beef, guinness and stilton pie

I have been cooking the filling for most of the day today. For hours it had a bitter taste from the Guinness, but after 6hours and being mixed with stilton it has mellowed.
I wasn't sure if the pastry would come out ok because it didn't go to breadcrumbs for some reason, so I just sqidged it all together into a ball and refrigerated it for a bit before rolling. It looks to have turned out ok though and tastes normal so why should you make it breadcrumbs anyway?