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Guinness () is an
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
dry stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...
that originated in the
brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
of
Arthur Guinness Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759. Born in Celbridge, County Kildare around 1725, Guinness ...
at St. James's Gate,
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to . In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually. The
Guinness Storehouse Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over twenty million visitors. The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form ...
is a
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...
at
St. James's Gate Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over 20 million visitors. Guinness's flavour derives from
malted barley Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as "malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malted grain is used to make beer, whis ...
and roasted unmalted
barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
, a relatively modern development, not becoming part of the
grist Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb ''grind.'' Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on ho ...
until the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of
aged Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp
lactic acid Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has a molecular formula . It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as well as natu ...
flavour. Although Guinness's
palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sepa ...
still features a characteristic "tang", the company has refused to confirm whether this type of blending still occurs. The
draught beer Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as Name Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served dire ...
's thick, creamy
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
comes from mixing the beer with
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
and
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
. The company moved its headquarters to
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
at the beginning of the
Anglo-Irish Trade War The Anglo-Irish Trade War (also called the Economic War) was a retaliatory trade war between the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1938. The Irish government refused to continue reimbursing Britain with land annuities from fi ...
in 1932. In 1997,
Guinness plc St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
merged with
Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...
to form the multinational alcoholic-drinks producer
Diageo plc Diageo plc () is a multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweichow Moutai of China in 201 ...
, based in London.


