Arthur Guinness (1725-1803) - the founder of the dynasty and the very first famous brewer from the Irish city of Dublin. Beer, first brewed by him and named after him - "Guinness" - the drink is almost legendary. It is one of the most popular and consumed dark beers today.
A lot has been written about the founder of the Guinness dynasty, but, in general, there is not much in terms of specific biographical data. Researchers do not even know the exact date of his birth. Of course, we do not have a photo of Arthur Guinness either - but there is a lifetime portrait of the brewer.
Below are two of the most important Arthurs for the Guinness dynasty - the founder of the brand and his son, the successor of his father's business.
Arthur I
The future Sir Arthur Guinness was born in the small Irish village of Celbridge. His father Richard was in the service of the local Archbishop Price as a steward.
According to family legend, young Arthur dabbled inbrewing since my school days. Together with their father, they brewed traditional ale in the basement of the archbishop's house, where the necessary equipment was available for this purpose. Apparently, the priest warmly treated the brewers (there is evidence that he baptized his son Arthur, named by the same name) and bequeathed to the manager Richard and his son a hundred pounds each - a pretty decent sum at that time, approximately equivalent to four years' earnings.
It is not known how things would have turned out if not for this financial assistance. But it happened in 1752. Arthur I already had 27 years of life behind him - still a young man, enterprising and active. With the amount left, he could buy a small plot of land with a farm and manage himself a little. At that time, Ireland was predominantly an agricultural country, and many in his place would have done just that.
But Arthur chose a different path. Together with his younger brother Richard, he rented a small brewery in the Irish town of Leixlip. We can assume that the real biography of Arthur Guinness began here.
For several years, the two brothers made the same ale together. As you know, then many brewed this drink at home. It was something like a light low-alcohol beer, the so-called "top-fermented", prepared in just a few days. Recipes have been known since ancient times. Young Arthur and his brother had to work hard to make their ale the best and start conquering the market.
In Dublin
The case was moving andstarted generating income. That's when Arthur moved to the capital, leaving the Leixlip factory to his younger brother. On the outskirts of Dublin, no one needed, dilapidated and abandoned brewery was found. The future founder of the dynasty named it St. James`s Gate ("At the gate of St. James"). The rent cost him a very small fee and for a fantastic period of nine thousand years.
Arthur Guinness was a true brewer by profession. He began to experiment with old recipes for making beer. This is how his porter, which later became famous, appeared - a dark and strongly foaming beer with persistent foam.
Interestingly, this drink won its first popularity among London and Dublin porters. They say that it was they who called the beer porter - in their honor. For the word porter in translation from English just means "porter".
However, the same beer that made famous the Guinness dynasty and became a symbol of Ireland appeared later - only towards the end of the century, in 1799. That is, four years before the death of Sir Arthur Guinness. Until that time, the brewery functioned as an ale distillery.
Thanks to the activities of Guinness, whiskey and gin, which reigned in the Irish market, were supplanted, and a dark porter with a characteristic creamy crema became a high-quality public drink. Moreover, imported beer began to be squeezed out of the Irish market, and Guinness began to conquer the English consumer more and more rapidly.
In 1861, Arthur Guinness married OliviaWhitmore. Their family became one of the largest with many children: Arthur's wife gave birth to 21 children. True, due to high mortality, only ten survived to adulthood.
The founder of the famous beer brand ended his days as a rich man, leaving his heirs 25 thousand pounds. His three sons (Arthur, Benjamin and William) became brewers and continued their father's business.
Arthur II
The successor of the famous brewer, who did a lot to popularize the brand and significantly increase the we alth of the Guinness family, was the son of the eldest Arthur, who, to avoid confusion, historians call Arthur II.
This part of the article contains a short biography of Arthur Guinness with a photo (and again a portrait, of course).
When his father died, his son, the third child in the family, also Arthur, was already 35 years old. He had worked with his father for a long time and was no stranger to running breweries. At the beginning of its activity, the company produced more than 800 thousand gallons of beer per year. This backlog was left to the sons by their father. Arthur II managed to surpass him. Managing the affairs of the concern for almost half a century, he achieved an annual increase in sales by 10%. Neither the war with Napoleon nor the subsequent economic crisis could prevent the company from flourishing. And annual beer sales have already reached 4 million gallons a year.
With all this, Arthur II was not only focused on his own affairs. In general, he was a multifaceted and active person. It is known that he served as Governor of the Bank of Ireland,Presidential seat of the Dublin City Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Farmers' Society.
Arthur II lived for 87 years. He and his descendants greatly increased the we alth of the family. By 1938, the Guinness St. James's Gate Brewery was considered the largest in all of Ireland.
A few words about beer
It is impossible not to say a few words about the famous drink. As you know, from time immemorial it has been distinguished by the aroma of burnt barley. In general, its composition remained unchanged. The raw material set includes barley, water, hops and yeast. True, earlier the main feature of the production was that the beer, which had already settled, was mixed with freshly brewed beer. This process created some milk flavor and strong foam.
Modern technologies have made it possible to refuse mixing and now the foam is strengthened with nitrogen. It is believed that the nitrogen cap looks more solid and lasts longer. At least, there are legends about the foam of Guinness beer, and connoisseurs still regard the drink as a standard.
It is impossible not to mention that since 1989 the manufacturing company has introduced an interesting innovation: when making a beer can, a special plastic capsule with nitrogen (widget) is placed there. A patent was even obtained for this invention, however, this has nothing to do with Sir Arthur Guinness himself.
Interesting facts
As you know, the hallmark of porter is the smell of well-roasted barley, while making this drink takes only a coupledays. Authentic Guinness Porter is low-calorie - a pint of it contains fewer kilocalories than orange juice, namely 198.
In an advertising campaign to promote stout (stout is a synonym for dark beer), manufacturers used the slogan Guinness Is Good For You. Bright and memorable, it was not only a marketing ploy: for almost the entire 20th century, doctors prescribed this drink as a general tonic and tonic for weakened patients who underwent surgery, donors and even pregnant women!
It is also interesting that only in 2003, scientists found that stout differs from other drinks in a high iron content. In addition, the antioxidants contained in all Guinness have an effect on reducing the formation of platelets in the blood.
And from the realm of legends…
Guinness breweries are rumored to still be inhabited by rats, passing down their love of the signature stout from generation to generation. Tasting it regularly, they add some mysterious ingredient to it, which gives the drink an exquisite taste and a special charm.
