Irish Breweries History: St. James's Gate Brewery (Guinness)
On the last day of December 1759 a determined young man named Arthur
Guinness rode through the gate of an old, dilapidated ill-equipped brewery
sited on a small strip of land on Dublin's James's Street. He had just
signed a lease on the property for 9,000 years at £45 per annum. His
friends shook their heads in disbelief. For ten years, Mark Rainsford's
Ale Brewery (for such it was) had been on the Market and nobody had
shown any interest in it. The Street was already festooned with
similar small breweries, all attracted to this spot by a good supply
of water. Throughout the city of Dublin there were about 70 breweries
at that time, all, it must be assumed, small. Mr. Guinness's newly
aquired brewery was no more than average. But Arthur was about to
change all of that. He was 34 years old.
At that time, beer was almost unknown in rural Ireland where
whiskey, gin and poteen were the alcoholic drinks most readily available.
In spite of this and the poor quality of beer avaliable in larger
centers link Dublin, it was recognised, paradoxically, that brewing -
although constantly under threat from imports - was probably the
most prosperous of the very few industries in Ireland at that time.
In addition to ales, Arthur Guinness brewed a beer relatively new
to Ireland that contained roasted barley which gave it a
characteristically dark colour. This brew became known as "porter"
so named because of its popularity with the porters and stevedores
of Covent Garden and Billingsgate in London. "Porter" had been developed
in London some years earlier and was imported into Dublin to the
detriment of local brews. Arthur Guinness finally had to choose
between porter or the traditional Dublin ales. Deciding to tackle
the English brewers at their own game, Arthur tried his hand at porter.
He brewed the deep, rich beverage so well that he eventually ousted
all imports from the Irish market, captured a share of the English
trade and revolutionised the brewing industry.
The word Stout was added in the early 1820's as an adjective,
qualifying the noun "porter". An "extra stout porter" was a stronger
and more full bodied variety. "Stout" evolved as a noun in its own
right, as did the family name of Guinness. In 1825 Guinness Stout
was available abroad, and by 1838, Guinness' St. James's Gate Brewery
was the largest in Ireland. In 1881, the annual production of Guinness
brewed had surpassed one million barrels a year and by 1914, St.
James's Gate was the world's largest brewery.
In 2001 almost 2 billion pints of GUINNESS a year were sold
around the world and over 1 million pints of GUINNESS a day were sold
in Great Britain alone.
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