I was in Carraroe in Galway yesterday and one American (from Georgia to be precise) was at the bar was ordering black velvets – a mixture of Guinness and Bulmers. What you think?
I’m thinking rip-off. gimmick. Black Velvet is Guinness and champagne.
Am i still On this Island
+1 David served on a martini glass too when done! That is also an abomination
Edna Kilkenny
I think there is a person with a long day on the jacks ahead of themselves today
Colly
Kill it with fire!
bisted
…saw that in England years ago…wasn’t it called snakebite.
Reppy
Snakebite is usually lager and cider with blackcurrant thrown in… Makes some people go batshit crazy
Booze filth shocker
Underage drinkers to be precise
Odis
Snake bite I used to drink in England was a cider and pernod. Sounds vile, I know, but was actually quite pleasant.
CousinJack
cider and pernod is a ‘witch’, normally a red witch with blackcurrant cordial
‘snakebite’ is cider and lager, usually with black current cordial
‘black velvet’, as already stated, is champagne and guiness
Another English drink is a ‘black and tan’ half of guiness half of bitter
Now remember red witch will make you very drunk, and the next day very sick
Is a “red witch” not Irish Mist with a tad of red lemonade?
Humans eh!
Ah the ‘red witch’ “For the night is dark and full of terrors”
As well as the jax.
Odis
@ Cousin Jack – Fair enough my memory of it is rather hazy.
Joanne
Snakebite is lager and cider
Custo
Piss squared
Medium Sized C
Snakebite and black velvet are two drinks that could conceivably have anything in them but everyone thinks they know exactly what is in them.
Tony the Toy Gur
LOL
JLK
rank!
Davey T
Leads to a fine balance between the full on loaded and ready to drop Guinness shite and the more viscous Bulmers excretion
scottser
that looks like the makings of quite a unique hangover right there.
Pale Blue Dot Cotton
AMERICANS, FEIC YEAH.
Murtles
Ahhh the Yanks, they come over here and pretend they can drink and then start this Mickey Mouse and Donald Duckery. Reminds me of an incident in the not too distant past where I witnessed another Yank ask for a Bulmers Shandy (he wanted Cidona poured into a Bulmers). I was so shocked I nearly dropped my monocle into my Martini.
Delacaravanio
Not a bad idea, when you think about it. They are both made in the same place, from the same stuff.
Sidewinder
Like some kind of white wine spritzer…
Panty Christ
Mmm! Gulmers
chicken
Yes its not really a new thing, seen it the Irish bars here, but they just mix Guiness & cider. Snakebite is also pretty awaful to look at, as the lager & cider dont mix well so you end up with a curdled effect if you dont drink it fast. Also not to forget the black & tan (Guiness with Lager). Never tried any of them, but it does amaze me that people will drink any muck to get drunk fast……………
ivan
The auld fella used to drink a Black and Tan as well, although I think the correct version was half Smithwicks and half Guinness, and ideally out of bottles.
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees, black velvet if you please
Sinabhfuil
Yeah, used to drink these back in the 1970s in McDaid’s. Very refreshing. Or so I thought at the time. But I’d only just graduated from red lemonade. The sophisticated days of Chilean chardonnay were yet ahead of me.
Bingo Slimz
My absolute low point when I was working in a snooty bar in the UK was an extremely posh man asking me for “half a Guinness shandy”. As in, he wanted me to serve him a half-pint glass, half filled with lemonade and topped with Guinness.
I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from the sheer disappointment of the experience. The man thought he was GREAT also.
H
My sympathies, that sounds like a truly awful experience, I think I may have had to just hand in my notice and walk out rather than serve than genuine abomination.
Sidewinder
Every drink described in these comments makes me want to puke a little. Ow just to get it over with early.
Ronan
In my first bar job, there was a regular who would pop in for lunch and have a guinness shandy with it. I looked him like it was a windup, and he explained that it would be with red lemonade, and I’d have to take the fizz out.
