A Baby Guinness is a shooter, a style of cocktail

Cocktail

A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...

, or mixed alcoholic beverage, intended to be consumed in one shot. A Baby Guinness contains no Guinness

Guinness

Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...

 beer. Its name is derived from the fact that it is made in such a way as to look like a tiny glass of stout

Stout

Stout is a dark beer made using roasted malt or barley, hops, water and yeast. Stouts were traditionally the generic term for the strongest or stoutest porters, typically 7% or 8%, produced by a brewery....

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Preparation

A portion of coffee liqueur (e.g., Tia Maria

Tia Maria

Tia Maria is a coffee liqueur made originally in Jamaica using Jamaican coffee beans. The main flavor ingredients are coffee beans, cane spirit, vanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 31.5% ....

 or Kahlúa

Kahlúa

Kahlúa is a Mexican coffee-flavored rum-based liqueur. It is dense and sweet, with the distinct taste of coffee, from which it is made. Kahlúa also contains sugar, corn syrup and vanilla bean.-History:...

) is topped by a layer of Irish Cream

Irish Cream

Irish cream is a cream liqueur based on Irish whiskey, cream, and other ingredients such as coffee, which can be served on its own or used in mixed drinks or as part of a shot or a whole shot. Irish cream is very popular in the United Kingdom and the United States. Irish cream typically has between...

 (e.g., Baileys

Baileys Irish Cream

Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish whiskey and cream based liqueur, made by Gilbeys of Ireland. The trademark is currently owned by Diageo. It has a declared alcohol content of 17% alcohol by volume...

) which is poured over the back of a spoon so that it sits on the coffee liqueur. The ratio of coffee liqueur to Irish cream varies but is generally around 3-to-1. The resulting drink looks like a miniature pint of Guinness stout, with the coffee liqueur as the beer and the Irish cream as the head. It is normally served in a shot glass

Shot glass

A shot glass is a small glass designed to hold or measure spirits or liquor, which is either drunk straight from the glass or poured into a mixed drink....

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Some recipes call for the Irish cream to be whipped then spooned on top of the coffee liqueur in order to look more like the head on a pint of Guinness.

Variations

In the U.K. a Baby Guinness is often served with black Sambuca

Sambuca

Sambuca is an Italian anise-flavoured, usually colourless, liqueur. Its most common variety is often referred to as white sambuca to differentiate it from other varieties that are deep blue in colour or bright red ....

 instead of coffee liqueur creating a drink similar to a Slippery Nipple

Slippery nipple

The Slippery Nipple is a layered cocktail shooter most commonly composed of Baileys Irish Cream and Sambuca. When prepared properly, the ingredients remain in two distinct visible layers. The layering is due to the relative densities of the ingredients. The Baileys takes the edge off the...

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