The Guinness 60/40 trend: sacrilegious or genius?
As the festive season approaches, pubs are offering a 60/40 blend of Guinness 0.0 and Guinness original stout for a lower alcohol pint, but punters are torn. Is it marketing catnip or an insult to the black stuff?
In a bid to lure customers through pub doors in the lead up to Christmas, some publicans are embracing a new marketing ploy aimed at encouraging young adults to order a pint of mid-strength Guinness.
The Guinness 60/40 trend combines alcohol-free Guinness 0.0 with traditional Guinness to offer a lighter pint for drinkers who do not want to forgo booze altogether. The 60/40 concoction honours the traditional two-stage pour, with Guinness 0.0 poured first, and it has been claimed that the blend lowers the ABV of a pint of Guinness from 4.2% ABV to 1.7%.
Among the first to offer the hybrid pint was the Palmerstown House Pub in Dublin, who described it on social media as having “all of the Guinness character, just a little lighter!”
The immediate reaction was divided, with those firmly in the no-camp accusing the blend of being “sacrilegious” and claiming it “should be illegal.” One follower commented: “Nah. I’ll just have four decent pints instead of 10 pints of p***.”
However, plenty of consumers seem ready to embrace the Franken-pint, with one drinker writing: “Here we go again, the f*****g “I don’t want it, so no one else should be allowed to choose to have it. The world should cater to me only, if I like it others may partake!” brigade are out in force.”
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“Absolutely sacrilegious”
Posting to his 160,000+ followers, Darrah Conan, known as The Guinness Guru, wrote: “If you want to go out and have 10 pints and only feel like you’ve had four, fair play…The quick reaction from people will always be this is absolutely sacrilegious, this should be illegal. Is it ruining the classic pint of Guinness? Maybe it is, but just don’t order it.”
At the time of writing, a live poll at the metro is displaying 52% in favour of trying Guinness 60/40, with 48% saying they wouldn’t give it a go.
Data from charity Drinkaware, published in October 2025, reveals that 44% of young adults are actively choosing to moderate their drinking by including low and no-alcohol drinks in their night. Guinness 0.0 has proved an exceptionally popular option in this category, so much so that last year Guinness owner Diageo announced it would plough an additional €30 million into almost doubling the production of its alcohol-free product to 176 million pints per year.
Aidan Crowe, beer operations director, Diageo, said: “It will allow us to meet the ever-growing demand from consumers as they move towards moderation and look for more choice.”
The founding family of the Irish stout brand was propelled onto the red carpet earlier this year with the Netflix release of House of Guinness. The drinks business took a look at all the alcoholic beverages referenced in the series, which offer a historic overview of the drinks landscape at the time, from fine wine to local spirits.
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