History

Arthur Guinness Arthur Guinness ( 172523 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759. Born in Celbridge, County Kildare around 1725, Guinness ...
started brewing
ale Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typicall ...
s in 1759 at the
St. James's Gate Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
, Dublin. On 31 December 1759, he signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery. Ten years later, on 19 May 1769, Guinness first exported his ale: he shipped six-and-a-half barrels to Great Britain. Arthur Guinness started selling the dark beer
porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...
in 1778. The first Guinness beers to use the term were Single Stout and Double Stout in the 1840s. Throughout the bulk of its history, Guinness produced only three variations of a single beer type: porter or single stout, double or extra and foreign stout for export. "Stout" originally referred to a beer's strength, but eventually shifted meaning toward body and colour.*, p. 156. Porter was also referred to as "plain", as mentioned in the famous refrain of
Flann O'Brien Brian O'Nolan ( ga, Brian Ó Nualláin; 5 October 1911 – 1 April 1966), better known by his pen name Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth cen ...
's poem "The Workman's Friend": "A pint of plain is your only man." Already one of the top-three British and Irish brewers, Guinness's sales soared from 350,000
barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
in 1868 to 779,000 barrels in 1876. In October 1886 Guinness became a public company and was averaging sales of 1.138 million barrels a year. This was despite the brewery's refusal to either advertise or offer its beer at a discount. Even though Guinness owned no
public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, the company was valued at £6 million and shares were 20 times oversubscribed, with share prices rising to a 60 per cent premium on the first day of trading. The breweries pioneered several quality control efforts. The brewery hired the statistician
William Sealy Gosset William Sealy Gosset (13 June 1876 – 16 October 1937) was an English statistician, chemist and brewer who served as Head Brewer of Guinness and Head Experimental Brewer of Guinness and was a pioneer of modern statistics. He pioneered small sa ...
in 1899, who achieved lasting fame under the pseudonym "Student" for techniques developed for Guinness, particularly Student's ''t''-distribution and the even more commonly known Student's ''t''-test. By 1900 the brewery was operating unparalleled welfare schemes for its 5,000 employees. By 1907 the welfare schemes were costing the brewery £40,000 a year, which was one-fifth of the total wages bill. The improvements were suggested and supervised by Sir
John Lumsden Sir John Lumsden KBE (14 November 1869 – 3 September 1944) was an Irish physician. He was famous for his role as Chief Medical Officer of Guinness Brewery, during which time he founded both St James's Gate F.C. and the St John Ambulance Bri ...
. By 1914, Guinness was producing 2.652 million barrels of beer a year, which was more than double that of its nearest competitor
Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
, and was supplying more than 10 per cent of the total UK beer market. When the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out in 1914, employees at Guinness St. James Brewery were encouraged to join the British forces. Over 800 employees served in the war. This was made possible due to a number of measures put in place by Guinness: soldiers' families were paid half wages, and jobs were guaranteed upon their return. Of the 800 employees who fought, 103 did not return. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the demand for Guinness among the British was one of the main reasons why the UK lifted commerce restrictions imposed in 1941 to force Ireland into supporting the Allied Powers. Before 1939, if a Guinness brewer wished to marry a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, his resignation was requested. According to Thomas Molloy, writing in the ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
'', "It had no qualms about selling drink to Catholics but it did everything it could to avoid employing them until the 1960s." Guinness thought they brewed their last porter in 1973. In the 1970s, following declining sales, the decision was taken to make Guinness Extra Stout more "drinkable". The gravity was subsequently reduced, and the brand was relaunched in 1981.''A Bottle of Guinness Please'' by David Hughes, Chapter 3
Pale malt Mash ingredients, mash bill, mashbill, or grain bill are the materials that brewers use to produce the wort that they then ferment into alcohol. Mashing is the act of creating and extracting fermentable and non-fermentable sugars and flavor co ...
was used for the first time, and isomerised hop extract began to be used. In 2014, two new porters were introduced: West Indies Porter and Dublin Porter. Guinness acquired the
Distillers Company The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and pharmaceutical company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later f ...
in 1986. This led to a scandal and criminal trial concerning the artificial inflation of the Guinness share price during the takeover bid engineered by the chairman, Ernest Saunders. A subsequent £5.2 million success fee paid to an American lawyer and Guinness director, Tom Ward, was the subject of the case ''
Guinness plc v Saunders ''Guinness plc v Saunders'' 989UKHL 2is a UK company law case, regarding the power of the company to pay directors. It required that whatever rules exist for payment in the company's articles, they must be strictly observed. Facts Guinness plc ...
'', in which the House of Lords declared that the payment had been invalid. In the 1980s, as the IRA's bombing campaign spread to London and the rest of Britain, Guinness considered scrapping the harp as its logo. The company merged with
Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...
in 1997 to form
Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...
. Due to controversy over the merger, the company was maintained as a separate entity within Diageo and has retained the rights to the product and all associated trademarks of Guinness. The Guinness brewery in
Park Royal Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, partly in the London Borough of Brent and partly the London Borough of Ealing. It is the site of the largest business park in London, but despite intensive existing use, the area is, toget ...
, London, closed in 2005. The production of all Guinness sold in the UK and Ireland was moved to
St. James's Gate Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
, Dublin. Guinness had a fleet of ships, barges and yachts. The Irish '' Sunday Independent'' newspaper reported on 17 June 2007 that Diageo intended to close the historic St James's Gate plant in Dublin and move to a greenfield site on the outskirts of the city. This news caused some controversy when it was announced. Initially, Diageo said that talk of a move was pure speculation but in the face of mounting speculation in the wake of the ''Sunday Independent'' article, the company confirmed that it is undertaking a "significant review of its operations". This review was largely due to the efforts of the company's ongoing drive to reduce the environmental impact of brewing at the St James's Gate plant. On 23 November 2007, an article appeared in the ''
Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...
'', a Dublin newspaper, stating that the Dublin City Council, in the best interests of the city of Dublin, had put forward a motion to prevent planning permission ever being granted for the development of the site, thus making it very difficult for Diageo to sell off the site for residential development. On 9 May 2008, Diageo announced that the St James's Gate brewery will remain open and undergo renovations, but that breweries in Kilkenny and Dundalk will be closed by 2013 when a new larger brewery is opened near Dublin. The result will be a loss of roughly 250 jobs across the entire Diageo/Guinness workforce in Ireland. Two days later, the ''Sunday Independent'' again reported that Diageo chiefs had met with
Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Taoi ...
Mary Coughlan, the deputy leader of the Government of Ireland, about moving operations to Ireland from the UK to benefit from its lower corporation tax rates. Several UK firms have made the move in order to pay Ireland's 12.5 per cent rate rather than the UK's 28 per cent rate. Diageo released a statement to the London stock exchange denying the report. Despite the merger that created Diageo plc in 1997, Guinness has retained its right to the Guinness brand and associated trademarks and thus continues to trade under the traditional Guinness name despite trading under the corporation name Diageo for a brief period in 1997. In 2017 Diageo made their beer suitable for consumption by vegetarians and vegans by introducing a new filtration process that avoided the use of
isinglass Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes. The E ...
from fish bladders to filter out yeast particles.


Composition

Guinness
stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...
is made from water,
barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
, roast malt extract,
hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...
, and
brewer's yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitu ...
. A portion of the barley is roasted to give Guinness its dark colour and characteristic taste. It is
pasteurised Pasteurization or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life. The ...
and
filtered Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter m ...
. Until the late 1950s, Guinness was still
racked Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...
into wooden casks. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Guinness ceased brewing cask-conditioned beers and developed a keg brewing system with aluminium kegs replacing the wooden casks; these were nicknamed "iron lungs". Until 2016 the production of Guinness, as with many beers, involved the use of
isinglass Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes. The E ...
made from fish. Isinglass was used as a fining agent for settling out suspended matter in the vat. The isinglass was retained in the floor of the vat but it was possible that minute quantities might be carried over into the beer. Diageo announced in February 2018 that the use of isinglass in draught Guinness was to be discontinued and an alternative clarification agent would be used instead. This has made draught Guinness acceptable to vegans and vegetarians.


