Guinness Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout Beer Review

Guinness 200th Anniversary

Export Stout

Review Date 10/10/2017

Try? Re-buy?

Here’s another beer I picked up at Target: Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout. Yes, Target. I’ve been buying a lot of beer there lately, mostly because I go there for other things, and they keep getting new beers in. Six-packs of this new Guinness beer were a pleasant surprise indeed. You might have noticed the red, white and blue label. Odd that, one might think, for an Irish beer, until you find that this beer celebrates the 200th anniversary of Guinness being exported to America.

Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout, of course, is not the brewery’s first export stout, far from it. It is, however, the most moderate in strength at 6% by volume. In today’s American beer scene, that is not all that potent, but consider draft Guinness is only 4.1% by volume. Probably the most famous Guinness export stout is Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, which clocks in at 7.5%. They also market Guinness Special Export Stout (8% ABV), though only in Belgium. Savvy beer drinkers may know it was released in the United States under a different name, Guinness Antwerpen Stout, a few years ago.

So, that’s a lot of stout to digest. Here’s what Guinness says about the beer on the label:

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the first Guinness export from Ireland to the US. To commemorate this momentous occasion we brewed this beer, inspired by entries from our 1817 brewing logs. In 1817 Guinness was using Black Patent Malt to give its stouts their deep dark black color. This new brew is complex and smooth with balance of roast and sweet chocolate.

Guinness mentions Goldings hops on their website. Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout was a steal at just $7.59 a six-pack, although Total Wine charges $8.99 for it.

Guinness 200th Anniversary Export Stout pours to a jet-black color with a medium head of creamy tan foam and a simply amazing nose of licorice, raisin, coffee and a hint of butter. I could just smell this beer forever, but I don’t. Taking a sip, the beer is smooth and silky with notes of coffee and chocolate, roast and raisin, licorice, and a dark toasty bitter finish.

Guinness excels at tweaking their stouts and continually coming up with new and different treats that are gentle variations on existing classics. This one is no exception, and it is a world-class beer at a bargain basement price.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft

(G)=Growler

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