This is high on the list of Dublin attractions, so it is a stop on the standard sightseeing bus, too, but I decided to walk the relatively modest distance from my hotel close to Trinity College. The streets of Temple Bar are filled with lorries delivering beer barrels, and the main street across the Liffey is an endless cue of Guinness tank cars, presumably on their way to the ferry for England.
As I get closer to the brewery, I can safely put the map in my pocket and navigate by smell alone. I have always loved the malty smell of a brewery, and here it is good evidence that it is not just a facade and tourist attraction like the Jameson distillery.
The Storehouse is simply a building in the middle of the brewery complex in the shape of a gigantic pint. You enter through a crowded hallway with a large souvenir shop, you pay your 12 Euro ticket, get a map and get started on your self-guided tour. I have to admit I was impressed. You start with the raw materials, including an indoor waterfall, loads of malt that you can taste and vines filled with hops. Everything i big scale, so you get a real wow factor. The brick and steel of the building reminds you that this is real industrial heritage. Then you walk upstairs, passing original brewing equipment, interactive displays, a tasting lab etc. The information on the brewing process is not giving any new revelations for a beer geek, but it is all very well executed.
On the higher floors you get to learn about the distribution of Guinness, you have a splendid display of bottles and breweriana and there is a large section devoted to the advertising. You can even watch vintage TV commercials - great fun. When your feet are starting to ache, a glass elevator whisks you through the remaining floors to the head of the pint, the observatory bar at the top. On a day of sunshine you have a great view of Dublin - and a pint of the black stuff is included in your ticket. At times like this, it is really refreshing.
On my way out I just picked up a few versions of their bottled beer, but the range of souvenirs for sale means you could buy full sets of clothes and go far in furnishing your house with Guinness bric-a-brac. The verdict? Definitely worth a few hours, even if you have no emotional ties with Guinness.
Comments
rama - November 3, 2006 1:12 PM
You're too kind! The Guinness brewery was the most disappointing tour I've done by far- in fact I wouldn't even call it a "brewery" tour- the brewery is locked away off limits in some far-away buildings. The your itself is just a maze of marketing spew while you work your way up to the bar at the top for the "complimentary" Guinness. It definitely is for the tourist, not the beer geek. (heh, just like their beers. :))
Paul of Kingston - November 3, 2006 3:20 PM
Is the plural of guinness guinnii?
Alan - November 3, 2006 3:34 PM
I thought it was "always".
Johnson - November 4, 2006 12:08 AM
no paul. "Guinness" is a proper noun and, therefore, its plural is "Guinnesses."
At least, that is the case if you are speaking English. If I'm not mistaken, Guinness is originally an Irish (Gaelic) name. I have don't have a very good beat on how plurals are dealt with in that language but I doubt anyone would know what you were talking about if you used it anyhow.
I would stick with Guinnesses if I were you.
Knut Albert - November 4, 2006 4:27 AM
Maybe I'm too kind, rama, but I enjoyed it. Sure, it's not a brewery tour, but I was impressed with the scale of it. Sure, there should have been tastings of their other stouts etc...
But the displays of vintage bottles and advertising were fine, and I felt it was a fine way to waste two hours. But if anyone has better examples of beer museums, I'm all ears. We had a discussion about this a year a go, when I called for a London pub museum.
Dave D - September 21, 2007 6:13 AM
The plural of Guinness is Guinness'. "We finnished our Guinness' and went on our merry way."
Robert - January 9, 2008 3:30 PM
Etymologically speaking, Guinness isn't an Irish surname by origins, though it is Gaelic... Welsh to be correct. Much related to Guinness would be the surname Quinn which some claim to be much more "Irish" than Guinness, as a last name goes.
In fact, Guinness may be synonmous with Ireland, but the Guinness brewery was never that kind to the native Irish population (Catholics) and had had a centuries long policy of discrimination again the Irish. Most of the "natives" that were hired at St James Gate were given the most demeaning jobs. They were usually poor, uneducated and unskilled. They were easily replaceable cogs in a wheel.
Arthur Guinness was himself the son on a Protestant minister. The Guinness family was one of a slew of Protestant Ascendancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Ascendancy) families in the Pale, also known as Dublin and Environs.
But, alas, that's history. Pass a pint and enjoy!
Alan - January 9, 2008 6:33 PM
Just to be clear, Martyn has recently set out how the Guinness folk were from County Down and that his father was not a minister though he worked for a man who became an archbishop...and I would have though the Celtic Church would have the claim to <i>nativism</i>.