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Though destined to be forever associated with Ireland, Guinness has opened a London brewery. The first UK-based Guinness brewery to be open to the public, it’s a little bit different to west London’s 1930s-built Guinness brewery in Park Royal, which ran until UK production of the brand’s famous stout came to an end in 2005.
This is the fourth public-access Guinness Open Gate Brewery in the world, following the flagship St James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, and US spots in Chicago and Baltimore. It’s pretty massive, set across a number of Victorian warehouse-style buildings in the cobbled backstreets of Covent Garden, parts of which were once home to eighteenth century brewers Combe & Co and, more recently, the flagship branch of H&M. I got a special tour of the megabrewer’s new spot to find out what actually happens here.
The main surprise was that they don’t actually make Guinness’s famous stout here (since the Park Royal site closed that’s all been done in Dublin), but you’ll taste Guinness-made ales, lagers and sours that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. St James cranks out three million pints of the black stuff every day, while the Covent Garden brewery will make just 750,000 pints of their various other ales a year. As we’re told by our jolly tour guide, this place is more about making brand-new beers and letting the public take a peek behind the black velvet curtain to learn about the history of Guinness (as well as drink plenty of the stuff).
After being given a high-vis vest and safety goggles, we’re shown around the business end of the microbrewery, the glossy new signage, walls dotted with beer bubbles and massive shiny tanks looking oddly at home in this vast historic brick building. We’re then invited into a tasting room lined with vials and jars of hops and barley to try six of Guinness’s London-made lagers, IPA, porters and sours.
It feels not unlike the Traitors roundtable room, though we’re asked to shout out tasting notes rather than indulge in character assassinations of everyone else in the group. The beer made here is only available in the tasting room and in the restaurants and bars on site. The names of the beers reference the local area, with Covent Classic IPA, Old Brewer’s Yard Porter and Piazza Pale Ale all on offer, as well as seasonal specials such as Winter Warmer and Apricot Sour.
When the tour is over we’re taken into a flashy bar, which you can only access if you’ve been on the tour. Here you’re invited to pour our own pint of Guinness (the classic stout variety) and have a selfie printed on the foamy head. Naturally, we do not turn this offer down. Tours cost £40-50 and run from 9.30am until 8pm. Brave are the folk who opt for an early morning slot.
The brewery tour finishes in The Store, a gift shop which seems destined to be the biggest moneymaker of the whole endeavour, selling everything from G-branded t-shirts and coffee to golf balls, beer towels, chocolates and a more primo merch collab with menswear brand Percival.
If you don’t fancy the tour, you can still get stuck in. Anyone can book themselves into the two restaurants and the massive Old Brewer’s Yard bar across the street from the brewery. The Porter’s Table offers classic grillhouse fare while the fifth-floor rooftop Gilroy’s is doing a more high-end seafood and oysters kind of a thing. Both have menus curated by executive chef, Pip Lacey, formerly of Hicce in King’s Cross, while in the Old Brewer's Yard bar are grab-and-go pies dreamed up by chef Calum Franklin, including a braised beef cheek and Guinness offering. Various pop-ups and events are set for the bar’s huge outdoor space over the coming months.
There’s also another merch shop on this side of the building called Guinness Good Things. This one’s a little slicker, a little cooler, a little younger, and it’s here that you buy their limited edition collab with London indie fashion label Lazy Oaf. The line has already sold out online, so the only place you can buy it is here in-store. We are fully obsessed with this cute wee mug from the range.
And that’s the Guinness Open Gate Brewery; basically the biggest new Irish pub in London. It opened its gates to the public on Thursday, December 11.
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