![\"image](\"https:\/\/brewpublic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-of-Colm-OConnor-Guinnes-Brewery-Ambassador-courtesy-of-Guinness-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/a>Guinness<\/strong>, the nearly 266-year-old brewery, celebrates St. Patrick\u2019s Day Weekend in the midst of the 25th anniversary of the world-renowned\u00a0Guinness Storehouse<\/strong>\u00a0located in Dublin, Ireland. To gain a greater knowledge of this milestone for the iconic brewery, we chatted with Colm O\u2019Connor,\u00a0Guinness Brewery Ambassador, this past week.<\/p>\n With the brewery\u2019s history dating back to 1759, Guinness has been a beer that has stood the test of time. It has also attracted a diverse fan base of beer drinkers from around the globe. Guinness\u2019 frothy head with its bold, roasty characteristics at a sessionable alcohol content is just a few reasons that this beer is so popular no matter the occasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n This popularity has led many of its fans to the homeland of Guinness and visit the brewery in Dublin.\u00a0To enhance its visitor\u2019s experience, Guinness officially opened its Guinness Storehouse, a massive seven floor building, on November 27, 2000. This new experience allowed visitors to\u00a0discover what goes into making each pint\u00a0Guinness<\/em>, learn about the incredible brand history stretching over 265 years, its iconic advertising, as well as a Guinness <\/em>tasting like no other.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Guinness Storehouse has proved to be so popular that it became\u00a0Ireland\u2019s number one tourist attraction in its first year of operation. That year it welcomed 570,000 visitors. Just this past year, the Guinness Storehouse welcomed 1.65 million visitors in 2024 serving over 1.5 million pints of\u00a0Guinness<\/em> and\u00a0Guinness 0.0<\/em>.<\/p>\n One of Guinness Storehouse\u2019s largest attraction is its Gravity Bar that allows visitors\u00a0panoramic 360\u2070 views of Dublin city. To ease the congestion that this one of kind bar attracted, Guinness built and opened a second Gravity Bar in early 2020. Then a few years later in 2023, The Guinness Storehouse was voted the World\u2019s Leading Visitor Attraction 2023 at the World Travel Awards.\u00a0So yes, it has been a true success!<\/p>\n For the 25th Anniversary of the Guinness Storehouse, the brewery is hosting the evolving\u00a0Alive In 25<\/strong>\u00a0programming that will bring a year of events to Ireland\u2019s most popular tourist attraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n To learn more about this activation, we spoke to Colm O\u2019Connor,\u00a0Guinness Brewery Ambassador, on what visitors should expect this year when visiting the Guinness Storehouse over the coming year. The nearly ten-year employee of Guinness has made an impression at the brewery and has worked his way up through the ranks to become an integral part of the Storehouse.<\/p>\n Colin leads VIP visitors on exclusive, Access All Areas tours of the St. James\u2019s Gate Brewery site. These tours showcase the brewery\u2019s 266 years of brewing heritage, highlighting philanthropy, innovation, quality, advertising, and the delightful experience of tasting\u00a0Guinness<\/em>!<\/p>\n \u201cThe main news is our Alive In 2025 event,\u201d said Colm. \u201cIt\u2019ll be punctuated by different events throughout the year. There\u2019s going to be initiatives under banners like music and sports and art, so it\u2019s kind of like multidisciplinary. But we\u2019re kind of keeping it under wraps at the minute, so it\u2019s basically just to urge people to keep your finger on the pulse and have a have a look\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have worked for 10 of those 25 years there. So it\u2019s near like an anniversary for me as well and we our number one tourist attraction now. I\u2019m not just saying that the figures will bear me out. We actually had 1.65 million people that last year. It really peaks from St. Patrick\u2019s week onwards. Once we get into the end of March and then into April, summer starts.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking of St. Patrick\u2019s, this is a very busy week for Guinness. Of course there will be plenty of pints of Guinness Draught pouring across the globe but the epicenter will be in Dublin at the Guinness Storehouse. It hosts a five-day festival that would be an amazing experience to take in and be a part of!