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Beer, Ireland, and Making the World Better
Mar 01, 2022
When I think of St. Patrick’s Day, my mind conjures up images of leprechauns, green shamrocks, possibly getting pinched for not wearing green… and beer. This blog is about beer. Well, not exactly just about beer. When I go down the thought trail of St. Patrick’s Day, and beer, I am led straight to Guinness, the most famous of Irish brews. And while a short blog on the tastiness of nitrogen injected stout beer sounds like fun, there is a deeper and more interesting story about the Guinness family and how they affected their country and the world. This brief article will not do justice to all the things the Guinness family did to positively impact the people of Ireland, but I would like to mention a few highlights for your consideration.
- In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded the Guinness brewery in Dublin by signing a lease for the famous property at St. James Gate. This lease gave him property rights for 9,000 years!
- Arthur Guinness founded the first Sunday schools in Ireland, fought against dueling, and chaired the board of a hospital for the poor.
- One of the good things that Guinness beer did for the people of Ireland was to provide a refreshing drink that was low in alcohol compared to other alcoholic drinks.
- A Guinness worker in the 1920’s enjoyed full medical and dental care, massage services, reading rooms, subsidized meals, a company-funded pension, subsidies for funeral expenses, educational benefits, sports facilities, free concerts, lectures, and entertainment, and a guaranteed two pints of Guinness beer each day.
- A Guinness chief medical officer, Dr. John Lumsden, personally visited thousands of Dublin homes in 1900 and used what he learned to help the company fight disease, squalor, and ignorance. These efforts also let to the establishment of the Irish version of the Red Cross, for which Dr. Lumsden was knighted by King George V.
There are many other remarkable contributions the Guinness family made toward the betterment of Ireland and beyond. It inspires me to think that when businesses put their hearts and souls toward making a difference, great things can be accomplished.
If you are interested in knowing more about the Guinness story, I would suggest you read the book “The Search for God and Guinness” by Stephen Mansfield.
Darrell Shires, President & CEO, Medworks, Inc.