09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Brits are 'drinking Baby Guinness wrong' as hidden meaning is revealed
Many people enjoy a cheeky baby Guinness as it's a easy to drink, full of flavour drink - but the drink was made for a specific reason and many Brit's don't know.
People are only just realising the true meaning behind the popular shot Baby Guinness.
It's the cheeky little 'pint' that's popped up on countless birthdays, bar crawls and bottomless brunches but the viral Baby Guinness shot actually has a much sweeter backstory than most people realise.
The miniature drink, made with coffee liqueur and Irish cream to look like a pint of stout, has seen a huge surge in popularity online. There are now more than 41,000 monthly searches for it, and it's even been named in the UK's top 50 cocktails despite technically being a shot. It comes after a mum claimed 'I accidentally named baby after dog food brand and I don't know what to do'.
But according to Jonathan Sitson, founder of cream chargers supplier Quick Whip, it wasn't dreamed up for Instagram. 'It looks cheeky and fun, but it began as a very low-key toast to new life,' says Jonathan.
"It was originally served to new and expectant fathers at a pub near one of Dublin's maternity hospitals. It was the perfect way to toast a new arrival alongside a full-sized pint of the stout."
The drink is believed to date back to the late 1980s, in a now-closed Dublin pub called The Waxies' Dargle, near the Rotunda Hospital.
As the story goes, publican Stephen Daly created it for new dads a shot of dark coffee liqueur topped with Irish cream, made to resemble a celebratory pint in miniature. Even though there's no stout in it at all, Daly affectionately named it the 'Baby Guinness'.
The tradition quickly caught on, with hospital staff recommending it to fathers-to-be as a light-hearted way to mark the occasion.
How to make a Baby Guinness at home
Despite its pub origins, you only need two ingredients and a steady hand:
25ml coffee liqueur (like Tia Maria or Kahlua)
12.5ml Irish cream (like Baileys)
Chilled shot glass and a bar spoon
Pour the coffee liqueur into the shot glass, then slowly layer the Irish cream on top by pouring it over the back of a spoon until it looks like a perfect little pint.
'The trick is to chill your liqueurs in advance and pour the cream very slowly,' Jonathan adds. 'A curved bar spoon makes all the difference.