Present day Guinness

Arguably its biggest change to date, in 1959 Guinness began using nitrogen, which changed the fundamental texture and flavour of the Guinness of the past as nitrogen bubbles are much smaller than CO2, giving a "creamier" and "smoother" consistency over a sharper and traditional CO2 taste. This step was taken after Michael Ash—a mathematician turned brewer—discovered the mechanism to make this possible. Nitrogen is less soluble than carbon dioxide, which allows the beer to be put under high pressure without making it fizzy. High pressure of the dissolved gas is required to enable very small bubbles to be formed by forcing the draught beer through fine holes in a plate in the tap, which causes the characteristic "surge" (the widget in cans and bottles achieves the same effect). This "widget" is a small plastic ball containing the nitrogen. The perceived smoothness of draught Guinness is due to its low level of carbon dioxide and the creaminess of the head caused by the very fine bubbles that arise from the use of nitrogen and the dispensing method described above. "Foreign Extra Stout" contains more carbon dioxide, causing a more acidic taste. Contemporary Guinness Draught and Extra Stout are weaker than they were in the 19th century, when they had an
original gravity Gravity, in the context of fermenting alcoholic beverages, refers to the specific gravity (abbreviated SG), or relative density compared to water, of the wort or must at various stages in the fermentation. The concept is used in the brewing and wi ...
of over 1.070. Foreign Extra Stout and Special Export Stout, with ABV of 7.5% and 9% respectively, are perhaps closest to the original in character. Although Guinness is black, and is referred to as "the black stuff", it is also "officially" referred to as a very dark shade of
ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sa ...
. The most recent change in alcohol content from the Import Stout to the Extra Stout was due to a change in distribution through North American market. Consumer complaints influenced subsequent distribution and bottle changes.


Health

Studies have shown that moderate consumption of alcoholic drinks can be beneficial to the heart. A 2003 study found that stouts such as Guinness could have an additional benefit by reducing the deposit of harmful
cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...
on artery walls. This was attributed to the higher levels of
antioxidant Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to industrial products, such as fuels and lubricant ...
s in stouts than in lagers. Guinness ran an advertising campaign in the 1920s which stemmed from market research – when people told the company that they felt good after their pint, the slogan, created by
Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
–"Guinness is Good for You". Advertising for alcoholic drinks that implies improved physical performance or enhanced personal qualities is now prohibited in Ireland.
Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...
, the company that now manufactures Guinness, says: "We never make any medical claims for our drinks."


