Guinness Is Releasing A New Strawberry Porter – And We Had A Sneaky Taste Today

Well this is exciting.

The Guinness Open Gate Brewery is releasing a special limited-edition Strawberry Porter this summer – and we were lucky enough to get a sneak preview today, ahead of its launch as part with Taste of Dublin this June.

Wait a second. Strawberry Guinness?!

Yup. Well, Strawberry Porter to be more specific.

It was created by Feodora Heavey at the Open Gate Brewery – an experimental brewery inside the grounds of St James's Gate – using strawberries and basil, hand-blended, alongside roasted barley and stout malt.

Hand-blended, you say?

In Fedora's own Nutri-Bullet, no less.

So let's just say it's not going to be made in vast batches – in fact, there will just be enough produced to service the bar in the Open Gate Brewery itself (pictured below), and the Taste Of Dublin festival which runs in the Iveagh Gardens this June 16-19.

I see... and what's it like?

Absolutely delish.

It's summery and sweet without being overbearing or sickly – a stout that you'd feel perfectly okay drinking in a beer garden at the height of summer, but not the sort of syrupy muck that would turn your stomach after one pint. 

Is it strong?

It's not light, but at 4.5% it doesn't pack too heavy a punch.

And the smell – oh boy. It will actually take you back to your childhood summers in Wexford.

What, wet tarmac and barbecues and...

No, strawberries you fool.

Ah! So the smell of summer. Or, you could say, 'freshly cut grass in a glass'

That's very good. You could sell them that slogan if it weren't totally inaccurate.

Can I try some?

Not right now. I only got this one glass, and it's mine. So back off, and wait until June – you can check it out at Taste of Dublin, or book seats in the Open Gate Brewery by clicking here. It's €6 in, to include a selection of four tasting glasses.

Sounds like a date!

That wasn't an invitation.