Beer cans are not environmentally friendly so why not have cardboard cartons instead.-- gizmo, Feb 02 2002 (?) its not a bad idea at all http://www.woodfordes.co.uk/beerbox.htmin fact its baked [po, Feb 03 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004] how the widget works http://www.howstuff...com/question446.htmmmmm....creamy [mihali, Feb 05 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004] similar to tetrapak, then, why would these be un ecofreindly,rods?-- technobadger, Feb 02 2002 A cardboard carton will not maintain carbonation. Being American, I *must* have carbonated beer. But Unabubba's onto something with that carbonize-on-opening trick canned Guines has.-- snarfyguy, Feb 03 2002 It's hard enough to open a carton when you're sober. This is a very bad idea.-- pottedstu, Feb 03 2002 have to disagree, pot. see link; and there are cartons that come witha neat little opening plus pourer. You would have to be very drunk indeed, not to be able to open it and if you were that drunk perhaps it would be a kindness to prevent further imbibing.-- po, Feb 03 2002 The Guinness widget doesn't carbonate on opening, the beer is already carbonated. What it does is have an open space for some of the gas to come out of solution, then when the can is opened and the pressure released, it shoots out of the little hole and foams up the beer.
StarChaser, Guinness Drinker.-- StarChaser, Feb 03 2002 fattening though Star <grin> thanks for that explanation, its been bothering me since I first saw it.-- po, Feb 03 2002 Good grief, that's a relatively expensive carton.I've got some Harp lager in the fridge...-- thumbwax, Feb 03 2002 Mmmm... Guinness. (Can't be that fattening, po. I've been drinking it for years and I'm still a scrawny nine stone runt.)
Anyhoo, aren't beer cans just as recyclable as cardboard cartons? And wouldn't bottles be even more recyclable?-- Guy Fox, Feb 03 2002 the best imported Guinness is in a bottle. the best Guinness is in Ireland.-- po, Feb 03 2002 Lets just get beer on tap in all places. No need for containers. 'hot' 'cold' and 'beer' taps in kitchens across the globe. Beer fountains in parks and municiple places, - everyone carries their own cup or drinking horn at all times.
Its a bright future, its a BEER future!-- Zircon, Feb 03 2002 Beer taps in kitchens? Brew your own, and that one's baked.Widgets are evil (but then so is canned beer).angel, real ale drinker.-- angel, Feb 03 2002 No no no you missunderstandme.....I mean pipes under the ground that bring everyones favorite beverage from the brewery to your house. We could pay beer rates rather than water rates.
Mmmmm.......Beer tap.-- Zircon, Feb 03 2002 We have two kinds of Guinness in Canada, one is the widget can which is all right and the other is in a bottle, is contract brewed by Labatts and tastes like absolute shite.-- kingmango, Feb 03 2002 then its not Guinness, sorry-- po, Feb 03 2002 Well po, strictly speaking it is Guinness because the Guinness Co. in their wisdom allowed Labatts to use their name, thus endorsing the product as Guinness however shitty it may be.-- kingmango, Feb 03 2002 yuk-- po, Feb 03 2002 [Off Topic] Apparently (though I have some doubts to the validity of this piece of pub loredome) The reason that Guinness tastes so splendiferous in Ireland has something to do with the water used in the brewing process being filtered over peat. (filtered as in simply running over peat I think)
If it's true then I say produce peat fields for The masses in the UK. Back to the idea..... Cartons for beer, yes and no, I have enough trouble with cans a lot of the time, anything more flimsy and the beer spillage would be criminal. Maybe the cartons would work for spirits?
