Who has been to the Guinness StoreHouse in Ireland

[bigolbigbelly]

I am headed to the U.K & Ireland over the holidays. Started looking at the site for the Guinness Storehouse and realized it is not actually the brewery that you tour. What are your thoughts if you have been on the tour, worth it or not?

 

[nakeddog]

I just returned from there a few weeks ago. As a brewer, I was extremely disappointed at the lack of brewery in the tour. But once I got past this disappointment, I realized that the museum and tour that is there is still very interesting. It is a bit childish in areas, teaching about malts and hops etc, but theres some very interesting information about the brand and background story.

In the end I enjoyed my few hours spent at the storehouse. And to top it off the 13€ entrance gets you a pint at the top of the storehouse with great views over Dublin. So if you're in the city, I say why not? But I wouldn't travel to Ireland from the UK just for the Storehouse.

 

[Frankfurtvr4]

I really enjoyed touring breweries in Germany. The vineyards are an excellent way to spend an afternoon too. I never hit one in the U.K.

 

[EoinMag]

Hmm Ireland is not the U.K., if you mention while over here that you are in the UK on holidays expect to be treated with contempt. Just a heads up.

800 years is why

 

[johnnyboy1965]

There are loads of brewey tours in the UK, it just depends where you are.

 

[bigolbigbelly]

Sorry, I edited to say U.K and Ireland now.
Thanks for the feedback nakeddog.
I am already planning on touring Theakston, Black Sheep & Fullers. Still looking at what is in Scotland and Wales. I just saw a lot of mixed reactions from people online about the Storehouse tour and wanted some feedback from some fellow homebrewers who have been.

EoinMag, Are there any other brewery's around Dublin that I could tour?

 

[EoinMag]

Sorry, I edited to say U.K and Ireland now.
Thanks for the feedback nakeddog.
I am already planning on touring Theakston, Black Sheep & Fullers. A lot of the breweries only seem to do tours on the weekends. Still looking at what is in Scotland and Wales. I just saw a lot of mixed reactions from people online about the Storehouse tour and wanted some feedback from some fellow homebrewers who have been.

EoinMag, Are there any other brewery's around Dublin that I could tour?

We have quite a few breweries here at the moment, my advice would be to go along to www.beoir.org, sign up and ask the same question there. You have a few of the brewers themselves of the smaller craft places who started as homebrewers on that site and maybe they'll pipe up and offer you a personalised tour, they're normally quite open to that sort of thing.

The main point of the storehouse for me as a Dub, is the beauty of drinking a nice pint of Guinness while looking out over a magnificent view of the city.
I don't drink the stuff since I've started brewing myself, but it was a nice pint there and the view was stunning.
From a brewery standpoint there's no real brewery tour, it's horse**** for the tourists.

 

[j1laskey]

The storehouse has a really cool area devoted to Guinness bottles, can, posters, and product over the years....really cool...plus like everyone has said before me....the pint above the city is way worth it.

 

[nutty_gnome]

13€ entrance QUOTE]

Isn't that like 18 bucks?

 

[EoinMag]

13€ entrance QUOTE]

Isn't that like 18 bucks?

Roundabout yeah, but a free pint, a cool paperweight and the storehouse tour is included, if you consider that a pint in a lot of places in Dublin costs 5 euros, it's not too bad. That said by claiming the free pint you have to take the ringpull off the paperweight making it instable and there is an incentive as a result to leave it on. I paid for my pints there and I suspect quite a few people do as they don't want to mess up the paperweight.

 

[wonderbread23]

I went there years ago before I started brewing. I found it interesting... Particulary the history info. I nice pint up top afterwards was a nice finale.

 

[Coldies]

Wow very interesting that I saw this thread, just yesterday SWMBO and I decided that we need a vacation and we both agreed on Ireland. Im not much of a city man my self so the only reason I wanted to go to Dublin was to see the Guiness store. Were torn between Galway or Dublin (west coast or east coast) Not sure if I could make this trip a brewery tour cause SWMBO would not be to into that. Does anybody have any suggestions which is better west or east coast and why?

 

[Quadfire]

I liked the Storehouse, but yea it's more for the historical aspect and the free pint. It would have been really cool to see more of the actual brewing process. They did make the best Beef and Guinness stew in all of Ireland though.

You might want to look into the Jameson Tour. We did the one in Cork but they have one in Dublin as well.

 

[EoinMag]

Wow very interesting that I saw this thread, just yesterday SWMBO and I decided that we need a vacation and we both agreed on Ireland. Im not much of a city man my self so the only reason I wanted to go to Dublin was to see the Guiness store. Were torn between Galway or Dublin (west coast or east coast) Not sure if I could make this trip a brewery tour cause SWMBO would not be to into that. Does anybody have any suggestions which is better west or east coast and why?

