Monument for a pint

1. Page 2A: Thursday. March 7.2002 : The Sun
Sun Journal
$40 million shrine to Irish beer
• Guinness; /«th? muMf* tf
Dublin in fin old'JemieHtut'ion
pliDtt it])tlnf(yf hitrt iJic Diatteij
VurM (ffhrt'iriiifj.
DUBLIN. Ireland — The moat
popular tourist attraction here
used to be theBoo* of KeiU. an or-
nate manuscript created 800 years
after Jesus' birth that Is stored on
the Gothic campus of Trinity Col-
lege
Now. the most popular attrac-
tion Is a beer factory.
But not any beer factory.
Guinness, one of the oldest and
best-known companies in Ireland.
plant Into a seven-story visitor and
conference center.
The site drew nearly 600.000
people In Its Inaugural year, which
was hampered by tourist fears over Top O* the evening: The Gravity Bar. sparkling at dusk, crowns the seven-story Guinness Start
the agricultural ho of-and-mouth company calls ill spectacular view of downtown Dublin the "wow factor."
disease and the Sept II terrorist
attack In the United Stales. Guin- failed a smell test administered ev- Smirnoff Vodka, Johnnie Walker
ness expects eventually to reach ery few years, he had to return to
1 million visitors a year his old task In the factory. The Guinness Storehouse de-
The so-called (iuinneux Store- fast-forward to the mld-20th votes ncurly u whole Door to mar-
house Is more like the Disney century; Guinness went beyond keting gimmicks, from memora-
World of beer than a faux plant brewing, emerging u a major mar- bilia with the popularToucan mas-
lour. It includes an indoor water- keting force. It became the Coca- cot "rookie" to comrnemorotlves
full, walk-through vut* .is large as Cola of Europe, not ]ust because it from the coronation of Queen Eliz-
two-car garages and a circular produced a popular beverage, but abeth n 50 years ago and the birth
rooftop bar with the most spectac- became its clever print ads and. of Prince William In 1982. Nearby Is
ular view In the center of Ireland's later, television commercials let an enormous cylinder to which vis-
ancient capital city. the standard for the continent's itors can aflx their own fen mall.
That's th« *wow' factor." com- advertising mduatry. •We love Dublin,- say* one.
pany spokeswoman Jane Doyle •Guinness Is good for you," one signed 'Washington College, Mary-
says of the so-called Gravity Bar of the best known of the slogans, land. USA.-
•People don't expect when they was conceived after Irish physi- But the most memorable parts
ndr up on the .•:,-.., lift lelevator] cians had written to the company of the museum can be found at the
to see that lend of view of the city." to claim that the beer held recu- top and ground floors.
This is the be&t-kept secret In perative powers for some patients. Visitors are greeted by the
Artist John GUroy devised a se- thumping drums of a Celtic river
David Johnston. 23. of Tlpperary. ries of ads of cartoon animals that dance. A roaring, manmade water-
Not quite, anymore became a fixture here for 40 yearn, fall «urRes over alabs of Lurlte ai
Bill Clinton wms one of the first Walt Disney. Impressed by the pended overhead. A bank of moni-
visitors, arriving a week after the quality of the animation, report- tors flash Images at the speed of
attraction opened In December Havcadrop: A token from the edly tried to lure away OUroy — to tntlal
2000 American country nuulc star Guinness Storehouse can be kept no a Ireland — emerald hills, a raucous
Emmy Lou Harris has been here. as a souvenir or traded far a pint. By the 1990s, clob.il advertising rugby stadium, a sheep herder Es-
So has the British girl-band
Atomic Kitten. The U.S. Marines Guinness Is still produced on the were winning awards for Guinness whisk visitors up a seven-story
held a birthday bash here And a site, in more technologically ad- television commercials laced with hive of glass and green I-beams to
few weeks ago. Ireland's Prune vanced facilities ample dnaea of Irish puckiahnejw. VHrioufl exhibit* and, eventually, to
Minister Bertie Ahem, a CreQuent the 130-foot-nlghGravltyBar.
visitor, arrived to present awards the water there, from the Dodder- several minutes It takes for stout Every visitor receives a plastic
to the country's biggest rugby, soc- Poddle channel, was Ideal for mak- to settle In a glass before It can be lozenge that encases a dark drop of
r.rr and Gaelic football atari. ing beer. (The rivers Paddle and properly consumed. (With sales Guinness It can be traded at the
The company previously re- Ltffey eventually Joined to form down last year, the brewer Is won- end of the tour for a free pint of
ceived tourlsU In an old vat house what 9th-century None Vikings dering whether consumers have stout or soda. From an Island work
nearby. Attendance had grown to described as a dark pool, ordubA become too busy to wait for the station In the middle of Q large, cir-
almost a half-million a year there. l i n n — hence the clty'anamt.) •perfect pint." It has begun dis- cular room, bartenders serve 2.000
much more than the place could In 1799, Ouinneu stopped cussing waya to speed the process (:;rn •; on a weekend day — twice
handle. So company officials bruin- brewing ale. He switched to a new. — a discussion bordering on the that many on St. Patrick's Day.
stormed, deciding In 1996 to rcno- bitter, mahogany-colored brew sacrilegious here.) The bar feels more like College
vat« a storehouse that had been that was gaining popularity In Many people might not even as- Park than Killamey. Hip-hop
empty for about a drcadc. London, especially among Un* sociate with the company iis best- pulflcn through the speakers
Actually, the building had some market porten who worked up a known marketing gimmick of all Twenty-somethings share a laugh
claim to fame In Its own right. It thirst on the Job. Guinness' porter In 1951. Sir Hugh Beaver, then and a drink.
was built in IBM &s the first steel- brew became a big hit. You know It's Ireland, however,
when David Johnston, the bar-
Guinness executives had traveled tender, "draws' a shamrock out-
to Chicago at the turn of the 20th paid holidays, health care and was fastest. When the argument line In the creamy white head of a
century for some beer-making tips guaranteed pensions for widows arose again a few years later, Bea- Guinness. He learned to turn his
wrist beneath the tap head Just so
new tdean about factory construc- •Get yourself a Guinnc.-qi mnn" was •houlU create a book to settle bur- to tract- the image through month?
tion and design, says Randal a papular saying among the room arguments. ofpractlce.hesays.
Suttle. an architect with Robinson women In the Plmllco neighbor- With that. theCuimieM Boo* of As If on cue, outside the picture
Keefe Devane. the Dublin (Inn that hood around the plant. World Records was born. Only the windows, a rainbow bends over the
worked on the recent remodel Among the company's most Bible and Quran sell more copies, Dublin Mountains. Whether a pot
Guinness' reputation for inno- skilled employees were the coop- the company claims of gold Is at the other end, the
Guinness folks can't say.
founded the company In 1759, after store the beer, and the •'smellers" company was bought by the Lon- now: The fastest bird In flight la the
ntgnlnK a 9.0M-yrnr 1- i.-i- for an old who used their keen noses to weed don food-ami •Ifvrrnefi Riant. licrepnne falcon.*"alco peregnnut
brewery called St. James's Gate. out sour barrels. If one of them Dlageo PLC, which also owns It can go 168 miles an hour.