Have you ever wondered how a Guinness stout came by its creamy texture, and frothy white head atop a jet-black beverage? In the 1950s, a pioneering team of brewers at Guinness discovered the answer for a better stout on tap was… nitrogen.
British mathematician-turned-brewer Michael Ash is credited as the inventor of nitrogenated beer after he led a team that created a nitrogenated dispense system for Guinness stout. Despite the doubters at the time, Ash was convinced that nitrogen could revolutionise the way Guinness was drafted, and by 1959 he came up with a new way to draft beer with nitrogen for the Dublin, Ireland-based brewer.
When infused into beer, nitrogen bubbles are smaller and livelier than carbon dioxide (CO2) and the result is a smoother feel to the drink. It was finally released in Ireland in 1964 with the launch of nitrogen-infused Guinness™ Draught, which became the most popular of all Guinness beers.
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