Ireland - Day 4 (Can You Say "Guinness"?)

I would be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn't ridiculously excited to get out of the hotel Sunday morning. We'd been looking forward to visiting the Guinness Storehouse since we arrived in Ireland, and this would be the day. 

A true pilgrimage would be made this day.

In 1759, a 34-year old Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on a little used property in Dublin and started to brew his ale. The cost? A whopping £45 per year. Ten years later Guinness saw its first export: 6-1/2 barrels to England. Guinness wouldn't make it to the United States for another 48 years. 

So, it was off to the storied St. James Gate for us, and to the Guinness Storehouse.

Black gold...

I'm happy here. Can you tell I'm happy here? Because I am. I'm happy here... (photo by Greg Parr)

The Storehouse is, as you might imagine, one of the most popular tourist destinations in all of Ireland. They brew over €2 billion worth of beer annually and, in the 1930's Guinness was the seventh largest company on the planet.

We were a bit concerned with whether or not Mom would be able to do the entire tour (it's a seven story building), but we learned that there are both elevators (aka "lifts" and escalators so, thankfully, that wasn't a concern at all.

Mom is all ready to go with ticket in and. She developed quite a taste for Guinness during this trip!

While you can get into a guided tour, we opted for the self-guided tour. This way we could linger and look at those things which interested us and move on from those things that didn't.

One the st things which struck our interest was the Guinness waterfall. While it's located inside the confines of the building, I'm pretty sure it's just for show. There are too many "coins in the fountain" for it to be used for anything having to do with the brewing process. Still, it was pretty cool.

The tour doesn't take you through the actual brewery, but through a series floors containing exhibits of the brewing process. Many of the "stations" have video monitors which show the various steps of the brewing process. As popular as a destination as this is, it's not surprising that they don't try to take people into the actual brewery.

A mere 30,000,000 bubbles...

This is what those 30,000,000 bubbles might look like if you were inside a pint of Guinness. Or if you were on LSD...

Or roughly 495° fahrenheit. This is vitally important because. if they roast it any cooler, they won't achieve that famed Guinness color and flavor. If they roast it any hotter the hops will catch fire...

Someone actually gets paid to taste test Guinness. I want this job...

One of the antique rail cars used in the Guinness compound...

One of the seven floors at the Storehouse. You can rest and grab bit to eat here...

You might expect everyone working at Guinness be Irish. Well, meet Doug. He's from New Jersey...

I really like the old advertising campaigns that Guinness used, and there's an entire area dedicated to the various advertisements used over the company's history.

The Guinness ostrich, with its head in the proverbial sand...

"My goodness, my Guinness" debuted in the 1920's...

Of course the highlight of any visit to the Guinness Storehouse is a visit to the Gravity Bar, located on the 7th floor. A quick elevator ride and there we were along with about 300 other people. This is where you traded your ticket for a pint of Guinness. I was skeptical, given the number of people there, but the folks at Guinness have this down to a science. We were enjoying our pints within just a few minutes.

The gravity bar offers a 360° view of the greater Dublin area, and it's awesome. And, if you're lucky enough visit on your birthday, you just might get serenaded by 300 of your closest friends.

As the day drew to a close, we decided to hit the Guinness gift shop, which as incredible. If they didn't have it here, Guinness doesn't sell it. I took it easy on my wallet and only picked up a magnet, a pen and a book (like a Guinness journal), but that was about it.

As we were leaving, we came across a rather impressive collection of ancient Guinness bottles, which is referred to as the "Archive".

W were making  it an early night, as Monday morning would be coming very early for Greg and me. Our usual quick, €20 taxi ride, however, would not be realized. We found ourselves sitting in traffic as 85,000 Irish sports fans emptied out of Croke Park, the local sporting venue.  By the time we got to the hotel (75 minutes an €55 later!), we were done.

But, tired as we were, one thing was clear: No visit to Ireland can be considered complete without a visit to the Guinness Storehouse, so do not miss it. Just don't.

You're welcome...