Guinness History Timeline

1769	The first export shipment of six and a half barrels of Guinness stout left Dublin on a sailing vessel bound for England.
1775	Dublin Corporation sheriff sent to cut off and fill in the water course from which the Brewery drew its free water supplies. Arthur defended his water by threatening the party with a pickaxe.
1801	First record of brewing of Guinness variant West India Porter, made with higher hop rate to withstand long sea journeys (hops are natural preservative). Precursor of modern day Guinness Foreign Extra Stout.
1803	Arthur Guinness died aged 78 and his son, Arthur Guinness II, took over the Brewery.
1815	Guinness was by now well known on the Continent. Legend states that Guinness aided the recovery of a cavalry officer wounded at Battle of Waterloo.
1821	Arthur Guinness II set down precise instructions for brewing a beer known as Guinness Extra Superior Porter, the precursor of today's Guinness Original (known as Guinness Original in UK only, otherwise Guinness Extra Stout in Ireland and US).
1824	Guinness was by now well known worldwide. First known advertisement printed in a Dublin newspaper for "Guinness's East & West India Porter".
1833	Brewery became the largest brewery in Ireland.
1850s	Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, son of Arthur Guinness II, took over the Brewery on the death of his father. Sir Benjamin Lee became a Member of Parliament for Dublin City and also served as Lord Mayor of Dublin. Among his charitable deeds, he contributed £150,000 towards the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.
1862	Guinness introduced their trademark label, a buff oval label with the harp and Arthur Guinness signature. The Harp was registered as a trademark in 1876.
1868	Benjamin Lee Guinness died and his son Edward Cecil took over the Brewery.
1869	Under Edward Cecil, the size of the Brewery doubled to over 50 acres and spread north to bound the river Liffey to accommodate new Brewery buildings linked by an internal railway system.
1886	Guinness became the first major brewery to be incorporated as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. It was the largest brewery in the world with an annual production of 1.2 million barrels.
1893	Robert Louis Stevenson brought supplies of Guinness to Western Samoa and wrote about drinking a pint while recovering from influenza.
1890s	Edward Cecil appointed the first Lord of Iveagh and established the Guinness and Iveagh Trusts to provide homes for the poor in Dublin and London. He made substantial contributions to Trinity College Dublin and Dublin hospitals. His brother Arthur landscaped St. Stephen's Green, Dublin and gave it as a gift to the public.
1898	"World traveller" appointed to report on quality and sales of Guinness in overseas markets in North and South America, Africa, Far East and Australia.
1909	Guinness brought to the frozen wastes of the South Pole. Sir Douglas Mawson, the Australian explorer, left some Guinness behind at his base camp, which was discovered by another expedition in 1927.
1927	Rupert Guinness succeeded his father, Edward Cecil, as Chairman of the Company.
1929	2 million pints of Guinness are sold a day. First ever Guinness advertisement with the slogan "Guinness is Good For You" published in the British national press. This was soon followed by advertisements featuring the cartoon characters created by John Gilroy. His famous series of posters of the distraught zookeeper and his mischievous animals carried the line 'My Goodness, My Guinness'.
1936	First Guinness brewery outside Dublin built at Park Royal, London.
1950	5 million pints of Guinness enjoyed every day.
1955	First Guinness Book of Records was published.
1959	Draught Guinness first introduced.
1962	First Guinness overseas brewery outside the British Isles was opened in Nigeria. Breweries in Malaysia, Jamaica, Ghana and Cameroon followed.
1988	Draught Guinness in a can launched, using a widget to recreate the creamy surge. Won the Queen's award for technological achievement in 1991.
1999	Guinness Draught in Bottle launched.
2000	Guinness Storehouse, Home of Guinness, opened to the public.
2008	10 million glasses of Guinness are enjoyed in over 150 countries around the world.
2009	GUINNESS® celebrates 250 years.
2012	GUINNESS® Made of More campaign is launched.
2014	Brewhouse 4, a state of the art brewery at St. James Gate, Dublin, officially opens. The new brewhouse is one of the most technologically advanced and environmentally sustainable in the world, and is also the largest stout brewery in the world.
2015	Guinness Open Gate Brewery opens to the public, the first time the doors are opened to the Experimental Brewery.