Product Description

A perfectly poured history of the world's greatest beer

For millions of beer lovers the world over, a properly poured pint of Guinness Stout is as close to perfection as beer gets. Each year, fans of the legendary black liquidation enjoy two billion pints of the beer known for its distinctive creamy head and rich drinkability. Ireland's most famous export, Guinness Stout - and the people who have brewed it - hold a unique place in the history of beer, business and Ireland itself.

They say that good things come to those who wait. When you wait on a perfectly poured pint of Guinness Stout, you know you're getting something good. It's more than just a pint of beer; it's a mouthwatering visual presentation of the quality and taste you're about to enjoy. And millions wait patiently for their pint every day. To find out why, famed beer and beverage writer Bill Yenne talks to everyone from Guinness's master brewer to typical pubgoers about the beer they hold dear. Whatever magic makes it so delicious, it's powerful enough to soothe the souls of beer lovers from Dublin to Boston to Buenos Aires to Lagos, and everywhere in between.

But Guinness is more than a delicious beverage, it's also the name of a remarkable family of brewers and entrepreneurs whose story is worthy of legend, and who occupy a prominent place in Irish history. In Guinness, Yenne traces the 250-year tale of the family and its namesake beer. Beginning with Arthur Guinness, the entrepreneur patriarch who first began brewing at St. James's Gate, Dublin, in 1759, the story follows succeeding generations of the Guinness family through the years. Yenne follows not just the fortunes of the family Guinness, but also the development of the brand and the beer - from Arthur's earlier porter to the beer that is enjoyed in 150 countries today.

Praise for Guinness

"Joseph Conrad was wrong. The real journey into the Heart of Darkness is recounted within the pages of Bill Yenne's fine book. Guinness (the beer) is a touchstone for brewers and beer lovers the world over. Guinness (the book) gives beer enthusiasts all the information and education necessary to take beer culture out of the clutches of light lagers and back into the dark ages. Cheers!"
-Sam Calagione, owner, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and author of Brewing Up a Business, Extreme Brewing, and Beer or Wine?

"Marvelous! As Bill Yenne embarks on his epic quest for the perfect pint, he takes us along on a magical tour into the depths of all things Guinness. Interweaving the tales of the world's greatest beer and the nation that spawned it, Yenne introduces us to a cast of characters worthy of a dozen novels, a brewery literally dripping with history, and-of course-the one-and-only way to properly pour a pint. You can taste the stout porter on every page."
-Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90153 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470120521
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"This book is telling of the legends of Guinness - the stout, the men and the mythology."  (Retail & Leisure International, December 2007)

"...should be on the shelf of anyone who professes to want to learn more about the last 250 years of brewing"  (What's Brewing, December 2007)

"...an absorbing tale, brilliantly handled."  (New Imbiber, December 2007)

"This is a thoroughly enjoyable, complete chronicle of a great been business."  (World Business, December 2007)

From the Inside Flap

For millions of beer lovers the world over, a properly poured pint of Guinness Stout is as close to perfection as beer gets. Each year, fans of the legendary black liquidation enjoy two billion pints of the beer known for its distinctive creamy head and rich drinkability. Ireland's most famous export, Guinness Stout—and the people who have brewed it—hold a unique place in the history of beer, business, and Ireland itself.

They say that good things come to those who wait. When you wait on a perfectly poured pint of Guinness Stout, you know you're getting something good. It's more than just a pint of beer; it's a mouthwatering visual presentation of the quality and taste you're about to enjoy. And millions wait patiently for their pint every day. To find out why, famed beer and beverage writer Bill Yenne talks to everyone from Guinness's master brewer to typical pubgoers about the beer they hold dear. Whatever magic makes it so delicious, it's powerful enough to soothe the souls of beer lovers from Dublin to Boston to Buenos Aires to Lagos, and everywhere in between.

But Guinness is more than a delicious beverage, it's also the name of the remarkable family of brewers and entrepreneurs whose story is worthy of legend, and who occupy a prominent place in Irish history. In Guinness, Yenne traces the 250-year tale of the family and its namesake beer. Beginning with Arthur Guinness, the entrepreneur patriarch who first began brewing at St. James's Gate, Dublin, in 1759, the story follows succeeding generations of the Guinness family through the years. Yenne follows not just the fortunes of the family Guinness, but also the development of the brand and the beer—from Arthur's earliest porter to the beer that is enjoyed in 150 countries today.

For Guinness aficionados, this tale offers an inside look at a legendary brewing company and the craftsmanship and pride that go into every keg. For anyone who hopes to keep their business vibrant and dynamic for the next few centuries, the book offers important lessons on continuity, quality, and innovation. For everyone who loves a good beer story, Guinness offers a perfect pint more than two centuries in the pouring.

Sit back and enjoy.

From the Back Cover
A perfectly poured history of the world's greatest beer.

"Joseph Conrad was wrong. The real journey into the Heart of Darkness is recounted within the pages of Bill Yenne's fine book. Guinness (the beer) is a touchstone for brewers and beer lovers the world over. Guinness (the book) gives beer enthusiasts all the information and education necessary to take beer culture out of the clutches of light lagers and back into the dark ages. Cheers!"
—Sam Calagione, owner, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and author of Brewing Up a Business, Extreme Brewing, and Beer or Wine?