<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing for the SPF as we call St. Patrick\u2019s Festival, is a five-day festival at the Guinness Storehouse,\u201d stated Colm. \u201cWe start on the Friday and its ongoing until Tuesday. So it\u2019s the 14th to the 18th and we have special music events. Two of them kind of mainly based on local traditional Irish music. We also have an alternative supergroup called\u00a0BIIRD<\/a>\u00a0playing that\u2019s going to be a huge event.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we also have storytelling as well. Storytelling is a big part of the Irish experience. It\u2019s common in a lot of cultures, but we really have a strong oral tradition and that that remains the case. We have a story telling collective called\u00a0Seanchoiche<\/a>. They\u2019re going to have spoken performances of storytelling; they\u2019re going to have food and it\u2019s very much under the theme of celebration!\u201d<\/p>\n It has been nearly a decade since we visited Guinness and a bit has changed since then. The Guinness Storehouse continues to evolve to meet the desires of its guests.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve changed a great deal, since then,\u201d said Colm. \u201cWe actually have two Gravity Bars, so when you when you were there, it was just one facing the city. We actually have another one. and that was opened in February 2020. So if you think back, that was unusual timing right before everything shutdown.\u201d<\/p>\n Adding the second Gravity Bar ended up being a godsend as the world managed its way through COVID and the shutdowns it brought with it. As bars were able to reopen with social distancing, having a second bar allowed Guinness to serve its thirsty fans in a more what was considered safe environment for an indoor setting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new gravity bar faces west, and that faces towards Phoenix Park,\u201d said Colm. \u201cYou can also see the Dublin Mountains as well. So we get pretty good sunsets now. whereas we didn\u2019t get before. We get a pretty sizeable sunset now coming into the spring and in the summertime on the on the western side.\u201d<\/p>\n When we spoke with Colm late last week, he was visiting New York City for a few days. While in the Big Apple, he visited customers to spread the good word of Guinness and of course take in a few Irish pubs. A few highlights of the days were his visits to\u00a0O\u2019Hara\u2019s, The Dead Rabbit, and Swift Hibernian Lounge. He was also excited about some sweet vinyl record finds to bring back home to Dublin with him.<\/p>\n But what does a guy that leads the most exclusive tours of the Guinness Storehouse look for in a bar?\u00a0Not surprisingly, not much different than what many of us look for.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite type of pub would be one whereby there is minimum distraction,\u201d said Colm. \u201cSo you basically have a nice congenial kind of atmosphere, whereby you can indulge in nice conversation, punctuated by sips of Guinness.\u201d<\/p>\n Sounds perfect to us, and as the saying goes, \u201cIt\u2019s a lovely day for a Guinness!\u201d<\/p>\n Guinness is inviting everyone (21+) to be a part of its new Lovely Day Project<\/strong> and submit their stories to\u00a0pov.camera\/guinness<\/a><\/u><\/strong>\u00a0for a chance to be featured in a billboard and even its next television commercial. <\/p>\n Guinness has partnered with\u00a0POV<\/a>\u00a0to help you quickly and easily snap and share your St. Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations with us. Simply scan the QR code if you see it in the wild, or visit\u00a0pov.camera\/guinness<\/a>\u00a0to add your photos to the official Guinness St. Patrick\u2019s Day camera roll. In addition to posting these moments to\u00a0@GuinnessUS<\/a>\u00a0social handles, and even putting some on billboards, Guinness may feature your story in its new commercial later this year.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t just hear about it, experience Alive in 25. Be the first to know about upcoming events and experiences at the Guinness Storehouse in 2025. Follow @homeofguinness<\/a> #Alivein25 and visit\u00a0www.guinness-storehouse.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nGuinness Lovely Day Project<\/h5>\n
<\/a>
quartet, The Scratch, gave a sneak preview of what\u2019s in store at the Home of Guinness in 2025 and celebrate its 25th anniversary.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n