Varieties

Guinness stout is available in a number of variants and strengths, which include: * ''Guinness Draught'', the standard
draught beer Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as Name Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served dire ...
sold in
keg A keg is a small barrel. Wooden kegs made by a cooper were used to transport nails, gunpowder, and a variety of liquids. A keg is normally now constructed of stainless steel, although aluminium can be used if it is coated with plastic on th ...
s (but exist also a texture-like version in widget cans and bottles): 4.1 to 4.3%
alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
(ABV); the Extra Cold is served through a super cooler at 3.5 °C (38.3 °F). * ''Guinness Original/Extra Stout'': 4.2 to 5.6% in the United States. 5% in Canada, and most of Europe; 4.2 or 4.3% ABV in Ireland and some European countries, 4.1% in Germany, 4.8% in Namibia and South Africa, and 6% in Australia and Japan. * ''
Guinness Foreign Extra Stout Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (FES) is a stout produced by the Guinness Brewery, an Irish brewing company owned by Diageo, a drinks Multinational corporation, multinational. First brewed by Guinness in 1801, FES was designed for export, and is m ...
'': 7.5% ABV version sold in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and the United States. The basis is an unfermented but hopped Guinness wort extract shipped from Dublin, which is added to local ingredients and fermented locally. The strength can vary, for example, it is sold at 5% ABV in China, 6.5% ABV in Jamaica and East Africa, 6.8% in Malaysia, 7.5% in the United States, and 8% ABV in Singapore. In
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
a proportion of
sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many othe ...
is used. Foreign Extra Stout is blended with a small amount of intentionally soured beer. Formerly, it was blended with beer that soured naturally as a result of fermenting in ancient oak tuns with a ''
Brettanomyces ''Brettanomyces'' is a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae, and is often colloquially referred to as "Brett". The genus name ''Dekkera'' is used interchangeably with ''Brettanomyces'', as it describes the teleomorph ...
'' population; it is now made with pasteurised beer that has been soured bacterially. It was previously known as ''West Indies Porter'', then ''Extra Stout'' and finally ''Foreign Extra Stout''. It was first made available in the UK in 1990. * ''Guinness Special Export Stout'', Commissioned by John Martin of
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
in 1912. The first variety of Guinness to be pasteurised, in 1930. 8% ABV. * ''Guinness Bitter'', an English-style bitter beer: 4.4% ABV. * ''Guinness Extra Smooth'', a smoother stout sold in Ghana, Cameroon and Nigeria: 5.5% ABV. * ''Malta Guinness'', a non-alcoholic sweet drink, produced in Nigeria and exported to the UK, East Africa, and Malaysia. * ''Guinness Zero ABV'', a non-alcoholic beverage sold in Indonesia. * ''Guinness Mid-Strength'', a low-alcohol stout test-marketed in
Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in March 2006 and
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
from May 2007: 2.8% ABV. * ''Guinness Red'', brewed in exactly the same way as Guinness except that the barley is only lightly roasted so that it produces a lighter, slightly fruitier red ale; test-marketed in Britain in February 2007: 4% ABV. * ''250 Anniversary Stout'', released in the U.S., Australia and Singapore on 24 April 2009; 5% ABV. *''Guinness West Indies,'' a Porter which imitates the 1801 variety with notes of toffee and chocolate: 6% ABV. In October 2005, Guinness announced the Brewhouse Series, a limited-edition collection of draught stouts available for roughly six months each. There were three beers in the series. * ''Brew 39'' was sold in Dublin from late 2005 until early 2006. It had the same alcohol content (ABV) as Guinness Draught, used the same gas mix and settled in the same way, but had a slightly different taste. Many found it to be lighter in taste, somewhat closer to
Beamish stout Beamish and Crawford was a brewery and brewing company based in Cork (city), Cork, Ireland, established in 1792 by William Beamish and William Crawford on the site of an existing Porter (beer), porter brewery. In the early 1800s, it was the lar ...
than standard Irish Guinness. The Beamish & Crawford Brewery was established in 1792 in the City of Cork, and was bought by Guinness in 1833. * ''Toucan Brew'' was introduced in May 2006. It was named after the cartoon
toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five ge ...
used in many Guinness advertisements. This beer had a crisper taste with a slightly sweet aftertaste due to its triple-hopped brewing process. * ''North Star'' was introduced in October 2006 and sold into late 2007. Three million pints of North Star were sold in the latter half of 2007. Despite an announcement in June 2007 that the fourth Brewhouse stout would be launched in October that year, no new beer appeared and, at the end of 2007, the Brewhouse series appeared to have been quietly cancelled. From early 2006, Guinness marketed a "surger" unit in Britain. This surger device, marketed for use with cans consumed at home, is "said to activate the gases in the canned beer" by sending an "ultra-sonic pulse through the pint glass" sitting upon the device. Surgers are also in use in other countries. The surger for the US market was announced in November 2007. Withdrawn Guinness variants include Guinness's Brite Lager, Guinness's Brite Ale, Guinness Light, Guinness XXX Extra Strong Stout, Guinness Cream Stout, Guinness Milk Stout, Guinness Irish Wheat, Guinness Gold, Guinness Pilsner, Guinness Breó (a slightly citrusy wheat beer), Guinness Shandy, and Guinness Special Light. Breó (meaning 'glow' in Irish) was a wheat beer; it cost around IR£5 million to develop. A brewing byproduct of Guinness,
Guinness Yeast Extract __NOTOC__ Guinness Yeast Extract, commonly known by its initials GYE, was an Irish savoury spread, made from yeast extract. It was a by-product of the Guinness beer brewing process and produced by Arthur Guinness Son & Co., Dublin. The product ...
(GYE), was produced until the 1950s. In the UK, a HP Guinness Sauce was manufactured by
Heinz The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...
and available as of 2013.
Kraft The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...
also licenses the name for its barbecue sauce product,
Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce is a barbecue sauce created and distributed by Kraft Heinz in the United States and Canada. It is also the official BBQ sauce of the Calgary Stampede. History Bulls-Eye was introduced in 1985 with the tag line ''The ...
. In March 2010, Guinness began test marketing Guinness Black Lager, a new black
lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...
, in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. As of September 2010, Guinness Black Lager is no longer readily available in Malaysia. In October 2010, Guinness began selling Foreign Extra Stout in 4 packs of bottles in the United States. In 2014, Guinness released ''Guinness Blonde'', a lager brewed in
Latrobe, Pennsylvania Latrobe is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in the United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The city population was 8,338 as of the 2010 census (9,265 in 1990). It is located near Pennsylvania's scenic Chestnut Rid ...
using a combination of Guinness yeast and American ingredients. When Guinness opened their new brewery in Baltimore, Maryland in August 2018 they recreated "Blonde" to "Baltimore Blonde" by adjusting the grain mixture and adding Citra for a citrus flavour and removed the Mosaic hops. Guinness released a
lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...
in 2015 called
Hop House 13 Hop House 13 is an Irish lager, produced by Diageo (owners of Guinness). Background Hop House 13 is brewed by the Brewers Project, which also manufactures Guinness Dublin Porter, Guinness West Indies Porter and Guinness Golden Ale. The beer is n ...
. It was withdrawn from sale in the UK in May 2021, following poor sales, but remains on sale in Ireland. In 2020, Guinness announced the introduction of a zero alcohol canned stout, ''Guinness 0.0''. It was withdrawn from sale almost immediately after launch, due to contamination. It was relaunched in 2021 starting with pubs in mid July with cans following in late August. In September 2021 Guinness Nitrosurge was released in pint sized cans which contain no widget. Similar to the Surger, nitrogen is activated using ultrasonic frequencies. Nitrosurge uses a special device attached to the top of the can which activates the nitrogen as it is being poured.


