The Black & Tan: A Tasteful Combination of Beers

If you don’t know what a black and tan beer combination is, you are about to find out my dear readers. And for those of you who already appreciate this popular concoction, read on to learn more about its origination. A black and tan beer is amongst one of the most commonly order beer mixers in American bars, and for good reasons too—it tastes fantastic, it goes with nearly every kind of food, and it mixes two delightful beers into a taste bud explosion of one! Yes indeed, the black and tan mixture has been around for a few hundred years, but it was not coined as such until the early 1920s, as you will find out below. See you at the pub! What’s in a Black and Tan: The American Version There are quite a few versions of the black and tan beer, but I will save you the reading and only talk about the extremely popular American version. A black and tan always uses Guinness Stout beer as the topper. Most often a light lager, usually Bass Ale, or Samuel Adams light, is poured into a pint glass to the halfway marker. Then the glass is topped off with Guinness. The Guinness beer is heavier than the light lager and the sediment slowly but surely drags it down to the bottom of the glass, creating a unique swirling pattern as the beers mix. But that aside, it’s all about the taste: the perfect balance of beers that goes down smooth and has a great aftertaste. Foods That go Great with a Black and Tan There are ample amounts of foods that go great with a black and tan beer. Many people fancy drinking a black and tan over a steak or other red meat, it also goes great with sliders and hamburgers or cheese burgers. A black and tan easily compliments the taste of grilled chicken and also goes great with grilled fishes like trout, salmon and tuna. Of course all other sorts of fried and popular bar foods, like French fries, onion rings, chips, and fried fish also go great with a black and tan. Due to its unique light and dark taste, the beer mixture almost goes perfectly with just about any kind of food, save for sweets or cereals. Who Coined the Name Black and Tan? The name Black and Tan emanates from the days of World War One, when the Royal Irish Constabulary Reserve Force was deployed into Ireland by the British Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill, and they later coined this now infamous concoction as the Black and Tan. Read More on the History of the Black and Tan Beer – Post war the popularity of the drink waned in Ireland, but took great interest by American beer drinkers and would later become a classical favorite at bars for drinkers. The original concoction is believed, but not known for sure, to have come from late 1800s English Pubs, where drinkers would frequently sport mixtures of different beers and lagers, most often dark beers mixed with light lagers, because they fancied the taste.