Guinness 0.0 Draught vs Big Drop Good Things Irish Stout

 

When Guinness had to recall their stout back at the end of 2020 Big Drop came out with an Irish stout of their own Good things.  At the time I said this was a very good stout and up there with the best alcohol free Stouts but how does it compare to the relaunched Guinness 0.0.

See my original Good things Review

First off this is just a bit of fun.  I obviously can't get a new can of the Good things stout as it is no longer made and the one I am using to is very close to its Best before so may no longer be the stout it originally was.

The Pour.

Due to the nitro the Guinness pours with a Lovely surge effect and forms a lovely creamy looking head.  

The Good things pours quite flat looking with a small head that disappears  very quickly.  Using my surge plate I could replicate the head although even then it dispersed quickly.

Winner: Guinness 0.0

Aroma

The Guinness has a nice roasted aroma with slight coffee notes.

The Aroma on the Good things has a much Rougher Aroma to it there is chocolate, coffee to go with the Roasted Aromas.  To be this is more of a traditional stout aroma Rough around the edges like a stout should be

Winner: Big Drop Good Things

Taste

Guinness 0.0 has that traditional Guinness taste with a nice smooth thick mouth feel there's a nice roasted malts tastes with hints of chocolate and coffee.  

Big Drop Good Things have a much rougher taste to it there's a lot more coffee flavors to it.  There's a  bit of smoothness that comes through almost like a milky taste.  What lets this one down when comparing it to the Guinness is the mouth feel it's very thin in comparison.  But the beer has great flavors.

This is a hard one to decide as to be honest these although both stouts these are 2 entirely different beers due to the nitro being used in The Guinness.  The Big drop is more along the lines of a Guinness original than Draught.   If I had to pick a winner it really comes down more to the mouth feel than the taste itself and goes to the Guinness.

Winner: Guinness 0.0

Conclusion

Both of these are great tasting stouts.  The Big drops only weakness is how thin it comes across.  I feel without going down the nitro route the mouth feel we are used to in Alcoholic stouts is very hard to replicate.   I am sure we are going to see many more stouts coming out from Alcohol free providers over the next few months now that we are getting to the later part of the year and a time more traditionally associated with stout drinking.  I am looking forward to this starting with Mash gangs Anxiety Saint  who themselves have gone down the nitro route so will be interesting to see how that compares in mouth feel to the Guinness.