Guinness Storehouse Tour

Guinness Storehouse: Dublin, Ireland (2005)

This brewery experience has changed quite a lot since the first time I visited in 1999. The entire brewery tour has been revamped and a new showcase bar built, but the essence of experiencing the “black stuff” in its native land is still very inviting and familiar.

The self-guided tour route takes the visitor through seven floors of interactive Guinness history, inlcuding the process of beer making, the story of Arthur Guinness, and a look at the growth of the Guinness brand. Each visitor is given a map of the storehouse experience, and a puckish souvenir (more on that later) and started on their way.

There are video features, short films and loads to look at during your visit. The layout is very open, and feels spacious even when there are many other people around. Escalators to move visitors from one floor to the next, so there is no stair climbing required.

Depending on your pace and appetite for all that is Guinness, plan on 2-3 hours for your visit.

Pour the Perfect Pint

On the fifth floor, you can learn to pour the “Perfect Pint of Guinness.” One of the Storehouse team will teach you the finer points of pulling a perfect pint, in exchange for the pull tab from your free sample puck. Or, you can pay 4.95 Euros to pull (and drink!) your very own pint, and save the pull tab for you free pint in the Gravity Bar, which is the highlight of the tour. The friendly Storehouse employee will explain the process, and then lead you through the tap-pulling fun. While your perfect pint is settling out, you will get your very own certificate that proves you pulled the perfect pint.

Become an Honorary Brewmaster

One interesting exhibit gives the visitor a chance to become an Honorary Brewmaster. You start by taking your photo using the built-in web-cam (which gets sent the email address you provide). After filling in some basic information, you then take a short quiz about the Guinness brewing process (highlighted in the previous exhibit). After completing the quiz, a link to the Honorary Brewmaster certificate is emailed to you (along with a discount for a future visit), so you can continue the Guinness experience from home.

Gravity Bar

Clearly the showpiece of any visit to Guinness is drinking your brewery-fresh pint. When I last visited, the samples were handled in a bar in the basement of the old storehouse, an environment resembling a typical Irish pub. It was also a cash bar for those who fancied an extra pint (or even a smoke…it was too small a room for that!).

Having your pint now puts you on top of the world — or at least the top of Dublin.

The new Gravity Bar is a unique way to enjoy your free pint, as well as orient yourself to greater Dublin. The bar is enclosed in floor-to-ceiling glass panels, so views of the surrounding cityscape are unobstructed. There are wayfinding hints on the glass panels (so you can tell what you’re looking at), and the provided tour map also points out the major attractions as seen from Gravity Bar. It’s an impressive finish to the brewery tour.

The staff of Gravity Bar (and the rest of the Storehouse Experience for that matter) are all young and friendly, but will make sure you wait the full 119.5 seconds for you pint to be properly pulled.

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