I’m not going to advocate for morning drinking (as much as I don’t mind dumping some Baileys in my coffee). But if you were looking to do a little pre-noon imbibing, then St. Patrick’s Day might be the day to do it. And if you are drinking on St. Patrick’s Day, then why not a Guinness? And if you are drinking a Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day morning, why not a Guinness beer specifically tied to breakfast?
For St. Patrick’s Day 2022, Guinness’s American-based Maryland brewery has brought back a beer with a.m. aspirations: Guinness Breakfast Tea Amber — and you can even buy cans from the brewery to take home and drink in your own breakfast nook.
This 4.8 percent ABV ale — which has been around since the brewery’s first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in 2019, but this year is also being sold in four-packs of 16-ounce cans — is brewed with actual Irish breakfast tea that is added to steep in the beer during the dry-hopping phase. “We wanted the tea to be really prominent,” head brewer Sean Brennan told Thrillist. “The tea has sort of a pungent, brisky, malty flavor that balances well with the caramel notes of an amber.”
The beer, which is made exclusively in the U.S., may use the same base as the brewery’s American Amber Ale, but the inspiration behind it still stems from Ireland and a story from a bartender who visited the Baltimore brewery. “One customer talked about growing up in Dublin across from St. James Gate [Guinness’s main brewery] with fond memories of his mom having tea and the smell of the brewery wafting through the window,” Brennan continued. “The combination of sweet wort with bold tea flavors sparked our idea to brew a beer just like that.”
Meanwhile, just as breakfast stouts don’t have to be consumed alongside your morning coffee, Brennan also added that Guinness Breakfast Tea Amber Ale was actually created as an “every day, any time beer” that could pair well with any Irish meal.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to convince us to drink beer after breakfast.