The Guinness Storehouse Experience in Dublin
If I’m being honest, I’m not a huge fan of Guinness beer (nothing personal — I’m just more of a light beer girl) but with Guinness being such a huge part of Irish culture, an iconic brand, and the only must-do request my dad made for the trip, we set aside a few hours to check out the famous HQ in Dublin — the Guinness Storehouse.
Planning a Visit to the Guinness Storehouse
The Guinness Storehouse is located in Dublin and has been the headquarters of the world-famous beer since 1759 (though the tourist attraction didn’t open until 2000)! It’s a bit removed from the rest of the city’s attractions, but is easy to get to by foot or cab (we walked about 20 there from the city center and cabbed back)!
You can purchase your tickets on-site, but I highly recommend purchasing in advance online if you know what date you’d like to visit, that way you can save time and money! Plus, it is Dublin’s #1 attraction, so there’s a chance tickets could be sold out if you wait to by your tickets on the day of.
The Guinness Storehouse has 7 floors and if you really want to do it right, you should carve out at least 3 hours to explore all it has to offer!
History of Guinness
The history of Guinness is pretty fascinating! When the 64-acre St. James’ Gate location was first settled on in 1759, founder, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease (yep, you read that right!) annual rent of only £45! Obviously that amount didn’t stand long-term, but he definitely knew that Guinness was something special considering he bet on it for so long!
The Guinness World of Advertising
As a marketing/communications professional, the advertising floor was my absolute favorite part of the Guinness Storehouse! The floor featured the brand’s ads/promotions dating back to the 1930s and the stories behind them. Guinness worked with several different creative agencies on their campaigns over the years — they’re all incredible!
Eating + Drinking Guinness
You know there’s no shortage of Guinness beer here (there are 4 floors you can grab a beer on!), but did you know that you can also dine at the Storehouse? There are 2 options — quick dining at a cafe and sit down at a restaurant. Both offer food infused with Guinness, including potato chips!
The top level of the Guinness Storehouse (7) is where you can lounge in the Gravity Bar and kick back with a pint of Guinness (did you know they also have a blonde ale?!) while taking in 360-degree views of Dublin.
It’s worth noting that when we visited this area was jam-packed and we had to find seating a level down, which was kind of a bummer. But it’s a learning lesson to pick your ticket timeslot carefully and maybe avoid visiting on the weekend if you can.
