Guinness turns 250

Thursday, September 24, 2009

On September 24, 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for the St James' Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. 250 years later, Guinness has grown to a global business that turns over 10 billion euros (US$14.7 billion) every year.

Arthur's Day has been described by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen as "an excuse for having a great party." Pub-goers across Dublin — as well as cities around the world including Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Cotonou, Hong Kong, and New York — raised their glasses in tribute to Arthur at exactly 17:59 p.m. to mark the year the drink was begun. Ireland has issued a stamp for the event.

St James' Gate Brewery had grown to become Ireland's biggest by 1833 and in 1886 had grown to the biggest in the world, producing 1.2 million barrels of black stout each year. Today, Guinness is enjoyed in 150 countries and 10 million pints are drunk every 24 hours — although Irish myth has it the brew tastes best in Dublin.

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Sources

"FEATURE : Guinness celebrates 250th anniversary" — Taipei Times, September 25, 2009
Andrew Bushe. Irish lead the party as Guinness celebrates 250th birthday <broken link> [archived version] — Agence France-Presse, September 24, 2009

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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.