Beer Me! — Arthur Guinness & Son

This is not the official web site of

Arthur Guinness & Son

(Diageo)

St. James's Gate
8 Dublin
Hours: The "Guinness Storehouse" is open daily 9:30am-5:00pm.
[Contact] [Map] [Update]

Notes

Visited: October 25, 2009

Annual Production: 82,900,000 hl

U.S. Importer: Diageo-Guinness USA, Norwalk, CT

Contributors: Mario Kornmesser, george mitchell

Guinness merged with food giant GrandMet in November 1997. The $36,000,000,000 deal created Diageo, the world's seventh-largest food and beverage congomerate, with brands that include Burger King (which they sold in 2002 for US$2,260,000,000), Gordon's Gin, Johnnie Walker, Bell's Scotch, Bailey's Irish Cream, Pillsbury (which they sold in 2001 for US$10,400,000,000), and Haagen-Dasz.

Besides the Dublin brewery, Guinness owns:

Cherry's (Waterford),
Guinness (London),
Harp (Dundalk),
Macardle (Dundalk), and
Smithwick (Kilkenny).

(Information from Michael Jackson's The New World Guide to Beer, map on pages 146-147.)

18 June 2007: Diageo is said to be considering abandoning this historic site.

Updated: April 5, 2010

News

2009-07-02: Drink Beer, Win a Trip to Space (SPACE.com)
2007-12-17: Guinness family's origins smaller beer than thought (Belfast Telegraph)
2007-11-29: Dublin beer bandit raids Guinness (BusinessWeek)

Beer List

Draught

Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout

4.20% abv.
- Date: July 18, 2003 (#4966)
  
  Package: bottled
  
  Place: Peabody's Ale House, Oshkosh WI
  
  Score: 13 points
  
  Overall Impression
  "Serve extra cold. Drink straight from the bottle." These are bad omens. The beer is black, and when poured into a glass, it cascades like the nitro version, but not as much. The aroma is strongly herbal, and not at all roasty. It has a very light body, and the flavor is very mildly roasty, but mostly very clean...almost no flavor at all. Arthur would NOT be happy.

Extra Stout

Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout

4.20% abv.

Date: October 26, 2009 (#7990)

Package: bottled

Place: Slattery's, Dublin

Score: 16½ points

Appearance (3)
Black. Big fluffy head.

Aroma (3½)
Dark chocolate. Sweet coffee.

Mouthfeel (8)
Light body, smooth. Malty (but thin), roasty, with a hint of tartness. Finishes remarkably clean.

Overall Impression (2)
I have a theory: Once upon a time, the beer that was shipped to the USA behind this label was a Foreign Extra Stout by style. Now it's clearly a standard Irish Dry Stout, and the Foreign Extra Stout is labeled as such.
Date: January 19, 2008 (#6834)

Package: bottled

Place: Hy-Vee Columbus, Columbus NE

Score: 15½ points

Appearance (3)
Black. Thick foamy head.

Aroma (2½)
Malty. Very mild roast.

Mouthfeel (8)
Medium body, smooth. Really malty and quite roasty. Bitterness from roasted malts and from hops. Mild alcohol in the finish.

Overall Impression (2)
Sweeter, nowhere near as assertive as it was 20 years ago. This particular bottle was brewed by "Guinness Brewing Company, New Brunswick, Canada".
Date: November 6, 2001 (#3977)

Package: bottled

Place: Sam's Wine and Spirits, Chicago IL

Score: 13½ points

Overall Impression
Black, thick tan head. Diacetyl odor, black malt aroma. Light-medium body, quite a lot of diacetyl flavor, lots of black roasty fairly acidic malt.
Date: March 31, 1996 (#1342)

Package: bottled

Place: Moloka`i Wines and Spirits Unlimited, Kaunakakai HI

Score: 14 points

Overall Impression
Black, huge brown head. Sweet-sour black aroma. Black flavor, bitter. Lots of licorice flavor. Lots of hop flavor. Long bitter finish.

