--- title: Starbucks Coffee Tests Guinness Stout Beer Flavored Dark Barrel Latte description: It's called the Dark Barrel Latte and comes topped with whipped cream and dark caramel sauce canonical: https://time.com/3418688/starbucks-guinness-latte/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-22T17:01:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:22.615Z og:title: Starbucks Is Testing a Drink That Tastes Like Guinness (Without the Alcohol) og:description: It's called the Dark Barrel Latte and comes topped with whipped cream and dark caramel sauce og:url: https://time.com/3418688/starbucks-guinness-latte/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1042e285d67f6db/6986a49ff983e7f53c04fc72/450336224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Starbucks Coffee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Starbucks Is Testing a Drink That Tastes Like Guinness (Without the Alcohol) twitter:description: It's called the Dark Barrel Latte and comes topped with whipped cream and dark caramel sauce twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1042e285d67f6db/6986a49ff983e7f53c04fc72/450336224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Starbucks Is Testing a Drink That Tastes Like Guinness (Without the Alcohol) > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=c7d068d4-0e18-41a1-bd5a-20477a2286d6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Sep 22, 2014 5:01 PM UTC  Coffee pours from a coffee machine into a cardboard coffee cup inside a Starbucks Corp. coffee shop in London, U.K., on Monday, June 9, 2014\. U.K. services companies' confidence rose to a record this quarter, indicating continued expansion in the largest part of the economy, the Confederation of British Industry said. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images Coffee pours from a coffee machine into a cardboard coffee cup inside a Starbucks Corp. coffee shop in London, U.K., on Monday, June 9, 2014\. U.K. services companies' confidence rose to a record this quarter, indicating continued expansion in the largest part of the economy, the Confederation of British Industry said. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images Jason Alden—Bloomberg / Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Sep 22, 2014 5:01 PM UTC If you’re already panicking about what you’re going to drink once Starbucks stops selling its beloved seasonal pumpkin spice latte, don’t worry, because the chain is now testing out a brand new flavor. This one, though, is not meant to evoke the feelings of strolling through a pumpkin patch in a pair of Ugg boots on a crisp autumn Saturday. Not at all. This one is meant to taste like a nice dark Irish stout. The new drink, called the Dark Barrel Latte, is being tested at select locations across Ohio and Florida, Grubstreet[ reports](http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/09/starbucks-dark-barrel-latte.html). It doesn’t contain any alcohol, but it supposedly contains the dark, toasty, malty flavors of Guinness. A BuzzFeed writer who got his hands on one in Columbus [confirmed](http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryankincaid/starbucks-dark-barrel-latte) that it really does taste like stout. Several customers who’ve [tweeted ](https://twitter.com/noelwoodss/status/511890990010216448)about the drink [agree](https://twitter.com/hilibbye/status/512397676244393985) that it [tastes ](https://twitter.com/resesjoy/status/513776163806642178)like Guinness — but the jury’s still out on whether or not that’s actually a good thing. When I asked a colleague who was born and raised in Dublin (Guinness’s birthplace) how he felt about all this, he responded first with [this GIF.](http://i.giphy.com/2WxWfiavndgcM.gif) Then, as he mulled it over a bit more, he added, “Holy hell. Worst.” Then he posed a question: “American Guinness already doesn’t taste like Guinness. So what will this taste like?” Then he barfed all over me and my stupid American ignorance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3418688/starbucks-guinness-latte/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3418688/starbucks-guinness-latte/"},"headline":"Starbucks Is Testing a Drink That Tastes Like Guinness (Without the Alcohol)","datePublished":"2014-09-22T17:01:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:22.615Z","description":"It's called the Dark Barrel Latte and comes topped with whipped cream and dark caramel sauce","url":"https://time.com/3418688/starbucks-guinness-latte/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Beer","Starbucks","latte","Coffee","drinks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1042e285d67f6db/6986a49ff983e7f53c04fc72/450336224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1042e285d67f6db/6986a49ff983e7f53c04fc72/450336224.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Starbucks Coffee","caption":"Operations Inside A Starbucks Corp. 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