This Is What Guinness Drinkers Call 'Splitting The G'

Drinking a creamy pint of Guinness is a ritual in and of itself, but these days, drinkers are having a bit of extra fun with it. That's because they've turned their first swallow from a perfectly poured Guinness into a bit of a game, called "splitting the G." If you don't know the rules, they're simple: Once you take your first drink of beer from a freshly poured pint, you want to take down just the right amount of liquid so that the stout line ends up halfway down the "G" in the Guinness logo on the side of the glass — the "G" is split by the line of beer below the foam. It's sort of like a college drinking game with less mayhem. (I hope.)

The origin of this game is mysterious, possibly tracing back to a few years before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Though Guinness itself comes from Ireland, there's speculation that the drinking game originated in the United Kingdom. It has now worked its way into Irish drinking culture as well. Heck, people I know like splitting the G when they get a pint, and I live all the way in Chicago. Interestingly enough, Chicago does happen to have an official Guinness brewhouse, though the famous stout is still only brewed in Ireland.

In an interview with Chowhound, Guinness Brewery ambassador Colm O'Connor said that splitting the G is not a practice invented or promoted by the company itself. "It's something that I imagine would've been dreamt up by somebody on TikTok," O'Connor shared. He also noted that you're taking down a bunch of beer at once in order to pull off the trick, saying, "That's a lot of beer to split the G, to be honest with you." I mean, you are, in essence, chugging about a third of the glass, which doesn't really allow you to savor its flavor.

O'Connor also noticed that tourists particularly like this little game. "It's come to such an extent that I'm actually meeting people in the Gravity Bar in Guinness with split the G T-shirts," he said. The Gravity Bar he mentioned is the one on top of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland, where you end up after touring the facility. (I've been; it's fun, and they take their Guinness seriously.) So no, splitting the G isn't an officially sanctioned Guinness thing, but people are going to play it regardless. If someone ever challenges you to it, now you know what lies ahead.

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