Still, it's the Guinness that keeps barman Stephen Delany busy much of the night.
He's pouring to the exacting standards of McCutcheon and Winter, who want it to take as long as it's supposed to take, which is, officially, 119.5 seconds for the perfect pint. The first half is poured into a glass tilted at 45 degrees, a process that produces a tumult of nitrogen and carbon dioxide that has to be left sitting on the bar to settle. Then, the second part of the pour, up to the brim.
"You must wait until the head rises over the top, and that's when you start. And if you drink it when it's first risen, the head will stay with you all the way to the bottom of the glass," McCutcheon says.
"If you go into a pub in another country, and they just pour the Guinness straightaway . . . ," Winter says.
"Refuse that," interjects McCutcheon. "You never rush the Guinness. You let it settle. Tell the barman, 'Keep it high. No hurry.' There's one bar in Dublin where you can pour your own Guinness, but that is a waste of money for people who don't know what they're doing."
"You're paying, in essence, for a rotten Guinness. But it fools the Americans, because they're dumb," Winter says.
"What do they drink in California?" McCutcheon wants to know.
A lot of Mexican beer, they're told. Dos Equis. Corona.
The answer is delivered with a little note of defiance, daring them to scorn L.A. as much as they obviously do. "Nice and crisp and light. Refreshing when it's hot."
McCutcheon looks disgusted. "I would stop while you're ahead. Stop while you're ahead."
"What's the point?" Winter says. "You know?"
Guinness brewery workers, who are fighting layoffs, say they fear the move to a more automated new brewery will undermine the craftsmanship for which the beer has always been prized.
"It's going to have a huge impact on the heritage," said Sean Mackell, head of the brewery workers union. "We see Guinness as an iconic brand that should be produced by people who are committed to it. As opposed to a multinational company contracting things out and not having the same commitment to quality."
But Diageo officials point out that Guinness already is brewed in nearly 50 countries, its foreign extra stout prepared with top-secret feedstock transported from the mother ship in Dublin, where the basic components are kept under lock and key.
