Over spring break, I had the privilege of traveling to Dublin, Ireland and was able to take a tour of the Guinness Storehouse and learn how Guinness is made. Guinness is such a special and famous beer and it was at every restaurant and pub in Dublin so it was cool to see the intricate steps that go into making it. I will be honest, it was not my favorite beer, I was not a fan at all but it was fun to try. Here are some pictures that describe how it is made and some fun things I learned along the way.
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| My face printed on the beer from the end of our tour! |
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| Some of the advertisements made for Guinness at the time of creation. They used animals a lot to convey their message. |
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| Our first tasting. They had barrels in the room with the four main aromas of Guinness: roasted barley, malted barley, hops and beer esters. The smell of chocolate was so prominent and they said that was normal due to the roasted barely. They then taught us how to taste it. First we smelled, then a big sip and swished it around and then swallowed. Those small glasses are meant to take it in 2 or 3 sips. |
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| This is a replica of one of the ships that was used to move Guinness across the oceans back in the days. |
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| Examples of barrels that were used to store the beer in. The wood barrels gave a creamy and malty flavor and was often served warm/not chilled. Ours were served to use chilled which surprised everyone. Later on, they transferred to using aluminum barrels. |
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| Some Guinness makers talking about the process. |
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| The brewing process in simplified pictures. Each picture had its own little section that went into detail. The ingredients came first and they only used the best quality, which then went to milling up into fine little grains. Mashing and separation are the 3rd and 4th steps. The crushed grains and barley are mashed together at 150 degrees Fahrenheit and then boiled until the temperature reaches 168 degrees. Cooling is the next step and then fermentation (just like with wine making!). Last steps are maturation, in the old days in wood barrels and now aluminum, clarification and then packaging! |
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| The exact temperature needed for the flavor and aroma of Guinness! I also learned that it is red in color which I don't see but I am not the expert! |
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| Arthur Guinness! Seemed like a great guy |
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| Water plays such a HUGE role in Guinness making. They use water from the Wicklow mountains and it is soft water with a low mineral content. |
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| Another key aspect in Guinness making in order to get the grains fine enough for production. It was interesting to learn it took almost a week before germination was complete. |
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| Barley! One of the key ingredients in this beer. I can't believe over 100,000 tons of barley are used every year and Irish grown too. They also have a dedicated buyer that monitors the barley grown and picks only the best to be used in production. |
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