Pouring and serving

Before the 1960s, when Guinness adopted the current system of delivery using a
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
/carbon dioxide gas mixture, all beer leaving the brewery was
cask-conditioned Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
. Casks newly delivered to many small pubs were often nearly unmanageably frothy, but cellar space and rapid turnover demanded that they be put into use before they could sit for long enough to settle down. As a result, a glass would be part filled with the fresh, frothy beer, allowed to stand a minute, and then topped up with beer from a cask that had been pouring longer and had calmed down a bit. With the move to nitrogen gas dispense in the 1960s, it was felt important to keep the two-stage pour ritual in order to bring better consumer acceptance of the modern nitrogen-based delivery. As Guinness has not been cask-conditioned for decades, the two-stage pour has been labelled a marketing ploy that does not actually affect the beer's taste. What Diageo calls the "perfect pint" of Draught Guinness is the product of a "double pour", which according to the company should take 119.53 seconds. Guinness has promoted this wait with advertising campaigns such as " good things come to those who wait". The brewer recommends that draught Guinness should be served at 6-7 °C (42.8 °F), while Extra Cold Guinness should be served at 3.5 °C (38.6 °F). Before the 21st century, it was popular to serve Guinness at cellar temperature (about 13 °C) and some drinkers preferred it at room temperature (about 20 °C). According to
Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...
, a pint of Guinness should be served in a slightly tulip-shaped
pint glass A pint glass is a form of drinkware made to hold either a British imperial pint of or an American pint of . Other definitions also exist, see below. These glasses are typically used to serve beer, and also often for cider. Current shapes The ...
, rather than the taller European tulip or 'Nonic' glass, which contains a ridge approx 3/4 of the way up the glass. To begin the pour, the server holds the glass at a 45° angle below the tap and fills the glass 3/4 full. On the way out of the tap, the beer is forced at high speed through a five-hole disc
restrictor plate A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to li ...
at the end of the tap, creating friction and forcing the creation of small nitrogen bubbles which form a creamy
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
. The server brings the glass from 45° angle to a vertical position. After allowing the initial pour to settle, the server pushes the tap handle back and fills the remainder of the glass until the head forms a slight dome over the top of the glass (or "just proud of the rim"). In 2010, Guinness redesigned their pint glass for the first time in a decade. The new glass was designed to be taller and narrower than the previous one and featured a bevel design. The new glasses were planned to gradually replace the old ones.


Sinking bubbles

When Guinness is poured, the gas bubbles appear to travel downwards in the glass. The effect is attributed to drag; bubbles that touch the walls of a glass are slowed in their travel upwards. Bubbles in the centre of the glass are, however, free to rise to the surface, and thus form a rising column of bubbles. The rising bubbles create a
current Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...
by the
entrainment Entrainment may refer to: * Air entrainment, the intentional creation of tiny air bubbles in concrete * Brainwave entrainment, the practice of entraining one's brainwaves to a desired frequency * Entrainment (biomusicology), the synchronization o ...
of the surrounding fluid. As beer rises in the centre, the beer near the outside of the glass falls. This downward flow pushes the bubbles near the glass towards the bottom. Although the effect occurs in any liquid, it is particularly noticeable in any dark nitrogen stout, as the drink combines dark-coloured liquid and light-coloured bubbles. A study published in 2012 revealed that the effect is due to the particular shape of the glass coupled with the small bubble size found in stout beers. If the vessel widens with height, then bubbles will sink along the walls – this is the case for the standard pint glass. Conversely, in an anti-pint (i.e. if the vessel narrows with height) bubbles will rise along the walls.


Culinary uses

Guinness is frequently used as an ingredient in recipes, often to add a seemingly authentic Irish element to the menus of Irish-themed pubs in the United States, where it is stirred into everything from french toast to
beef stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and m ...
. A popular, authentic, Irish course featuring Guinness is the "Guinness and Steak Pie". The recipe includes many common Irish herbs, as well as beef brisket, cheeses, and a can of Guinness.


