It just wasn’t fair. For months, I had been seeing all of these great pictures of beers from The Guinness Brewers Project, a collection of three classic Guinness beers resurrected for today’s craft beer drinkers. They included Guinness Original, Guinness Dublin Porter, and Guinness West Indies Porter, the beer I’m here to tell you about today.
Try as I might, though, I couldn’t find them. Folks talked of finding them at Total Wine and Costco; numerous trips to both of those retailers here left me coming up empty. Again and again. Then fate intervened and sent me on a business trip to Charlotte. Knowing I would be passing through Greeneville, South Carolina, I checked the Total Wine website and, sure enough, they had these in stock when I stopped there. I bought one of the last two in the store, but the important thing was I got one.
Today, I’m here to tell you about the last of the three beers in the 18-pack I enjoyed: Guinness Dublin Porter. This is a smooth, delightful treat that is easy drinking and well-suited to sessioning over an afternoon. Guinness says about it on their website:
Sip Dublin Porter and you’re sampling Guinness history. Light but well rounded. Sweet and smooth. Just bitter enough. This is a beer inspired by an archival recipe from our brewers’ diaries, dating back to 1796. Mastered then, perfected now: fewer hops are used and the maturation process is shorter, resulting in a malt-caramel finish that’s easy and satisfying drinking, whichever century you’re in.
Guinness Dublin Porter has an alcohol content of 3.8% by volume and is hopped with Goldings and Yakima hops from the USA. I paid $23.99 for my 18-pack.
Guinness Dublin Porter pours to a dark brownish black (not opaque) color with a thick creamy head of tan foam and an alluring nose of soft roasted malts and licorice. Taking a sip, the beer is thinner in body than most Guinness beers, but this is a low strength beer, a brown porter, and it certainly still has plenty of body to satisfy. There’s a big, wonderful roastiness here and a hint of licorice that carry the beer into the bitter roasty finish. The roasted character is the star here, but the beer is still smooth and eminently drinkable.
I enjoyed this beer with a few pieces of Guinness Luxury Dark Chocolate from Ireland’s Lir Chocolates. I picked this up at The Corner Shop and Grocery on the Marietta square, where they specialize in treats from the British Isles. The chocolate is smooth and creamy, dark and delicious, really just like a glass of Guinness. It has the subtle taste and aroma of Guinness, mostly as you first pop a piece into your mouth. It even has a little alcohol, .5% alcohol by volume. It paired wonderfully with the beer.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler