In his book, ‘God and Guinness, a biography of the beer that changed the world’, Stephen Mansfiled traces the history of the Guinness family and shows the desire of the family members to serve God, whether it was through the church or through the brewery.

Not confining himself to Guinness beer, Mansfield traces the history of brewing back to its earliest days. He talks about how beer, and the community around public houses, played an important part in the lives of influential Christians, and how attitudes to drink have changed over the years.

In theory, this book should be top of my list for recommended reading as its core themes are very important to me, God and Guinness. But, half way through I started to get a little bogged down, and it took more effort to get to the end.

Why? Well, maybe it’s because this book is written very definitely for an American market. The view of the church and history is read in the light of US politics and society and it doesn’t quite work for a UK market. But, also, while there’s a great deal in here about what the Guinness’ did and achieved, both socially and in business, the book doesn’t do the job that I was expecting in linking the decisions of the brewing family back into the example set in the life of Jesus. There are a couple of passages that quite clearly state how faith played a great part in the lives of this family, it’s just I thought there could be a bit more of this.

Despite these gripes I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending the book. There’s a lot of good quality information in there, a thorough history of the Guinness family and a good account of the impact that the brewery had on the lives of the people of Dublin. The best bit, though, comes right at the end, when Mansfiled draws some examples from the attitude of the Guinness family and the experience of the brewery.

Visiting the St James’ Gate brewery in Dublin a few years ago showed what an impact Arthur Guinness and the company had on the local environment. With the brewery came a church, private healthcare, pensions and support for the whole family – not just the workforce. Much of Dublin was revitalised by the industry.

As the Guinness website says…

A BORN PHILANTHROPIST

A truly remarkable beer wasn’t Arthur Guinness’s only legacy. From the outset, this enlightened entrepreneur was committed to improving the lives of people in the Dublin community.

The Guinness Company was one of the first employers in Ireland to provide pensions and healthcare for his workers. Arthur Guinness and his descendents created community parks and recreation areas in Dublin. As their successors, we’ve picked up the mantle and continued the good work, with charitable initiatives around the globe. [more]

So tonight I will raise a toast to Sir Arthur, thankful for the beer and someone who saw that a company could achieve much more than monetary profit.

Interestingly, you can read about Sir Arthur Guinness in Wikipedia or through a timeline.

Already it does a great job of attracting crowds of visitors over the winter to skate on its ice rink, but now they’ve launched a pop-up bar sponsored by Bombay Sapphire (a brand of Gin).

Pop-up bars are simply that, bars that pop-up for a moment and then shut down, maybe never to reopen. This one, the Bombay Sapphire Dusk Bar, I heard about through Twitter, which is no surprise looking at Somerset House’s website, which makes the most of all the social media it can. Being randomly contacted in this way, but a bar with a locked profile made the thing slightly mysterious, just right for rousing my curiosity. Fortunately there’s lots of supporting materials, pictures on the website, a Facebook group, to add some substance to the initial contact.

So, there’s a new bar in London, the Bombay Sapphire Dusk Bar, complete with fantastic views of the Thames and right in the heart of the city. It’ll work wonderfully as word spreads and as long as we get a few warmer evenings. The only challenge to this venue is going to be the lack of a roof and my dislike of Gin. I do hope they serve a decent pint.

How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel. [Read more]

From: Southern Fried Science

… it’s brilliant!!! Niche maybe, but brilliant all the same.