Review: Guinness Steak Cuts Are Your New Favorite Happy Hour Pairing

Ordering a pint of Guinness in Dublin is such a special experience. I'd be willing to book the flight all over again just for another taste. It's true what they say: Guinness tastes better over there. Since the moment I emptied my last pint on the Emerald Isle, I've been chasing the Guinness experience, and I'm always up for trying new food innovations. So, when Guinness Steak Cuts came across my desk, I felt eager to see if jerky could capture the special taste and feel of Guinness.

I got an advance taste of this new snack coming to grocery and convenience stores. To see if you should give this jerky a try as soon as it lands in a store near you, I put it through its paces. I sampled each flavor on its own as well as with Guinness to see how well they paired. All told, it might not be the same as a pint from Guinness' hometown, but it certainly left an impression.

Simply put, Guinness Steak Cuts are a type of jerky, flavored with Guinness and complementary flavors. The ingredients are rather simple, pronounceable, and present like a premium jerky. The Guinness Steak Cuts will come in three flavors: original, coffee, and chocolate, a significant departure from other jerky brands that offer flavors like teriyaki.

Guinness Steak Cuts is the result of a collaboration with the company 3 Elizabeths, a premium snack food company that focuses on pure foods that, according to the brand, don't necessitate "the need for a PhD in chemistry to understand what you're eating." This helps explain the clean ingredients listing.

One of the key ingredients is Guinness 0. It's right up there with beef and soy sauce in terms of the amount of Guinness in each bite. Guinness 0 is different from your normal Guinness stout because the 0 variety has no alcohol, allowing these bites of jerky to be entirely alcohol-free. It's developed in a way that allows people on the go to enjoy it during a busy day at the office or as a road trip gas station pickup.

First publicly announced in May 2024, Guinness Steak Cuts should premiere in convenience stores and grocery stores in May 2025, a year after they were first announced. Before that release timeline, initial launches will occur in April 2025 with members of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. The jerky comes in 2.5-ounce bags or products for $8.99 or whatever the retailer deems appropriate for the product, so there may be some variance depending on where you're getting your jerky from.

The cost works out to $3.60 per ounce of jerky. Kalahari Snacks is $4.42 per ounce, Jack Link's jerky tends to be around $1.32 per ounce, and Country Archer jerky is $2.40 an ounce. Comparably, the Guinness Steak Cuts are in the upper range of price but certainly not the priciest of the category, even if beef jerky is an expensive snack food.

The three different varieties of jerky have different nutritional information because they contain significantly different ingredients. All three flavors contain premium eye of round beef, soy sauce, and Guinness 0 ale. To that, the original flavor brings sugar and molasses for a touch of sweetness, barley syrup, and then flavors you can honestly taste in the jerky: garlic, onion, and carrot. In addition to paprika, there are also several spices and natural flavors. At a 1-ounce serving size, you'll take in 50 calories, a half gram of fat, and 8 grams of protein, making this a protein-rich snack food. The sugars for this flavor sit at 1 gram.

For the coffee flavor, you'll lose the savory elements for honey, coffee extract, molasses, and natural flavors. While the ingredients are mildly different from the original, the nutrition facts only differ slightly. These jerky pieces have, comparatively, similar nutrition facts with 65 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 2 grams of sugars, and the same amount of protein: 8 grams.

Chocolate has some anticipated changes of ingredients, but also some unexpected ones. First, the expected: sugar and cocoa powder, and for the unexpected, chocolate adds molasses, coffee extract, vanilla, and spices. The nutrition facts for chocolate are pretty similar, but there is one more gram of sugar, which is probably the most noticeable difference.

I received two different sizes of jerky samples. A full-size sample of the original, and smaller sample sizes. The pieces contained within the retail-sized bag were substantially larger than the pieces in the smaller ones. So, of the three flavors I sampled, because I had a retail size of the original, I was able to get a really good look at exactly what those pieces would taste and feel like.

The original flavor was quite different from the typical jerky. Rather than having slightly smoky and peppery flavors abound, the original flavor for Guinness was much more stew-like, like a rich Guinness-accented, meaty dish. Flavors of soft carrots, celery, and other stew seasonings came through strongly. It's a very enjoyable flavor, but it's quite different from other types of jerky. The original flavor also stands apart from the coffee or chocolate options. Where the other two seemed to verge into sweet territory, the original is purely savory. Its texture is much softer compared to other jerky. Unlike other brands, there's no stringiness, only a tender bite of meat.

The second flavor I tried was the coffee variety. Rather than covering all the flavors of a beef stew with a little leftover booze, this jerky tasted much more like a unique coffee drink, or the type of flavor you might get when drinking a coffee alongside your steak dinner. The savory aspects were far toned back, and there was more of an espresso flavor to it.

Unlike the other two, this flavor developed an aftertaste. After a few moments, I noticed a little bitterness sticking around. I assumed this is from the espresso more than the Guinness itself. While the strong coffee flavor was expected, but the bitterness was less so. Those who prefer their coffee much sweeter with plenty of sugary elements will find the coffee flavor of this jerky far too dark. As an espresso drinker myself, this version didn't need any extra sweetness; the honey already present in the mix works just fine.

The last of the three flavors I sampled was the chocolate. I'm no stranger to jerky that has a sweet turn to it, but chocolate jerky was new. I imagined it would be similar to chocolate-covered bacon (or perhaps candied bacon) I've had in the past, but even that expectation wasn't quite right.

Instead, I found a mix of savory, topped with smooth to end off my sampling experience. While there is still coffee extract in this flavor, the coffee element is far toned back, and flavors of chocolate and vanilla take center stage. I noticed a fair amount of vanilla in this jerky, and it was more than I expected a chocolate jerky might have. Rather than being something like a bitter chocolate, the vanilla smoothed it out more to make it something of a milk chocolate flavor, even if there's no milk in the recipe.

I had two different types of Guinness on hand to sample with this jerky: extra dry stout, the typical Guinness people think of when they imagine the rich stout, and a nitro cold brew Guinness. Since one is a coffee variety, I figured it would work well with the coffee jerky, especially since it is such an enjoyable beer all on its own.

As expected, that regular Guinness goes perfectly with the original, and even the chocolate flavor, but the coffee nitro Guinness goes well with the other. In fact, I found that it helped take away some of the bitter aftertaste that the coffee variety of jerky had. Granted, no matter which beer you choose, the pairing of jerky and Guinness is more an experience you would enjoy at a party or gathering rather than a gas station.

Yes, they are worth a try, but be in the right mindset. Do not expect typical jerky because these are different. I've come to know jerky as rather dry and even pretty tough. While dry (like jerky should be), Guinness Steak Cuts are tender and thick. They reminded me of when my husband made jerky at home and got the meat a little thicker for the process. It's definitely the kind of snack that needs a drink, and Guinness is the perfect choice. 

Since the recipe uses Guinness 0, the jerky itself isn't alcoholic, but it plays well with a dark pint of the good stuff. Of the three, I'm surprised to say that the chocolate option was my favorite without a pairing, but with a coffee nitro stout, the coffee jerky is excellent, especially as a St. Patrick's Day beer companion.

I was sent samples of all three flavors of jerky. First, I tried them alone, then, I tried each paired with Guinness and coffee nitro stout Guinness. I considered how these compare to other high-quality jerky I've had in the past as well as homemade jerky. I was looking for great flavor and enjoyable texture, and the Guinness Steak Cuts hit both points.