What’s a 60/40 Guinness, and Why Did it Spark Chaos Online?

In November, Palmerstown House Pub, situated on the outskirts of Dublin, posted an Instagram Reel to the account’s 3,000 or so followers. The opening shot is of a printout advertising a specialty Guinness pour.

“Try Our Sixty Forty,” it reads. “Full Flavor, Less Alcohol.”

The video goes on to show a bartender pulling Guinness 0.0 into a pint glass until it’s a bit more than half full, then topping it off with normal Guinness. He’s pouring a 60/40 Guinness, a diluted version of the dark stout where the name refers to the beverage’s ratio: 60 percent non-alcoholic Guinness, 40 percent OG Guinness. Altogether, the strength of a 60/40 Guinness comes in at around 1.7 percent ABV.

Quickly after Palmerstown posted the video, comments started flooding in. “Should be illegal,” one user said. “A load of nonsense” and “Get it away from me,” others chimed in. But some came to the drink’s defense: “I’ve asked for this in a few pubs and been looked at like I was a mentalist! Great to see you making it an actual thing,” a commenter said. At the time of publication, the video has amassed over 500,000 views, whereas the pub’s typical video averages a few thousand.

But the frenzy didn’t stop there. The custom pint started to trickle onto more bar menus, and a slew of social media users began sharing videos of their own attempts at trying the lower-ABV beer. Guinness 0.0 — the beer’s alcohol-free option — is shown on tap in the pubs’ videos, but at-home drinkers can also use Guinness 0, the non-alcoholic version. (Yes, there’s a difference.)

Though the first place that served the hybrid is unknown, Palmerston House Pub’s post was the one to popularize the less boozy beverage online, inciting mass chaos across social media platforms. The proliferation of the 60/40 Guinness across pubs and feeds caused a massive fissure between fans and foes of the hybrid, The Telegraph reports. Some Guinness drinkers, protective of their beloved beer, think it sacrilegious, whereas others appreciate the thinned-down option.

Despite the community-wide debate the drink brought about, a 60/40 Guinness isn’t all too different from a typical pint of the brew. The two-pronged pour of a pint of Guinness — resulting in its thick, frothy head — is a staple of the beer’s experience, which the 60/40 keeps intact. And as we found, Guinness 0 maintains the trademark flavor, just with a lighter mouthfeel.

As consumer preferences skew dry, more non-alcoholic brands are hitting the market. But moderate drinkers might seek dialed-back options of their favorite, average-strength drinks rather than entirely new, zero-proof versions. The 60/40 Guinness, a middle-ground beverage, seems to be geared to that batch of consumers, those who look for just a subtle boost of booze.

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