have been produced in Dublin, no matter how many local brewers may be producing the beer for bars. This is  down to the widget; the little ball of nitrogen in each can which causes the famous surge effect when the beer is poured. Guinness HQ seemingly don't have a solution for producing the widget in their global breweries, so stick with production in Ireland for now.

Being an imported beer, there are prohibitive tax and duties placed upon it by the Government which are eventually passed onto the customer, making that extra RM2 per (slightly smaller) can, understandable. Basically it's all the Widget's fault.

Connor's, of course, don't use a Widget to produce the "surge" so can sit on the shelves looking all smug and slightly cheaper. Of course, Guinness can point to hundreds of years of history, decades of Widget Wizardry and a much more premium brand name, which Heineken Malaysia will hope is enough to make people forget about the two ringgit difference.

The aim of both these stouts is to end up with a black beer and pale creamy head, like the picture on the left. But to get to that point, both go through "The Surge", whereby the nitrogen in the beer is released and when poured a caramel coloured cloud of tiny nitro bubbles swirls around the glass before settling into a white head above a dark stout.

How these two beers achieve this surge is satisfyingly different. As stated, Guinness use a Widget; a plastic ball with holes in it. As the beer is canned nitrogen gas is pumped in, which, when the can is sealed, is then forced into the widget under pressure. With the can closed the pressure inside keeps the ball intact, but when opened and the pressure released, the widget releases the nitrogen at speed causing tiny nitro bubbles to run riot through the beer. 

Although Guinness are the most famous proponents, and original inventors of, widget technology, other brands now use it in their cans, especially if their beer is marketed as "Draught" or "Smooth". John Smiths and Boddingtons most notably. 

Some brewers don't bother with the widget and just inject the beer with nitrogen during canning, which still creates the tiny bubbles required for that "smooth" finish, but without the characteristic "surge".

Connor's take unique approach to their beer, however. Dispensing with the widget, they still inject the beer with nitrogen but then ask you to shake the can before opening. This awakens the nitrogen in much the same way a widget would and you can feel the can "tighten" in your hand as you shake. Just two or three seconds is required. 

You may feel a tad nervous about opening the beer after this vigorous and unreasonable behaviour, but all is safe. A small amount of beer will more than likely foam onto your fingertips, but anyone that's opened a can of draught Guinness knows that a widget causes the same thing.

Why the Connor's doesn't explode out of the can like a normal beer would, I'm not exactly certain. At a guess I would say the beer is probably under carbonated slightly during production and before canning. But fear not, the forced nitrogen, awakened by good old fashioned elbow grease, means that you don't notice any difference as you drink and stouts tend to be less carbonated than lagers or IPAs anyway.

So, although they utilise different methods, the two beers pour in a very similar fashion with the expected results. But are there any other differences? Only small ones.

Whilst we're all used to the smooth, uniform finish on the head of a pint of Guinness, as those microscopic nitro bubbles form a creamy foam, the head on a Connor's can be slightly less picture perfect. The problem is, while it may be carbonated less than it could be, it's still a carbonated drink and if you shake such a drink the CO2 will do what CO2 does. This results in the occasional bigger bubble in an otherwise nitro-tastic smooth finish. To be honest, it's not a great issue, just a result of the process they have chosen. And if you head to the pub for a Connor's the beer will pour just as smoothly as its Irish counterpart.

Otherwise, the only difference between the two once poured is that the Connor's has a slightly darker head. And honestly, you would only notice that if you put it up against a Guinness for comparison. 

The real differences between the two start to emerge as you take in the aroma. Guinness isn't noted for its strong aroma. There are subtle, sweet, toasty notes, but nothing to awaken the senses before you drink. This could just be the beer, or perhaps a consequence of that famous, thick and creamy head. 

Connor's, however, has a much more upfront aroma of coffee and roasted barley. These things are, of course, all relative and if you put Connor's up against any number of craft brews, you'd think that the aroma is actually quite slight. But in a Malaysian bar that serves only locally brewed beer, the Connor's would have far and away the strongest aroma. And it's quite an appealing smell too.

But let's face it. The main question is how do they compare in taste? I talked to a few friends about the comparison in advance of pitting the two together and it's fair to say most thought Guinness would win easily in any taste test. 

"The Burnt malty taste of the Guinness will make it the winner", said one. 

"Guinness will just have stronger flavours", said another.

"Connors will be too thin in comparison", was another common opinion.

A mixture of brand loyalty, marketing hype and bias against the new boy, perhaps. But how did it play out?

I'll admit that we did try a blind taste test at first to see if we could pick the better one without knowing which was which, but this proved a pointless exercise. I've just drank far too much Guinness in my time. After 30 plus years of the black stuff it's going to take a much larger field of competitors for it to hide away without me spotting it on first taste. The familiarity wasn't helped by the big difference in aroma between the two, which rendered the blind test irrelevant almost immediately.

So, we did a straight taste test instead and it's fair to say that one of the beers certainly had a more robust flavour profile. While they both shared the toasty, roasted barley palate, the much stronger coffee, chocolate and malty notes of the Connor's shone through. The person who claimed that the "burnt" taste of the Guinness would be unbeatable obviously hadn't tried one against the other, because in direct comparison, only one had that burnt taste and it wasn't Irish.

But it wasn't all a one way street. The thing is, there aren't many direct competitors to Guinness in general and, in fact, I believe (though I could be wrong) that Connor's is the only other mass produced, "Big Beer" canned, nitro stout on the market globally. (Yay Malaysia!). So it's only when you put Guinness up against a rival like this that you notice just how smooth, creamy and delicately luxurious it is in comparison. The beauty of Guinness is not in the aroma, or even the taste (sorry, Guinness, that's hardly a recommendation). It's actually in the feel... That silken texture is normally only found in something like a double chocolate stout from some tiny craft brewer that costs three times the amount. No other mass produced beer comes close.

So is there a winner? Well, no. And really, there shouldn't be, because it's a bit of a weird fight anyway. They are two massively different beers that are almost interchangeable. There are huge similarities between the two, and yet you can tell them apart straight away. If you walk into the wrong pub and ask for one, but are presented with the other... you probably won't mind. But when you walk into a shop and see them both on the shelf, you'll somehow have to choose between them. Confusing, huh?

People with loyalty to a legendary brand like Guinness are unlikely to be swayed. Others with a penchant for coffee or those that lean towards a local underdog (err... a Carlsberg beer an underdog?) will probably choose Connor's. 

Me? I'm just happy they both exist.

You can read my original review/history lesson of Connor's Draught in cans here and my story on the relaunch of Guinness Draught In Cans here.