In 1759 on the last day of December, there lived a young determined man by the name of Arthur Guinness who traveled through the gate of a dilapidated ill-equipped, old brewery seen on a small strip of land along Dublin’s James Street. He had just signed a lease for that property at 45 pounds per annum. His friends could not believe what just took place and what Arthur was even thinking.Mark Rainsford’s Ale Brewery for ten years had been on the market and it seems for that long nobody really had shown that much interest in it. The street had already small breweries that were attracted to this spot because of the good supply of water. There were about 70 breweries at that time and what Mr. Guinness had acquired was no more than just the average. Yet Arthur was in the venture to change all of that and make history. He was only 34 then but he knew that the beer industry then was highly unsatisfactory. The trade off fell when import regulations favoured breweries of the London Porter were extended.
During those times, in rural Ireland beer was not that known and during that time gin, whiskey and poteen were the alcoholic beverage. Even though the situation is like this at that time with constant threats from imports was the most prosperous in the very few industries.
The beer that Arthur Guinness brewed was a beer that is a new bee in the Irish community and it contained roaster barley creating a significantly dark colour. This type of brew was popularly known at that time as “porter” for the main reason that it became popular with the stevedores of Covenant Garden, to the porters and Billingsgate in London. Porter originality was created in London and had been shipped to Dublin in competition with Ireland’s local beers. There came a time that Arthur Guinness had to decide whether he would use “porter” or use the traditional Dublin ales. Since he decided to be in good competition with the English brewer of their own game, Arthur tried his luck using porter. He was able to brew it so well and so richly that he eventually outstood the other imports in the Irish market as well a he also captured a part of the English market and made history in the brewing industry.
After sometime, in 1820’s porter adapted the name Stout as an adjective meaning that an extra stout porter would be stronger and thicker in full bodied variety. Stout eventually became a noun at its own right, as well as the family name Guinness was used. It was in 1825 that Guinness was starting to be a exported to other countries and when 1838 hit, Guinness Brewery in St. James Gate became the largest brewery in Ireland. In 1881 the sale of it’s beer surpassed over one million barrels in a year and Guinness Brewery in St. James didn’t just become the biggest brewery in Ireland but it became the largest in the world.
Although now Guinness brewery is not the largest in the world but still the largest stout brewery land is still one of the most modern breweries of all time. Now, Guinness is being brewed in 35 countries all over the world, but it’s supplies of flavoured extract is still all coming from the brewery in St. James’s Gate, making the authentic beer experience to remember Arthur and his brewery in the hearts of millions of people who grab that glass of Guinness and enjoy to the very drop of it.
G or not G?
