My goodness, my guinness

by Katie Gotta

5/23/16

When I think of Ireland I think of beer. Good beer. And most of that reflection comes from the worldwide phenomenon that lies within the brand Guinness. While one of the oldest brewing companies in the world, it has been able to sustain incredible worldwide fame and to this day remains as one of the largest brewing companies in the world. People come from all walks of life to visit the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin, and today I was lucky enough to be not only be able to walk through the famed gates but learn what exactly makes Guinness so special.

The best part, and the heart of Guinness’ overall marketing campaign has come from the “perfect pour”, a 6 part step system used to perfect the pouring to make what makes Guinness taste so damn good. According to Guinness this pour takes 119.5 seconds to create, but boy is it worth it.

Step 1: Choose the perfect glass

The first step is obtain a specially curated Guinness labeled glass with a tulip shaped body to enhance the flavors (and prove to the world that you’re drinking Guinness).

Step 2: Pour at a 45 degree angle, nothing more, nothing less

Step two is to hold your glass firmly at a 45 degree angle. To do this we were given the cheat to line the top of the small Guinness harp up with the tap and pull the tap handle fully down to ensure an oven dispense.

Step 3: A perfect pour

The third step is to pour and slowly straighten the glass, stopping once the beer has reached the Guinness label near the top of the glass

Step 4: Wait.

The fourth step is the hardest, as it involves setting the beer to the side to allow it to set fully. This is to ensure that the flavor gathers and that the creamy top that Guinness is known for manifests at the top of the glass. Those 20 seconds felt like a lifetime when all I wanted was a sip of my (soon to be) perfect Guinness.

Step 5: Fill that baby up

Step five is to fill the remainder of the glass by pushing the tap away from you and filling to just over the brim of the glass.

Step 6: Present confidently and enjoy!

The sixth step is to present your perfect Guinness to whomever may be receiving it (always with the Guinness label facing out because, ya know, Guinness) and enjoy!

(Optional) Step 7: Get your clovers ready

Step seven may be optional, but it tops off the (nearly) perfect Guinness by creating a small four leaf clover in the foam of the Guinness pint. This can be done by creating a first figure eight and following that down just a bit to create another figure eight, making a perfectly symmetrical 4 leaf clover. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get an hour to play around with creating the perfect pint so I never got to try it out, but the bartenders in the gravity bar got them spot on.

The Guinness tour was something I had been looking forward to the entire trip and to be able to see the masterminds and the behind the scenes of the process that goes into creating a perfect Guinness and an incredible brand was remarkable to see. Can’t wait for the many more perfect pints of Guinness in my future!