Guinness to open experimental brewery to public

For the first time in its history, Guinness is to open its experimental brewery in Dublin to the public.

For over a century, the company has kept the workings of its experimental brewery, where Guinness was invented, firmly behind closed doors.

Beer enthusiasts and the general public alike will be able to try beers not yet available to the public, including some that may never be launched at the Open Gate Brewery at St James’s Gate.

"There is huge interest in beer nowadays so it's exciting to open the doors to the public, give people a look inside our world, and of course share some batches of experimental beers that we are working on," Guinness brewer Peter Simpson said.

Diageo's global head of beer Mark Sandys said there has been an experimental brewery at St James's Gate for over 100 years, where brewers can explore new recipes, reinterpret old ones and experiment freely to bring new beers to life. "The experimental brewery has been in this exact location since the 1960s. Guinness draught was invented at this location," he said.

He said the decision was taken to open the experimental brewery to the public to get feedback from customers at an early stage about new beers.

Intrigued drinkers

He said people are becoming more interested and more educated in beer, and want to know the stories behind it.

“You can walk into a supermarket and on the beer shelf there is 10 times the beer there used to be. We want to be at the heart of all that experimentation and exploration.”

He said brewers are going into the Guinness archives and looking at old recipes: “Our West Indies Porter and Dublin Porter came from old recipes.”

Guinness brewer Feodora Heavey said it was tough deciphering the old recipes: "The weights were all unclear. A recipe might say 'two bags of hops' but we don't know how big the bags are."