Guinness - Foreign owned

deirdre82 · 28-09-2009 5:28pm #1

Ask anyone from abroad about food & drink in Ireland and what will they mention.....

I know this is a bit serious for the food & drink forum but I would be interested if anyone feels the same.

As you all may know Guinness is foreign-owned by Diageo. Is anyone pissed off by all the Guinness Irish marketing spoof?

I know they employ Irish people and contribute taxes and to the profile of Ireland worldwide but to have allowed such a strageic company in Ireland to go into foreign ownership was daft. Just look at Australia - they won't allow a foreign company control more than 15% of a mining company there.

happy_acid_face · 28-09-2009 6:04pm

Guinness "is" Diageo really... Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997 so its not 100% a foreign company...

Guinness is always about profit and have been making money outside of Ireland a lot longer than you think. About one third of Guinness is produced and sold in Africa. The set up shop there nearly 200 years ago in 1827!

I'm like having Guinness as signature of Ireland but as a whole, the company ain't great. They're pretty much solely responsible for the complete destruction of Ireland's microbreweries over the last 200 years. They monopolized the industry by buying up brands and breweries only to discontinue them. Basically, one market, one drink.

BeerNut · 28-09-2009 6:10pm

Well, it's not that Guinness fell into foreign ownership: rather it got stranded in a different country. Practically, they couldn't move the world's largest brewery back into the UK, but they did move everything else. 70 years later, Diageo was co-created by Guinness.

The notion that it's Irish is far less annoying than the credibility their beer gets when it's really not very good stout.

BeerNut · 28-09-2009 6:15pm

happy_acid_face wrote: »

its not 100% a foreign company...

It is really. Guinness had been London-based since the early '30s.

happy_acid_face · 28-09-2009 6:26pm

edited after reading previous posts correctly...

happy_acid_face · 28-09-2009 6:32pm

BeerNut wrote:

Well, it's not that Guinness fell into foreign ownership: rather it got stranded in a different country.

Perfectly put. Although Arthur himself was Irish it was commissioned by the Queen while we under British rule. It was always a UK company.

Although it is nice to see that the Irish tourism industry has reaped the benefit of probably the most known (UK) brand in the world.

BeerNut · 28-09-2009 6:44pm

happy_acid_face wrote: »

It was always a UK company.

I'm far too much of a pedant to claim that one, since the first 41 years were outside the technical UK -- but yeah, basically.

happy_acid_face · 28-09-2009 7:09pm

lol, nothing has changed then? Its good to be back

Red Sleeping Beauty · 29-09-2009 9:47pm

Excellent points from the lads there. If you do a bit of reading into it, the success of Guinness isn't really all that much to write home about. I read about it oddly in this book.

Being a brewer in a country that sought solace in alcohol, havin survived by swindling the excise, being the largest brewer in a Dublin that dominated a ruined hinterland and experienceing and upsurge in sales when a sharply increased duty on spirits doubled the price of whiskey, Guinness was ideally placed to benefit from the next twist of fortune.

Crotty goes on to say how when there was legislation to curb the working class's drinking by tightening up the issuing of licences, Guinness was able to spread nationally here becuase of a surplus of public houses whereas in Britian it was local brewers that were able to buy up the licensed premises and "tie" their brews to these houses. So the national brewers in Britain weren't able to expand nationally whereas the local brewers were but in Ireland it was opposite. The dwinlding population meant local Irish bewers couldn't use the same tactics that the British ones did. Also, in the 1850s 53% of beer in Ireland was brewed in Dublin in comparison to 22% of Britain's beer brewed in London.

Arcto · 29-09-2009 10:11pm

Isnt Guinness, thats drank in Ireland, brewed in Ireland?

BeerNut · 29-09-2009 10:18pm

Alan Rouge wrote: »

The dwinlding population meant local Irish bewers couldn't use the same tactics that the British ones did.

Except in Cork, where they set up a tied house system, which is presumably why the old breweries down there did better under the Guinness assault, with one still standing.

BeerNut · 29-09-2009 10:19pm

Arcto wrote: »

Isnt Guinness, thats drank in Ireland, brewed in Ireland?

'Tis. Big Macs ate in Ireland are made in Ireland too. Doesn't make McDonald's Irish though.

Red Sleeping Beauty · 29-09-2009 10:21pm

Yep but we're talking here about Diageo and does Diageo's profits stay in Ireland ?

This crowd took Kilmarnock's Johnnie Walker brand and moved the trademarks to the Netherlands to avoid paying UK tax. (Guardian article)

Arcto · 29-09-2009 10:26pm

BeerNut wrote: »

'Tis. Big Macs ate in Ireland are made in Ireland too. Doesn't make McDonald's Irish though.

Well if its Irish meat, bread and veg then by all accounts its Irish. Besides, MC Gawks came here from America, Guinness went everywhere else from here.

If its brewed here, has an Irish companys name, was founded here....then surely its a bloody Irish pint your supping when you have one?

Im more of a Murphys man myself and live 14km from the Murphys brewery....whats left of it anyway. I supose thats not Irish either? Even though you can smell them making if you drive a few miles up the road?

mayordenis · 29-09-2009 10:41pm

Arcto wrote: »

Well if its Irish meat, bread and veg then by all accounts its Irish. Besides, MC Gawks came here from America, Guinness went everywhere else from here.

If its brewed here, has an Irish companys name, was founded here....then surely its a bloody Irish pint your supping when you have one?

Im more of a Murphys man myself and live 14km from the Murphys brewery....whats left of it anyway. I supose thats not Irish either? Even though you can smell them making if you drive a few miles up the road?

Yes the beer is irish that you drink here,
the company is not though.

BeerNut · 29-09-2009 10:49pm

Arcto wrote: »

I supose thats not Irish either?

Nope, Dutch.

You live a similar distance from The Franciscan Well. That one's Irish. I'm sure they'll let you have a smell of the beer brewing if you ask nice.
(Edit: they'll also tell you exactly what they put in it. Trying asking the makers of Guinness or Murphy's that one.)

Arcto · 30-09-2009 12:32am

You live a similar distance from The Franciscan Well. That one's Irish. I'm sure they'll let you have a smell of the beer brewing if you ask nice.

You have a very condescending attitude. Whats the problem?

BeerNut · 30-09-2009 9:30am

Sorry. I was just responding to

Arcto wrote: »

I supose thats not Irish either? Even though you can smell them making if you drive a few miles up the road?

in the same tone as I read it.

Arcto · 30-09-2009 5:47pm

BeerNut wrote: »

Sorry. I was just responding to

in the same tone as I read it.

Touché.
The problem with engaging in conversation with complete strangers via text is that you can never tell the tone of voice or body language being conveyed

I with-tract my previous statement, as long as you werent being condescending :pac:

EDIT: Just finished mixing up my latest beer, waiting for it too cool down so i can add the yeast....wheres the dancing banana emoticon?

BeerNut · 30-09-2009 6:09pm

No worries.

Guinness - Foreign owned

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