It’s was the most popular tourist attraction in Ireland in 2013 and it’s easy to see why. We’re talking about The Guinness Storehouse, the home of Ireland’s most famous export – the black stuff – Guinness. We recently spent a day touring around Dublin and decided to get on the city bus tour, and top of our list of places to check in on was the Guinness Storehouse. This was our second time at the Storehouse having previously visited last Christmas. It’s fair to say it was a tad busier on this occasion as the Americans where in town to watch Penn State vs UCF in an American Football game at Croke Park. We didn’t hang about, and set about enjoying this magnificent tourist attraction once again.
7 Floors that tell the Guinness story
The Guinness Storehouse shares the story of Arthur Guinness and his magical stout and is simply a must see for anyone planning a trip to Dublin. The tour doesn’t take too long to get around as it is self guided although guided tours are available for large groups. The tour begins with an education into the ingredients that make Guinness, and the story behind the brewing process. With some great interactive displays, it’s well worth spending time in the first two floors where you will earn all you need to know about Guinness. The Atrium which lies inside the storehouse and is the venue for the tour actually happens to be the largest pint glass in the world, and if full would hold over 14 million pints of Guinness – that’s some amount of drinking!
The Guinness Tasting Room
It takes just four ingredients to make Guinness taste so good – water, barley, hops and yeast. Watching videos of the brewing process and finding out all about the process as you walk around the storehouse really does work up a thirst for a glass of the black stuff, and it you are patient you will be rewarded early in the shape of the Guinness Taste Room. You won’t have to queue longer than 10 minutes for the tasting room and we would highly recommend standing in queue and enjoying this experience. It really opens your senses to the flavours and ingredients of Guinness. You will also be shown the proper way to enjoy Guinness as you sample the freshest Guinness anywhere in Ireland.
Marvel in Years of Guinness Ads
For those of you who enjoy old memorabilia, the Guinness ads floor is worth spending time on. Take a look at TV ads from down the years as well as some posters and ad campaigns that have helped make Guinness the household name that they are today.
Enjoy the best pint of Guinness anywhere in the world
Living in Ireland, you often get asked where is the nicest pint of Guinness you have ever had. If you’ve been to The Guinness Storehouse the answer is pretty simple – The Gravity Bar. Nowhere in Ireland will enjoy a nicer pint of the black stuff than at the home of Arthur himself – St James Gate. The tour ends with a complimentary pint of Guinness at The Gravity Bar and the views of Dublin City are well worth the trek up to the 7th floor alone. If you want to learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness, you will get the opportunity along the way and will even get a certificate. As we both have worked in a bar in the past, we figured we’d let someone else serve us our Guinness.
Cheers 🙂
Have you been to The Guinness Storehouse? What was your favourite part of the tour and just how nice was the pint! Let us know by commenting below or connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter.
You can view all our photos from our trip to The Guinness Storehouse on our Flickr channel.
Welcome to Pikalily, an award-winning food, travel and lifestyle blog. We are Nial and Helen, a happily married couple from Northern Ireland, who share a passion for food and travel among many things. We became parents to our beautiful boy Lewis in 2017. Follow our adventures through the blog.
