The First Pint of Guinness is Poured

Céad Míle Fáilte and welcome to your Letter from Ireland. The seemingly-endless rains of the past few months have finally departed from County Cork – leaving us with bright and sunny days. It’s time to get out and explore the countryside with a camera! How are things in your part of the world today?

I’m sipping on a cup of Lyons’ tea as I write – and hope you’ll join me with a cup (or pint!) of whatever you fancy as we start into today’s letter.

Speaking of beverages, have you ever enjoyed an Irish drink (or two)? Our Irish whiskey has become a major success story around the world over the past twenty years, but today we’re going to chat about a somewhat darker drink that has come to represent Ireland in the minds of many. That drink is “Guinness Extra Stout Porter” of course – or simply “Guinness” as it is known today.

THE IRISH ORIGINS OF A PINT OF GUINNESS.

When things go wrong and will not come right,

Though you do the best you can,

When life looks black as the hour of night –

A pint of plain is your only man.

From “The Workman’s Friend”

Brian O’Nolan.

This “pint of plain”, or pint of Guinness, takes 119.5 seconds to settle once poured – so I’ll aim to make this letter short enough for you to read inside that time!

Aonghus (pronounced “Ain-gus” and spelled “Angus” in Scotland) was a popular boy’s name among many Irish clans and families in ancient times. In fact, five saints of that name came from County Donegal alone! On the other side of Ulster, in County Down, you would find the ancient tribe of “Uíbh Eocha Cobha”. This tribe was led by the “Mac Aonghusa” (sons of Aonghus) family by the 1200s. Over time, this surname became anglicised as “Mac Gennis”. It also anglicised as Ennis, McNeice, McGinnis – and McGuinness – as the name travelled to other parts of Ireland.

In 1725, a descendant of this McGuinness clan was born in the village of Celbridge in County Kildare. His name was Arthur Guinness. While he was born into modest circumstances, he was taught to read, write and given the basics of arithmetic through his education. He also appeared to have what we now call “an entrepreneurial head” on his shoulders.

Arthur founded a brewery on the banks of the River Liffey in the nearby town of Leixlip. He started by brewing a brown ale which was popular at the time. However, he took the opportunity to move further down the River Liffey to St. Jame’s Gate in the city of Dublin in 1759. Shortly after, Arthur noticed the popularity of a dark beer called “Porter” (so named because it was a popular drink with city porters) and he decided to start brewing porter alongside his ales.

THE FIRST PINT OF GUINNESS IS POURED.

The first batch of Guinness porter was brewed in 1778. Before long, his “stout porter” outsold his ale by five times. Very soon it became the single focus of his brewery. This change coincided with a change in import tax laws which allowed Guinness to export his porter to England where it quickly became successful. Guinness was on the road to becoming the success story we know today.

Arthur Guinness died in 1803 in Dublin. I think that he would have been very surprised at the extent to which Guinness has become synonymous with Ireland in the minds of so many people.

In fact, a pint of Guinness has become the “one choice” for many who wander into an Irish pub here or around the world. On that “one choice”, I forgot to mention that the boy’s name “Aonghus” has the literal meaning “one choice”. So, I guess Guinness was always destined to become the Irish beer of choice! What do you think?

Well, here we are 119.5 seconds after you started this letter! Over to you – do you have a favourite Irish beer or “tipple”? Maybe you have a McGuinness, McGennis, Ennis, McNeice, Neeson etc in your own family tree? Do leave a comment below and let me know.

Slán until next week,

Mike.