Advertising

The Guinness harp motif is modelled on the
Trinity College Harp The Trinity College harp, also known as "Brian Boru's harp", is a medieval musical instrument on display in the long room at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. It is an early Irish harp or wire-strung cláirseach. It is dated to the 14th or 15th ...
. It was adopted in 1862 by the incumbent proprietor, Benjamin Lee Guinness. Harps have been a symbol of Ireland at least since the reign of
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
. Guinness registered their harp as a trademark shortly after the passing of the Trade Marks Registration Act of 1875. It faces right instead of left, and so can be distinguished from the
Irish coat of arms ) , supporters = , compartment = , motto = , orders = , other_elements = , earlier_versions = , use = The harp is used on all Acts of Oireachtas; the seal of the President; the cover of Iri ...
. Since the 1930s, in the face of falling sales, Guinness has had a long history of marketing campaigns, from television advertisements to beer mats and posters. Before then, Guinness had almost no advertising, instead allowing word of mouth to sell the product. The most notable and recognisable series of advertisements was created by
S.H. Benson S. H. Benson Ltd was a British advertising company founded in 1893 by Samuel Herbert Benson. Clients of the company included Bovril, Guinness and Colmans. S. H. Benson was born on 14 August 1854 in Marylebone. Naval service S H Benson served ...
's advertising, primarily drawn by the artist John Gilroy, in the 1930s and 1940s. Benson created posters that included phrases such as "Guinness for Strength", "Lovely Day for a Guinness", "Guinness Makes You Strong", "My Goodness My Guinness" (or, alternatively, "My Goodness, My Christmas, It's Guinness!"), and most famously, "Guinness is Good For You". The posters featured Gilroy's distinctive artwork and more often than not featured animals such as a kangaroo, ostrich, seal, lion and notably a
toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five ge ...
, which has become as much a symbol of Guinness as the harp. (An advertisement from the 1940s ran with the following jingle: ''"Toucans in their nests agree/Guinness is good for you/Try some today and see/What one or toucan do."'')
Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
and Bobby Bevan copywriters at Benson's also worked on the campaign; a biography of Sayers notes that she created a sketch of the toucan and wrote several of the adverts in question. Guinness advertising paraphernalia, notably the pastiche booklets illustrated by Ronald Ferns, attract high prices on the collectable market. Many of the best known Guinness
television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
s of the 1970s and 1980s were created by British director,
Len Fulford Leonard Alfred Fulford (11 November 1928 – 27 November 2011) was a British commercial photographer and director, with a specialty for photography of still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inan ...
. In 1983, a conscious marketing decision was made to turn Guinness into a "
cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
" beer in the UK, amidst declining sales. The move halted the sales decline. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described the management of the brand: :"they've spent years now building a brand that's in complete opposition to cheap lagers, session drinking and crowds of young men boozing in bars. They've worked very hard to help Guinness drinkers picture themselves as twinkly-eyed,
Byronic The Byronic hero is a variant of the Romantic hero as a type of character, named after the English Romantic poet Lord Byron. Both Byron's own persona as well as characters from his writings are considered to provide defining features to the char ...
bar-room intellectuals, sitting quietly with a pint and dreaming of poetry and impossibly lovely redheads running barefoot across the peat. You have a pint or two of Guinness with a slim volume of
Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish litera ...
, not eight mates and a 19-pint bender which ends in tattoos, A&E
he ED He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
and herpes from a hen party." In the late 1980s and early 1990s, in the UK, there was a series of "darkly" humorous adverts, featuring actor
Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...
, with the theme "Pure Genius", extolling its qualities in brewing and target market. The 1994–1995 ''
Anticipation Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posi ...
'' campaign, featuring actor
Joe McKinney Joseph Anthony McKinney (born 12 May 1967) is an Irish stage, film and television actor and voice-over artist. Rathfarnham-born McKinney trained and worked as a hairdresser for four years, before joining fringe theatre. He trained at Inchicore ...
dancing to "Guaglione" by Perez Prado while his pint settled, became a legend in Ireland and put the song to number one in the charts for several weeks. The advertisement was also popular in the UK where the song reached number two. From 1999 to 2006, the Michael Power
advertising character A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Ma ...
was the cornerstone of a major
marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
campaign to promote Guinness products in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. The character, played by Cleveland Mitchell, was portrayed to have been born in
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
and raised in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. By 2003, it became one of the best-known
alcohol advertising Alcohol advertising is the promotion of alcoholic beverages by alcohol producers through a variety of media. Along with nicotine advertising, alcohol advertising is one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing. Some or all forms of alco ...
campaigns in Africa. Jo Foster of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
referred to Power as "Africa's very own '
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
'". In 2000, Guinness's 1999 advertisement " Surfer" was named the best television commercial of all time, in a UK poll conducted by ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' and
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
. This advertisement is inspired by the famous 1980s Guinness TV and cinema ad, "Big Wave", centred on a surfer riding a wave while a bikini-clad sunbather takes photographs. The 1980s advertisement not only remained a popular iconic image in its own right; it also entered the Irish cultural memory through inspiring a well-known line in
Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...
's song "
Delirium Tremens Delirium tremens (DTs) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days. Physical effects may include shaking, shiver ...