So I half filled a pint glass with red lemonade, got another empty one, and threw the lemonade between them for a minute until it flattened out, then I poured in the guinness and other than being slightly see through it looked ok.
Intrigued, after a few weeks I decided I had to try one and it was suprisingly deli….. no wait, it was awful. What a tool.
I’d rather a non-alcoholic beer than a shandy to be honest
WhoAreYa
great comment thanks
Big Phil
This is known as a poor man’s black velvet and I’ve seen Irish people drinking it for decades.
And it’s pretty nice too!
Downtowntrain
The contents of the average stomach at the Galway races?
Mani
Throw in a few dodgy oysters, 10cc’s of semen and a few yokes. Probably, yeah.
Franno
Back in my dark days of pulling pints in France we were commonly asked for a Russian Stout- A bottle of Smirnoff Ice in a pint glass topped up with Guinness. A Cherry Guinness was also popular, Kriek lambic topped up with a Guinness. The French- great at avant-garde cinema and smoking insouciantly, a bit rubbish at pints.
Tom Stewart
What’s with American’s and ordering these bloody things? When I worked in a bar years ago, one of them asked me for a Black and Tan. I should have told him how insensitive the title was, but I was about 18, so I doubt I did.
When you’re in another country, would you not just sample the local food and drink?
I don’t go to France and ask for a pastry that’s half croissant and half pain-aux-raisins.
Bizarre behaviour.
Tom Stewart
Americans
Alexis
Profanation! yeah … Americans
Squarehead
I did a night on snakebite a few years ago and I can confirm it does drive one batshit crazy. there were two brothers in the group, by 2am one had the other pinned to the wall threatening to kill him. Good times
DaithiG
Strange behaviour for a monk.
The Old Boy
Par for the course in Buckfast Abbey.
P. Berry
Black Velvet (Guinness and Cider) is a popular drink in the Irish Bars here in Canada. Never seen it before this. Apparently the drink is over 100 years old. Black and Tan (Guinness and Larger) is also very popular. They are also mad into Kilkenny and Harp which is a little wierd considering you would be hard pushed to find either on tap at home.
The Old Boy
Isn’t Kilkenny just Smithwicks that’s nitrogenated as well as carbonated? The main reason behind it was that Americans couldn’t pronounce Smithwicks.
Dustin ' Bar mitzvah
Drink what you want to drink, don’t want to drink it? Then don’t.
I’m thinking rip-off. gimmick. Black Velvet is Guinness and champagne.
+1 David served on a martini glass too when done! That is also an abomination
I think there is a person with a long day on the jacks ahead of themselves today
Kill it with fire!
…saw that in England years ago…wasn’t it called snakebite.
Snakebite is usually lager and cider with blackcurrant thrown in… Makes some people go batshit crazy
Underage drinkers to be precise
Snake bite I used to drink in England was a cider and pernod. Sounds vile, I know, but was actually quite pleasant.
cider and pernod is a ‘witch’, normally a red witch with blackcurrant cordial
‘snakebite’ is cider and lager, usually with black current cordial
‘black velvet’, as already stated, is champagne and guiness
Another English drink is a ‘black and tan’ half of guiness half of bitter
Now remember red witch will make you very drunk, and the next day very sick
Is a “red witch” not Irish Mist with a tad of red lemonade?
Ah the ‘red witch’
“For the night is dark and full of terrors”
As well as the jax.
@ Cousin Jack – Fair enough my memory of it is rather hazy.
Snakebite is lager and cider
Piss squared
Snakebite and black velvet are two drinks that could conceivably have anything in them but everyone thinks they know exactly what is in them.
LOL
rank!
Leads to a fine balance between the full on loaded and ready to drop Guinness shite and the more viscous Bulmers excretion
that looks like the makings of quite a unique hangover right there.
AMERICANS, FEIC YEAH.
Ahhh the Yanks, they come over here and pretend they can drink and then start this Mickey Mouse and Donald Duckery. Reminds me of an incident in the not too distant past where I witnessed another Yank ask for a Bulmers Shandy (he wanted Cidona poured into a Bulmers). I was so shocked I nearly dropped my monocle into my Martini.
