Has anyone ever heard this story before?
When Guiness was first making their beer, of course, it was a success. One day, the health inspector came around and asked them to drain their vats to do an inspection. At the bottom of the vats, they found many dead rats. Guiness removed the rats and continued production. All of a sudden, the beer tasted horrible. Guiness came to the conclusion that it was the rats that gave the beer such a desireable taste, but the health inspector wouldn’t allow it, so they bought pieces of meat and threw those into the vats, and that is what makes Guiness what it is today.
Guiness isn’t my favorite beer, but I do have a pint of it once in a while. You can find this story posted in several places on the web, but I’ve been unsuccessful in substantiating it…