Guinness is as fundamental to perceptions of Ireland as shamrock or rain, as is evidenced by the tourists walking around Dublin with those distinctive plastic bags from the brewery's hospitality suite. It's also a multinational corporation with a keen eye for public relations. However, in 1938 when Al Byrne - yes, he whose brother used to present The Late Late Show - joined the brewery, it was a family business that had seen few changes for decades.
By the time he left in 1978 it had almost been destroyed by disastrous business ventures, most notably those involving Ernest Saunders, and the family no longer controlled the company.
Guinness Times is a very personal account of what life was like on the other side of St James's gate during those 40 years. It's part history, part social commentary, and part memoir, and while very efficiently written and illustrated, it fails to hold its head. The book is at its best in the descriptions of society inside and outside the brewery, and the glimpses of Dublin in the rare oul times are fascinating. Like a Chinese child emperor, 14-year-old Al Byrne entered a city within a city when he passed through those famous gates, and took up not just a job, but a way of life, where the company looked after everything from childbirth to funeral. From the womb to the tomb, Guinness was good for you.
Of course, it was even better for you if you were a Protestant with a degree, for then you were eligible for a position on No 1 Staff, as senior management was called. It was unheard of for a Catholic of the lower orders to join the ranks of senior management until Al Byrne broke the barrier in 1948, and it's remarkable how understanding of the company's point of view he remains. Far from looking through the pint glass darkly, he sees a workers' wonderland in his retrospective looking-glass, and while it's tempting to think all was well in that world of dray-horses, barges, and heroic captains of industry, unlike the pint of plain, that's a little hard to swallow.
Fearghas O Brogain is an author and journalist