239 Seconds? When the Guinness pour sped up ...

In 1965 The Belfast Telegraph carried the following advertisement for draught Guinness Extra Stout...

'Guinness Extra Stout on Draught. Served the new way. Ulster's draught drinkers can't get enough of it. Because when they ask for it in their favourite bars they know they'll always get a pint that's well-drawn. Perfectly conditioned. And in half the time it used to take. Draught Extra Stout is finding its way into more and more good bars every day. Look for it in your favourite, and try the smooth creamy goodness of it. And see if you don't ask for more.'

Ignoring the emphasising on 'conditioned' in the advert - which was possibly a way of making the kegged product sound more 'legitimate' - we will focus instead on the words 'in half the time it used to take,' and although it is unclear if they mean 'new' draught Guinness is now quicker to serve than when it was first launched in 1959 or just quicker compared to the older cask porter, we can see how at this time the speed of the pour and serve is seen as an important selling point by the marketeers in the company.

A far cry from a few decades later when Guinness's marketing emphasis changed to slow being better than fast. A quick poured Guinness was by then - and still is - seen as an abomination.

I guess we can put it down to them finding out that 119.5 seconds is the optimum pour time, can't we...?!

Liam K

(I was reminded of this advert during an exchange with The Beer Nut on Twitter.) Edit: See his comments below too.

Edit: Gary at Beer Et Seq has more thoughts on this here.

All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and can not be reproduced elsewhere without full credit to its source and a link back to this post.

The page that carried this advertisement was marked © Independent News and Media PLC and I have received permission to reproduce it here. All rights reserved. Sourced via The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

More Rare Old Dublin Beer Labels - Manders' Brewery

If you mention a brewery on James' Street in Dublin to most people they will automatically think of Guinness and probably just of them. But back in the late 19th century the street, and this general area of Dublin, was home to quite a few breweries. Indeed Alfred Barnard noted in his famous history-recording books on the breweries of these island back in 1889 that from the top of the nearby-ish Anchor brewery he 'could distinguish half-a dozen-breweries', and almost certainly one of those was the Manders' site, although it had been bought a couple of years previously by its near neighbour The Phoenix Brewery . (Phoenix relaunched Manders as an ale brewery in the middle of 1896.)

Robert Manders & Co. (known as Manders & Powell until 1851) operated from 112-116 James' Street - quite close to its more famous rival - and these stout labels were registered in 1876 and were in use for 'more than 15 years previous' according to to their source - The Brewers' Guardian from June 21st 1881. They show the breweries trademark of a dove and olive branch and also - seemingly - Robert Manders' signature. They pay more that a passing resemblance to Guinness's labels but in truth many labels looked quite similar at that time.

They are yet another nice find and again worth pulling back into our lost brewing history, Manders brewery itself deserves more of its own history to be recorded too but that's a subject for another post ...

Liam K

The referenced volume was sourced via Google Books. All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. In other words, don't be that guy ...

D'arcy's Extra Stout - A Found (Again) Irish Beer Label

I'm easily pleased.

Actually, that isn't true at all, but there are certain things that do bring a child-like grin of surprise to my face, such as finding the facsimile of a label for a long lost Irish beer. (Acquiring the actual label might even cause a small giggle of pleasure to escape.) I guess we all have our wants, needs and desires ...

So imagine me sitting at my computer researching D'arcy's brewery in Dublin for a new project and suddenly the above image pops up. Okay, so I have posted this image before, but that was a poor quality version from a newspaper source, which I cleaned and sharpened as best as I could. This is a wonderfully crisp and verifiable copy from an interesting source - The British, Foreign, and Colonial Tradesmarks' Directory from 1866 which also contains labels from English and Scottish breweries.

Anyhow, I felt it was worth creating a new post for this new version of the label - now I just need to find the actual recipe and brew it!

Liam K.

(Directory link is here.)

All written content and the research involved in publishing it here is my own unless otherwise stated and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without permission, full credit to its sources, and a link back to this post. In other words, don't be that guy ...