" (1985). "Surfer" was produced by the advertising agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO; the advertisement can be downloaded from their website. Guinness won the 2001 Clio Award as the Advertiser of the Year, citing the work of five separate ad agencies around the world. In 2002, Guinness applied the Michael Power formula to Asia with the character Adam King. The campaign featured such tag lines as: "Everyday someone, somewhere achieves something new. Sometimes on a grand, dramatic scale. Sometimes on a more personal scale." As of 2004, Guinness ranked among the top three beer labels in Singapore and Malaysia, with a 20 per cent market share across Southeast Asia. Malaysia was the brand's third-largest market in the region and the sixth largest market worldwide. In 2003, the Guinness TV campaign featuring
Tom Crean Tom or Thomas Crean may refer to: *Thomas Crean (1873–1923), Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor *Tom Crean (explorer) (1877–1938), Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer *Tom Crean (basketball) Thomas Aaron Crean (born Ma ...
won the gold Shark Award at the International Advertising Festival of Ireland, while in 2005 their Irish Christmas campaign won a silver Shark. This TV ad has been run every Christmas since its debut in December 2004 and features pictures of snow falling in places around Ireland, evoking the
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
story " The Dead", finishing at
St. James's Gate Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
with the line: "Even at the home of the black stuff they dream of a white one". Their UK commercial "
noitulovE ''noitulovE'' ("Evolution" backwards) is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Diageo in 2005 to promote Guinness Draught stout. The 60-second piece formed the cornerstone of a £15 million advertising campaign targeti ...
", first broadcast in October 2005, was the most-awarded commercial worldwide in 2006. In it, three men drink a pint of Guinness, then begin to both walk and evolve backward. Their "reverse evolution" passes through an ancient ''
Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'', a monkey, a
flying lemur Colugos () are arboreal gliding mammals that are native to Southeast Asia. Their closest evolutionary relatives are primates. There are just two living species of colugos: the Sunda flying lemur (''Galeopterus variegatus'') and the Philippine f ...
, a
pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smut ...
, an
ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurs (Ancient Greek for "fish lizard" – and ) are large extinct marine reptiles. Ichthyosaurs belong to the order known as Ichthyosauria or Ichthyopterygia ('fish flippers' – a designation introduced by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, altho ...
, and a
velociraptor ''Velociraptor'' (; ) is a genus of small dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, about 75 million to 71 million years ago. Two species are currently recognized, although others have been assigned in the pa ...
, until finally settling on a
mud skipper Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family Oxudercidae. They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestrial locomotion and ...
drinking dirty water, which then expresses its disgust at the taste of the stuff, followed by the line: "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait". This was later modified to have different endings to advertise Guinness Extra Cold, often shown as "break bumpers" at the beginning and end of commercial breaks. The second endings show either the ''Homo sapiens'' being suddenly frozen in a block of ice, the ichthyosaurs being frozen while swimming, or the pool of muddy water freezing over as the mudskipper takes a sip, freezing his tongue to the surface. Two further advertisements in 2006 and early 2007, "Hands" and "St. Patrick's Hands", were created by animator
Michael Schlingmann Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
for Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. They feature a pair of hands, animated in
stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
under a
rostrum camera A rostrum camera is a specially designed camera used in television production and filmmaking to animate a still picture or object. It consists of a moving lower platform on which the article to be filmed is placed, while the camera is placed above ...
. "Hands" focuses on the 119.53 seconds it takes to pour a pint, and "St. Patrick's Hands is a spoof of ''
Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean ...
'', with the animated hands doing the dancing. In 2006,
Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...
, owner of the Guinness brand, replaced the Michael Power campaign with the "Guinness Greatness" campaign, which they claim emphasises the "drop of greatness" in everyone, in contrast to the high-tension heroics of the Power character. Guinness' 2007 advertisement, directed by
Nicolai Fuglsig Nicolai Fuglsig () is a Danish film director and photojournalist. He graduated from the Danish School of Journalism. In 1999, his book on an untold nuclear disaster (Techa River pollution by the Mayak plutonium production site) won the ICP In ...
and filmed in Argentina, is entitled "Tipping Point". It involves a large-scale
domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...
chain reaction and, with a budget of £10 million, was the most expensive advertisement by the company at that point. The 2000s also saw a series of television advertisements, entitled "Brilliant!" in which two crudely animated Guinness brewmasters would discuss the beer, particularly the ability to drink it straight from the bottle. The two would almost always react to their discoveries with the catchphrase "Brilliant!", hence the campaign's title. In 2009, the "To Arthur" advertisement, which started with two friends realising the company's long history, hail each other by lifting up their glasses and saying: "to Arthur!". The hailing slowing spread throughout the bar to the streets outside, and finally around the world. The advertisement ends with the voiceover: "Join the worldwide celebration, of a man named Arthur". This gave rise to the event now known as
Arthur's Day Arthur's Day was an annual series of music events worldwide, originally organised by Diageo in 2009 to promote the 250th anniversary of its Guinness brewing company. It was named after the founder of Guinness brewing, Arthur Guinness. The 20 ...
. "Arthur's Day is a series of events and celebrations taking place around the world to celebrate the life and legacy of Arthur Guinness and the much-loved Guinness beer which Arthur brought to the world." Starting in 2011, the Guinness brand issued a series of Ireland-wide advertisements featuring everyday Irish people as part of their "Guinness is Good For Us" campaign referencing the iconic "Guinness is Good For You" campaign of the 1920s to 1960s.


