Guinness Beer Was Once Brewed With Canal Water - Tasting Table

Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease for St. James's Gate Brewery on New Year’s Eve in 1759. The lease included a supply of water, and for much of the brewery’s history that water came from Ireland’s Grand Canal. Dublin’s public water supply relied on the City Basin reservoir in the 18th century, and Grand Canal water later supplemented the supply until the 1860s. Canal water was moderately hard, making it suitable for brewing dark ales such as stout and porter, including Guinness. Other breweries and distilleries also received water from the Royal and Grand Canal. The Grand Canal carried water from freshwater springs through the Milltown Feeder, and Guinness still receives the same canal water today, though it is now used only for washing. Barges transported hundreds of barrels across Ireland using the same canal water.

"On New Year's Eve of 1759, in an act of monumental ambition, Arthur Guinness signed a lease on St. James's Gate Brewery for 9,000 years. The lease included a supply of water, and for much of the brewery's history, that water came from Ireland's Grand Canal."

"As the city continued to grow, water from the newly built Grand Canal was used to supplement the city's water supply, becoming one of the main supplies of drinking water for Dublin's citizens until the 1860s. Being everyone's source of fresh water, this made the canal water the obvious choice for the brewery, with a good level of hardness for brewing dark ales like stout and porter, which includes Guinness."

"Per the Irish Family History Center, "The water used to make the stout was the moderately hard water from the Grand Canal." This certainly wasn't unique to Guinness, either. As Irish Waterways History mentions, "Other breweries and distilleries were supplied with water by both the Royal and the Grand Canal.""

"The Grand Canal, in particular, was built to carry water from at least 40 freshwater springs, via a waterway called the Milltown Feeder (also known as the Grand Supply). The Guinness brewery is still supplied with the same canal water today, but it's no longer used for brewing, now reserved only for washing."

Read at Tasting Table