Featured Image Credit: Bryn Colton/Getty Images
Topics: Drinks, Alcohol, UK Food, Social Media
Ella Scott
Topics: Drinks, Alcohol, UK Food, Social Media
Unbelievably, there are more than 10 million glasses of Guinness sold every day across the world - marking it as one of the most widely recognised beers on the planet.
If you love a pint or two of the good stuff, then you’ll already be aware of the stout’s creamy texture, rich flavour profile, and its dark hue.
But if we asked you what colour Guinness was, would you be able to answer correctly?
If you said ‘black’ or even ‘dark brown’, then you may be surprised to hear that you’re wrong. Who would’ve known?
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Here’s everything you need to know about the alcoholic beer’s brewing process, and how it gets its distinct pigment.
The fundamentally Irish stout - dubbed by fans as 'the black stuff' - is made from four core ingredients: water, raw, malted, and roasted barley, hops, and yeast.
According to the Guinness Storehouse site, the brewing process starts with mashing, where the milled barley is combined with hot water.
Lautering takes place next, which sees the concoction being boiled with hops to create a liquid called ‘wort’.
Once cooled, yeast is added to the wort.
The mixed ingredients are all placed inside fermentation vessels where it will mature before being nitrogenated and transferred into cans, bottles, and barrels.
The mashed roasted barley is what contributes to the alcoholic beverage’s distinct dark colour and unique taste, the Guinness Storehouse stated.
“When barley grains are roasted, they develop a deep, dark hue, which then gets transferred to the beer during brewing.”
It may interest you to know that this deep, rich colour isn’t, and has never been, black.
In fact, if you hold your vegan-friendly draught up to the light, you will notice that it actually has a ruby-red tint.
Despite Guinness being dark red for more than 260 years, some drinkers are only just realising it now.
“Fun fact from just doing the Guinness tour in Dublin. Guinness is actually red and not black,” commented one X user.
Another typed: “TIL THAT GUINNESS IS NOT BLACK. IT IS RED.”
“Didn't believe it until I toured their factory and poured a fresh pint and held it up to the sunlight... It is a deep Ruby Red,” someone else echoed.
A fourth joked: “The answer to the age old question: what’s black and white and red all over.”
A fellow drinker on Reddit added: “Huh. I always thought it was a dark brown.”
Upon finding out that the drink is actually ruby-red, some have admitted they’re now confused by the brand’s previous ‘Guinness Red’ products.
“How true is this, given Guinness have promoted an alternative variety called Guinness Red?” one commented.
In 2007, the company targeted ‘occasional’ drinkers with a flash-in-the-pan release of Guinness Red, a ‘slightly smoother and sweeter’ red ale.
"It's aimed at people who perhaps enjoy other beers and other drinks and are looking for something a little bit more refreshing,” said Philip Almond, former marketing director for Guinness GB.
Following a six month trial, Red was temporarily rolled out across the United Kingdom. However, it never fully launched, with reports of its disappearance dating 2008.
Six years later, the business, owned by Diageo, announced Red Harvest Stout.
The seasonal beer, available for a limited time in the United States, was engineered to celebrate the ancient Celtic tradition of Samhain by using lightly roasted barley, allowing for caramel and toffee aromas to come through with a sweet malty taste.