By Mario Raspanti

For the experienced beer drinker, a pint of Guinness is something to behold. The lowly carbonated, creamy, dark beer, characterized by foamy head, is the epitome of a genuine beverage, the ideal beer for any occasion.

Historians, students, and others with more than a mild interest in beer were
privy to a special treat on Monday, Sept. 19, when John O'Sullivan, a former Guinness Brewery employee, stopped in Milwaukee to share what he absorbed while on the job.

The presentation, "Guinness in Ireland: 1759-2005," was co-sponsored by the Celtic Studies Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Celtic Club. It focused on the Guinness family history, the social and economic impact of Guinness and a good deal about the brewing. 

It was opportune that O'Sullivan happened to be in Madison the week before for a Guinness reunion meeting. His old friend, John Gleeson, the head of the Celtic Studies Department at UWM, offered him the opportunity to pass on what knowledge he gained during his career working with Guinness.

As if an exploration of Guinness wasn't enough, attendees were also given a ticket for a free pint of Guinness, at the County Clare, An Irish Inn, one of Milwaukee’s East Side’s premiere watering holes. However, the offer was good only for what was remaining of the evening after the presentation.

The event marked O'Sullivan's first visit to Milwaukee and also his first time speaking to a large number of people about anything other than the technicalities of dispensing Guinness.

Both Gleeson and O'Sullivan grew up in Rathfarnham, a working class neighborhood in the southwest of Dublin, about seven miles from the Guinness brewery. At the age of 14, the two boys were employed by Guinness as messengers. Their main task was to feed the cats that congregated around the brewery and to run errands.

"It's very typical —my mother's father and my father's father worked in the brewery along with their brothers," O’Sullivan said of his employment in one of the world’s most famous breweries.

Gleeson's time at the heady Dublin landmark was relatively brief and, years later, he ended up teaching at UWM. O'Sullivan went on to become a brewmaster in the brewery and later came to the America to brew.

"A brewmaster does not mean someone who brews beer in the traditional sense, as it does in America. A brewmaster in Ireland is more concerned with the preservation and dispensing of beer. My main area of focus is really on the technical side, and on how to dispense Guinness," he explained.

Part of O’Sullivan’s presentation focused on the history of the Guinness family. In 1759, he explained, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on St. James’s Gate, an old, neglected brewery in Dublin. The lease called for an annual rent of £45 a year. At the time, brewing ale was the only industry of any major significance in the city, according to O’Sullivan.

Come 1799, Arthur turned his back on ales, and decided to brew porter, a dark beer drank by porters in England, said O’Sullivan. Ale was essentially beverage without hops, while beer was ale made with hops. Porter, in turn, consisted of ale, roasted barley, which gives Guinness its dark, ruby color, and hops, the bittering agent. It was considered a huge risk, but looking back, it was clearly a boon, to Arthur, and Guinness as a brewery, agreed O’Sullivan.

Shipping the product over long distances was initially an enormous challenge, he continued. Everything Guinness brewed was stored in wooden casks but there was a difference between the beer traveling from Dublin to the countryside and what was sold around the brewery. What was called "keeping beer" was sold near its point of origin, while "country beer" was sold in rural areas.

Eventually, Guinness brewers discovered that a higher hops rate could extend the beer's shelf life. In time, the porter, with more hops, became what it today the Xtra Superior Porter. XX Stout, and XXX Stout followed, both a brew of Xtra Superior Porter with more hops and alcohol. The Guinness Stout that many enjoy today consists of malted barley, roast barley, water and yeast. These same ingredients, especially the same strain of yeast that was used when ol’ Arthur first began brewing, are still used, O’Sullivan told his rapt audience. 

Arthur's son, Arthur Junior, took over after his father died. By 1820, young Guinness became governor of the Bank of Ireland, and by 1830, his brewery was the largest in Ireland.

"He believed in the value of respect for good workers," O'Sullivan said of Arthur II.

His brothers, Benjamin Lee, and Edward Cecil Guinness, had a large hand in rebuilding Dublin. In the 1890s. Edward Cecil was appointed as the 1st Lord of Iveagh. He established the Guinness and Iveagh trusts to provide for the poor. With these trusts, he replaced tenement buildings in Belleview, Crumlin, Tenure and other sites around Dublin and London. He also helped restore the Iveagh Baths, St. Patrick's Park, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Marsh's Library and hospitals in Dublin. A plethora of jobs were also created by the Guinness brewery, said O'Sullivan, admitting that he was glad to have had a job there.

"I was responsible for the dispensing of the beer, and keg beer internationally. But I've worked in all aspects, in the labs, as a sales representative, in the fermentation department, in the transportation department, and also as one of five departmental heads in charging of managing and supervising," he explained.

Starting in the 1940's, Guinness began replacing the wooden vats and casks, with metal containers and kegs. By 1963, only one wooden keg remained, and was racked, completing the conversion to a more sterile plant, O’Sullivan said.

"The brewery is now a network of vessels, pipe work, valves, and pumps, all automation," O'Sullivan pointed out. "Five thousand people worked there when I joined, now there are 150 people brewing there today. So the impact of technology has obviously affected everything."

A few years after O’Sullivan was hired, in 1964, Guinness brewers discovered how to combine carbon dioxide and nitrogen in a keg, eliminating the need for casks. Before this discovery, two casks were necessary to pour a pint of Guinness, one keg of finished beer, and one of fermented beer. A pint poured from these casks would be three quarters finished beer and one quarter fermented. This is the combination that gives Guinness its foamy head.

Said O'Sullivan, "I've conspired to drink Guinness all my life, even before I was old enough, because my father drank it. But people drink it, because of the consistency, the uniqueness of it."

In 2000, after 38 years of employment with Guinness, O'Sullivan
retired. Not long after, he was convinced by a friend to work for his company, Tavern Technical Services, which is consults on technical operations in Irish pubs.

"I've talked with many pub owners and brewers. I'm a big fan of the ministry of dispensing. Hygiene is crucial to the production and distribution of Guinness, and any other beer for that matter," he explained. "There are five things you need to pour the perfect pint, the five C's. Climate control is crucial. It all starts with hygiene. You need the correct gas mix, the correct temperature, the correct pressure, a clean glass and clean beer lines."

That would 75% nitrogen and 25% carbon dioxide, around 39ºF, 30 pounds per square inch, a clean glass, and clean beer lines, if you are at a bar, he said.

"All of this is well documented. I don't have plans to give another presentation like this, but you who knows. How did I do?" O'Sullivan remarked later on that night at the County Clare, over — what else — a pint.

He retired from Tavern Technical Services two years ago. Since then he has worked with his son, who is developing software for golf course management.

In his spare time, O’Sullivan naturally finds time to sneak in a pint now and then.