The Bar Towel

rejtable wrote:I would assume that Diageo has economies of scale that a brewer of many, many magnitudes smaller can't match.

I wonder how it works with Mill Street using the can? I swear I read or saw somewhere on TV that Diageo owns the patent on the nitrogen can widget. So I wonder if they just sell the cans to anyone or if Mill Street has to pay some kind of licensing fee.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

rejtable wrote:I would assume that Diageo has economies of scale that a brewer of many, many magnitudes smaller can't match.

I wonder how it works with Mill Street using the can? I swear I read or saw somewhere on TV that Diageo owns the patent on the nitrogen can widget. So I wonder if they just sell the cans to anyone or if Mill Street has to pay some kind of licensing fee.

As far as I can tell, the widget in this can is different than the one in Guinness cans (though I haven't had a Guinness in years, so maybe that's changed). I recall the Guinness widget to be a free floating plastic ball kind if thing, but from what I can tell looking into the mouth of the empty Mill St. can is that there is some kind of device at the bottom inside of the can that is flat and disc shaped. I could very well be wrong, but perhaps there are different kinds of widgets and Guinness owns the patent to one? Total conjecture here, no real facts to back this up, but maybe that's something?

I just rummaged through some cans I have around. Guinness, Kilkenny, Murphy's and Boddington's all use a free-floating widget. Tetley's uses the disc thing that is stuck to the bottom. Though, that doesn't tell you who owns what patent, Diageo may own both. All those cans are made by Ball, if that helps (they all have the logo).

Just picked this up at Summerhill tonight. Nice pour with the cascading effect. Very smooth. Just peeked in the can - plastic disk at the bottom - but I am pretty sure they "induce" / charge the beer by adding the nitro into it. Tastes great!

I spoke with Steve from Mill Street about this at Cask Days today, and he confirmed that the cans are imported from the UK, and use the same disc-style widget as Caffrey's.

He also said that their Holiday Mixed Pack will be out next week, and will include Doppel Pils and Paradise IPA as one-offs alongside Cobblestone, Tankhouse, Organic Lager and Stock Ale.

The Spring pack will be going back to the 3-and-3 format of the Oktoberfest/Pumpkin pack - he mentioned a couple of beers they're thinking of including, but it sounded like it's not 100% confirmed, so I'll hold off on mentioning them just in case.

Had a few cans tonight. Decent alternative but I think I still prefer Guiness.

Just tried my first can. delicious flavour but I just don't care for the widget. There is a nice head but the beer is flat. Also, I opened the can at the dinner table and it gushed foam all over. Luckily I got it over my still empty plate right away and it didn't make too much mess.

If it had foamed all over a plate full of roast chicken even the yumminess of the beer wouldn't keep me for posting something nasty!

I've never had a widget can do this before. Anyone else experience this ( with Cobblestone or anything else ) ?

Oh yeah, certainly. Very likely to happen if they are not cold enough, for instance. In the case of Cobblestone, there seems to be something else going on though. Mine foamed excessively too, even though well chilled.

I've often had rotten luck with widget cans from many brewers foaming over. If they've become even slightly shaken by travel in the last few hours, it's always a gusher.

The wife had a Cobblestone tonight, and it didn't gush at all. Let out a pretty strong "fssssss" when opened, but didn't foam up, and poured very nicely.

Might be that it was pretty cold - I stuck it in the freezer to chill, and left it in a bit longer than planned. Maybe it just needs to be nice and cold to pour well.

toweringpine wrote:Just tried my first can. delicious flavour but I just don't care for the widget. There is a nice head but the beer is flat. Also, I opened the can at the dinner table and it gushed foam all over. Luckily I got it over my still empty plate right away and it didn't make too much mess.

If it had foamed all over a plate full of roast chicken even the yumminess of the beer wouldn't keep me for posting something nasty!

I've never had a widget can do this before. Anyone else experience this ( with Cobblestone or anything else ) ?

Perhaps you were so excited to try it that your hand was shaking a little with the can in it.

GregClow wrote:Might be that it was pretty cold - I stuck it in the freezer to chill, and left it in a bit longer than planned. Maybe it just needs to be nice and cold to pour well.

If you watch the video that Mill Street posted on Facebook about Cobblestone Stout cans they say it should be served cold, or at least opened straight out of the fridge.

I've had 3 cans of Cobblestone now and each and every one has overflowed after the nitro release. This happened even with cans that were in a cold fridge for hours. It's enough to make me give up buying it.

Didn't the guys at Mill St. test these out beforehand? I'm sure they were aware of the issue as I'm not the only one who's had this problem.

Sure as hell glad I didn't buy one of the 12 can packs.

I've only had 1 can, but it gushed all over the place too

Even Guinness, Tetleys, and Boddingtons have gushed for me in the past. It just seems more frequent with the Cobblestone.

Not a dealbreaker though - I just open it over the sink.