Despite leaving almost an hour late from Toronto Canada we landed only 20 minute late at 11am in Dublin. In typical Irish weather it was partly cloudy and the sun was peaking trough.
At the airport I jumped on the 747 Public Air transport for 7€ one way (12€ round trip), it dropped me off about a block away from my hostel for the the night. I’ll review the Four Court Hostel in the next post after a good night sleep but this afternoon I had planned to be a tourist and check out the Guinness Storehouse and the Open Gate Brewery.
Both these attractions you can purchase tickets in advance on the Internet, I highly recommend it as the Storehouse line was about 1 hour, while the open gate brewery was walk in but you had to be on the list as entrance is limited.
Guinness Store House
The Guinness store house is located about a 15 minute walk from the Four Courts Hostel and very easy to find as there are several banners and signs and tourists pointing the way.
The storehouse is so named because it was once the site where Guinness was stored in barrels. However the whole building has been revamped into a exotic tourist attraction with a “pint glass†centrepiece up the middle which apparently could hold 10 days worth of production of Guinness.
Each floor is dedicated to various stages of the Guinness mantra, starting with the ingredients and malting process with higher floors dedicated to advertising history, proper tasting techniques, and how to pour your own Guinness.
While I found the tasting room quite a cute experience the real fun was where we learned to “pour our own Guinness†out of real keg taps.
After pouring your own perfect Guinness with the direction of their hands on instructor you get to enjoy your pint of Guinness in a traditional Irish pub setting specifically for drinking.
Now if pouring your Guinness isn’t of interest to you then you can take your 1 drink voucher all the way to the top floor where they have the “gravity bar†which has panoramic windows over looking the entire 44 acre Guinness estate which includes the modern brewery and various supporting buildings.
Finally I headed back to the ground floor which has an extensive Guinness merchandise from pint glasses, clothes to other nick knacks with Guinness label imprinted on it. Glassware could also be engraved if you do choose. There is also a separate section for women clothing. Given the location I found the overall prices to be reasonable and not entail a huge markup.
Next I head to the Open Gate Brewery where Guinness has various experimental beers…
