Talking St.Patrick’s Day With A Guinness Beer Specialist

The first time I met Guinness Beer Specialist Domhnall Marnell we were in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and he was showing myself and a handful of others how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness Draft. As it turns out, pouring the beer properly isn’t quite as easy as pouring most other beers, and the proper “two-minute pour” takes a little bit of effort to master (the “perfect” pour technically only takes takes 119.53 seconds).

Marnell spends his days teaching visitors to Guinness about the brand, and educating people like me and you about the brewery, its history, and more importantly, its beers. He’s celebrating this St. Patrick’s Day in the United States, and took a few minutes to chat with me earlier this week about the holiday, Guinness, and what the scene is probably like today in Dublin.

“If I could get one message out about Guinness, it would be that there’s more to it than the dark pint with the creamy white head,” says Marnell. “Whether it’s in Ireland, whether it’s abroad, there seems to be a lot of people who are under the impression there’s only one style on Guinness. Obviously if you go to a pub and order a Guinness you’re going to get a Guinness Draft 99 times out of 100 if it’s in Ireland, the UK, or the US. That’s kind of a newer beer to our range. It’s something we’ve only been making since 1959. We go back 200 years before that.”

While Guinness Draft is certainly the brewery’s most popular beer (and the one consumed the most on St. Patrick’s Day), the brand actually makes a ton more.

“We have more beers in our range now than we’ve ever had at one time before,” says Marnell. In addition to brews we’ve seen on store shelves already, the Guinness lineup now includes a Nitro IPA that was released late last year, and now two new beers: Dublin Porter and West Indies Porter. Those two brews are made through the company’s ‘Brewer’s Project” and are vintage Guinness beers that have been made using the original recipes from 1801 and 1796, with labels inspired by vintage labels. You can try both now in a special-release 18 pack available at select Costco, Sam’s, BJ’s, and Total Wine & More locations.

I had a chance to try both while traveling in Ireland. The Dublin Porter in particular is a sessionable porter that quickly became a go-to when visiting Irish pubs.

When I asked Marnell how he felt about celebrating Patrick’s Day in New York rather than Ireland this year, he said he was interested in seeing how we handle the holiday here in the states. He’s heard we have quite a celebration, although it won’t likely be anything compared to the scene in Dublin.

“If you ask anybody, the first two things that come to mind when they think of Ireland are probably St. Patrick’s Day and Guinness,” he says. “Guinness Storehouse on St. Patrick’s Day is a magical place. That’s probably the best way to describe it. It should be on everyone’s bucket list whether you’re already a Guinness drinker or not.”

The brewery expects an astounding 33,000 people to visit during a five-day festival for the holiday. In addition to tons of beer, the brewery will offer things like food pairings and live entertainment for visitors. They hire seasonal staff for the holiday, making it the most highly-staffed time at the brewery of the year.

“The atmosphere is electric,” says Marnell. “I think everyone wants to be just a little bit Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”