Ireland has such a distinctive culture to it that somethings can only be associated with it. For example, the Shamrock, St Patrick’s day and Soda bread and Mens Aran Sweaters are all examples of this. Shamrock Gift can help with some of those but when it comes to Guinness the black stuff can only come from one source. What is the story behind the nation’s drink?
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The company that would become the world’s most popular stout firm, founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness, was launched at St James’s Gate in Dublin. Ten years later, Guinness went on sale in England.
Porter was a new beer to be launched and Guinness began producing it in the 1770s. It grew rapidly in popularity, using roasted barley to give the drink a deep, dark colour. Arthur Guinness was astute enough to know that it took different styles to optimise possibilities for different tastes, and so the various Guinness variants were born.
In the 19th century, the company was passed to Arthur’s son and it has gone through a further five generations since then. Today, including the famous harp logo, the key features of the trademark developed by Benjamin Guinness are still in use. The family benefited from the increasing success more than financially, and Benjamin was appointed Lord Mayor of Dublin.
Diageo, a business that was founded in 1997 when Guinness and Grand Metropolitan merged in a big deal worth £ 24 billion, manufactures Guinness as we know it today.