Guinness is one of the world’s most popular drinks, now free from animal bones to filter, after listening to campaigners and changing policy. The company also was one of the first to ditch plastic packaging for biodegradable can holders (to avoid harming wildlife).
The company no longer uses the slogan ‘Guinness is good for you’ although back in the day, it was prescribed in pregnancy? Today we obviously know the dangers of alcohol to pregnant women (also keep away from pets, due to alcohol and hops). Guinness is not that high in iron as often claimed, though it does have a few antioxidants, to negate the booze!
Three of the five Guinness breweries are in Africa (Nigerians drink more than the Irish). And the company is owned by a British multi-national that also owns other brands including ‘Irish’ Baileys (which has recently shelved its almond milk version), Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka, Captain Morgan Rum and Gordon’s gin. If you prefer to support small artisan brands:
- Wensleydale Brewery Night Shade Imperial Stout (Yorkshire) is in a can with coffee, cinder toffee and rich roast flavours. Most of their drinks are not vegan, but this one is.
- Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout is brewed with water (from a well built in 1758), gently roasted organic chocolate malt and organic cocoa for a smooth creamy flavour with deep flavours and a delightful finish.
- Stroud Brewery Big Cat Stout is vegan (not all their drinks are but this one is). This company runs on solar power and is plastic-free, and puts up swift nesting and bat nest boxes to help local wildlife, something that the Guiness company likely does not. Made with organic barley malt, wheat malt, oats and hops.
Toast Ale Rise Up Chocolate Stout was a limited edition from a company that makes beers by using up leftover bread to replace some of the traditional ingredients (they even have beers made with Warburton’s crumpets!) Profits (after paying salaries) go to a food waste charity.
Nirvana Brewery (East London) is a company that makes alcohol-free beer (founded by the daughter of a man who gave up drinking but loved his beer). The dark chocolate stout is the teetotal version with a smooth malt base, chocolate aromas and hints of vanilla.
thought Guinness was Irish?
No, it’s not. Today the brand is owned by a British multi-national. And the history is not that Irish either. Although the company was founded in Dublin by Arthur Guiness with just £100 (he went on to marry and have 21 children!), he was in fact a Protestant who was not supportive of Irish home rule (though he did apparently use profits to help promote the Celtic arts and religious tolerance). But back in the day, although Guinness was happily sold to Irish Catholics (to this day you can ask for an ‘Uncle Arthur’ in a Dublin bar for a perfectly-poured pint), brewers who wished to marry Catholics were asked to resign.
If you look on the glass, you’ll also notice that the harp logo has the straight edge to the left (the opposite way to the Republic of Ireland version). The Emerald Isle is known for its harpists (remember Mary O’Hara who became a nun?) and after the Reformation (when Henry VIII banned the Catholic church so he could get a divorce), he made the harp the official emblem of Ireland, stamping it on coins when he made himself the new king in 1541.
When Elizabeth I came to power, she ordered all harps destroyed to remove the Irish identity, ordering those under her power to ‘hang the harpers wherever found, and destroy their instruments’. They don’t sound like very nice people, do they? So now you know why the harp is the official emblem of Ireland, as a throwback to show they could not be destroyed by the British monarchy! When Guinness trademarked the logo so nobody else could use it, the Irish government simply decided to use it but the other way around. So now you know!
music break: Irish harp jig!
Obviously we have to include an Irish jig with this post! If you play the harp, you can now buy synthetic strings to avoid catgut (from sheep).
