With a rush on our favourite stout we take our hats off to Guinness’s black and whiter Christmas genius.
No beer, arguably, has been better marketed and Diageo’s decision to limit the amount of Guinness pubs falls into the same bracket.
Because there are few bigger drivers than the threat that you’ll be denied your pleasure than getting you to buy it.
Not that that has ever stopped the good people of Ireland.
Where the Guinness flows as freely as the Liffey which holds its secrets.
Guinness running through me
The rise in Guinness’s popularity is reputedly driven by women and young people.
Neither of which I am the last time I checked although it’s already in my DNA and blood.
With the Guinness marketeers telling Irish Mammies to give their new-borns Guinness for their health.
An old wife’s tale… well, no, there has always, of course, been a mystery.
A family business
Down to what makes a good Guinness and if it’s possible to find one outside Ireland.
And here it helps to have some insider knowledge.
With Guinness running through our family and the McNulty bar, now The Ramblers, in the townland of Brockagh, Co. Donegal.
The best McNulty Irish bars in Manhattan, Queen’s and Long Island.
And the institution that was Kennedy’s and is now The Workshop, by Tara Street DART station on the Liffey.
Pouring in
Now what we will share here is that keeping the stout flowing and regularly change the barrels optimises your taste.
Which is why the Guinness in busy bars will always taste better than quieter hotel bars.
Of course, today’s clientele can pour their own with those taps on tables we have now.
Which, of course, I am a practitioner, not least to my bar-owning cousins.
And the document bequeathed to me in Neon City by Las Vegas Ri Ra.
The home of the Black Stuff
Now as familiar to us as a table full of Guinness at this time of year is their adverts.
With the black St James’s Gates in the Liberties in Dublin with snow on top and the tag…
‘Even at the home of the Black Stuff they dream of a white one.’
Which, of course you can visit for yourself and drink in the Gravity Bar above the Dublin skylines.
As American Presidents, British Royalty and VIPs like yours truly have over the years.
And all of us can despite any seasonal pub panic around your favourite stout.
So well done again to the best marketeers in the business.
Guinness’s black and whiter Christmas genius.