Page 2A: Thursday. March 7.2002 : The Sun Sun Journal $40 million shrine to Irish beer • Guinness; /«th? muMf* tf Dublin in fin old'JemieHtut'ion pliDtt it])tlnf(yf hitrt iJic Diatteij \ VurM (ffhrt'iriiifj. DUBLIN. Ireland — The moat popular tourist attraction here used to be theBoo* of KeiU. an or- nate manuscript created 800 years after Jesus' birth that Is stored on the Gothic campus of Trinity Col- lege Now. the most popular attrac- tion Is a beer factory. But not any beer factory. Guinness, one of the oldest and best-known companies in Ireland. plant Into a seven-story visitor and conference center. The site drew nearly 600.000 people In Its Inaugural year, which was hampered by tourist fears over the agricultural ho of-and-mouth disease and the Sept II terrorist attack In the United Stales. Guin- ness expects eventually to reach 1 million visitors a year The so-called (iuinneux Store- house Is more like the Disney World of beer than a faux plant lour. It includes an indoor water- full, walk-through vut* .is large as two-car garages and a circular rooftop bar with the most spectac- ular view In the center of Ireland's ancient capital city. That's th« *wow' factor." com- pany spokeswoman Jane Doyle says of the so-called Gravity Bar •People don't expect when they ndr up on the .•:,-.., lift lelevator] to see that lend of view of the city." This is the be&t-kept secret In David Johnston. 23. of Tlpperary. Not quite, anymore Bill Clinton wms one of the first visitors, arriving a week after the attraction opened In December 2000 American country nuulc star Emmy Lou Harris has been here. So has the British girl-band Atomic Kitten. The U.S. Marines held a birthday bash here And a few weeks ago. Ireland's Prune Minister Bertie Ahem, a CreQuent visitor, arrived to present awards to the country's biggest rugby, soc- r.rr and Gaelic football atari. The company previously re- ceived tourlsU In an old vat house nearby. Attendance had grown to almost a half-million a year there. much more than the place could handle. So company officials bruin- stormed, deciding In 1996 to rcno- vat« a storehouse that had been empty for about a drcadc. Actually, the building had some claim to fame In Its own right. It was built in IBM &s the first steel- Guinness executives had traveled to Chicago at the turn of the 20th century for some beer-making tips new tdean about factory construc- tion and design, says Randal Suttle. an architect with Robinson Keefe Devane. the Dublin (Inn that worked on the recent remodel Guinness' reputation for inno- founded the company In 1759, after ntgnlnK a 9.0M-yrnr 1- i.-i- for an old brewery called St. James's Gate. Top O* the evening: The Gravity Bar. sparkling at dusk, crowns the seven-story Guinness Start company calls ill spectacular view of downtown Dublin the "wow factor." Havcadrop: A token from the Guinness Storehouse can be kept as a souvenir or traded far a pint. Guinness Is still produced on the site, in more technologically ad- vanced facilities failed a smell test administered ev- ery few years, he had to return to his old task In the factory. fast-forward to the mld-20th century; Guinness went beyond brewing, emerging u a major mar- keting force. It became the Coca- Cola of Europe, not ]ust because it produced a popular beverage, but became its clever print ads and. later, television commercials let the standard for the continent's advertising mduatry. •Guinness Is good for you," one of the best known of the slogans, was conceived after Irish physi- cians had written to the company to claim that the beer held recu- perative powers for some patients. Artist John GUroy devised a se- ries of ads of cartoon animals that became a fixture here for 40 yearn, Walt Disney. Impressed by the quality of the animation, report- edly tried to lure away OUroy — to Smirnoff Vodka, Johnnie Walker The Guinness Storehouse de- votes ncurly u whole Door to mar- keting gimmicks, from memora- bilia with the popularToucan mas- cot "rookie" to comrnemorotlves from the coronation of Queen Eliz- abeth n 50 years ago and the birth of Prince WilliamIn 1982. Nearby Is an enormous cylinder to which vis- itors can aflx their own fen mall. •We love Dublin,- say* one. signed 'Washington College, Mary- land. USA.- But the most memorable parts of the museum can be found at the top and ground floors. Visitors are greeted by the thumping drums of a Celtic river dance. A roaring, manmade water- fall «urRes over alabs of Lurlte ai pended overhead. A bank of moni- tors flash Images at the speed of tntlal no a By the 1990s, clob.il advertising were winning awards for Guinness television commercials laced with ample dnaea of Irish puckiahnejw. Ireland —emerald hills, a raucous rugby stadium, a sheep herder Es- the water there, from the Dodder- Poddle channel, was Ideal for mak- ing beer. (The rivers Paddle and Ltffey eventually Joined to form what 9th-century None Vikings described as a dark pool, ordubA linn— hence the clty'anamt.) In 1799, Ouinneu stopped brewing ale. He switched to a new. bitter, mahogany-colored brew that was gaining popularity In London, especially among Un* market porten who worked up a thirst on the Job. Guinness' porter brew became a big hit. several minutes It takes for stout to settle In a glass before It can be properly consumed. (With sales down last year, the brewer Is won- dering whether consumers have become too busy to wait for the •perfect pint." It has begun dis- cussing waya to speed the process — a discussion bordering on the sacrilegious here.) Many people might not evenas- sociate with the company iis best- known marketing gimmick of all In 1951. Sir Hugh Beaver, then paid holidays, health care and guaranteed pensions for widows •Get yourself a Guinnc.-qi mnn" was a papular saying among the women In the Plmllco neighbor- hood around the plant. Among the company's most skilled employees were the coop- store the beer, and the •'smellers" who used their keen noses to weed out sour barrels. If one of them was fastest. When the argument arose again a few years later, Bea- •houlU create a book to settle bur- room arguments. With that. theCuimieM Boo* of World Records was born. Only the Bible and Quran sell more copies, the company claims company was bought by the Lon- don food-ami •Ifvrrnefi Riant. Dlageo PLC, which also owns whisk visitors up a seven-story hive of glass and green I-beams to VHrioufl exhibit* and, eventually, to the 130-foot-nlghGravltyBar. Every visitor receives a plastic lozenge that encases a dark drop of Guinness It can be traded at the end of the tour for a free pint of stout or soda. From an Island work station In the middle of Q large, cir- cular room, bartenders serve 2.000 (:;rn •; on a weekend day — twice that many on St. Patrick's Day. The bar feels more like College Park than Killamey. Hip-hop pulflcn through the speakers Twenty-somethings share a laugh and a drink. You know It's Ireland, however, when David Johnston, the bar- tender, "draws' a shamrock out- line In the creamy white head of a Guinness. He learned to turn his wrist beneath the tap head Just so to tract- the image through month? ofpractlce.hesays. As If on cue, outside the picture windows, a rainbow bends over the Dublin Mountains. Whether a pot of gold Is at the other end, the Guinness folks can't say. now: The fastest bird In flight la the licrepnne falcon.*"alco peregnnut It can go 168 miles an hour.