Even casual beer drinkers know what Guinness is. Love it or hate it, it’s a huge part of Ireland’s national culture. So much so, that the Guinness Storehouse is actually the most popular attraction in Ireland. Over 1.7 million people visited last year alone.

Even if you’re not a big beer drinker or a drinker of beer at all, visiting the Guinness Storehouse is worth your time when you’re in Dublin. This is a “must-see” for any tourist in Dublin – keep reading to find out why!

Before We Start – Things to Note

• Self-guided tour – Tour is a bit of a misnomer; instead, the experience is a self-guided walk through the first few floors of the Guinness Storehouse. Don’t expect to be taken through the “real” brewery – these floors are more like a museum, showcasing what it takes to make a perfect pint of Guinness with movies and exhibits. From here, you begin making your way up the building until you get to a bar area where you can have a drink.
• Drinking during the tour – A lot of brewery tours I have taken in the past, you are usually allowed to pre-buy a beer. This is not the case with Guinness – you don’t get your free beer until after you’ve been through the museum part. So, don’t expect to have a pint in your hand while you explore.

PRO TIP: You can’t bring beer on the escalators. So even if you do grab a pint and decide to wander more of the storehouse, you will have to take the elevator. Lines get long for the elevator, so be prepared to wait.

• The knowledge is similar to other beer tours – David and I found ourselves a little bored on the first few floors of the tour. It’s no secret that we like to drink beer, and because of this, we have been on our fair share of beer tours. And unfortunately, the brewing process for beer can only vary so much. So, if you have a basic knowledge of beer brewing, then some of the museum areas may be redundant to you. We sped through it and headed straight to the beer!
• Plan what else you want to do in the area – Guinness is on the edge of Dublin’s tourist area. There’s not much to do around the Guinness Storehouse itself, except for drink some more (Jameson and Roe & Co., Guinness’ distillery are both in the area). Since it’s further away from the city center, it may be useful to plan other activities, rather than arrive and be disappointed at the lack of activities to do in the area (my post on non-museum things to do in Dublin may help!)
  • As I said in my Dublin post, we got tickets to a hop-on, hop-off bus while we were in town. One of the reasons why I loved the bus was that it allowed you to just get back on rather than spent a lot of money on an expensive cab or Uber fare. We walked out the door of Guinness, hopped on the bus, and were headed right back into Dublin.

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The Guinness Storehouse Tour

Do you want to know what to expect when you take your tour? See below for more on what each floor of the Guinness Storehouse has to offer!

Tour Tips

• Book Online – if you do nothing else beforehand, make sure to book online. Lines can get extremely long, and anyone who has already bought tickets can hop to the front to the automated ticketing booth and walk right in.
• Go in the morning – Since we had hop-on, hop-off bus tickets, we went by the Guinness Storehouse a few times before going in. When we saw lines, it was in the afternoon. In the mornings, it seemed that everyone, even those who hadn’t pre-booked, walked right in. We had an 11:30 tour time, and by around 1 p.m., the Storehouse started to get extremely busy. So, I recommend going as early as you can! (Hey – a Guinness for breakfast never hurt anyone, right?)
• Arrive at your tour time – If you have pre-booked, then you have already selected a time to show up for your tour. I highly recommend you show up on time. As we entered, they said they were very strict about letting only people who arrived during their timeslot in. There was a fifteen-minute leeway, but if you arrive too late (or too early) then you are SOL. Get there on time!
• Schedule at least two hours – The Guinness Storehouse is packed with things to do, beers to drink, and food to eat. End-to-end, it will probably take you about two hours to get through the museum and grab your free drink. But if you want to do other things such as explore the store, eat at one of the few restaurants or grab another beer, then you will definitely need more time than that.

Ground Floor

You come into the ground floor after picking your tickets. To your left will be the Guinness store (don’t buy anything yet – you have to come back here to exit). In the center of the floor is the original 9,000-year lease that Arthur Guinness signed for St. James’ Gate Brewery.

Every five minutes, there will be an “orientation” that gathers around the lease. The orientation, which only takes a few minutes, explains how best to go through the Guinness Storehouse.

From here, you can begin your self-guided tour. The first floor is all about the four ingredients that make up Guinness: barley, hops, yeast, and water. You’ll walk through the exhibits showing how they select their barley, what kind of yeast they use (hint: they’ve used the same yeast for many years!) and then a large waterfall flowing with the same water that Guinness uses in their brew.

