A Lovely Day for a Guinness

One of the highlights of our Dublin trip was that I got to steal away for a few hours to check out one of the city's most famous tourist attractions, the Guinness Brewery. Pretty neat, I've got to say. The brewery complex is massive and on a typically dark, rainy day just off the Irish Sea, it has imposing quality about it. Not unlike the first impression of Mr. Wonka's factory (you might be gathering from the blog that I love the original movie....), though waiting outside in the rain for 45 minutes I was not approached by Mr. Slugworth to steal the Everlasting Gobstopper (i.e., beer) recipe secrets.

Indeed, Mr. Slugworth could have just ponied up a few quid like the rest of us and the whole "secret" process was right there on display. The site was actually surprisingly well layed out and curated, walking us through every step in the process. Water, barley, yeast, hops - that's it! Simple as that (not really, but what beer these days doesn't sell its simplicity and purity). The tour started on the ground floor and worked its way up, with different exhibits on each floor. From afar this large cylindrical structure basically looks like a huge pint of beer. There didn't appear to be any Augustus Gloomps running around trying to taste the fresh mountain water running through the factory. I'm sure many give it a thought, but discipline and patience is duly rewarded at the tour's terminus on the top floor, when everyone receives their "free" pint of Guinness. The top floor is a 360-degree floor-to-ceiling glass platform, so there are cool wrap-around views of all of Dublin. Even on a grey day, you do get to see the whole city.

When Mr. Guinness secured the brewery site in 1759, he struck a 9000 year lease with the city of Dublin (well played, Arthur), so assuming our collective taste for the dark stuff doesn't wane anytime soon, we have a few just a few more millennia to take the tour. Get there while you can.