This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. Each post this month will be associated with a letter of the alphabet with the theme ‘Food Memories‘.
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Strange fact about Guinness (to me): 40% of the brew is consumed somewhere in Africa.
I remember my first Guinness, I do.
It was my 32nd birthday, I was in Houston, staying with my sister and her family since before Christmas, through the New Year and deep into January.
I was happy to go to Denny’s for my birthday and have their all-day breakfast and unlimited coffee, but my sister insisted we do a proper dinner. (Sadly, the name of the restaurant eludes me and we didn’t have the myriad of social media apps we have today to immortalise the occasion).
We arrived at a gastrobar that night, and my sister ordered a flight of beers, to start the night off. There were five small glasses filled with a variety of beers, and one of them was Guinness. I tried all the others and saved the dark (red, not black apparently) liquid for last. I took my first sip carefully, not sure what I’ll taste.
My first sip became my last sip. It tasted strongly medicinal and errr…filling. One sip felt like I was having half a glass. It truly was an acquired taste that I wasn’t interested in acquiring at the time. I passed the rest of my Guinness to my brother-in-law, who threw it back in one swoop.
Since then, I’ve tried Guinness a few more times and am not so repelled, I can even manage a whole pint, though with difficulty. Sometimes I think I’m drinking liquid Bovril (Marmite, if you’re familiar with that instead). But the experience of having my first Guinness, well, it’s burned in my brain.
Do you like/ detest Guinness?
WORDS from SONOBE 