Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout

I've been hearing whispers in the wind about this one. "Anniversary edition of Guinness is coming!" And I have to say I wasn't as excited about this as some of my Guinness-loving friends were. 

 I like dark beer, but I really don't enjoy drinking regular Guinness. I find it to be burnt and bitter tasting - in a way that makes it less drinkable than I'd like it to be. I've tried several times to re-evaluate it, but I just don't love it, and there are a lot of local dark beers that I would order in its place at a bar any day. That being said, I was intrigued abut the idea of a "special" Guinness. Would it be maltier? Stronger? Sweeter? Would it make up for what I don't like about the regular version?

It pours lack with a light white head. I should say that I got this in bottles - not on tap - so it is carbonated with CO2 instead of nitrogen. It smelled like... well... an ale, frankly. Not like Guinness, not malty enough to smell very stout like. Where's that maltiness? Where's the toasted bread smell that makes Guinness famous?

The taste is a bit of a let down as well. It tastes more like a brown ale than a stout. That aside, it tastes like a good brown ale. It is thin and misses the mark on the level of malts in it. It is a drinkable beer, but doesn't live up to the epic fame of Guinness, and falls even shorter when it is supposed to represent a celebration, a special version of the infamous brew. 

I was hoping for more depth and complexity, and was let down. However, if you're looking for an above average brown ale/porter taste, and want something that will be pretty widely available (at least for a while) then this is your brew. 

Sorry, Guinness, I'm not impressed.