Arthur Guinness: The Irishman who invented Guinness

My first ebook Arthur Guinness: The Irishman who invented Guinness is out this month. This is a fictional, historical story, set in Ireland in the 1730s -1800s, about a young

boy’s quest to solve a problem: Why did his parents’ homebrews taste different from

each other, and why were they only drinkable for four to five days, despite using the

same four ingredients?

Arthur Guinness, as a 5-year-old boy with a sensitive nose, was always curious and mystified by the taste differences between his parent’s homebrews. Arthur regularly watched his parents, separately prepare their family homebrews, they always used the same four ingredients. Arthur watched them carefully, looking for a secret or unusual technique, which would solve the Guinness homebrew mystery.

In the 1700s, Irish children were expected to be quiet and were not encouraged to

ask questions of their elders, young Arthur kept his curiosities to himself. He

observed his mother preparing the family dinner vegetables, she did not weigh the

portions required, but cooked by touch and feel, by sight, and smell. His mother’s

dinners were always perfect, and the unknown element was his mother’s experience.

Arthur decided to gain experience by making notes of all his homebrewing tests, until

he could acquire a thermometer, weighing scales and an accurate timing clock. He

constantly practiced counting sixty-second slots, for one, two, and three-minute

boiling times, and tested the boiling results using fresh farm eggs. Yes, Arthur ate

many boiled eggs, but he gained excellent timing experience.

As Arthur tested and tasted his homebrew ingredients, he continued experimenting

with different timings, various temperatures, different volumes and new varieties of

yeast and hops. He also began to keep jars of ingredient samples, and he was

amazed by the arrival of various bacteria in his samples. Arthur did ask the friendly

doctors in the hospitals, where he was a volunteer helper, (in hospitals where his

father was the chief fund-raiser), about germs and bacteria, and he discovered the

immense world of hygiene control and germ prevention.

Without a proper education, Arthur realised he must concentrate on the basics of

better hygiene control and slowly learn how to reduce all bacteria in his brewing

procedures. With his first magnifying glass, he was stunned by the cell activity in a

test glass of yeast. When his father began to train Arthur in homebrewing, Arthur’s

life seriously changed for the better, and he knew then, he wanted to become a

master brewer.

Arthur set himself two major brewing targets: One: To increase the lifespan of his

homebrews, from four days to four weeks: Two: To increase the amount of alcohol

by volume, from 1% to 6% ABV. These were challenges, that no brewer had ever

achieved, but Arthur knew that with continued experimentation, he could do it. The

proof existed in his parent’s homebrews, they were producing quite different

homebrews without ever knowing how or why it happened?

OUT OCTOBER 2025 on Amazon Ebooks

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