In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin. The lease was for an annual rent of £45, and it is often cited as a symbol of his long-term vision and confidence in the brewery's future. He was just 34 when he signed on to a then-disused four-acre brewery site, and began by brewing ale. He quickly built up a successful trade and, in the 1770s, he began brewing a new type of English beer – called porter. It was so successful that by 1799 he brewed his last ale and decided to concentrate solely on the now-famous black stuff. The first known export left Dublin port on a ship bound for England in 1796. The first international shipment to the Caribbean arrived in Barbados in 1822. Global expansion increased rapidly over the course of the 19th century and, by 1880, St. James’s Gate was the largest brewery in the world.

Guinness Storehouse Museum
Dublin, Ireland

07.11.25