Some things I feel we do worse now than in the past; however, the Great British sausage isn't one of them. Indeed, there has been a marked increase in quality over recent times with a number of new premium brands becoming widely available. Admittedly, with a superb local butchers at hand I rarely feel compelled to indulge in other offerings; however, yesterday I was swayed by a Guinness sausage from the family-run Irish company, Loughnane's.
I don't know if other Loughnane's products have been on my supermarket's shelves before but, if they have been, I've never really fully registered the brand. That said, in a testament to packaging design, this product's smart employment of the Guinness branding did a fabulous job at gaining my attention as I wandered the aisle. Indeed, the trademark black and white Guinness aesthetic along with the gold picked out of the drink's classic harp logo, created a nicely differentiated presentation on shelf. Moreover, with the design not overly cluttered and the aforementioned Guinness branding incorporated consistently, the offering's valuable tie-in was clearly identifiable from a relatively good distance away in store.
Getting the sausages out of the packet I did like seeing all the green flecks of leek suggesting the brand had used a healthy dose of the ingredient. Moreover, I thought the sausages were a decent size, not too big nor too small, and, once cooked, presented well on the plate alongside the classic mash and veg.
Moving on to the taste, I firstly have to say my expectations weren't great as I've tasted other beer-based foodstuffs before and been left wondering what, if anything, the drink added. That said, I dug in to these sausages and I'll say right now that I was pretty excited by what I tasted.
Whilst I don't think I would have been clever enough to attribute the flavour precisely to Guinness in a blind test taste, I have to say the stout's character was delightfully noticeable. Of course, the natural sweetness of the leeks came through but, moving past that, there was a fabulous depth of character to this offering. Personally, I thought a malty flavour was evident along with a hint of the drink's bitter, earthy quality. In any case, what I do know for sure was that this offering was an unexpected yet delightful taste experience which more than intrigued the palate.
Overall, the packaging was spot on with the Guinness branding delivering an eye-catching design. Moreover, the sausages were superb with the drink's depth of character actually coming through. My hat is well and truly off to Loughnane's on this one - I'll be stocking up and looking forward to other products from them.
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