Guinness Storehouse

I'm a Guinness drinker, so this tour was great for me. It's a big advertisement for Guinness but does contain some interesting stuff. The view from the Gravity Bar is great.

GUINNESS STOREHOUSE 250 SUMMER FESTIVAL 1759 – 2009

The Home of Guinness, Dublin, unveils a summer long season of festivities to mark Guinness 250.

This summer, for the months of June, July and August, GUINNESS STOREHOUSE, Ireland’s number 1 visitor attraction will host a season of music, lectures, tours and demonstrations to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the GUINNESS Company. With over 90 events planned, the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE 250 SUMMER FESTIVAL will kick off on the 1st June 2009 and run until the 30th August 2009. Festival events will take place daily and will feature a strong GUINNESS and Irish theme.

1 JUNE 2009 – 30 AUGUST 2009

Mondays 11am GUINNESS & FOOD DEMO with Head Chef Justin O’Connor

Tuesdays 11am ‘TOP 10 GOLDEN MOMENTS OF GUINNESS HISTORY’ with GUINNESS Company Archivist

Wednesdays 11am GUINNESS Variant Tasting & Perfect Pint tuition

Thursdays 11am 80 Years of GUINNESS Advertising – Special Guided tour

Fridays 11am GUINNESS 250 – Special Guided Tour

Saturdays 1pm Céilí Mór (traditional Irish social dance)

Sundays 1pm Traditional Irish Music Session

Located in the middle (well almost the middle) of Dublin is the Guinness Storehouse. This is the place that was leased for 9000 years by mr. Guinness back in the 18th century to host his now worldfamous brewery. The site offers a tour for 15 EUR in which you explore first the ingredients, then the process and also some advertising history. The tour is concluded by the tasting of a complementary pint of Guinness at the Gravity bar. This bar alone is worth the visit to the brewery, it offers a 360-view over the city of Dublin which is most special during nightfall with all the lights. In my opinion this brewery is a must-do when in Dublin.

now the idea of spending an afternoon in the Guinness factory doesnt really sound like fun to me but oh my was I proved wrong! The Guinness Storehouse is located in the heart of the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, and is Ireland’s No. 1 international visitor attraction. It first opened in November 2000 and has attracted over 4 million visitors since! Thats almost the whole population of Ireland!!

The Storehouse is laid out over seven floors surrounding a glass atrium taking the shape of a pint of Guinness. On the ground floor the massive exhibit introduces you to the four ingredients; water, barley, hops and yeast, all of which combine together to make a pint of Guinness. The history is written on the walls of each floor and is surprisingly very very interesting!

Arthur Guinness was born in 1725 near Dublin in the town of Celbridge, county Kildare where his father, Richard Guinness, was a Land Steward. The brewing industry in Dublin at that date was suffering because English beer was taxed less severely than the home-produced product. Arthur decided to acquire what was then a small, disused and ill-equipped brewery at St James's Gate.
A 9,000 year (9,000 years ! jeez amazing!) lease was signed on 31 December 1759, and the brewing, of ale initially, began. By the 1770s Arthur decided to brew Porter, a popular export from London. When he died in 1803, he left a fortune of £23,000 and his family would go on to develop the business in his name.

It shows how commited and passionate Arthur Guinness was and it comes across in the building, the exhibits and in the drink! A truly wonderful place to visit! all other information can be found on their website: http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/

I hope you get a chance to visit, you wont regret it!

Beer enthusists everywhere know there are certain drinks associate with an area of country, Sake--Japan, Heineken---Holland, Miller--America, and Guinness of Dublin, Ireland.

I was excited to come here and couldnt pass up missing this place!

The line was long but worth the wait. We paid for our tickets ( if you're lucky you can get a student admission rate if you have your ID). The Storehouse is different than most brewery tours because it is self-guided! Which is good, walk at your own pace and it gives you plenty of time to take all the photos you want.

There are two levels. Each station offering a interesting, interactive view of how they make your Guinness! Once you get to the second floor, samples of Guinness are poured from off the Tap.

It is a great tour and if you want to try more Guinness, theres more pubs toward O'Connell Street....my goodness : )

This is where Guinness beer started. A seven-floor building to explore, know about the history of Guinness beer and the process as well as the ingredients of making it. There is also a shop where you can buy souvenirs of all kind and sizes. At some part of the building (I forgot which floor) there is a board where you can leave your messages, it is so fun reading all these notes from people all over the world!
The best part - you end your tour at the Gravity bar, located at the top most and you can see the whole city of Dublin .. you either sit or stand (we weren't able to sit, there are so many people there) drinking your pint of Guinness for free! =D

It’s a self-guided tour of the Guinness-making process, plus a look back at the various advertising campaigns over the years (especially the John Gilroy “Guinness is good for you” “Lovely day for a Guinness” and “My Goodness! My Guinness!” type of animated advertising with animals or very strong humans… also, nothing to do with John Gilroy, but the advertising section even including photos of Rutger Hauer!). All culminating in a pint of Guinness at the end, either at the top (Gravity Bar) with views of Dublin, or down a few levels where you can pull your own pint, with a professional showing the proper method for novices. €14 charge, I didn’t think to ask if there was a student discount.

Probably the number one tourist attraction (at least everyone I know who has been to the city has come to this tour), compared to the EXTREMELY pricey city the Guinness Storehouse provides pretty good value for money. I didn't find the tour all that interesting, but it was well laid out and a good experience if you like the famous stout. It is a relatively relaxing and engaging use of time considering we managed to spend hours there, and we did not manage to see the whole of what was on display (though to be honest probably had reached saturation point).

But of course, for me the absolute highlight was the end. Probably the perfect pint of Guinness was available at the bars on the top floor. You redeem the token you receive at entry for a complementary pint in the viewing room, where u can see a 360 degree panorama of the city (not a great view - sorry!), but sipping your pint after hours of adult education is a great experience!

Completely over-rated, in my opinion. The self-guided tour is more or less completely forgetable. The only bits I really even remember appreciating from it were the old advertising posters and such. The only redeeming quality of this attraction is the "free" pint of Guinness in the Sky Bar at the top. The views out over Dublin on a clear day are amazing! It can get pretty crowded up there though.

I know it's "the" thing people want to see in Dublin, but I'd say save yourself the outrageous entrance fee and get a couple pints at a nice pub or something instead. You can still visit the official Guiness Gift Shop inside without paying for the tour or anything too, if you want to.

This was 14€ for a self guided tour.  While the tour included a sample of Guinness in the middle of it and a full pint at the end, it was still, I feel, a bit over priced for a self-guided tour.  The tour however was quite good.  Each step had a detailed video explination and video footage of the process.  Additionally there were some interactive computer events.  They have a place for you to learn to pour you own pint even. 

At the end of the tour you can go up to the top where there is a 360 degree view of th city and surroundings.   It was great.  Also there is another bar there that will serve many of Guinnesses other products including a new Tucan Guinness, and their two other stout versions.  I tried the Tucan Guinness and found it a bit smoother then the original.  But not so much so that I would prefer one over the other.

Becuase it is Guinness and it's a mark of Dublin I recommend a visit here, even though the price is a bit steep. 

If you're going to Dublin and fancy a pint of Guinness, you should check out the Guinness Brewery and St. James' Gate. A great tour, lots of memorabilia and a free pint of Guinness!