I spent my first day in Dublin by taking a tour of the the Guinness factory to see how the famous Irish beer was made. At the end of the tour, I was able to taste a properly poured authentic Guinness beer right that was made at the factory. In the factory, guests had an opportunity to learn how to properly pour and taste their own Guinness - very cool !
A little bit of what I learned at Guinness. Guinness a popular Irish dry stout beer that was originated in a brewery owned by Arthur Guinness located at St. James’s Gate in Dublin. Guiness was a direct descent of the porter style that originated in the early 18th century in London and is today one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. Guinness’ burnt flavor which is derived from the use of roasted unmalted barley, which we got to try during the tour is one of the distinctive features of the beer. A portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed product which gave it a sharp lactic flavor for several years and that is characteristic of the original Porter.
There has been a decline in the consumption since the height of demand in 2001 but Guinness is still the best selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness has revenue of about 2 billion Euros annually.
Sales soared from 350,000 barrels in 1868 to 779,000 barrels in 1876. Guinness went public in 1886 and averaged sales of 1,138,000 barrels a year. It is interesting to note that the company refused to offer their beer at a price discount and did not rely heavily on advertising.
Murphy’s Beer vs. Guinness Beer
We learned to order Murphys in Cork and Guinness in Dublin to avoid upsetting the locals and contributing to the heated locality rivalries between the two most populous cities in Ireland. Compared to Guinness-Murphy’s is a lighter and sweeter dry stout beer. Its flavor is similar to that of caramel and malt as well as being a distant relative of chocolate milk. Murphy’s Beer is a regional beer that is consumed by locals in Cork, Ireland and is preferred to Guinness as part of the Cork vs. Dublin culture. Murphy’s Beer is a dry stout beer brewed in County Cork since 1956. I tried both and thought both were tolerable, and that they tasted better in Ireland than they do in the United States.