"Marvelous! As Bill Yenne embarks on his epic quest for the perfect pint, he takes us along on a magical tour into the depths of all things Guinness. Interweaving the tales of the world's greatest beer and the nation that spawned it, Yenne introduces us to a cast of characters worthy of a dozen novels, a brewery literally dripping with history, and—of course—the one-and-only way to properly pour a pint. You can taste the stout porter on every page."
—Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Customer Reviews

Reads like a PR piece
After reading the outstandingAmbitious Brew: The Story of American Beer by Maureen Ogle, I was interested in reading about beer history on the other side of the pond, so I picked up Bill Yenne's "Guinness: the 250 Year Quest for the Perect Pint". What I found was more of an unsatisfying PR piece than a thoughtful history.

In short, the book lacks depth. Bill Yenne claims to have spent many weeks in the Guinness archives, but it seems that he didn't spend time anywhere else to either back up or add color to his factoids. The book alternates between heroic tales of the Guinness family to long recitals of sales figures. It seems as he uncritically accepted and repeated whatever he ran across, and did not consult any sources outside of the Guinness archive. Everything is rosy in his world of Guinness. I would like to have seen what this book would have turned out like in the hands of an author like Maureen Ogle or James B. Stewart (Disney War)

The book is a pretty easy read. I was able to finish it in a few nights, although I had to struggle to stick with it, because it was so unrelentingly shallow.

The perfect pint, the perfect book!
I just love the cover!

How often does one wait for a writer to confirm what we already know. I knew Guinness beer was magical, and Author Bill Yenne confirms it in his new book. This easy read is a must for anyone with an interest in beer, or the Guinness company. "Guinness" takes you from the simple beginnings of Guinness brewing at St. James Gate in Dublin, Ireland, through it's 250 year history.

Read about the Guinness brewing family, and their relationship to beer and modern Irish history. Consider the observations of the Guinness world "Travelers" of 100 years ago, and the rattly thing in today's can of Guinness, simply called a "widget".

This was a fun book for me. I must admit, I believe in the perfect pint, and this seems like the perfect book.

A wonderful read for beer lover or businessperson.
This is an excellent story of the development of a business over a period of more than two centuries. It's a fascinating read whether you're interested in the brewing of beer or in adapting a business to changing times and situations.

In addition to brewing one of the great beers of the world, Guinness also proved adept at developing markets and distribution systems, marketing their beverages in changing times, adapting products to the realities of markets, and using technology to improve both products and distribution.

Brewing was an industry that could achieve economies of scale before the Industrial Revolution. The Guinness family understood that. But they also understood that achieving great scale was worthless if you didn't also develop markets where people could drink your product and distribution systems to get it there.

Throughout the history of the firm, Guinness has been willing to adapt products to the need of the market. India Pale Ale, for example, was a hoppier product and one higher in alcohol content than other products so that it would withstand the ocean voyage to India. When lagers became popular, Guinness began producing lagers.

The story of Guinness, like the story of every successful and long-lived business is a story of good decisions and bits of good luck. It was a good decision, for example, to make a strong effort to establish Guinness as a brand in the days when the more dominant brands were local bottlers.

But luck also kicked in at various times in the company's history. In England in the 19th Century most pubs were "tied" houses, meaning that they were tied to a specific brewery. But since Guinness had no tied houses of its own in England, it could be a "guest" brew at the pubs of many different brewers as well as at the pubs that were not tied to any brewery. The result was wider distribution and brand awareness than could have been achieved through any wise strategic decision.

This would be a better book for the business reader if Yenne were a better business writer. He takes the firm's statement that they didn't pay attention to marketing and distribution until the middle of the Twentieth Century at face value. But the book describes a very different reality.

The book describes Guinness paying attention to distribution much earlier than other brewers or, indeed, other businesses. We see them paying attention to what we would call their brand as far back as the Eighteenth Century with an intensity that's more like a modern business.

In addition to the story of Guinness the company, there are wonderful bits of history here. As you read along you can't help but learn about the relationship between Ireland and England and about the impact of world events on commerce.

Want a picture of a different age? You'll find out that when World War I broke out, Guinness not only held the job of every many who went to war, they also paid that man a half salary while he was in service.

Want an idea of how the temporary can become permanent? You'll learn that England put in pub closing laws during World War I designed to get workers home early. But those laws remained unchanged until the dawn of the next century.

Want a sense of déjà vu? You'll read about how Guinness saw the developing market in the US as a place where rapacious businesses routinely produced shoddy goods and infringed on trademarks, much like what you hear Americans saying about the Chinese today.

Want an idea of how far-away events can affect a global business? When the US enacted Prohibition in 1920, the entire, up-till-then-growing US market disappeared along with a big chunk of Guinness' revenue.

There are things that could be better. Sometimes the author gets to running down lists of relatives and connections that remind me of all those "begets" in the Bible. When you hit one of these dry passages, skip it and move on. You won't miss anything important.

And the author likes to drop technical terms into the story without defining them or telling us why they're important. When discussing the building of a brewery railway, for example he mentions the purchase of a "0-4-0" locomotive. I doubt that many readers know what that is or know that it's a good choice for a tight space.

The bottom line, though, is that this is an enjoyable book, whether you read it because you're a beer lover and want to know about some of Guinness' technical innovations, or whether you're a business person learning lessons from a company that's been successful longer than most companies have been around, or whether you just like to see history through a different glass.