Arthur Guinness Son & Co. Limited, 6% Preference Stock Cert, value £20, issued 5th November, 1889. About Guinness. Guinness has become identified with Ireland all over the world. The most important date in the history of Irish brewing is undoubtedly December 1st 1759, on which date Arthur Guinness opened his brewery at St. James's Gate on the banks of the river Liffey. From this first small premise was to grow the great industrial empire that has become entwined in Irish life and culture and which today sells its beers in over one hundred and fifty countries. In Ireland, beer was at one time, not a particularly popular drink, especially outside of the cities, local beers were noted for their sourness and poor quality. The first beers that came from the Guinness brewery were simple ales, but in 1770 a new beer began to be imported from England. It contained roasted barley, which gave it a distinctive dark colour, and since it was particularly popular with the porters at London's Covent Garden, was commonly known as 'Porter'. Guinness, along with several other Dublin brewers decided to try his hand at the new drink, unlike those of his rivals, his proved to be a success. By the end of the century, in 1800, Guinness had switched over entirely to the production of porter and the phenomenal process of growth, which was to make the St. James's Gate brewery the largest on earth by 1900 had already begun. A number of varieties of Guinness are available in Ireland, but easily the most popular is Guinness's Extra Stout, sold either on draught or in the familiar yellow labelled bottle. In Dublin, when the first metal containers for draught stout were introduced they were nicknamed iron lungs, which is why you sometimes hear calls for a pint of lung' in Dublin's pubs. A huge amount of Guinness is consumed in Irish pubs, for example in the 1960's over 80% of the beer drunk in Irish pubs was made by the company, and the importance of Guinness in the habits of Ireland's drinking population cannot be overestimated. Guinness is typically served in a tulip shaped pint glass, also known as a Guinness glass. This type of glass has a slightly rounded bowl and a flared top, which helps to maintain the beer's creamy head and enhances the aroma. The design of the glass also allows for the iconic cascading effect that is characteristic of a properly poured pint of Guinness. The pint of stout is still by far the most common of all drinks seen in Irish pubs despite the trend towards lighter ales and lagers during the last few decades. There are many reasons for the ongoing popularity of Guinness, most important needless to say being its uniquely rich taste. Guinness lovers span all social classes, from the richest to the poorest. The noted American millionaire and Art collector Chester Beatty, for instance, was in the habit of saying that the only reason he came to live in Ireland was for the Guinness, and even when dining with some of the world's most famous statesmen, he would have a glass of stout in preference to the finest wines. Devotees of Joyce's 'famous ebon ale' seem able to drink it by the gallon. Here for instance is the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas... 'Don't you call me morbid George Ring. I remember once I drank forty-nine Guinnesses straight off and I came home on the top of a bus. There's nothing morbid about a man who can do that. Right on top of the bus too, not just the upper deck' The appearance of a pint of stout is also an appreciable factor in its worldwide appeal. There is something almost ritualistic in the way a good Irish barman will pour a pint of Guinness from the tap, carefully filling it and levelling it until the creamy white collar sits perfectly on the rich black porter, 'the parish priest' as they call it in some parts of the country. Many other beers and stouts are brewed in Ireland, but none can ever compare with the immortal stout made in Dublin by the Guinness family. 'For they garner the succulent berries of the hop and mass and sift and bruise and brew them and they mix therewith sour juices and bring the must to the sacred fire and cease not night and day from their toil, those cunning brothers, lords of the vat.' - James Joyce, Ulysses (The Bodley Head).