Guinness first found it’s way to America on October 16, 1817. It hit the shores of South Carolina as a special edition brewed by Benjamin Guinness, the grandson of the brewery founder Arthur Guinness. It wasn’t just any Guinness, though, it was the first to use a new roasted grain called Black Patent Malt.
From that day on, Guinness and America have had a special connection, and now the brewery is celebrating with a new beer just for America: Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout.
The new beer is inspired by the first Guinness to make it to the country. It has the Black Patent Malt and the same yeast used in Guinness Draught. Guinness is sold in 150 countries around the world, but its bond with America is something different altogether.
“We took a look at that export stout’s recipe from 1817 in our brewing records and used that as our inspiration here, but it’s not just an homage to who we were as brewers then or who America was as a country,” Peter Simpson, head brewer at the Open Gate Brewery in Dublin, said in a press release. “We’re also using this beer as a way to show how much we’re looking forward to the next 200 years. We knew it had to be special, and we really think this throwback recipe captures exactly what we wanted from 1817 all the way through 2017.”
In addition to the new beer, Guinness is releasing a limited-edition Guinness Draught can with the famous toucans flying across Mount Rushmore.
If you like Guinness Export, you’ll like the 200th Anniversary beer. It’s deep with toffee and caramel notes. A healthy bitter backbone holds the beer together from start to finish. The limited edition beer is available around the country through the fall.
