The Guinness Secret

This came out of an Irish mail list I subscribe to:

Secret 'Essence Of Guinness' Exported To Africa

Tue Mar 2, 2004 08:48 AM ET By Stephen Cunningham

WATERFORD, Ireland (Reuters) - The secret "essence of Guinness" has been the subject of more bar room speculation than possibly of any other beer in the history of brewing.

For centuries, a mysterious ingredient has been used to make Ireland's famous creamy black stout. Until now, the undisclosed component has been a closely guarded secret behind the imposing walls of the drink giant's St. James's Gate headquarters in Dublin.

But soaring demand from Africa, where Guinness is seen as a macho drink and nicknamed "Viagra" after the virility drug, has led to severe capacity constraints.

That in turn has forced the company for the first time to let the secret slip away from Dublin, and into a $50 million modern plant in Waterford in the southeast.

Not that the Waterford brewers are any more lax with the secret.

"Every single drop of Guinness that leaves our plant contains the 'secret essence' but only three people in the world know what that is," said Colin O'Brien, operations manager at the plant, recently opened by parent company Diageo.

Tight security guards the riverside site in the city's Mary Street, which has itself been home to brewing for more than 200 years.

Only key members of staff enjoy privileged access, via swipe cards, to the secret processing area where the elixir is added.

"Even people who make it don't have the full facts -- they receive instructions which they follow to the letter but they have absolutely no idea what's in it," O'Brien added.

It's common knowledge that roast barley, water, hops and yeast all go into making a typical "pint of plain."

SECRET SINCE 1759

However, one other ingredient has been shrouded in secrecy since Arthur Guinness purchased a failing brewery on the banks of Dublin's River Liffey in 1759 and poured his first pint of Guinness.

From behind giant screens, the ingredient in question is incorporated into the color and flavor base that makes Guinness concentrate before being dispatched to Africa.

The plant will use over 9,000 tons of Irish barley each year to produce 1.58 million gallons of so-called Guinness Flavor Extract for export.

One pint of the concentrated stuff makes approximately 50 pints of the poured version, and at full production, the plant will have the capacity to produce enough for 550 million pints of Guinness a year.

Guinness was introduced to Africa in the 1820s by European merchant sailors who preferred to load up with the heavy stout rather than other beers because a higher concentration of alcohol gave it a longer shelf life. The first Guinness exports to Africa were to Sierra Leone in 1827.

Nowadays, Diageo employs 5,000 workers in Africa in breweries from Lagos to Nairobi.

Such is the demand from Nigeria in particular that workers in Waterford work round the clock to manufacture the secret ingredient.

Guinness sales notched up growth of about eight percent last year in Africa, with Nigeria ranked as its third-largest global market outside Ireland and Britain.

With sales on the wane in its home markets, Africa is set to overtake these two in the next few years as the biggest market.

"People aren't going into pubs as much as they used to and lifestyle choices have also been a factor," said O'Brien, who also cited the fashion for novelty "alcopops" aimed at young drinkers.

In years gone by, it took months to transport Guinness by sea to Africa but the journey can now be made in around 28 days.

The African-style version tastes sweeter and heavier than the traditional draught popular in the West.

Such is its popularity among Ireland's fast-growing immigrant population that Guinness has started to replicate Guinness manufactured in Nigeria on its home turf.

Reply to
Rick
Loading thread data ...

Hello Rick,

would you be so kind and tell me, which mail list you are subscribed to, because I am always looking for beer news?

TIA and Prost,

Bastian

Reply to
Bastian

I really have trouble coming to terms whether this secret ingredient really exists. There are other similar brews to Guinness brewed in Ireland that taste almost identical. Then I read a story about KFC's 16 secret herbs and spices. Analysis says salt, sugar, MSG, they couldnt find anything else in it. Steve W

Reply to
QuickDraw Steve

That's right. That cocktail could be of 16 very specific herbs and spices that interact with eachother and the food cancelling traces of all of the 16.

While something like that is possible, KFC probably thought it was an interesting marketing ploy.

Guinness' story is most likely similar to Coca Cola and Pepsi. It is a certain special recipe, with ordinary ingredients you just have to know. They make a big fuss out of it.

Are there really guards at the brewery?

Cheers, Tjander

Cheers, Tjander

Reply to
Tjander Nathoeni

Similar to Coca-Cola....you mean the "secret" ingredient is some type of narcotic?! :)

Reply to
Derek Taylor

The "secret" ingredient to the original Coca-cola formula was cocaine, which is a stimulant, not a narcotic.

"Narcotic" is formed from the root "narco-" which means "sleep". Kinda like "narcolepsy".

Fish nabbed. :-)

Lurker Matt

Reply to
Matthew Gozo

I've tasted near-perfect Guinness clones that did not have any secret ingredient.

Reply to
Kyle

They put like 2% sour beer back into bottling don't they? Something like that?

Reply to
Mark

If that's the secret no wonder they keep it that way. Imagine the reaction of the average Guiness drinker if they knew that they were drinking part, sour beer.

--Dan E

Reply to
Braukuche

No, what I meant was that the secret is that there is no secret ingredient.

Someone at some point in the early days of these drinks probably kept the recipe a secret, knowing full well that anybody can make it if they thought of putting the ingredients together.

Now that all possible aspects are patented they could give the recipe without anyone being able to make money from it. But hey! Let's have some fun and pretend there is a secret ingredient and put guards by the door and everything. First of all this is a form of advertising that keeps itself going and second it is a way to get out of all those interviews where people want to know how to make their favorite drink (and not buy it anymore perhaps) so they won't have to be a bitch and say "Go away, it is our recipe and we're gonna make lots of money from it"

Cheers, Tjander

PS Hey... isn't that a great one-liner? "Hey, baby I've got a secret ingredient. If you guess it, you can have all you want"

Reply to
Tjander Nathoeni

I've seen some clone recipies that do that...

Lurker Matt

Reply to
Matthew Gozo

That's the rumor, but there's never been any persuasive evidence that I'm aware of. I chalk it up to "urban myth".

-------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

I've read about soured Guinness additions in one of Papazian's homebrew book. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if its true. Is that the special secret ingredient? Do they also (or maybe used to) put a little Brett. into the stout?

Reply to
Expletive Deleted

"Bastian" wrote in news:c24iom$1pgfmp$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-216923.news.uni-berlin.de:

Well, the list where this came from is more political oriented than beer oriented. This is an unusal post for that list.

If you still want it contact me by email.

Reply to
Rick

Mark wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@arrl.net:

According to one of my brothers-in-law back in Dublin (a hard core Guinness man), sometime in the early 80's, at the Guinness owned high volume pubs they replaced the keg system with a bulk tank that was refilled from a tanker type truck. The problem was there was always some old stuff in the bottom of the tank which didn't set well with the freshness fanatics, like him. If he is more that 25 miles away from Dublin he won't drink Guinness because it isn't fresh enough. So the backlash from the fanatics insured the bulk system didn't last too long.

Reply to
Rick

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.