€95 tour for stout-hearted Guinness fans
THE Guinness Storehouse has launched a ‘premium’ tour for €95 per person.
Every Friday and Wednesday from now on, it is offering the ultimate Guinness experience which takes visitors into parts of the brewing process never before seen by the public.
The Willie Wonka-style secret tour will also take the premium guests into Guinness’s experimental section, where they will taste beers that are not on the market anywhere in the world.
The tour will be given by beer specialists and take visitors through the history of brewing Guinness that will include views of historic railway lines and across the cobbled stones, right up until the present day.
They will also see inside the Roast House, where Guinness’s barley is baked to 232C, as well as the underground tunnel that leads to Brewhouse 4, where the popular porter is brewed today.
They will finish with a guided food and beer tasting with limited-edition brews, not found anywhere else in the world, at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery – Guinness’s on-site experimental brewery.
The high-rollers will receive a ‘special gift’ to commemorate their visit and a voucher for 20% off walk-up adult admissions at the Guinness Storehouse, 10% off at the Retail Shop, and 10% off in 1837 Bar & Brasserie and Brewers’ Dining Hall.
Guinness says that visitors will start the tour where it all began, with Arthur Guinness in 1759, to learn about the historic lease he signed for 9,000 years and all about his humble beginnings.
In addition to the family history, visitors will see some of the oldest parts of the site, visiting the 200year-old Vat Houses and the underground tunnel to reach the furthest end of the brewery site, Brewhouse 4 – only the fourth Brewhouse to be constructed at St James’s Gate in more than 250 years.
Some 1,732,528 people visited the legendary attraction last year – 2,528 more than the 2018 figure of 1.7million.
Meanwhile, visitor numbers at the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience in Co. Clare were up by 1.58% to 1,605,131.
The 214m high cliffs beat Dublin Zoo into second place for the first time in 2014, and have continued to increase numbers every year since.
1,732,528 visitors in 2019