Not a bad idea, when you think about it. They are both made in the same place, from the same stuff.
Like some kind of white wine spritzer…
Mmm! Gulmers
Yes its not really a new thing, seen it the Irish bars here, but they just mix Guiness & cider. Snakebite is also pretty awaful to look at, as the lager & cider dont mix well so you end up with a curdled effect if you dont drink it fast. Also not to forget the black & tan (Guiness with Lager). Never tried any of them, but it does amaze me that people will drink any muck to get drunk fast……………
The auld fella used to drink a Black and Tan as well, although I think the correct version was half Smithwicks and half Guinness, and ideally out of bottles.
The only one that really works is a Smithwicks with a Guinness head
+1, was surprised at how well it worked.
My dad used to call this a poor man’s velvet. One’s head would be blown off after a few
I remember my dad calling it a working man’s black velvet. It was well before bulmers- Stag was the cider of the time.
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees, black velvet if you please
Yeah, used to drink these back in the 1970s in McDaid’s. Very refreshing. Or so I thought at the time. But I’d only just graduated from red lemonade. The sophisticated days of Chilean chardonnay were yet ahead of me.
My absolute low point when I was working in a snooty bar in the UK was an extremely posh man asking me for “half a Guinness shandy”. As in, he wanted me to serve him a half-pint glass, half filled with lemonade and topped with Guinness.
I don’t think I’ve ever recovered from the sheer disappointment of the experience. The man thought he was GREAT also.
My sympathies, that sounds like a truly awful experience, I think I may have had to just hand in my notice and walk out rather than serve than genuine abomination.
Every drink described in these comments makes me want to puke a little. Ow just to get it over with early.
In my first bar job, there was a regular who would pop in for lunch and have a guinness shandy with it. I looked him like it was a windup, and he explained that it would be with red lemonade, and I’d have to take the fizz out.
So I half filled a pint glass with red lemonade, got another empty one, and threw the lemonade between them for a minute until it flattened out, then I poured in the guinness and other than being slightly see through it looked ok.
Intrigued, after a few weeks I decided I had to try one and it was suprisingly deli….. no wait, it was awful. What a tool.
I’d rather a non-alcoholic beer than a shandy to be honest
great comment thanks
This is known as a poor man’s black velvet and I’ve seen Irish people drinking it for decades.
And it’s pretty nice too!
The contents of the average stomach at the Galway races?
Throw in a few dodgy oysters, 10cc’s of semen and a few yokes. Probably, yeah.
Back in my dark days of pulling pints in France we were commonly asked for a Russian Stout- A bottle of Smirnoff Ice in a pint glass topped up with Guinness. A Cherry Guinness was also popular, Kriek lambic topped up with a Guinness. The French- great at avant-garde cinema and smoking insouciantly, a bit rubbish at pints.
What’s with American’s and ordering these bloody things? When I worked in a bar years ago, one of them asked me for a Black and Tan. I should have told him how insensitive the title was, but I was about 18, so I doubt I did.
When you’re in another country, would you not just sample the local food and drink?
I don’t go to France and ask for a pastry that’s half croissant and half pain-aux-raisins.
Bizarre behaviour.
Americans
Profanation! yeah … Americans
I did a night on snakebite a few years ago and I can confirm it does drive one batshit crazy. there were two brothers in the group, by 2am one had the other pinned to the wall threatening to kill him. Good times
Strange behaviour for a monk.
Par for the course in Buckfast Abbey.
Black Velvet (Guinness and Cider) is a popular drink in the Irish Bars here in Canada. Never seen it before this. Apparently the drink is over 100 years old. Black and Tan (Guinness and Larger) is also very popular. They are also mad into Kilkenny and Harp which is a little wierd considering you would be hard pushed to find either on tap at home.
Isn’t Kilkenny just Smithwicks that’s nitrogenated as well as carbonated? The main reason behind it was that Americans couldn’t pronounce Smithwicks.
Drink what you want to drink, don’t want to drink it? Then don’t.