Second Floor

The second floor is all about the process of brewing. Exhibits range from the process of the brewing (such as how hot Guinness keeps their mash and why they added nitrogen to their brewing). Out of all of the floors, this one of the most interactive. You can walk through a room where you can smell what it smells like when they malt their barley and you can watch an exhibit on what happened what they coopered their wooden barrels in the early 1900s. This floor is all about the experience of beer and how Guinness’ brewing process is unique to others.

Third Floor and Beyond

The third floor was my favorite floor, to be honest. It was full of marketing samples from Guinness over the years – ranging from how they had the idea to include the toucan, to the original harp used in the Guinness logo. As you explore the different campaigns over the years, the exhibit slowly turns into a Christmas store! As someone who loves to buy Christmas ornaments wherever they go, this was a great stop in the museum.

The third floor also features an area that either 1) serves samples of different Guinness brews (which are free/you don’t need to turn your ticket in for) or 2) any sort of event that they may be happening. When we were there, Guinness was having a seafood event. So rather than sampling “normal” Guinness, you could visit this area to try some sort of differently-flavored beer (it was either some sort of sour or some sort of lemon beer – while I can’t remember, I know that we were totally turned off and didn’t want to waste our time trying something we wouldn’t like). They were also serving Guinness & oysters outside of the tasting room for anyone who wanted to take their fish tasting to a new level.

P.S. I learned at this event that Guinness and oysters are totally “a thing” that people swear by. We tried them and they are an interesting combo – they have them for tasting at various places during the factory, so give the combo a try!  

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Beer Tasting(s)

When you take a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, you get a free pint with your tour ticket. There are a variety of places that you can redeem that ticket. Read below to learn our suggested strategy on where and how to have your pint of Guinness.

Guinness Academy

As I said above, the Guinness Academy is the area where the bartenders will teach you how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. To enter, you’ll need to line/queue up in the area outside of the experience. This is where the guides will check that you have a valid ticket for your free beer. A guide will then bring you to the bar where they will teach you to pour a perfect pint of Guinness.

From here, the first thing you will learn is that it takes 119 seconds to pour a perfect pint. The first step is to pour a glass most of the way (actually, all the way up to the harp!)  As the bartender explains, he will demonstrate for you, and then you’re up to pour! After each pour, everyone lets their beer settle (keep an eye on yours). Once everyone has poured to the harp, then it’s time to top off your glass. And that’s it! In just a few steps you’ve learned to pour the perfect pint. You’ll put your name in a computer and out will pop your official Guinness pouring certificate. You officially know how to pour a Guinness!

Gravity Bar

The Gravity Bar is located on the seventh floor, which is the very top of the factory, making it the highest bar in all of Dublin. It’s located 46 meters off the ground, which allows you to have 360-degree views of the city. This is the other place where you can use your beer ticket. Just walk up with your ticket, hand it over, and in a few minutes (after the 119-second waiting period, of course) you’ll have your pint to enjoy.

This is the only place where you can use your free ticket and get something other than Guinness. They served both Hop House 13 and Guinness at this bar. And if you’ve already used your beer ticket and you want another, note that you can’t buy a beer up here. You’ll have to go back down to purchase another one before coming up to enjoy it.

As you enjoy your beer in the Gravity Bar, make sure to walk around. The window has labeled where each landmark in Dublin is, and it’s a great way to see the city from up high.

NOTE: There is limited seating in the Gravity Bar. When we visited, it was so crowded that people were sitting on the floor to try and get some relief. For some reason, there were also a lot of kids. So, if you’re going on a busy day (we went on a Saturday), prepared for the Gravity Bar to be packed.

What I Recommend You Do with Your Beer Ticket

After the third floor, you are essentially turned loose to the rest of the factory to do what you want. This is the point where you need to figure out what you want to do with your tasting ticket.

There are two places where your ticket will work: The Guinness Academy, and the Gravity Bar. While there are other places you can have a Guinness, these are the only two places that your included beer is valid. Here is what I recommend you do:

Use your ticket to visit “The Guinness Academy.” Once you’ve learned how to pour your own perfect pint of Guinness (which will take 119 seconds – it’s not a slow process!), don’t sit down. Instead, wait for the elevator (and you will have to wait since they don’t allow Guinness on the elevators) and head up to the Gravity Bar. Enjoy your beer there while looking out over all of Dublin. This way, you can incorporate both experiences into your free tasting, without having to buy another beer!  

