10/14/2026
How confident do you have to be in your business to sign a lease for NINE THOUSAND YEARS?! 🍺☘️
Apparently, Arthur Guinness confident.
On December 31, 1759, Arthur signed a 9,000-year lease on Dublin’s St. James’s Gate Brewery for £45 a year. Talk about having long-term plans! 👀
But the famous dark b**r wasn’t where he started. Arthur originally brewed ale. Inspired by the dark porter b**rs popular in London, including around Covent Garden, he developed his own version back in Dublin.
By 1799, he stopped brewing ale altogether to concentrate on porter, setting the course for the Guinness we know today.
There’s also a colorful story about accidentally burned grain leading to the dark brew and Arthur buying the recipe. It makes a great tale, but I couldn’t confirm that part. Ireland certainly keeps you busy sorting the history from the storytelling!
What is documented is a man who took an old brewery and signed a lease stretching to the year 10759. I struggle to commit to a phone contract, and Arthur was securing his business for nine millennia. 😂
Even if b**r isn’t your drink of choice, that’s a story worth raising a glass to!
Have you tried Guinness in Ireland, and does it really taste better here? 🇮🇪
