Guinness Brewery, Dublin

Since the first time I visited Dublin in 2004 I heard - don't go to Guinness Brewery, it's a waste of time and money. I've been told several times that the exhibition is boring and that is a waste of my time . Well this year I decided to check for myself and I discovered what fool have I been to believe way back then!

Off course it has downsides to it - the gigantic que and an expensive tickett, but the lines can be skipped if you make an ONLINE reservation or buy the Dublin Pass. And the price? Well I know many people suggest Jameson instead, but now the prices have gone up, Guinness is much more worth it!
Oh, yeah, I don't recomend doing it as a part of hop on - hop off, the tour is so long it is possible to stay all day in there (and most tourist sites are only open until 5pm in Dublin).

More on Guinness Brewery in my "Things to do" section.

Unique Suggestions: Buy your tickett online or make an reservation, skip the lines and get a 10% off tickett price.
As an alternative buy a 3 day Dublin Pass.

Fun Alternatives: For me is a must see! But many people prefer Jamesons, I would recommend doing both - if you have enough cash to spend.

Despite what other tippers have said I found it quite interesting. Luckily, there was not many people which made it easier to walk along the floors of the exhibition. After reading some reviews I was kind of worried about what we may find there, but I found it quite interesting; learnt about how the Guinness book of records got its name. The best thing should be without doubt the Gravity bar in the upper floor. Incredible view and free beer, not half pint but a pint.

Unique Suggestions: Learn something about the proccess of creating beer and a great huge company

guinness storehouse 7... levels full of ..nothing!
very expensive.
only many panels to read. no view on how beer is really made ...
the "free half pint" is very expensive!
the only good thing is the view from the gravity bar.
don't go!

Unique Suggestions: look the view from the gravity bar

Fun Alternatives: it's better jameson distillery!

The Guinness brewery is extremely overated. It's a self-guided tour which means you get a map of the property. There's several floors of touristy stuff to look at - giant piles of grain and fancy graphic displays, but overall it's pretty weak. Most of the effort was put into making everything look good, but very little substance.

It was worth the trek to the skybar where I had the best and coldest Guinness I ever had - you get a free one with the admission price of 14 Euros. Ask them for a shamrock on top and it seems even fancier. The memorabilia of glasses, cans, bottles and vintage ads is very interesting, but you're basically buying a 14 Euro beer and a nice view of the city.

A little trivia tidbit for you is that this is the Guinness...as in Guinness Book of World Records. The book of records started out when a bar debate couldn't be settled with reference books - so they decided to make one which could.

I love Guinness. It was the brew that changed my perception of all brews. So needless to say, when I was planning my trip to Ireland, visiting the Guinness Storehouse was at the forefront of my mind for when I would visit Dublin. I was sorely disappointed when I got there though. They were charging 14 Euros if I remember correctly. At the time, I think that worked out to something like 18 or 19 U.S. dollars. I paid it thinking to myself that: "Hey. It's the Guinness Storehouse. It must be awesome..because it's Guinness." The entire display was fairly lackluster and not overly exciting. Some of the displays were worn out so much, that some of the words were not legible anymore. So much that I could not even guess as to what they were trying to say. It was just a big disappointment. I hear the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam is MUCH better.

Unique Suggestions: Enjoy your "free" Guinness. :-P Also, you can get 10% off your tickets if you buy them online at:

http://www.guinnessstorehouse.com/tickets/default.asp?sid=1&prid=16

Fun Alternatives: Just go to a pub and get a Guinness. That is the best way to enjoy anything Guinness in Ireland, since it is so much better there than anywhere else in the world.

Like most visitors to Dublin I had to visit the Guiness storehouse, in fact I went out of my way to go there. What I found was floors of boring displays. Now I also put Guiness as a thing to do because some people love looking at old machinery and details of the processes used to make Guiness but not I.

Unique Suggestions: Visit the Gravity Bar on the top floor. It has a great view of Dublin and the Dublin moutains. You get 1 free pint up there wth your admission.

Well, I must say I was unimpressed by the brewery. Oh wait! This isn't the brewery! That's right folks, you've been fooled! You don't get to tour the actual brewery where the nectar of the gods is made. Instead, you folow the yellow line through several stories (8, I think) of an exhibition that was built on the site of the original brewery. The exhibition takes you through the process of brewing Guinness, from the ingredients all the way through distribution and various ads from around the world. The advertisement section, incidentally, is probably the best part of the whole tour.

One of the more original touches is fact that the center of the building is shaped like a giant Guinness pint glass.

At the end of the tour (i.e. at the top 2 floors) there are a few bars where you can get a fresh pint. You get one pint free with your tour token. One of the bars is at the very top of the building. It takes up the entire top floor and affords you panaramic views of the entire city through its glass walls.

I'm sure this is considered a tourist trap, but it was VERY cool. The tour portion of the brewery was remodeled a couple of years ago, but the building itself is ancient (at least by my standards), and you get a free Guinness with the tour. The picture shows my friends in the Gravity Bar, at the top of the Guinness Brewery.