T_E_A : lover of Real Ales and Stouts the world over.-- The_Englishman_Abroad, Feb 04 2002 there has to be something magic about Guinness, because the bubbles go the wrong way-- po, Feb 04 2002 [Stachaser] Nearly, but not quite. In fact, the widghet traps a bubble of pressurised nitrogen, not CO2, which then expands on the pressure release to foam the beer. Some other draft beers have no widget, but they inject nitrogen into the can under pressure before it is sealed. I can't remember why it's N2, but I think its something to do with being less soluble than Co2 at low pressure, and being inert, it keeps the bitter better. (but this could be complete bollocks)-- goff, Feb 04 2002 po, It has got the densent gravity I can think of - maybe one of the EKU products surpasses it on that front - but not in taste.-- thumbwax, Feb 04 2002 Guinness has slightly less calories than your average pint of bitter. I saw the stats some while ago. I can't remember the exact details (probably because of all the Guinness that I've drunk in the meantime) but that one factual sticks in my mind. As po says, the Guinness served in Dublin pubs blows the socks off of any other Guinness that you're ever likely to taste. I have no idea why (and if you've ever seen the Liffy, you'll know that it can't be the river that's responsible). As for being environmentally friendly, just go down the pub, have a chat with some humans and get your beer from the draft tap. No cans, no bottles. Drinking beer at home is for sad people. -- DrBob, Feb 04 2002 Zircon: We already did at-home beer taps. Perhaps it was *your* idea?-- snarfyguy, Feb 05 2002 i remeber my first guinness, the widget fasinated me for hours. did i mention im 15 =) but i dont like the thought of trying to get beer out of a carton. once the rim gets wet it goes soggy. it isnt pleasent to drink from.-- i-Mer, Feb 05 2002 zircon, snarfyguy, i posted the idea for "running beer" in your house. it was deleted in my latest round of 'bakerykeeping.
see link for how the guiness widget really works.-- mihali, Feb 05 2002 The concept of beer in boxes is appealing to me for camping trips out in "Nature". I camp in a woodsy & beautiful location, not near a road or wide acess path. This is good, but carrying the bottles in full, and back out empty is quite a chore. I always dream of powdered beer on these occasions. It could be carbonated like an Alka Seltzer tab, just add water. Less packaging would make it super enviro friendly!-- C Monkey, Feb 05 2002 Erk! Sounds nasty!-- snarfyguy, Feb 06 2002 - pulling a bottled Heineken Imported special dark from the icechest -
I see plastic bottles in the grocery that say "beer" on the labels.-- reensure, Feb 06 2002 Goff: I said that. 'Carbonated' is a convienence word in this instance; Guinness actually uses a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Nobody would have understood 'nitrogenated'.
<Checks Guinness website> They've changed that since the widgets first came out. The original page said just what I did.-- StarChaser, Feb 08 2002 Baked many years ago here in t'north of England. Webster's did two pint tetrapaks of Pennine bitter for many years as carryouts. Of course, bitter is a lot less gaseous than lagered beers and travels better, if not always in a straight line twixt pub and home.-- revbucksatan, Feb 08 2002 I sometimes visit the "Real Ale Shop" which sells ale in plastic re-usable 4 pint jugs, hand pulled, which tastes far better than tinned beer, but usually has to be drunk within 24 hours - or so I am told. Maybe the freshness of ale in a carton is the limiting factor.?-- arora, Feb 08 2002 Where I come from there is a curious milky beer called iJuba. This is a very popular beer and is sold in cardboard cartons with a small hole in the lid. It is quite disgusting as the cartons tend to belch if left for too long. It is intentionally put in cardboard because of its volatility I think.-- Trodden, May 19 2003 //It is quite disgusting as the cartons tend to belch if left for too long.//Is that "belch" as in *belch*?-- thumbwax, May 19 2003 No, I think he means belch. JK Thumbwax, yeah you are correct.
Some of these endorsements are starting to sound like an Apple, switch commercial.
So I was just opening this beer bottle and it went "fwwooosh" all over me. I mean, like, yuck. It just went "fwwooosh." I had just printed out my report and now it was ruined. So I reprinted my report and I switched to iJuba. iJubas come in cartons so that means they are easier to open and they have a hole in them so they won't 'splode on me.
My name is Sartep and I'm a microbrewed rootbeer drinker (by day.)-- sartep, May 19 2003 random, halfbakery