Guinness

Overview

Guinness is a dry Irish stout that has been brewed in Dublin since 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed a famously long lease on a disused brewery at St. James's Gate. What began as a small ale operation shifted to porter in 1778, then to the dark stout the brand is known for globally today. Guinness is now owned by Diageo plc, formed in 1997 when Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan — but the brewery kept its own identity, its own site, and its own five-generation family history rather than being absorbed into a generic portfolio brand.

The Founder — Arthur Guinness

Arthur Guinness was born around 1725 near Celbridge, County Kildare. His father worked for a bishop of the Church of Ireland, Arthur Price, and when Price died in 1752, he left both father and son a bequest — Arthur's share was £100. He used it to help establish a small brewery at Leixlip with his brother.

In 1759, during a financial crisis that had left a lot of Dublin property standing empty, the 34-year-old Guinness moved to the capital and set his sights on a disused four-acre brewery site at St. James's Gate. On 31 December 1759, he signed a lease with the Rainsford family: £100 down, then £45 a year — for 9,000 years.

Guinness began with ale, but by the 1770s had shifted toward "porter," a darker style popular with London's working-class dockworkers and porters. By 22 April 1799, he brewed his last ale and declared St. James's Gate a porter brewery outright. He died in 1803, having built a business — and started a family dynasty that would run the brewery for five generations.

Key Moments

• 1759Arthur Guinness signs the 9,000-year lease on St. James's Gate, Dublin.
• 1769First export — six and a half barrels shipped to England.
• 1778Guinness begins brewing porter alongside ale.
• 1799Guinness brews his last ale; St. James's Gate becomes a dedicated porter brewery.
• 1862The harp logo is adopted, based on the Trinity College harp.
• 1886St. James's Gate becomes the largest brewery in the world; Guinness lists on the London Stock Exchange.
• 1929First-ever Guinness print ad runs, with the slogan "Guinness is Good for You."
• 1935The toucan appears for the first time (having started life as a pelican in an earlier draft).
• 1955The first Guinness Book of Records is published — see the full story below.
• 1997Guinness merges with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo plc.
• 1999"Surfer" airs — widely regarded as one of the greatest TV ads ever made.

Advertising History & the First Ad

For nearly 170 years, Guinness didn't formally advertise at all — word of mouth did the job. That changed in 1929, when chairman Rupert Guinness ran the brand's first-ever print ad, with the slogan that would define it for decades: "Guinness is Good for You." The following year, the brewery hired the agency S.H. Benson, who would hold the account for more than 40 years.

The Toucan That Started as a Pelican

In 1930, Benson's illustrator John Gilroy — inspired, by his own account, by watching a sea lion balance a ball on its nose at the circus — began sketching animals balancing pints of Guinness. His first bird was actually a pelican. Novelist and copywriter Dorothy L. Sayers reworked it into the toucan we know today, writing the now-famous rhyme: "If he can say as you can, Guinness is Good for You, How grand to be a Toucan, Just think what Toucan do." The toucan first appeared in poster form in 1935 and, alongside an entire "Guinness Menagerie" of animals, ran for decades until the campaign ended in 1982.

The Amazing Story — How Guinness World Records Began

In November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then managing director of the Guinness Brewery, went on a shooting party at the North Slob, County Wexford, Ireland. He fired at a golden plover and missed — and that missed shot led to an argument over dinner about whether the golden plover or the red grouse was Europe's fastest game bird. Nobody at the table could find a reference book with the answer.

Beaver realized that pubs across Britain and Ireland were probably having the exact same kind of argument every night, with no way to settle it. In 1954 he commissioned twin brothers Norris and Ross McWhirter, who ran a London fact-finding agency, to compile a book of records. The first edition — 198 pages, distributed free in pubs as a Guinness promotional item — was published on 27 August 1955 and topped the UK bestseller list by Christmas that same year.

Factory & Corporate Headquarters

Guinness is still brewed at its original site — now vastly expanded — in Dublin. Its parent company Diageo's registered corporate office is in London.

Official Links