17 March: Guinness

On St Patrick’s Day, many of you may decide to enjoy a pint or two of Guinness. Here are 10 things you might not know about the brew:

1. It looks Black, and indeed is sometimes referred to as “the black stuff”. However, it’s not actually black at all. It’s a deep ruby Red, thanks to the roasted Barley in it. Hold your glass up to the light to see it.
2. There are official company guidelines on how to pour the perfect glass. First, take a Guinness branded glass which is cool, clean and dry. Hold it under the tap at 45 degrees. Fill the glass to between 15mm and 20mm from the top. Never put the tap spout into the Guinness. Leave it to settle for approx 119.5 seconds. Top up the glass by pushing the tap handle backwards until the head is just proud of the glass. Never let it overflow or use a spatula to level the head. Hand the pint to the consumer with a steady hand.
3. As well as Ireland, Guinness also owns breweries in Malaysia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. All the ingredients are locally sourced except for one, the Guinness extract, a secret mixture which is added to it wherever it comes from.
4. If you think Ireland is the number one consumer of Guinness, you’d be wrong. The country which consumes most of it is actually the UK. It’s also very popular in Africa, especially Nigeria, which some (but not all) of the sources I looked at claim also consumes more Guinness than Ireland.
5. The Guinness harp was one of the first trademarks in the British Isles, using a symbol of Ireland as a nod to its Irish roots. The harp was was officially registered in the trademark office in 1876. The same instrument appears on Ireland’s coat of arms, but it was much later when the Irish government wanted to register the harp as a state symbol under international trademark law, and they ran into problems because Guinness had already registered it. Eventually, the state and the brewery were reached a compromise: the harp on a bottle of Guinness would always face right, while in official use, the harp would always face left.
6. One of the Guinness advertising campaigns in Africa featured a superhero. His name was Michael Power, and he was a journalist who got his strength from drinking Guinness.
7. Another one was “Guinness is good for you”, which could have been influenced by a cavalry officer injured at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, who wrote: "When I was sufficiently recovered to be permitted to take some nourishment, I felt the most extraordinary desire for a glass of Guinness. It contributed more than anything else to the renewal of my strength.” While it’s true that a pint of Guinness has only 198 calories, compared to other beers which tend to be around 260 calories per pint, you won’t see that slogan any more because advertising an alcoholic beverage as having medical benefits is no longer legal.
8. Guinness mixed with Champagne is called a "Black Velvet". This cocktail has been around since 1861. After Prince Albert died, London was in mourning. Legend has it that a barman at Brook's Club came up with the mixture, explaining that even a glass of bubbly should be in mourning and dressed in black at such a sad time.
9. According to a 2000 study, an estimated 162,719 pints of Guinness are wasted every year due to facial hair. A drinker with a Beard or moustache will get .56 milliliters trapped in his facial hair with each sip. This assumes it takes 10 sips to finish a glass, and the estimated 92,370 UK Guinness consumers with facial hair drink an average of 180 pints each a year.
10. Arthur Guinness began his beer business in 1759 by renting a four-acre brewery at St. James’s Gate in Dublin. The original lease was for 9,000 years, so it wouldn’t expire until the year 10,759. It also included free access to water. The one time local authorities tried to make Arthur Guinness pay for his water, he’s said to have grabbed a pick-axe and waved it at them, swearing profusely, until they went away. Eventually, however, the lease was nullified when the company bought the brewery outright.

Character Birthdays

Sword Keeper, aka Daniel Moran, son of Harlequin and Columbine. His birth coincided with a visit to Earth of a dying alien whose planet had been destroyed and who was the last of a long line of keepers of an ancient powered sword. The alien was taken in by a group of women, one of whom was the pregnant Columbine. Lacking any of his race to continue the role of sword keeper, the alien gifted the sword to Daniel on his birth. He would be able to use it from the age of sixteen. Daniel’s parents hid the sword in their attic. Daniel discovered it at the age of 11, and waited with anticipation to be presented with it on his 16^th birthday. It wasn’t, as his parents thought it was too dangerous. Daniel, however, contrived to smuggle the sword out of the attic to school. He became the leader of Third Wave, comprising the superpowered students at his school, who played a part in rescuing Prime Minister’s daughter Yasmin Miller when she was kidnapped by Obsidian. The story is told in Obsidian’s Ark.

Tabitha Drake, a woman with psychic powers who is persuaded to help the police solve a serial killer case, partly by the victims appearing to her. She appears in Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan.

Clover, a member of the Earth Guard group of Superheroes from Infinitus. Being pulled through a wormhole to Earth gave her the powers of regeneration and super-fast reaction times. She does not yet appear in a published story.

Obsidian's Ark

Teenage years bring no end of problems. Daniel Moran's include getting hold of computer games his parents don't think he should have; a full blown crush on the beautiful Suki from Zorostan; maintaining his status as a prefect and getting his homework done. He must also keep from his parents and sister the fact that he is a superhero with a sword from another world.

Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.

Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?

When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?

Available from:

Amazon

Amazon Kindle

Death and Faxes

Several women have been found murdered - it looks like the work of a ruthless serial killer. Psychic medium Maggie Flynn is one of the resources DI Jamie Swan has come to value in such cases - but Maggie is dead, leaving him with only the telephone number of the woman she saw as her successor, her granddaughter, Tabitha Drake.

Tabitha, grief-stricken by Maggie's death and suffering a crisis of confidence in her ability, wants nothing to do with solving murder cases. She wants to hold on to her job and find Mr Right (not necessarily in that order); so when DI Swan first contacts her, she refuses to get involved.

The ghosts of the victims have other ideas. They are anxious for the killer to be caught and for names to be cleared - and they won't leave Tabitha alone. It isn't long before Tabitha is drawn in so deeply that her own life is on the line.

Paperback -  Amazon 

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle