Who Was Arthur Before Inventing Guinness?

Seven is a magic number in many beliefs and it is also the amount of the interesting facts that I’ve found about the most famous Irishman.

I

Alcohol in Blood

Arthur Guinness was born into a family of brewers. His father Richard was the personal brewer for a protestant archbishop. This was a time when nobody was complaining about priests abusing wine or vodka. As a young man, Arthur learned nearly everything about preparing yeasts, barleys and hops.

II

Start-Up

In 1759, at the age of 34, Arthur moved from the village of Leixlip, where he had been operating his own small brewery for a few years, to Dublin. He wanted, as millions of other people in history, to follow his American Dream. Guinness was one of few that succeeded. He soon found an abandoned brewery at St. James Gate. The owner required £45 per month for rent and agreed to let Arthur sign a lease for 9,000 years. Seems a lot. About 90 times longer than Ireland has existed, but still less than the Irishman’s hate for their “friends” up North. Guinness is still brewed at St. James Gate and the company pays £45 rent each month.

III.

Heart of Gold

Part of Arthur’s motivation for brewing beer came from the fact that hard liquor, especially gin, was destroying Ireland’s underclass in the mid-18th century, and he believed that everyone, regardless of social status, should have access to a healthier form of alcohol.

Ok, maybe it is healthier to eat carrots instead of drinking Guinness, but do you remember your mornings after gin-nights out? No? That’s why Guinness can be considered as something “healthy”. Everything depends on comparison. Although, there were the times in Ireland when Guinness was recommended to pregnant women.

IV.

Just like Arthur waiting for his dream to come true, it’s not a shame for me to say:

to be continued