Worldwide sales

In 2006, sales of Guinness in Ireland and the United Kingdom declined 7 per cent. Despite this, Guinness still accounts for more than a quarter of all beer sold in Ireland. By 2015, sales were on the rise in Ireland but flat globally. Guinness began retailing in India in 2007. Guinness has a significant share of the African beer market, where it has been sold since 1827. About 40 per cent of worldwide total Guinness volume is brewed and sold in Africa, with Foreign Extra Stout the most popular variant. Three of the five Guinness-owned breweries worldwide are located in Africa. The Michael Power advertising campaign was a critical success for Guinness in Africa, running for nearly a decade before being replaced in 2006 with "Guinness Greatness". The beer is brewed under licence internationally in several countries, including
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, the Bahamas, Canada, Cameroon,
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
, Uganda, South Korea, Namibia, and Indonesia. The unfermented but hopped Guinness wort extract is shipped from Dublin and blended with beer brewed locally. In 2017 Guinness teamed up with AB InBev to distribute Guinness in mainland China. China is the single biggest worldwide alcohol market, especially for imported craft beers like Guinness. The UK is the only sovereign state to consume more Guinness than Ireland. The third-largest Guinness drinking nation is Nigeria, followed by the USA; the United States consumed more than of Guinness in 2010.


Merchandising

The
Guinness Storehouse Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over twenty million visitors. The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form ...
at
St. James's Gate Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland, by Arthur Guinness. The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is ...
in Dublin is the most popular tourist attraction in Ireland (attracting over 1.7 million visitors in 2017) where a self-guided tour includes an account of the ingredients used to make the stout and a description of how it is made. Visitors can sample the smells of each Guinness ingredient in the Tasting Rooms, which are coloured with a unique lighting design that emits Guinness's gold and black branding. The ''
Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' started as a Guinness marketing giveaway, based on an idea of its then Managing Director, Sir
Hugh Beaver Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver, KBE (4 May 1890 – 16 January 1967) was an English-South African civil engineer, industrialist, and founder of the ''Guinness World Records'' (then known as Guinness Book of Records). Biography Beaver spe ...
. Its holding company, Guinness World Records Ltd, was owned by Guinness plc, subsequently Diageo, until 2001.


References


Further reading

* Patrick Lynch and John Vaizey – ''Guinness's Brewery in the Irish Economy: 1759–1876'' (1960) Cambridge University Press * Frederic Mullally – ''The Silver Salver: The Story of the Guinness Family'' (1981) Granada, * Brian Sibley – ''The Book Of Guinness Advertising'' (1985) Guinness Books, * Peter Pugh – ''Is Guinness Good for You: The Bid for Distillers – The Inside Story'' (1987) Financial Training Publications, * Edward Guinness – ''The Guinness Book of Guinness'' (1988) Guinness Books * Michele Guinness – ''The Guinness Legend: The Changing Fortunes of a Great Family'' (1988) Hodder and Stoughton General Division, * Jonathan Guinness – ''Requiem for a Family Business'' (1997) Macmillan Publishing, * Derek Wilson – ''Dark and Light: The Story of the Guinness Family'' (1998) George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Ltd., * S. R. Dennison and Oliver MacDonagh – ''Guinness 1886–1939: From Incorporation to the Second World War'' (1998) Cork University Press, * Jim Davies – ''The Book of Guinness Advertising'' (1998) Guinness Media Inc., * Al Byrne – ''Guinness Times: My Days in the World’s Most Famous Brewery'' (1999) Town House, * Michele Guinness – ''The Guinness Spirit: Brewers, Bankers, Ministers and Missionaries'' (1999) Hodder and Stoughton, * Tony Corcoran – ''The Goodness of Guinness: The Brewery, Its People and the City of Dublin'' (2005) Liberties Press, * Mark Griffiths – ''Guinness is Guinness... the colourful story of a black and white brand'' (2005) Cyanbooks, London. . * Charles Gannon – ''Cathal Gannon – The Life and Times of a Dublin Craftsman'' (2006) Lilliput Press, Dublin. . * Bill Yenne – ''Guinness The 250-year quest for the perfect pint'' (2007)
John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in p ...
, Hoboken. . * Iorwerth Griffiths – 'Beer and Cider in Ireland: The Complete Guide' (2008) Liberties Press * P. Guinness – ''Arthur's Round'' Peter Owen, London 2008, * David Hughes, ''A Bottle of Guinness Please'', 2006, Phimboy, * Joe Joyce – The Untold Story of the Guinness Family – Poolbeg press * Edward J. Bourke, ''The Guinness story, The Family, The Business, The Black Stuff'', 2009 O'Brien press


External links

*
Guinness Storehouse website

How Guinness saved Ireland during WWII


* * ttp://michaelgrubbstudio.com/portfolio/#8 Lighting design of The Tasting Rooms in Guinness Storehouse*
Archive Fact Sheet: World War One and the St. James's Gate Brewery
{{Authority control 1759 establishments in Ireland Beer in Ireland Diageo beer brands Guinness advertising History of Ireland (1801–1923) Irish alcoholic drinks Food and drink companies established in 1759 Food and drink in Ireland Irish brands