If there’s one thing everyone tells you to do in Ireland, it’s grab a pint of ‘the black stuff’ – that acquired taste known as Guinness. I don’t mind the odd beer (see: Oktoberfest), but I definitely don’t like darker beers. But apparently Guinness in Ireland was different – tastier, fresher, and like another drink altogether. So I kept an open mind as we headed to the Storehouse, which has been the home of Guinness brewing since 1759.
Arthur Guinness was pretty onto it both legally and as an entrepreneur, signing a 9,000 year lease for the St James’s Gate Brewery, which crucially included water rights. As we soon learnt, there are only four ingredients in Guinness, and good quality water is one of them.
The famous lease – nice negotiating Arthur!
The Storehouse is Ireland’s number one visitor attraction and is an incredibly slick and well-executed experience. It starts you right at the beginning, with interactive displays showing how each of the four ingredients are produced, before moving on to their combination into the beautiful drink known as Guinness.
Beer is the word…
The famous Guinness Yeast, which is descended from Arthur Guinness’s time
Once the production part of the brewing has been covered, the Storehouse takes you through some of the advertising campaigns used for Guinness, including a brilliant section showing different television adverts. You can also feature in your own ad! Other parts show how the Guinness legacy has helped Dubliners from the 1800s to the present day.
There’s also chances to learn how to pour the perfect pint and have a Guinness tasting – but owing probably to the fact that we were visiting the weekend of the All Blacks rugby test match, the lines for these were long – and filled with our Kiwi mates! Gin, Kate and I opted to head instead for the Gravity Bar, at the very top of the Storehouse. The sun was already setting but the views over Dublin were beautiful, and we got our hands on a pint of our own!
Responsible drinking messages…
A visit to the Guinness Storehouse is a must-do when in Dublin, even if you’re not a drinker. We learnt loads about the process of brewing, and I particularly enjoyed the cultural insights the advertising exhibition gave us. And I know you’re wondering – am I now a Guinness convert? Well the answer is definitely yes! I probably couldn’t drink more than a pint, but it was delicious… nice work Arthur Guinness.