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Bars & Restaurants in the Guinness Storehouse

There are three restaurants in the Guinness factory, and all of them offered Guinness-inspired or Guinness-flavored fare (and more Guinness if you want to purchase it!) Here are your options:

• Arthur’s Bar – this is more of a bar than anything else. It’s a great place to try a variety of Guinness options, as they have all of what Guinness is brewing on tap. On busier days, they even feature some classic Dublin trad. The food offered here includes bar bites and some other snacks like chips – we had these great Guinness chips that we both really enjoyed. However, if you want something heartier, then you might want to try one of the restaurants.
• The Brewer’s Dining Hall – This is exactly what it sounds like – a dining hall where you grab a tray and make your way down the line, picking what you want to eat. Again – all of the food is designed to complement a pint of Guinness. When we visited, they had offerings ranging from club sandwiches to pot roast and Yorkshire pudding.
• 1837 Bar & Brassiere – This is the only sit-down restaurant in the However, the cuisine is probably the most adventurous of all three restaurants, including fun complements like oysters and even options like pork buns. Out of all of the options, this is the priciest of the three but it is worth it if you want to have a full-blown experience with your pint.

While the food varies in all three, the big difference between all of the restaurants is price. None of the food is cheap, so make sure to check the menus (many of the selections rotate) before you sit down so you can make purchases that fit your budget and appetite.

We actually ended up eating in both the bar and the dining hall. Honestly, all of the food was really impressive and very well done. We balked at the price, but luckily the food delivered. Seriously – make sure to try the Guinness chips!

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Other things to do at the Guinness Storehouse:

• Horse-drawn carriages out front – There are a bunch of horse-drawn carriages out front, waiting to take you to your next destination. I took a quick look, and prices seemed fairly reasonable. The carriages will even take you back to downtown. This is a good option if you have some time to get to your next destination!
• Explore some of the original pieces of the factory – One of my favorite parts of the Guinness experience was looking around to see the original touches from the factory that used to sit on the storehouse’s site. So as you explore the building, make sure to keep an eye out for these pieces! One of the best places to see this was in the Dining Hall. They literally had original grain silos that you could sit in and eat your meal.
• Try one of the other Guinness experiences – I go into more detail about this below, but there are more places to drink and try Guinness than just the factory. If you want to make a day out of it, make sure to book some of these experiences when you pre-book your Guinness tour ticket online.
• The Store – Don’t forget to check out the store at the end of your tour. There are literally hundreds of items up there, ranging from clothing to houseware to glassware and more. I mean, anything you could think that could have a Guinness logo on it is in there (they had baby stuff, dog stuff – literally everything!) There is also another store upstairs, with some more high-end Guinness merchandise, so give yourself plenty of time to explore.

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Roe & Co.

As I purchased our tickets a few weeks before our tour, I got a few pop-ups on the Guinness website as I went to check out. However, I ignored most of the pop-ups until one said, “Would you like to add an additional drink to your ticket at Roe & Co.?” Sure, I thought. We were already there and would probably want another drink while we walked around. So why not pre-buy it now and make our lives easier day-of?

When we checked in, we were given a pop-up on the screen that confirmed that we had tickets to have a drink at Roe & Co. But nothing printed out. Confused, I asked one of the ticket people what was going on. I pronounced the name as, “Roe & Company” – it took a little bit of back and forth before she corrected me. “It’s called Roe & Co.” (Literally – the “Co.” is pronounced “coe,” which confused the heck out of my English-loving brain. Why would you pronounce an abbreviation?!) Anyways, she reassured me that I didn’t need a ticket. That they would know I had purchased a drink. Um…. ok? I guess I took her word for it.

When we were waiting in line for the Guinness Academy, some of the hosts were making small talk with those in line. I asked her if I could confirm that I had purchased a drink at Roe & Co. since I was confused that I didn’t have a ticket. And I received a blank stare from the hostess! She never heard of Roe & Co. and was confused about why I was asking. She brought a more senior member of the team over, who yet again reassured me that I didn’t need a ticket and they would know I bought a drink. OK, fine. I guess I will have to take your word for it.

