# What's this thing floating in my Guinness? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977 "2003-07-16T20:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/1 "2003-07-16T20:31:35Z")
and what is it for? I bought a six pack of bottled Guinness a few days ago (I will be sticking to tap from now on-- this stuff shows little resemblance to the thick, earthy drink I find in bars) and inside each bottle is a piece of, I think, plastic. Why? Call me weird, but I don’t like finding things floating in my beer. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/2 "2003-07-16T20:35:15Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000526.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000526.html) ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/3 "2003-07-16T20:38:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Using brain cells that might have solved the third-world debt crisis, a couple engineering types invented a little plastic device, known in brewing circles as a “widget,” that’s placed in each can (not bottle) of Guinness Draught. When this article was written they did not have draught in a bottle. The device is similar for the bottle version. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/4 "2003-07-16T20:40:26Z")
If you are drinking Guinness Stout in a can or bottle, then you should have a very similar experience to the tap. The plastic is the “widget” that releases the nitrogen that makes your Guinees a draft even if it did not come out of a tap. The glass bottles of Guinness are Guiness EXTRA Stout, and it is a different beer. If you are drinking Guiness from a glass bottle, it ain’t like the draft…or draught if you will. [http://www.guinness.com/guinness/en\_US/knowing/pearls/faqs/0,6415,12687267\_126325,00.html](http://www.guinness.com/guinness/en_US/knowing/pearls/faqs/0,6415,12687267_126325,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/5 "2003-07-16T20:42:41Z")
(the plastic bottles are regular stout and have the widget…the glass bottles do not…just to clarify) ---
**Author:** ![chewbasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@chewbasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chewbasta)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/6 "2003-07-16T20:56:07Z")
The widget is good, smee thinks. Stirs up the carbo-laden breakfast. _Guiness is food_ (quoting a sign I saw in a Irish pub) of course 8oz minus the “widget” means you get screwed out of some hard earned and purchased alcomohol. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/7 "2003-07-16T20:57:25Z")
Well I’ve got a bottle of Guinness Draught-- says so right here painted on the bottle-- and it’s got a widget. And no, it is not the same experience _at all_. This is thin and watery and, I don’t know how to describe it-- much more lagery. Perhaps I should have gotten the stout instead. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/8 "2003-07-16T23:00:58Z")
[How Guinness Widgets Work](http://www.howstuffworks.com/question446.htm). Guinness Draught IS the Stout, but you have to open it and pour it properly to experience the elixir. My ex-wife had no sense of humor, but she made two or three funnies by accident. I weaned her off Bud Light and into Guinness Stout over three years, and she called it “Irish Slim-Fast”. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/9 "2003-07-16T23:36:13Z")
How did you know I was drinking it straight from the bottle **UncleBill**? If it’s as good as it is on tap when I pour it into a glass I may use a spoon. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/10 "2003-07-16T23:53:27Z")
Your description of the nectar as > [@](#): > > thin and watery and, I don’t know how to describe it-- much more lagery. showed me SOMETHING was wrong here. I’ve never had the Draught in the bottle (and likely won’t) but with the can, you followed the directions or got poor quality stuff. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/11 "2003-07-17T00:06:30Z")
The widgets have been around for several years, though only used by Guinness in cans until recently. I haven’t experienced a bottled “widget”, but the canned ones have always worked pretty well, as far as I’m concerned. Other UK / Irish makers have used “nitro” widgets in their beer, including some types other than stouts - Boddington’s, for instance. The only American brewer I know of which packaged a beer with a nitro-widget was microbrewer Pyramid. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/12 "2003-07-17T00:35:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > \*\*How did you know I was drinking it straight from the bottle **UncleBill**? If it’s as good as it is on tap when I pour it into a glass I may use a spoon. \*\* Oi vey! Guinness drank straight from the bottle? Gods be blessed, Biggirl has committed a heinous, evil sin. Let us pray. You shall be redeemed by saying 5 Hail Marys, 7 Our Fathers, and drinking 2 Guinness PROPERLY! Another Guinness rule…never drink one. A bird cannot fly on but one wing. Two is the minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/13 "2003-07-17T00:38:12Z")
> [@](#): > > How did you know I was drinking it straight from the bottle UncleBill? The bottle variety is supposed to “enjoyed” directly form the bottle. The widget is slightly different. There is definite difference in the flavor of the bottle vs. can variety. Do yourself a favor, get the cans or drink it from the tap. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/14 "2003-07-17T00:43:12Z")
Cite for drinking from the bottle: > [@](#): > > Now you can enjoy the perfect pint of GUINNESS® straight from the bottle - so there’s no need for a glass. Enjoy the authentic taste of GUINNESS® anytime, anywhere thanks to another clever little invention, the “rocket widget.” > > Once the bottle is opened, the “rocket widget” creates the famous surge and forms the signature creamy head right inside. Every time you take a drink from the bottle the “rocket widget” refreshes the surge so that you get the perfect pint taste with every sip. Ingenious. [http://www.guinness.com/guinness/en\_US/knowing/products/draughtInBottles/0,7517,12687267\_17451262,00.html](http://www.guinness.com/guinness/en_US/knowing/products/draughtInBottles/0,7517,12687267_17451262,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-this-thing-floating-in-my-guinness/188977/15 "2003-07-17T02:49:02Z")
Alas, there is no beautiful creamy head inside my bottle. Did that sound vaguely suggestive?