Guinness has always been one of those beers I most admired. I knew the first beer I could legally buy when I turned 21 would be a Guinness. I thought Guinness’ commercials were wildly creative and clearly the marketing was effective because as a 14-year old, I wanted to drink a Guinness. When my 21st birthday rolled around, I of course traded the Guinness dream for a 12-pack of Dos Equis because my friends took me to Dream Cabaret (don’t Google that mom) to celebrate. It has been a long journey from then to actually doing the Guinness Connoisseur Tour.
Venturing to the Guinness Storehouse felt somewhat like a pilgrimage. Arguably the most storied brewery in the world, the Storehouse does not disappoint. Some may say that it is overrated and expensive. However, if you want to make sure you do it right, do the Guinness Connoisseur Tour.
A regular brewery tour runs about 20€ and may seem a tad expensive, especially when it is self-guided and you get only one beer. If you just want to walk around and then enjoy a Guinness atop the bar overlooking Dublin, this may be a good option. However, if you really want your money’s worth, I’d say upgrade to the Connoisseur Tour. While it is a hefty 55€, it truly feels like Guinness is giving you the VIP treatment. Be sure to book your tickets well ahead of time!
Guinness Storehouse Layout
The Guinness Storehouse is quite an impressive building. It is divided into seven floors with the top story serving as a “Gravity Bar” which provides a 360° view of Dublin. Here is a breakdown of the floor plan:
- E) Guinness Store
- G) Guinness Archive
- 1) Brewing Process, Cooperage and Transport
- 2) Tasting Rooms
- 3) Guinness Advertising
- 4) Connoisseur Experience, Guinness Academy
- 5) Guinness and Food
- 7) Gravity Bar
The first floor is all about the brewing process from the type of barley Guinness uses, how they roast their barley, and where they get their water…thank God it isn’t from the Liffey. When you first enter the premises, you’ll have the option of buying a brewery ticket there or picking up if you ordered online. The 3rd floor is also worth exploring as it displays Guinness advertising over the years.
We started our tour by first doing the walking tour. If you’ve ever done a brewery tour you more or less know what to expect. Raw ingredients plus water equals beer. Of course Dublin does it on a grander scale compared to others. Make your way quickly through the brewing process up to the second floor where there is a tasting room. We broke away and began our Connoisseur Tour on the fourth floor.
The Guinness Connoisseur Treatment
Our tour guide was a beer specialist who went by the name of Alan. Alan stood behind a rather large bar and dove into the history of Guinness. He dropped off an empty flight to each person. I felt bad for one guy whose pregnant wife took him for a birthday present. He would be subjected to drinking eight beers total. Eight beers before he even made it to the gravity bar. His wife straight up stuffing him in a body bag. Alan poured each person their first beer, a classic Guinness stout.
The Guinness we know and love today isn’t the same Guinness Arthur Guinness created in the 18th century. Until the 1950s, when Guinness introduced their nitro-brewed beauty. The Guinness of old is still available as Guinness Black Lager. Imagine what a carbonated, lighter version of Guinness tastes like and you have a Guinness Black Lager. It wouldn’t be my first choice.
The second beer Alan poured for us was the Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Did you know that Nigeria consumes more Guinness than Ireland or the US? The Nigerians love them some Foreign Stout. I found that the Foreign Extra actually has a higher rating than Guinness Draught on BeerAdvocate. In my opinion, the added hops give it a better flavor than the regular Stout…now that’s back in the US. I think Guinness in Ireland is the best it gets in the stout world.
The third beer we had was an experimental brew out of the Guinness Labs. It was a new IPA they are going to try to market. After the Nitro IPA they introduced in 2015, it would be hard for Guinness NOT to make a better IPA. While I’m not a huge fan of IPAs, we have some of the best IPAs in the world in New England and the Guinness IPA does not come close to being in the same arena as something like Heady Topper from Alchemist or what Trillium offers.
The fourth beer was a good old fashioned Guinness Draught poured from a nitro dispenser. I never knew this but Guinness Stout is actually a dark ruby red in color. Pour one and hold it up to the light. Alan went into how the Guinness custom glass doesn’t allow nucleation inside the glass because of the etching inside the glass. There is nitrogen gas trapped inside each Guinness draft that tries to force its way out through the beer. The dissolved nitrogen creates small bubbles that flow to the top which gives Guinness that quality, creamy head. Guinness actually pioneered the use of “widgets” in packaged beer. If you’ve ever cracked opened a can of Guinness or other nitro stouts, you’ll notice a little plastic ball inside that looks like a ping pong ball. This widget was designed to mimic the same reaction from a draft beer inside of a can to ensure cans had the same quality taste as a draft. Needless to say, the Guinness tour was quite educational!
The Gravity Bar
After our Guinness Connoisseur experience, we made our way up to the gravity bar to exchange our vouchers for a pint of Guinness. Now, one thing I found infuriating is the amount of people who exchange these vouchers only to take a selfie with their Guinness and put their glass down. Wounded soldiers in en masse. SUCH A WASTE. Now, being the unabashed boozehound that I am, I took the liberty in swooping in and drinking a lot of these. Anything else in my mind is deemed wasteful and not economically smart. Why let the fruits of all these brewmasters’ labor go to waste? So if you’re at the gravity bar, be sure to keep that in mind and you’ll never run out of the black gold that is Guinness Stout.
The Gravity Bar offers beautiful panoramic views of Dublin. One thing I’ve always loved about Dublin is while it is a city, it feels like a small town. One reason for that is the lack of high-rise buildings. I’m sure there is some sort of city ordinance that keeps it this way but it makes the views at the Gravity Bar that much better. Word to the wise, it is always packed and finding any type of seating is difficult. Walk around and look out for clues that people are about to give up their seats (gathering coats, empty beers, etc.).
If you’re interested in visiting the Storehouse, I can’t stress enough the importance of doing the Guinness Connoisseur Tour. While more than double the price of the regular brewery tour, it’s a one of a kind experience that you wouldn’t find in another brewery. I understand these rules of engagement may change after living in a COVID-19 world but maybe one day we’ll be able to abide by these rules.
Thank you for checking out my Guinness Connoisseur Tour Review review! Please subscribe to our site for more travel tips and check out more Drunken Traveler posts!