We finished our tour, ready to get our next drink and…nothing. Again, I asked how and why to get there and no one at the exit knew. So, David and I did the only thing that makes sense in that situation: We fired up our phones and followed Google Maps down the road to Roe & Co.

It turns out Roe & Co. is kind of far away from the entrance to the Guinness Storehouse tour. We walked pretty much all the way around the building until we found the distillery, all the way back on the main street. Now, at this point, I was getting pissed. Not only did no one know where my money went and if I would have a drink when I went here, but there were absolutely no signs and we literally just had to walk around the factory to get here. If I hadn’t pre-purchased my ticket, I honestly would have given it up at this point.

Luckily that all changed as soon as we got inside the factory. I inquired kind of hesitantly, sure that they would tell me that we didn’t have a ticket. But they crossed our name off of a list and started walking us back to a private tasting room with only a few other people, reserved for those who pre-booked a drink.

From there, we sat at a private table and were given an amazing cocktail book that was organized by taste. Honestly, outside of vodka cranberries and margaritas, I have never really liked a cocktail in my life. But since this menu was organized by taste, vs. by ingredients, I was able to find a cocktail that I absolutely loved. It was an original to the factory, otherwise I would have taken a photo and requested it at every bar I went to after this (It was the salt-based cocktail and it was literally one of the most amazing drinks I have ever had in my life. They also had a fun Roe & Co. stamped ice cube in the glass!)

While we were sipping our drinks, we had two different people come by to check on us, and another come by to make sure that we didn’t want to take a private tour through the distillery. Our views were also amazing, with an open-air ceiling above us and a glass wall behind us letting us look-out on the distilling equipment.

Roe & Co. is one of the up-and-coming distilleries in Dublin, and I see why. Their drinks were delicious, their customer service amazing. If you can get through some of the hiccups to get there, then this experience is 100% worth your money (and, hey, that’s why you’re reading this guide – so you know how to get around the hiccups!) If we didn’t have other things we wanted to accomplish in Dublin that day, we would have stayed there for a few more drinks. I highly recommend!

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Guinness Experimental Taproom

On our way back up the hill so we could grab our hop-on, hop-off bus out of the area, we passed an entrance with an extremely sweet bartender/bouncer combo. We asked what was behind the gate, and he asked if we had tickets. So we showed our tour tickets and all of a sudden we were let into the Guinness Experimental Taproom. While the nice bouncer totally thought we were showing him tickets we had purchased to get into the taproom, we were down to try out this ticket-only experience (don’t worry – we still paid for our beer, which is what the ticket was for anyways).

The Experimental Taproom, which is only open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, is a bar built directly into the brewery and where Guinness tries out some of their new brews. When we were there, they were trying out a wide variety, from sours to sour IPAs and even a tea-based beer. You could purchase both a flight as well as individual pints. As you left, you could leave a magnet on a voting board, letting the brewery know what your favorite and which beers you didn’t care for.

Additionally, they served more food here all designed to directly complement the experimental brews that you were trying. Choices ranged from a variety of bar foods like fried mac and cheese to sliders. As I said – you have to purchase a ticket beforehand to be able to access this brewery. You can also purchase a few more beers in addition to your ticket. If you have the time and are visiting on one of the days that it is open, I highly recommend trying some new brews out!

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Would I Go to the Guinness Storehouse Again?

Yup. Unequivocally, I would. Honestly, while I found myself bored on the first few floors, the top floors had a lot to offer. We truly didn’t get to do everything – while we ate and had beers in two of three of the bars, we would have loved to have tried more beers, ate more food, etc. Honestly, I don’t think you can do all of the Guinness Storehouse in one visit. Especially if you add on other experiences like Roe & Co. and the Experimental Taproom. If you’re a beer lover, make sure to schedule plenty of time here!

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Any Questions?

No matter when or where you choose to visit the Guinness Storehouse, you now know enough to be able to enjoy your experience at the brewery. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away in the comments and I will get back to you ASAP!

Want more of my time in Dublin and Ireland? Take a look at my Instagram stories (under the green Ireland highlight). Have you visited the Guinness Storehouse? What did you think? Do you want to visit one day? What would you do if you visited? Leave a comment below!

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