Dublin for craft beer.

If it's for scenery and craic, then definitely Galway. Galway also has one craft pub that I know of which is Oslo, there are also craft beers in a few places on tap, but nothing like the selection of brew and craft pubs that Dublin has.

 

[gartj]

We were there 4 years ago. My wife and I walked through the "tour" which is just alot of info on brewing with a little Guinness history thrown in. The best part is getting to the top of the building and seeing the city. Watching the tenders pour the perfect pint (en mass) was quite interesting too. We were able to keep our token given when you first enter (don't know if they still give them out) and have a nice unique souvenir from our visit. On the way out you will also go through their store. interesting things they've attached their name to, not too many though you couldn't pick up elsewhere.

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

I have been there. The pic in my avatar is from the top of the storehouse where you get your free pint. I think it is definately worth going to if you are in Dublin. I wouldn't make a special trip to Ireland just to visit it though.

 

[Sacdan]

My wife and I went there last year. Definately worth the cost of admission. Every hour they start a new batch of Guinness. They pick one person from the tour to press the button. I got to start a batch. That was pretty cool.

 

[Hokie]

I was just there this past year as well. I didn't get any free tokens/paper weight/souvenirs, but the pint at the Gravity Bar was a nice finish to the "experience".
Neither the Guinness or Jameson tours take place in functioning facilities...they're just for the history and education aspects (and tastings of course).
One thing I was disappointed about was the lack of authentic Guinness pint glasses anywhere, especially in the Guinness store house. The souvenir stores only sold the reproduction glasses for tourists. Anyone have an idea of where to get the glasses with (according to Wikipedia): the NSAI "pint" mark, a circle featuring two wavy lines, between which "PINT" is written, with a year mark (last two digits), and a three digit batch code either side?

 

[Frodo]

When you go to Dublin, find the pub/restaurant called the "Hairy Lemon"; best atmosphere and pub food I found in all of Ireland. The food in general in Ireland is EXCELLENT.

I regret not doing the Guinness Storehouse tour, but we only had a limited amount of time, and there were lots of pubs to hit in town.

 

[Frodo]

Anyone have an idea of where to get the glasses with (according to Wikipedia): the NSAI "pint" mark, a circle featuring two wavy lines, between which "PINT" is written, with a year mark (last two digits), and a three digit batch code either side?

I thought they were all like that in Ireland, but that's my memory. That is one really cool thing about Ireland; every pint is served in the proper pint glass (correct brewery name and shape of pint), and is poored perfectly.

It's a shame in the U.S. that most microbrews are served in a BMC glass...

 

[loctones]

I did the tour about 10 years ago when we were in Dublin. I had heard that you could actually tour the brewery, but it turns out the build the StoreHouse shortly before my trip and you tour that instead. I wasn't overly impressed with the tour, but I the pint at the bar after the tour made it completely worth it. The views were great and it was very nice to relax and have a few beers up there.

As a side note, I also really enjoyed the pubs in Ireland. Everyone was nice, it was easy to make new friends. I really enjoyed the thought that I was sitting at a bar that was many times older than all of the US. It really gives you a sense of history.

 

[Hokie]

I thought they were all like that in Ireland, but that's my memory. That is one really cool thing about Ireland; every pint is served in the proper pint glass (correct brewery name and shape of pint), and is poored perfectly.

It's a shame in the U.S. that most microbrews are served in a BMC glass...

All of the glasses used to serve beer in Ireland were like that when I was there (by law I suppose), however, the souvenir versions they sell in all of the stores have no such official marking...because they aren't meant to be used in pubs. That's the kind I want and the kind I'd be willing to pay good money for...ohhh well.

 

[EoinMag]

Glasses aren't always correct here, possibly in a lot of places, but a lot of locals just use generic nonics, but always with the pint mark.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Sorry, I edited to say U.K and Ireland now.
Thanks for the feedback nakeddog.
I am already planning on touring Theakston, Black Sheep & Fullers. Still looking at what is in Scotland and Wales. I just saw a lot of mixed reactions from people online about the Storehouse tour and wanted some feedback from some fellow homebrewers who have been.

I thoroughly recommend the tour at Hook Norton Breweries in Oxfordshire. You are actually in the brewery whilst they are brewing and you can see everthing. The only thing you dont go into is the fermenter, for obvious reasons. Nice souvener glass and loads of free samples. Try to pick a day when they deliver to the local pubs on the drey.