Guinness Meets The Sobriety Trend As The 60/40 Pint Comes To Dublin Pubs

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best arts and entertainment magazine UK“, Dublin pubs have invented the 60/40 pint: a perfect-looking, proper-tasting Guinness that’s only 1.7% ABV, so you can have a few and still love yourself tomorrow.

The 60/40 Pint

For as long as anyone can remember, the ritual of pouring a pint of Guinness has been treated like a minor religion in Ireland. Two-part pour, 45-degree angle, the slow settle, the creamy head – mess with any of it and you risk a sharp intake of breath from the punter beside you.

Now a new heresy has arrived: the “60/40”.

The 60/40 is 60% Guinness 0.0 (the alcohol-free version) blended with 40% original Guinness. The result? A pint that drops from 4.2% ABV to roughly 1.7% while still delivering most of the familiar roasted flavour and that trademark velvety texture.

One of the first pubs to put it on tap is Palmerstown House Pub on Old Lucan Road in west Dublin.

Where the Idea Came From

Staff at Palmerstown House say the blend started as an experiment driven by customers themselves – younger regulars who love the taste of Guinness but increasingly want to drink less (or none) of the alcohol.

It started as a bit of an experiment for lads in after five-a-side or people driving who still wanted ‘a Guinness’ rather than a soft drink or a Heineken 0.0. The 60/40 keeps the theatre of the pour and the look in the glass, but they can have two or three and still be grand.

The Bigger Picture: A Generation Drinking Less

The trend mirrors a broader shift across Britain and Ireland. Gen Z and younger millennials are drinking markedly less alcohol than previous generations. Health awareness, calorie counting, gym culture, and the fact that many now drive to the pub have all combined to shrink average consumption.

Guinness 0.0, launched a couple of years ago, was a respectable attempt at an alcohol-free stout, but some drinkers still found it a touch thinner and sweeter on its own. The hybrid pour fixes that while staying under session strength.

Why the Pour Still Matters

Crucially, because the original Guinness still flows through the same stout faucet, the famous nitrogen-mix cascade and creamy head are largely preserved. At 1.7% ABV it’s stronger than most “alcohol-free” beers (capped at 0.5% in Ireland and Britain) but well below traditional strength.

The Backlash Was Immediate

Reaction, predictably, is polarised.

Traditionalists are horrified. “It’s not a proper pint,” one regular grumbled on social media. “Next they’ll be putting ice in it.” Others see it as a clever compromise that keeps Guinness relevant to a generation that might otherwise drift to craft IPAs or hard seltzers.

A Smart Move for Pubs

From the trade’s point of view, the 60/40 makes perfect sense. It uses less of the pricier original Guinness, stretches stock, and – most importantly – keeps younger customers at the bar longer without forcing them onto soft drinks after one or two. Several Dublin venues are understood to be trialling the mix quietly.

Sacrilege or Survival?

Whether the 60/40 becomes a fixture or fades into pub folklore remains to be seen. But in an industry fighting declining alcohol sales, giving people a Guinness that looks, pours, and largely tastes like the real thing – while letting them stay under the limit or simply wake up fresher – feels less like sacrilege and more like survival.

As one twenty-something at Palmerstown House raised his hybrid pint last week: “It’s still Guinness, just one that doesn’t hate me the next morning.”

For now, that seems argument enough.