Foreign Extra Stout

Foreign (Export)-Style Stout

7.50% abv.

Date: October 26, 2009 (#7991)

Package: bottled

Place: at the brewery

Score: 17 points

Appearance (3)
Black. Massive head.

Aroma (2½)
Malt. Roast. Licorice. Diacetyl.

Mouthfeel (9)
Big and chewy. Big and black. Roasty, sweet, and bitter.

Overall Impression (2½)
This is how I remember "Guinness Extra Stout" used to be in the States.

Date: July 23, 2003 (#4972)

Package: bottled

Place: Peabody's Ale House, Oshkosh WI

Score: 12 points

Overall Impression
Pale golden. Thick head. Sweet, sulfury aroma. Light body, very fizzy. Sweet and sticky. "Brewed and bottled by Guinness Brewing Company, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Product of Canada."

Date: June 21, 1996 (#1524)

Package: bottled

Place: Kamuela Liquor Store, Kamuela HI

Score: 10 points

Overall Impression
Lots of suspended chunks. Low carbonation and head. Yellow. Aroma a little sharp, sweet. Good body. Sweetish, with some oxidation evident. Astringent finish. Ten points is pretty generous.

Date: March 14, 1995 (#803)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 17 points

Overall Impression
Golden, clear, lots of carbonation, good head. Crisp and clean, malt aroma. Light body, but full flavor. Sweet finish, good malt flavors.

Date: July 5, 1993 (#125)

Package: draught

Place: Lyon's Brewery, Dublin CA

Score: 16 points

Overall Impression
Yellow, thick head. Hoppy nose, but not "European". Thick, bitter, fizzy. Better than I remember it...maybe because it's my first pint of the day!

Date: July 18, 2003 (#4967)

Place: Peabody's Ale House, Oshkosh WI

Score: 15 points

Overall Impression
Looks more like the nitro version than the bottled "Draught". Very mildly roasty aroma. Light body. Smooth. Very mildly roasty, and just a hint of the trademark Guinness sour mash. More interesting than the bottled "Draught", but not as good as the nitro version (used to be).

Date: March 2, 1996 (#1341)

Place: Moloka`i Wines and Spirits Unlimited, Kaunakakai HI

Score: 15½ points

Overall Impression
Big tan head...not white like the real thing. Black as night. Very black aroma. Very black flavor. Full body makes it pretty smooth. Long fairly black mildly bitter slightly smoky finish.

Date: May 30, 2007 (#6539)

Package: bottled

Place: Beertopia, Omaha NE

Score: 15 points

Appearance (3)
Bright red. Thick foamy white head.

Aroma (3)
Grainy, caramelly malt.

Mouthfeel (7)
Light body, fairly fizzy. Very grainy and very grassy. Low bitterness. Clean grassy finish.

Overall Impression (2)

Date: October 24, 2009 (#7961)

Package: nitrogenated

Place: Quay's Bar, Dublin

Score: 18 points

Appearance (3)
Black. Dense creamy head.

Aroma (3)
Very mildly roasty. Very mild chocolate.

Mouthfeel (9)
Light. Really creamy. Nice dark chocolate flavor, with a hop bitterness at the end.

Overall Impression (3)
Served very cold, but it's still tasty — I've only been here in Dublin for a couple of hours.

Date: December 28, 1994 (#675)

Package: draught

Place: The HopYard, Pleasanton CA

Score: 20 points

Overall Impression
Jeez. How do you describe the head-convection, the colors, the motion? How do you put it into words? Bright, fresh aroma! Some coffee, hint of chocolate. Much bolder flavor and body than Murphy's. More bitter, more coffee...much bigger beer.

Date: June 27, 1993 (#106)

Package: draught

Place: Lyon's Brewery, Dublin CA

Score: 20 points

Overall Impression
What can you say?

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