Knock knock, St. Patrick’s Day is calling, and it wants the internet to know the right way to drink an Irish Car Bomb. Hint: It’s not like Irish breakfast tea.
New York bartender Rachel (@racheldont) has seen some things. Even so, there’s always a chance something new will find its way into her bar. When it does, she pays attention and sometimes takes it to TikTok. This time, thousands were interested in what happened after she described the curdled drink a couple enjoyed together.
Odd Combination
“I had this couple come into the bar tonight, and they ordered two pints of Guinness and two shots of Baileys. I’m thinking surely they don’t want Car Bombs, or else they would have ordered a Car Bomb,” she says.
“But it’s weird to take a shot of Baileys and then drink a Guinness,” she thought. Nonetheless, she decided to give them exactly what they asked for.
“So I do that,” Rachel says. “And then I watch them pour these shots of Baileys into their pint of Guinness.” Then she notes that it is not the half-glass of Guinness a Car Bomb calls for. And the beverage is missing the Irish whiskey that goes into a traditional Irish Car Bomb.
At this point, she stops to point out why Car Bombs are traditionally smaller drinks consumed quickly. “If you know things, you know that the Baileys and the Guinness’ll curdle as soon as they touch,” she explains.
Then, to herself, she says she thought, “This is gonna be nasty.”
She kept watching. The couple proceeded to drink “this curdled, chunky Guinness” over the course of a half an hour.
‘To Each Their Own’
Ultimately, Rachel didn’t say anything because “to each their own.” And they were paying customers, so she “doesn’t really care.”
But that’s not the end of it.
Thirty minutes later, she says the couple ordered another round of Guinnesses and Baileys. “And they slowly sipped them as the drink curled before us,” she says she observed.
The bartender says, with a vomit-adjacent grimace, “They were just suckin’ up those chunks.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” she adds.
Drinking Curdled Dairy Products
While various users grimaced over the thought of swallowing globs of Guinness, a self-identified bartender weighed in with science. “This isn’t correct. It curdles from the Irish whisky (hard liquor). Acid can also do it. Guinness doesn’t have enough ABV [alcohol by volume] to do much, it’s about the same as what’s already in Irish cream. It just makes it taste like a creamy milkshake,” they said.
Another user, Randi Karns (@randikarns), contributes that the Bailey’s and Guinness combo is allegedly called “an old Stoney.” However, according to the comment that immediately follows, the Stoney is not a sipping drink. It, too, is meant to be chugged.
And another bartender, Dani.Frani.Cary (@dani.frany.cari), recounts that he “had a couple order car bombs and SLOWLY drink them! When I responded in horror, the man told me he likes the curdles [skull emoji, skull emoji, skull emoji].
Boilermakers Are For Workers
Boilermakers, comprised of a lager-style beer and a whiskey shot chugged together, are the original version of this beverage. Started in the 1800s, they were a drink that was very popular with factory workers who built boilers for locomotive engines.
Typically, they’re served as two separate beverages. That way, the drinker can gently drop the shot into the beer—hear the clink, see the splash, and chug it down. And since the drink is the equivalent of two alcoholic beverages, it is very effective at… relaxation.
In some places, Guinness isn’t just paired with other alcohols. Epcot serves a Guinness milkshake that adds vanilla ice cream to the mix. The result, according to one food blogger is “the perfect treat because it’s sweet, but not overly so.”
Bonus: It’s not curdled.
BroBible reached out to Rachel via TikTok direct message and with a comment on her post. We will update this if she responds.
@racheldont Raise your hand if you want a chunky Guinness #bartender #bartending #guinness