guinness brewery

definitely one of those 'you-have-to-do-this-when-in...' places - it's the st. james's gate guinness storehouse in dublin. the brewery covers four acres, and the part where visitors go is a 7-floor structure shaped like a giant pint glass. they say that if it was full, this pint-atrium would hold 14.3 million pints of guinness..

the idea is that you start at the bottom of the glass, then gradually make your way up higher and higher.

basically it all started in 1759, when arthur guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the brewery at st james's gate (9,000, bit extreme??). today, the storehouse produces millions of barrels a year, which are exported across both ireland & the world.

where to start? guinness. also known as 'the black stuff', even though it's actually a really dark shade of ruby (the colour is given by the roasted barley) - not black. it's made from water, barley hops & yeast. don't actually ask me how they make it though, because i kinda skipped that part. they say that 'the perfect pint' should take 119.53 seconds to pour. it looks wicked when it's just been poured because the bubbles seem to cascade down the glass, rather than burst towards the top. eventually it turns from golden brown to black.

we got to see all the copper vats and wooden barrels, as well as all the merchandise & advertising that has been a part of guinness' history. one of their slogans was 'guinness is good for you', because in the 1920s, scientists somehow managed to prove/claim that guinness can be beneficial to the heart...

we were then rewarded for climbing 7 floors with a free pint of guinness at the top. all of us sat up there drinking our guinness', with a 360º view of dublin from the circular glass windows at the top of the guinness storehouse. with such a dramatic history, and since it is adored by the irish - i'd love to say that i like guinness...but, it's foul stuff, and really.... only for drinking in desperate circumstances...

S.

"there is beer, and there is guinness"

giant pint glass circling up towards the sky